The Rebirth Of Armenia

[den_wolf]

I don't know if I posted this in the right section, but mods, feel free to move this to whichever category you think suits best.

 

The Rebirth of Armenia

By Frank Viviano

Photographs by Alexandra Avakian

 

For 3,000 years Armenians survived conquerors, calamities, and diaspora. Defiance and a long memory continue to sustain them as they rebuild their Caucasus homeland.

 

"You are looking at the great Armenian paradox," Jivan Tabibian said. We stood at the second-floor window of the Foreign Ministry building in Yerevan, watching clouds scuttle across Mount Ararat's ice-capped 16,854-foot (5,137-meter) crown. Tabibian, a diplomat whose portfolio includes ambassadorships to four countries and two international organizations, was discussing a policy initiative when he abruptly fell silent, gazing at Ararat. It's impossible not to be distracted by Ararat in Yerevan. Despite its enormous mass, the great peak seems to float weightlessly over the city, engaged in permanent dialogue with Little Ararat, its 12,782-foot (3,896-meter) neighbor.

 

The vast snowy brow of Ararat glowers, pronounces, with hallucinatory power. Its name is derived from that of a Bronze Age god, Ara, whose talismanic cult of death and rebirth mirrored the seasonal transitions of Ararat from lifeless winter to fertile spring. Little Ararat, by contrast, is an exercise in calm, rational idealism, a volcanic cone so perfectly shaped that it suggests not so much what a mountain is as what a mountain ought to be.

 

You can't ponder the two Ararats for long without drifting into philosophical reflection, and the Armenians have been pondering them since the birth of civilization.

 

The philosopher in Jivan Tabibian maintains that his people's identity is inextricably bound to the experience of loss, to the serial reorderings of the map that have often stranded their most hallowed landmarks in someone else's state. Like the Monastery of St. Gregory the Illuminator deep in the hills of Nagorno-Artsax, Mount Ararat lies outside the contemporary Armenian Republic, beyond the closed frontiers of a hostile Turkey.

 

"The paradox embodied in that mountain," Tabibian said, "has to do with our sense of place," the concept that is so essential to most national identities. "We are not place bound"—an impossibility, given Armenia's ceaseless traumas, metamorphoses, and peregrinations—"but we are intensely place conscious."

 

Later I repeated Tabibian's enigmatic words to Vartan Oskanian, the Republic of Armenia's foreign minister. And he too offered a philosopher's reflection on Ararat. "Every morning we look at it," he said. "It's only 25 miles (40 kilometers) from this building, and we feel we can almost touch it. But we can't go there. Ararat is our pride and our frustration. Our history. The unfulfilled dreams that drive us."

 

http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/04...ure2/index.html

 

---

There are also some pics on that page, so check them out.

The feature is in March 2004 issue of National Geographic.

[gurgen]

Cool, I have a subscription to National Geographic.

 

I'm looking forward to it.

[ED]

I like this pickture from national geographic

 

anybody hungry for some HARISA?

 

Thanks Den

[gamavor]

"Rebirth".... my rare!

 

http://armenianow.com/2004/february13/news/natasha/

 

 

I hope the law inforcement officers and the prosecuter joined the ranks of the unemployed in Armenia. Sad, very sad!

 

 

PS: I was so pissed off (not from the article but) from this story, that I misspelled rear as rare. Both are true! My rear is rare and I hate to see Armenian 'avanaks' in the judicial system and in the Armenian Government.

Edited February 19, 2004 by gamavor

[Arpa]

That is woderful Gaylik, :) thank you.

You may find it interesting as well that the NG ran a feature article about Armenia and Armenians in its June 1978 issue.

I forgot to mentions the title of the pictorial article.

The Proud Armenians, pp 846-873.

I had forgotten all about it and now that I review it I find it so compelling and kinda nostalgic.

See if someone can dig that issue on the internet!

 

Here is that issue but of course it is for sale.

http://www.aliensonearth.com/catalog/detai...713T152211.html

Edited February 18, 2004 by Arpa

[Arpa]

Reading the above article in the NG of 1978 I came across this;

"THE EXODUS led to Russia, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and more distant lands.(A classic account of conditions in the refugee towns of what is now Soviet Armenia appeared in the November 1919 Geographic- 'The Land of the Stalking Death' by Melville Chater.)

Edited February 18, 2004 by Arpa

[Arpa]

More vignettes from that 1978 NG article.

Btw. the author is Robert Paul Jordan and the photos by Harry Naltchayan.

(Note. If this will turn into a debate about the Genocide please move your comments to the appropriate subject topic).

 

As I probed deeper into the Armenian story, I was increasingly astonished that these people had even survived the ordeal of sixty years ago. Who had ordered it? And why?

One of the leading instigators was Talaat, the Turkish Minister of Interior. Once while the Arenians were being eliminated from Turkey, Talaat outlined his government's position to Henry Morgenthau, then US Ambassador.

"In the first place", Mr. Morgenthau quotes Talaat, "they have enriched themselves at the expense of the Turks. In the second place, they are determined to domineer over us and to establish a separate state. In the third place..... they have assisted the Russians in the Caucasus..."

The American envoy tried to argue with Talaat. "Suppose a few Armenians did betray you", the Ambassador said at one point. "is that a reason for destroying a whole race? Is that an excuse for making innocent women and children suffer?"

"Those things are inevitable" he replied.

After WWI the victorious Allies dictated a peace treaty in which Armenia was recognized as a free and independent state. The treaty condemned the massacres; Ottoman Turkey would deliver to the Allies those held responsible. Then the empire collapsed and the new government rejected the treaty. .....

Talaat was listed as a war criminal and condemned to death. He had already fled Turkey taking refuge in Berlin under an assumed name. In 1921 an Armenian... put a bullet through his head

 

The following blew me away. The writer meets an old Armenian piano teacher in Belgrade who relates this.

 

"There used to be a large number of us, a community... But most left after WWII. Those who stayed on ... married local girls. Our wives and children don't speak Armenian. But I speak", he declared..... "Now I will tell you something...

My father killed Talaat. He was arrested and freed, and he was buried in your country." I did not know what to say. Finally I asked what he thought about it. "I am proud" he answered.

Edited February 18, 2004 by Arpa

[Anoushik]

Den-wolf, we're also subscibed to the National Geographic Magazine, and after reading the article I thought of posting about it, but you've already done it!

 

I really liked how we are presented in the article, and after reading it a second time, imagining that I'm reading through the eyes of a foreigner, I yet again realized what an extraordinary people we are. I'm so proud to be Armenian.

[Anoushik]

In the actual magazine 22 pages are dedicated to this story (pictures included). It covers everything from Tigranes the Great to the fact that the Armenians are still present while our early contemporaries vanished, to the Genocide, the diasporans, the 1988 earthquake, to the symbolism of Ararat, etc...

[Sebastia]

Does it have anything on Artsakh?

[Anoushik]

Yes, the writer starts by telling of his visit to Artshakh and its history and the recent developments in Artshakh. Then he writes about the rest of Armenia, its people, its history, the genocide, the denial by the Turks, the diaspora (mentioning that Armenians have always been high achievers in every field, and naming some inventions by ethnic Armenians) the Soviet Armenia, the earthquake, and the independent Armenia.

 

The central theme of the article is the Armenian paradox, symbolized by Ararat. How our lands have been stolen from us and now are claimed to be someone else's. There is even a map of the big Armenian empire that existed 2000 years ago "whose realm extends from the Caspian Sea to the Holy Land". And he further writes that Armenia's early contemporaries, the Hittites, the Chaldeans, the Phoenicians and Phrygians, the Lydians and Medes vanished long ago, while the Armenians are still present.

 

A very well written article.

[Anonymouse]

This is simply superlative. I have the issue in my hand.

[HyeNproud]

Yes, this is IMPERIAL!!!!!!!!!

 

It will be in the March issue, but when does it hit the stands????????

[DJ SINISTER]

Finally, some recognition.

 

The other night, some dude asked me if Armenia was next to Finland?

[Anonymouse]

Finally, some recognition.

 

The other night, some dude asked me if Armenia was next to Finland?

You should have knifed him like that Azeri.

[America-Hye]

Mouse,

 

Given your last statement it is apparent that you are mentally unhinged.

[Anonymouse]

Do I look like I'd be anything else?

[gamavor]

Anon, don't pay attention to Hagarag. He has very "American" sense of humor.

[Haytorontonian]

Hello All,

 

Just to let you know that the March issue of the Magazine is banned in turkey (the English version). They have the turkish version without the Armenian article of course.

 

I supposse we can all write letters to the editor of the Magazine and let them know that their March issue is not selling in Turkey.

 

Thanks.

[gurgen]

Finally, some recognition.

 

The other night, some dude asked me if Armenia was next to Finland?

Oh that's not so bad, they said to me once: "Where are you from again? Albania, Romania???"

[nairi]

Hello All,

 

Just to let you know that the March issue of the Magazine is banned in turkey (the English version). They have the turkish version without the Armenian article of course.

 

I supposse we can all write letters to the editor of the Magazine and let them know that their March issue is not selling in Turkey.

 

Thanks.

How do you know? Do you have any (reliable) sources?

[Armat]

Reading the above article in the NG of 1978 I came across this;

"THE EXODUS led to Russia, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and more distant lands.(A classic account of conditions in the refugee towns of what is now Soviet Armenia appeared in the November 1919 Geographic- 'The Land of the Stalking Death' by Melville Chater.)

I have that issue NG 1978 as well as Soviet life 1973.Don't ask me how.I am a book worm.

Edited March 5, 2004 by Armat

[Haytorontonian]

How do you know? Do you have any (reliable) sources?

I have been told by Armenians living in Turkey and as well there was an article written by the Turkish general manager of National Geographic. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the article in English.

[DominO123]

I have the 1978 as well, this(1978) issue was my miracle, I found it trown on the floor 5 years ago... and I discovered my roots... and became Domino. The 1978 is better than this March issue, nothing can beat that little miracle of mine.

 

Here a little quote from it...

 

"Many times as I traced the journey of Armenia, I was to wonder if worse trouble had ever afflicted any other people, or whether any other people persecuted down the centuries had persevered more nobly. Armenians have gone forth into the world and multiplied. Peaceful, hardworking, intelligent, religious, family oriented, they have become a great, though little-known, success story."

 

National Geographic, June 1978.

Edited March 6, 2004 by Fadix

[DominO123]

I have that issue NG 1978 as well as Soviet life 1973.Don't ask me how.I am a book worm.

Oh Yeh! I have the 2004, 1978 and 1919 issues... now try to beat that.