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Notes From Hairenik
May 31, 2006
Dram gets stronger, prices increase

Despite the fact that the dram has increasingly become stronger—more so than I have ever seen in the last six years—prices for goods and services are on the rise. The common exchange rate on the street as of today is around 423 dram to the dollar, which has fallen significantly as the euro now seemingly dominates western world markets. One dollar now equals about €0.78. The dram strengthened 22 dram only in the last 14 days or so. Strangely enough—and I do not understand why this is the case—one dollar equals 439 dram according to xe.com’s Universal Currency Converter as of May 31, 2006 at 06:09:53 UTC. So go figure.

As a result prices for foodstuffs are gradually increasing, albeit by 10 or 20 drams in some cases. But the price of gasoline has gone way up. I was paying about 350 dram for a liter of “premium” gasoline up until a month ago. Then the price went up 10 dram each week. As of last Sunday one liter costs 400 dram, and I daresay it will continue to rise at the rate the dram is gaining.

So what is going on here? After all, if the dram continues to be worth more, technically prices should drop for nearly all consumer goods and services. Not true in Armenian economics, which seems to contradict all rules of national economies throughout much of the world. Because big businessmen in Armenia (a.k.a., members of parliament, government ministers, or people closely connected to MPs or ministers) do not invest in the dram, the national currency does not circulate to the degree that it should, never mind the fact that most of these fat cats do not bother paying millions of dram in state taxes due to loopholes in the law. Since banks here offer the option of setting up a bank account in dollars or euros, customers take up the offer. And although this cannot be proven since these businessmen do not claim their actual earnings and no one knows how much they are actually worth—it is just speculated—their money is invested in foreign banks, probably in Dubai since Armenians like that city so much, in Switzerland, or in offshore banks by those who are more sophisticated. There is still the mindset that the dram will suddenly fall through the floor just as the Soviet ruble tanked not too long after the Berlin wall came crumbling. I don’t understand this fear, since the dram has been steadily increasing in value since late 2004, when the exchange rate was 500 dram to the dollar. The average dollar-dram exchange rate was hovering at about 460 dram during the last year. In comparison, during my stay in 2002, one dollar would buy about 580 dram. Yet people still don’t seem to trust the dram.

So now consumers are going to start feeling the effects soon enough. The price of electricity is already on the rise, and now the Public Service Regulatory Commission has approved a 40 percent hike in the price of a cubic meter of water, as proposed by a new French firm which has taken over Yerevan’s water network. I noticed that the price per kilo of Lori cheese has also gone up significantly, from 1,500 dram just a few months ago to now about 1,800 dram. That’s about a 70 cent increase. Bread seems to cost about the same, more or less 380 dram for a kilo of lavash for instance. But I don’t know how long that will continue, since bread is a main staple of Armenian diet. That and potatoes, which cost more now anyway since they are out of season.

I personally am feeling the effects since I as well as everyone else living here were going a long way with a dollar. But I am thankful for making a "high-end" Armenian salary here, half of which goes to my rent, and the other half to gasoline (I can only afford to drive once a week, twice at the most) and domestic costs, like utilities and food. But I am managing for now. Yet I don’t know how the majority of Armenians struggling to make ends meet are making out. I am guessing they are going to have to survive now without certain comforts even more so than before at the rate things are going, especially those that have young mouths to feed.

You can read more about the increase in the dram’s worth here.

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Posted by Christian Garbis at 11:56 AM.
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May 30, 2006
‘Manr Chunes?’

When doing business anywhere in Central Yerevan, no matter whether you go to a busy restaurant, visit a small kiosk selling newspapers, cellular phone fill-up cards, and cigarettes, or even enter a supermarket, you will nearly always hear the Armenian line, “manr chunes?” which means “have any change?” It is a strange phenomenon that has basically spread to all types of businesses, regardless of the size or how seemingly lucrative they are.

Another common request is to have the customer present change to round up the selling amount off to the nearest even dram. For instance, if you purchase some items that amount to 1,700 drams and present a 5,000 dram bill, the cashier asks that you also present 300 dram in coins so that three 1,000 dram notes will be returned. In such instances the cashier would be disappointed when you tell them you don’t have the right amount of coins—distributed in denominations from 10 to 500 dram incidentally—since it means that he or she will have to spend another five seconds to count out the change. One time when visiting my favorite neighborhood grocery store on Nalbandyan Street I could not finalize my purchase of around 5,000 dram worth of food, since the employee did not have change for a 20,000 dram note. Rather than approaching the store manager she sent me out to break the bill. Since it was 10:30 pm and no neighboring businesses were open, I just went home, hungry.

Thus it is a bizarre fact to me at least that predominantly only large dram bills are distributed from ATM machines throughout the city. I bank with HSBC here and I can say that with one exception, I have mostly received withdrawals in 20,000 (or just under $50) and 10,000 dram notes. But a few months ago I used the machine at the main HSBC location on Republic Square on the immediate left as you walk into the lobby. A withdrawal of 100,000 dram yielded mostly 1,000 dram notes and a few 5,000 ones. Although I had a thick, inconvenient wad of money in my wallet, which nevertheless made me feel rich for some reason, I was relieved that I would not be asked for small change when going to the store during the following week. But this is also not necessarily the case. I have even been asked for small change when presenting a 500 dram note to buy less than 300 drams worth of goods. Why the vendor was short on coins was beyond me, since they are generally in wide circulation.

So what’s going on? Why doesn’t the Central Bank of Armenia simply print more small bills if no one seems to have change for a 20,000 or even a 10,000 dram note? It will make things a lot easier for businessmen to do so. This situation makes no sense to me really, and I can only suspect that the reason is due to Armenians generally enjoying to have large notes on their person to make it seem like they are wealthy, albeit psychologically—another manifestation of Armenian logic. I wonder how they feel when they are not able to buy a 300 dram pack of cigarettes with a 20,000 dram note. I also cannot imagine how tourists will react this summer when they try to buy something at Yerevan’s arts and crafts fair, known as the “vernisage,” and find that because they only have cash in large denominations they will have to wander from vendor to vendor until they find someone who can actually hand back change. It should be interesting to say the least.

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Posted by Christian Garbis at 1:09 PM.
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May 24, 2006
This historic landmark is being torn down
A few months ago I had posted an entry revealing that a historic building, with a history dating as far back as the late 19th century, was in danger of being destroyed by a developer and multi-millionaire with government connections. The building housed at least two families, both of whom operated small door-step stores selling sandwiches, bottled soda, candy, and other snacks. To my dismay while walking to work this morning past the Yerevan Hotel, across from which the building is located, I found that two thirds of the two-floor apartment building has been completely demolished, virtually overnight. It was still standing yesterday.

The person responsible for the demolition of the site, according to a story published by Hetq Online earlier in the year, is Gagik Tsarukian, an “oligarch” who is infamously known as “Dodi Gago.” He used to own the majority of the shares in the Kotayk brewery until he sold them off over a month ago. He is considered to be the outright owner of the “Kentron” television station and the conglomerate “Multigroup,” which has a broad area of business interests, with stakes in dairy products, a wine factory, cement, real estate, gasoline stations, and other businesses. He is also a member of parliament, and it is generally accepted that he became one in order to escape any kind of prosecution, as all National Assembly members are apparently immune. Now he is the head of his own political party called “Prosperous Armenia.” He is also closely linked to the top leadership of Armenia, which is another reason why he can do virtually anything he wants.

This building was constructed on what was once a cemetery, where Turkish settlers buried their dead. Most of Yerevan’s center was completely occupied by Turks within the last few hundred years. Even up until the beginning of the 20th century there were Turkish settlements in Yerevan. This should not be a surprise to anyone.

It was made simply from mud, rocks, and straw. That’s all that is left now in a pile next to the disco situated to the left of it. But it was solid and lasted for over 100 years. There is no way of knowing exactly how old it is of course since there are no records to prove when it was constructed. Nevertheless, it is part of Yerevan’s history. It was an intact structure that was not crumbling, that showed no real signs of decay. It had obviously settled and some walls looked a bit uneven, but nothing so bad that it would crumble on top of passers-by. It was just an old building, a landmark, that just needed some care. It was a home and still is partially a home, for now, to families who obviously had an emotional connection to it, and who felt it a duty to protect this ancient structure.

These types of buildings are going away. Some should be cleared out for safety issues, while others just need to be preserved. In all cases such buildings are destroyed for the purposes of developing real estate. For visitors the building may be an eyesore, and an obvious excuse to construct a new hotel, disco, or shopping mall since the other ancient structures on either side of it were torn down long ago. Nevertheless it was another small piece of Yerevan’s history which has all but been smeared away into oblivion. And no one cares about what is happening.

There is now very little to account for pre-Soviet Yerevan’s history. You can no longer point to any 19th-century structure and announce that it is part of antiquity, it is where people used to live and want to live, it is a monument to how old the city really is. I have never heard of such careless, random demolition occurring in any other city in the world, without any thought or understanding of how the past is being wholly discarded for the supposed sake of progress. These narrow-minded actions represent a total disregard for human rights and for cultural and historical preservation. This destruction is a quintessence example of the “vochinch” mentality that is so prevalent in Armenian society, which is spreading like an epidemic. No one seems to care about anything anymore. It’s becoming more and more obvious. And it is really a shame.

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Posted by Christian Garbis at 11:37 AM.
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May 22, 2006
Climbing Mount Ara

Last Saturday, May 20, a small group of us decided to climb Mount Ara. As an initial guide as to how to go about doing it we used a great book published by the Kanach Foundation called “Adventure Armenia: Hiking and Rock Climbing” for which I did some PR work in early 2005. One chapter is devoted to the mountain, and most importantly how to get to the base of it by car.

In order to get there you need to drive north through Ashtarak, located in the Aragatsotn region about a 10-minute drive north of Yerevan, then just outside of the town turn right, driving through Mughni village, which lies along the Ashtarak gorge. We drove through a couple more villages, all of which were surprisingly very green with little to no litter along the sides of the roads, with seemingly booming farming communities. The main irrigation channel that traveled through at least two of the villages was gushing with rapidly pouring water, white with foam, splashing along the cement sides and sometimes onto the road. There were orchards abound on both sides of the road there. In other words, the area seemed to be fairly more economically sustainable than other areas I have driven through, although this is merely an observation.

In any case, after about a 15-minute drive or so we arrived at the base of the mountain, then promptly found a place to have a picnic and thus store energy for the climb. Mount Ara is rather wide and is approximately 2300 meters high, with several peaks of varying height and two or three main summits. When looking towards the mountain from the perspective of the south or north, it appears as if someone is lying down along the length of it, the typical Armenian nose protruding from the left- or right-most end, depending on what side you are on. According to Armenian legend Ara was a hero or a king who had some affiliation with the mountain and apparently died on top of it, hence the name, then was resurrected by Queen Semiramis.

The book indicated that we should park the car alongside the main road that ran parallel to the mountain, then trek along a road, mainly used by utility vehicles, unevenly covered by loose rocks (which we jokingly referred to as Armenian asphalt), to enter the gorge at the mountain’s base and start walking up where the road ended. When we came upon one of the slopes, specifically on the left side, Nanor, our fellow climber who is visiting from Canada, convinced us to climb the mountain there, head on, and my wife also agreed, although she carried about 10 kilos of provisions in a pack on her back. Our jovial, trustworthy cheerleader Hamlet said that he wasn’t afraid, so we started to climb. Although the slopes were at between 60-70 degree angles, in some areas even steeper, it wasn’t that bad going up. But just as soon as we reached the top of one peak, we realized there was another just above it, and climbed onward. We made it to the lower summit, just a few hundred meters below the northern most summit which serves as Ara’s nose. It took us about 90 minutes to get up on the lower summit, all the while having to contend with some small snakes and a pheasant leaping out of some bushes, with rather large swallows to guide us. The flora changed the higher we climbed—at one point the entire ground was covered by wild flowers, predominately tulips. Once we got up there we started to pile some loose stones in a pyramid shape like many do in this country once they arrive someplace high in elevation for whatever reason.

The girls took a nap up there while Hamlet and philosophized about various things while staring at the majestic, snow-covered Mount Aragats. Mount Ararat is normally visible from where we were but it was hidden by haze as well as Yerevan’s smog, which has significantly worsened in the last year and a half. For some reason Mount Aragats does not receive the attention it deserves as a physical symbol of Armenia, eternally eclipsed by its big brother on the other side of the Arax River. It’s ironic since Mount Ararat technically does not belong to Armenia, rather it is an detachless icon to which the Armenian people identify themselves. Where we were perched all four summits of Aragats are visible, something that can only be observed along a 20 kilometer stretch or so along the road towards Lori. It was a spectacular view.

We decided to descend down along the rear face of the peak, which headed towards the foot of the canyon, instead of going down the way we came. It made sense—there did not appear to be any rocks to impede our way, and the ground seemed to have leveled off in a few places when looking down towards the base, which was actually hidden by other, lower peaks.

Mount Ara is completely covered by greenery. It is so green that it looks as if several crews with gigantic spray guns that shoot out chemical-laden grass seed used in the landscaping industry back in the States attacked it. There are lush, thick grasses everywhere under foot, and all sorts of critters furrowing through it. So it looked like smooth sailing down to the bottom; I figured it would take about a half hour to get down. How wrong I was.

When we were preparing to leave the house I asked my wife where my Timberland boots were, which have the waffle-pattern grooved soles great for nearly all road conditions. She took out my “All Terrain” running sneakers instead. When I reminded her that we were going to be climbing a mountain, she convinced me that I would be OK with the sneakers. How wrong she was in this case. Going down I must have fallen on my ass about 50 times, on a few occasions completely wiping out, all the while stumbling and tumbling down the slopes. The flat-soled sneakers gave me virtually zero traction, thus I was the tragic victim of gravity throughout my journey downhill. For the last quarter of the climb down, Ariga and I decided to try and take a rocky path, while the other two had miraculously already made their way down gliding across the grass, as I glimpsed them strutting along the rocky road below. Ariga, being an experienced mountain climber, but also with inadequate footwear, coached me down the trail which had been concealed by grass, then was suddenly revealed when we hit an arid, craggy area. At one point we were surprised to run across a lime green lizard, about eight inches long, sunbathing on a flat rock. It looked like the type of lizard that you see on a documentary program roaming through rainforests. If you look hard enough you’re bound to find all sorts of misfit wildlife in this country I would imagine. Supposedly bears reside somewhere on Mount Ara from what a co-worker, who is a hiking enthusiast, told me, but fortunately none crossed our path.

It took us over 90 minutes for the two of us to reach the bottom, as in between falls I managed to stop and observe my surroundings. Along the side of the opposite slope is a wide, lofty cliff, with several small holes scattered across it, in which the swallows reside from what I gather. There is also a strange forest with leafless, rather small, odd-looking trees that also houses birdlife. But for the most part, we were surrounded by lush greenery. One the way down despite my many spills I suffered only from very minor scrapes on my hands, which were nothing really. On the way back to the car however I managed to slip hard on the stone-covered path and twisted my knee. Hamlet served as my human crutch for half of the return walk, and thankfully the pain subsided late the following day, although my hamstrings are still aching.

All in all the climb was a wonderful, thrilling experience and I recommend it to anyone who loves hiking. I would recommend sticking to the directions that the Adventure Armenia book provides, which incidentally was available at the Armenia Information center on Nalbandyan Street near the metro station, and I imagine still is.

On the way back we visited Mughnavank, a working church and former monastery complex in Mughni village. The monastery itself is beautiful as well as the gardens that surround it. The church, which is fairly new by Armenian standards having been rebuilt from the remains of an older one in 1669, has a very high dome compared to others I have visited. And to the left and right of the alter some frescos have been preserved, something that is rare to find here.

Incidentally, I should point out here for potential visitors to Armenia this summer that a new hostel has opened last autumn in Central Yerevan, just a stone’s throw from Mashdots Street and a five-minute walk to Opera Square. It’s called the Envoy Hostel and is where Nanor is staying. The entrance is on Parpetsi Street, which connects Tumanyan Street to Pushkin, on the west side of Mashdots, although the official address is 54 Pushkin Street. The cost per person per night is only 7000 or about $16. A room with a private shower and toilet accommodating two people costs 18,000 dram, or about $40. Prices include a complimentary breakfast. We were given a brief tour of the place and I can say that it is extremely clean and modern. In a city where the most affordable hotel room costs about $80 per night, this is a welcome, desperately needed alternative for travelers to Armenia on a tight budget. Hopefully, other investors will follow suit. Visit the hostel’s Web site by going to www.envoyhostel.com.


Photo of Mount Ara courtesy of www.xcaucasus.org.

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Posted by Christian Garbis at 5:27 PM.
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CNN signal restored?

For several months I had been complaining to my wife and friends that I could no longer tune in CNN at home. This problem seemed to have been resolved when unexpectedly it started coming in loud and clear on Friday evening. The reception I would say is about 90 percent clear, with some distortion along the outlines of headline text and an occasional, soft buzzing hum. Hopefully, the clear reception is permanent.

I live near Republic Square, and have always been able to pick up CNN very clearly. When I was living there for eight months in 2002 I only received some static in the signal occasionally on overcast days, but usually any problems I had were cleared up after moving around the inter-video component connection wire I used as a makeshift antenna. This continued to be the case until about six months ago, when I noticed that the signal’s quality gradually began to decline. By the end of March I was so frustrated with the by then snowy black and white reception that I purchased an indoor antenna, basically a small black box made from cheap plastic with the familiar telescopic retractable metal spires you see on nearly all TV antennas screwed to each side of the thing and a square swiveling part resembling a miniature radar dish in the center. Just below that on the base of the antenna was a round knob that when turned clockwise delivered a somewhat better picture depending on the position step—the antenna favored the 4:00 and 10:00 positions best. This seemed to have been a solution as the color returned, but a few weeks later the black and white fuzz appeared on all the steps. Repositioning the base in different places along the top of the TV set to which it was affixed by four suction cups as well as lowering and raising the spires did nothing.

One day, after having smashed the antenna into oblivion only a few nights beforehand on my living room hardwood floor, I decided to install an outdoor antenna to the left of the balcony overlooking Nalbandyan Street, next to which the TV is placed. I noticed a three-foot thin pole bolted there to the tufa wall of the building, which I guessed would accommodate an antenna. So along with my friend Karen we visited the Vesta electronics store located on nearby Sakharov Square to purchase one. There were two choices, a V-shaped three-spoked antenna about four feet in length meant to be positioned horizontally, and a large rectangular metal thing which had many small parts and looked like a piece of junk. Both cost 6000 dram, or about 14 bucks. We tried the V-shaped antenna, as the salesmen insisted it was the best bet, and found that almost all tunable channels, including two Russian channels I didn’t know were available as well as a few Turkish stations, came in crystal clear. Only CNN came in fuzzy, with no color. They told us to position the antenna so that it pointed directly towards Yerevan’s communication tower perched high on the Nork-Marash slope, which we did. Despite the fact that the top of the tower is visible from my apartment there was still no CNN, so we took the V-shaped antenna back to try the rectangular one. That thing barely picked up anything clearly, and CNN was just a screen of snow, not even audible. The next day Karen and I reinstalled the V, figuring that maybe something would change regarding CNN’s reception by fine-tuning it on the TV. No dice—just fuzzy black and white reception with static-laden sound. Turns out that Vesta also had problems tuning in the station, as well as one of my neighbors, who resorted to perching their antenna on the roof, and apparently receives a very clear picture. Karen lives on the 9th floor of an apartment building in “Raikom” which is in the northern Arabkir district, and picks up CNN perfectly.

I as well as arguably thousands of others in Armenia rely on CNN as the only available English-language news service that primarily gives world news. The news is read clearly and at a reasonable, comprehensible pace, unlike the machine-gun rapid fire monotone banter heard on most Armenian TV news programs, delivered by some anchors with speech impediments. Furthermore, the European edition of CNN that is broadcasted is virtually identical, if not better, to the CNN news that I grew up with in the US with solid, reliable no-nonsense reporting, before it became a variety show a few years ago with anchors giving their personal, melodramatic commentary after nearly every story read.

I had been suspicious about CNN’s gradually degrading signal for a while, guessing that the people who exclusively broadcast the news network, whoever they were, worked out a deal with one of the companies offering cable television services in Yerevan, notably Super System, which had advertised on CNN aggressively in the past. I heard from someone that Armenia TV was responsible for CNN’s broadcast in Armenia. A visit to their Web site affirmed this, as well as the fact that a joint-venture with the Cafesjian enterprise owned the station. The “About Company” page revealed that not only does Cafesjian have a stake in Armenia TV, his organization also runs several affiliated media companies, including one that produces “BizBreak” commercials that usually appear in the middle of a CNN news segment, a film production company, and not surprisingly, owns Super System. So my suspicions were proving to have some merit, although unproven.

So I decided to write a letter to the only general email address I could find on the site. The title was “Restore CNN's broadcast signal” and it read as follows:


Hello Armenia TV/CS Media/Media TV,
 
I am writing you regarding the transmission of 24-hour
CNN broadcasting in Armenia. I am an American working
and living in Yerevan. When I first arrived in late
2004 CNN was being tuned in very clearly in
downtown Yerevan. Since then, especially in the last
four months, CNN's broadcast has significantly
declined to the point where the transmission is barely
received. 
 
It is now practically impossible to watch CNN, even
with a properly installed outdoor antenna. I see a
faint picture now without color, using a new outdoor
antenna, whereas 6 months ago I received a fairly
clear picture with no antenna installed. I live near
Republic Square and my antenna is pointed towards the
Yerevan communications tower, yet the picture is very
faint without color, and the sound is poor. My
neighbors have the same problems, even with installed
outdoor antennas.
 
Can you tell me when you will repair your transmitted
signal of CNN so that I and thousands of others in
Yerevan can watch it properly? Realize that the
"BizBreak" advertising is also suffering since
outsiders living in downtown Yerevan cannot watch the
ads or the news for that matter. 
 
Please let me know when I can expect to watch CNN
clearly once again. 
 
Regards,
Christian Garbis
Writer, Yerevan Armenia


I waited a few days but didn’t receive a response, so I sent the email again. Each time I CC’ed a different PR-related contact. I didn’t receive a response from my second letter, either.

Was the restoration of the signal a few days ago coincidental? Probably so, although I would like to think my letter had something to do with it. But it doesn’t matter. The important thing is that now hopefully anyone with a decent antenna in Central Yerevan can once again tune in the station. Long live CNN!

Posted by Christian Garbis at 1:01 PM.
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May 15, 2006
A taste of India at Sharm El

Revised, May 29: A week ago we went to see the guys at The New Delhi and have a bite to eat. Apparently from what we were told, things are not working out there, as after only one week of doing business at Sharl El, the owner decided to change the menu, as apparently the Indian food was not selling well. This is a strange move since customers need to be given a chance to start trying the cuisine, then deciding for themselves if they enjoy it or want to choose something that is non-Indian. So the cafe will be focusing primarily on Thai cuisine, and I believe the menu has already been changed, but I may be mistaken. It's a shame really, but I suppose many Armenians are still having a hard time swaying from dolma and khorovadz, or Armenian barbeque. In any case, continue visiting the restaurant on Tumanyan Street.


Last year I wrote about a new Indian restaurant that I discovered called The New Delhi Restro-Bar, located on 29 Tumanyan Street across from Opera Park, just a stone’s throw away from the flower seller. The sign read that they offer a mixture of Indian, Chinese, Lebanese, and Armenian cuisine. When my wife and I went in we were the only ones in there if memory serves correctly—they had only been open for three weeks. I was clueless as to what to order from the Indian menu, so after asking me if I liked chicken the gentleman helping us suggested a couple of dishes, and we placed the order. Since then I have become addicted to their cuisine and frequent the place once or twice a week.

We befriended that gentleman, Sanjiv Savaille (aka Sam), who is the co-owner, and the head waiter, Jossi (aka Jacks), as we became dedicated customers and naturally formed a friendly relationship with them. Sanjiv and his fiancée even came to our wedding to deliver a special desert dish and share in the festivities. If we haven’t been by for one reason or another he calls to check up on us.

Apparently the link to my blog entry about The New Delhi was spread around and business tripled in a matter of a week. Although business is generally good in their location, as the place is frequented regularly by foreign workers as well as Indian students attending university, they were looking for ways to expand their horizons and promote their cuisine to a wider audience. By chance the owner of Sharm El, who opened an outdoor café along Sayat Nova Street in the Opera Park next to Astral, and who recently opened an indoor restaurant on the corner of Tumanyan and Nalbandyan Streets only a couple of months ago, called Sanjiv to propose an offer. She also was looking to widen the diversity of her clientele by offering an exotic menu including international dishes that can’t be found anywhere else in Armenia. Recently she heard about Sanjiv’s success and made him an offer to move his operations, including his full staff, to the outdoor Sharm El location. An open-air kitchen has already been built for them and they only began serving just a few days ago.

Sharm El was not known for its cuisine when it first opened last year, as the menu just didn’t seem very interesting. I went there once or twice but found it ordinary and expensive—it had as its main attractions interesting furniture with an Asian decorative flair and Persian/Middle Eastern water pipes or “nargile” for people to puff on. But that was it. Now that the guys at The New Delhi are effectively taking over the kitchen, there will be incentive to go very often.

Most of the Indian and Chinese meals that are found on The New Delhi menu are already being made available. Lebanese and Armenian offerings were long ago scrapped due to lack of interest. A notably large Thai cuisine offering is also available, with many of the dishes being served with prawns as well as crawfish, since there is an abundance of the bottom feeding sea creatures in parts of Armenia, notably in Lake Sevan. His sandwich menu, which features hamburgers and chicken sandwiches, is also very popular—the other day he apparently sold close to 50 burgers throughout the day. He told me they are real hamburgers, made from beef patties, rather than round pork ham cutlets as are often served by restaurant owners who have not bothered to understand what they really are. And Sharm El will apparently be open 24 hours a day, with everything on the menu being offered day and night.

Sanjiv is working out a way to install an outdoor tandoor to prepare Indian-style roasted chicken, lamb, and beef. The tandoor from what he explained is very delicate, with a round, clay cooking crevice similar to the Armenian tonir, but it rests above ground. Fiberglass as well as cement serve as outer shells to retain heat throughout the day, so once false move could effectively destroy it. He will also most likely serve the ever-coveted pork chop and small rib Armenian barbeque cooked in the tandoor, just as is done with the tonir in places throughout Armenia.

For now The New Delhi location will stay open but Sanjiv is uncertain as to how long. With the summer season approaching people will be more apt to sit outside, underneath huge canvas canopies and sitting on small wicker divans at Sharm El rather than filing into the ground-floor disco turned restaurant. There is also a section where people can sit at tables more suitable for dining, but again situated under the canopies so that you don’t get soaked when a summer thunderstorm suddenly bursts out of seemingly nowhere.

Anyway, I’m glad for Sanjiv and the rest of The New Delhi staff, and I expect that business will really take off. The New Delhi is undoubtedly one of the best restaurants in Yerevan in terms of originality, freshness of ingredients, and especially service. It’s also a great place to meet people you wouldn’t necessarily have the opportunity to elsewhere. The Sharm El setting will obviously have a different atmosphere, but expect the same excellent food and service.

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Posted by Christian Garbis at 2:00 PM.
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May 12, 2006
Armenia to have cheaper transport for trade
A news report from ArmeniaLiberty states that a key railway link between Georgia and Russia may be restored in only two years time, which means that goods coming from Europe and Russia through Tbilisi by train will cost a lot less. Over $200 million will be dedicated to the reconstruction project, which will mainly be concentrated in Abkhazia, a region in Georgia that was plagued by war in an effort to attain autonomy, which it effectively did. As a result the railway there was destroyed. The article states that:


The absence of railway communication with the outside world is widely seen as the main reason for the disproportionately high cost of transporting goods to and from Armenia. Economists say that in turn is a major obstacle to a more rapid growth of the Armenian economy.
Thus trade with the outside world will increase even more, resulting in lower costs for consumers here and a viable outlet for export of goods already manufactured now and potentially manufactured later on, assuming foreign countries decide to start opening more factories in Armenia, something that is still up in the air.

In Vanadzor goods are already moving back and forth from and to Georgia--a large sized trade depot that was built as far back as before the turn of the 20th century exists there. Obviously it was expanded during the Soviet era, but the railway itself needs dire repair. Apparently it takes about 12 hours to make the trip from Yerevan to Tbilisi, which took at most five hours during the good old days. The trade going on now is not nearly a fraction of what it once was, but there is activity there, and it will increase substantially soon enough. Vanadzor's economy especially will also be significantly strengthened one would guess.

This may not be something that people may want to hear, but restoring a key railway link to the north is an excellent, albeit short-term alternative to having the Turkish border opened, assuming Turkey will ever agree to end its blockade against Armenia. Hopefully some of the oligarchs controlling Armenia's economy will chip in to renovate the internal railway, at least to the Georgian border. Let's see what happens in the next few years. But the announcement sounds very promising.

Read the full article here.

Photo courtesy of Photolur
Posted by Christian Garbis at 11:08 AM.
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May 10, 2006
Armenia: human rights violator
I just read an interesting report on ArmeniaLiberty that Armenia is considered to be a significant human rights violator, so much so that an independent monitoring organization, called Human Rights Watch (HRW), is campaigning to have Armenia not be elected to serve on the United Nations Human Rights Council. There are 47 seats available, and Armenia is among 64 countries that are running for election to the council. And of those countries 28 of them, including Armenia, are on HRW's blacklist, along with Azerbaijan, Russia, China, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. In order for Armenia to be elected to the council it needs to receive 96 votes from the UN General Assembly's 191 membership.

In its overview, HRW was pretty critical of Armenia's record on human rights violations. It stated the following:

Although the international community continued in 2005 to look favorably on Armenia for its economic performance, the government has failed to improve its human rights record. The crackdown on opposition parties and supporters in 2004 led to fewer public demonstrations in 2005, and, consequently, less overt government pressure on the opposition. However, the authorities continued to use their powers to limit political activity.


Then it stated:

Torture and ill-treatment in police custody remain widespread in Armenia. Torture usually occurs in pre-trial detention with the aim of coercing a confession or evidence against third parties. Abuse and mistreatment within the army is also widespread, with dozens of suspicious deaths occurring every year.


The overview goes on to describe in detail specific incidents related to violations having to do with freedom of assembly, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, and most importantly in my opinion, state violence and intimidation.

The question is: what are we going to do about it? Human rights violations have clearly become an embarrassing problem that is harder and harder to run away from. Citizens in Armenia feel paralyzed I assume to make changes regarding how their rights should be defended. The stigma behind the interrogation practices by the "KGB", or the NSA as it is officially called now, and the fear associated with being "taken away" by the agency, is hampering efforts to protest against ill practices made by the government regarding election fraud, corruption, and so forth. People who opposed the government when they were being evicted from their homes illegally were beaten and kicked out onto the street. I heard of one case where a woman living in a building that was slated to be destroyed left to go to the store, and by the time she returned she found that her house had been demolished. Out of shock she had an immediate heart attack and died. Do we let such incidents continue?

If anything Armenian diasporan communities should be putting pressure on the Armenian government to clean up its act regarding violating the rights of Armenian citizens. But they're not. In the US, there are two major organizations--both involved in lobbying but have influence in Armenian affairs--that have as far as I'm aware refrained from making any statements regarding Armenia's poor human rights record. The Armenian National Committee of America, an organization whose goal is to obsessively lobby the US government to recognize the Armenian Genocide and convince Turkey to do the same, could start putting together an action plan as to how it can mobilize Armenians to stand up for the rights of their brothers and sisters in the homeland. This effort would be a sway from their current efforts however. And the fact that the ANCA is the political wing of the ARF-Dashnaktsutiun, which is a member of the three-party coalition backing the Kocharian administration, also gets in the way. How do you criticize the president that you officially support and who has granted your organization ministry seats? What human rights violations? The mentality is the following: there may be some isolated cases, but the actions of a few justify the appropriate steps needed to be taken to bring about order. Another influential organization, called the Armenian Assembly of America, also could do something about voicing protests on behalf of the diaspora against human rights violations. But that's tricky as well, since some high-ranking members of the organization are doing big business in Armenia, especially in real estate. Ruffling the government's feathers when people get beaten up for defending their rights is bad for business.

So what do we do? Do we let it continue or do we get involved? Do we put pressure on the Armenian government to be more open to public criticism of its domestic policies, or do we continue to let it--a supposed democratically elected government mind you--crack down on those who think differently about how their society should exist for them and their families?

Now Armenians are not as hungry as they were five or 10 years ago. The nouveau riche of Yerevan forgot about how badly they were living, and how they expected changes from their government to resolve issues regarding the absence of electricity and lack of bread. Now people are living the high life, buying European cars, going to cafes night after night, eating at good restaurants, dressing well. Why protest a good thing? After all, they aren't the ones who are having their rights violated--at least not yet.

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Posted by Christian Garbis at 2:35 PM.
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May 6, 2006
Two more Armenian airliners are destroyed
Yesterday at work some said another situation occurred involving the burning of an airplane belonging to Armavia Airlines in Brussels. We turned on the television only to find that reports confirmed that at least one Airbus airliner was burning in a hanger, which itself was melting like a semi-circle shaped piece of plastic wrap.

An article that appeared on ArmeniaLiberty confirmed that not one Armenian airliner, but two—identical to the plane that crashed near Sochi on the Black Sea early Wednesday morning, an Airbus A320—were completely destroyed along with two other planes. The second Armenian plane belonged to a smaller airline. Arson is not suspected to be the cause of the fire.

This of course means that three Airbus planes have been destroyed in less than a week, and the Armenian airline Armavia’s business will seriously suffer as a result. They only had a few medium-sized aircraft to fly back and forth to European cities, using the same planes to fly to a different city each day. So far it’s unclear as to how many flights will continue. Armavia had partnerships with KLM and Lufthansa Airlines—connecting flights to Armenia are operated by the airline from Amsterdam, Frankfurt, and Munich. Thankfully flights from London, Czech Republic, and Austria have not been affected, as their national carriers fly directly to Yerevan from London, Prague, and Vienna, respectively. Air France has also begun direct flights from Paris to Yerevan just a few weeks ago—Aznavour flew into town to introduce the new service.

So it’s hard to say whether tourism will be affected this year to due lack of flights, or whether the European airlines that fly to Yerevan will simply increase their number of flights each week. Armavia has already lost tens of millions of dollars, and I would not be surprised if the company filed bankruptcy by the end of the year.

It’s been a rough week. Approximately 26 corpses have been found and were flown to Yerevan on Friday—some have yet to be identified due to decay. Armenia will be mourning officially until the end of Saturday, then Monday is also considered a holiday day since May 9--Victory Day—falls on a Tuesday this near. Russia has declared national days of mourning as well.
Posted by Christian Garbis at 10:52 AM.
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May 5, 2006
Saying goodbye, then hello to Old Yerevan
Lately the government has renewed efforts to destroy yet more historic areas of the capital city, instead of preserving and turning them into tourist sites. Most of the residents of area called Kozern live in private homes, which for some reason were never privatized in their own names after the collapse of the Soviet Union, therefore they are not the “legal” residents of their own homes in which they have lived for decades. As usual, the tenants are not being promised the prices for the properties they reside on that are commensurate with the current real estate prices of Central Yerevan. The mayor of Yerevan, Yervand Zakharian, who as his predecessors were appointed by the President and has been careless with not only preserving historic landmarks but failing to give evicted residents proper compensation, promised to address their concerns over a week ago when several of Kozern’s residents visited his office in City Hall.


Kozern is located in an area considered to be Central Yerevan, although it is not exactly located in the city’s downtown area. As a matter of fact, I could not pinpoint the exact location of the neighborhood, as all articles I have read so far regarding the plight of Kozern’s residents seem to already assume that the reader knows where the place is. I found one line in an ArmeniaLiberty article that suggests where the district is located: “Karlen Hakhverdian has lived in the area [Kozern] close to the presidential palace in Yerevan for more than 40 years but is still not considered the legal owner of his modest house.” This means that the area is probably located high on the hill behind the Armenian University of Armenia building, where there are several apartment buildings and private homes. Or it could include the area located alongside Karen Demerjian Street, which runs perpendicular to Marshall Baghramian and is flanked by the Parliament building.

In any case, properties in the Central Yerevan district are currently selling for $1,000 to $1,500 per square meter. Undoubtedly, if these people are definitely required to relocate, they may be paid the same sums that the government paid residents living on Arami and Buzand Streets located near Republic Square and stretch as far as Mashdots Street. Residents there received only a few thousand dollars each, or else they were beaten when they refuse to vacate and were paid nothing, presumably ending up homeless. Even on the farthest outskirts of Yerevan you cannot purchase an apartment for less than $25,000 now.

A recent article published by Hetq Online claims that several old structures that were raised to make way for the grandiose, expected eyesore judging from some of the buildings half completed, the Northern Boulevard, will be reconstructed in “the area behind SIL Plaza, on Aram, Buzand and Koghbatsi streets.” If this indeed is the case then that’s at least something. Old Yerevan needs to be preserved at all costs, even if it means moving some of the buildings around to recreate a classic old neighborhood 80 or more years old. The ancient buildings that lined those streets as well as the ones on lower Abovyan Street, some of which still thankfully exist, were what inspired me to fall in love with Yerevan in the first place several years ago. Destroying them has crippled the city’s charm. But I hope after reading that article that Yerevan’s old magic will return to once again inspire new visitors.

You can read the article about Kozern here. The article about Old Yerevan can be found here.

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Posted by Christian Garbis at 1:58 PM.
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May 3, 2006
Update on the Armavia plane crash

The plane en route to Sochi, which crashed around 3:15 am Yerevan time into the Black Sea, carried 113 people, including six children. Eighty five of the persons on board were Armenian citizens, while 26 were Russians, and there were also one Georgian and one Ukranian. About 46 bodies were recovered as of this writing.

Although 20 boats were dispatched to the area of the crash, recovery of pieces of the plane and bodies is proving to be a daunting task because of the stormy conditions, with pelting rain and high waves. It is believed that some parts of the plane may have sunk down as deep as 1.2 miles, although the fusilage was determined to be located at about 1,300 feet below the sea surface.

Terrorism has been ruled out as a possible cause of the crash. At first airline authorities were quick to blame the bad weather, but it seems that poor instructions transmitted from the air control tower in Sochi will ultimately be at fault. As the plane approached for landing the pilots were instructed to loop around the airport first, then a few minutes later the controllers changed their minds, claiming that the conditions were safe to touch down. Minutes later the plane disappeared from radar. There is no word about whether the black boxes can be recovered--it does not seem likely at this point.

President Kocharian already declared Friday and Saturday as national days of mourning.

For updated information, go to the online BBC News and New York Times articles. ArmeniaLiberty also has published an article that can be read here.

Photo caption: Parts of the plane were brought ashore after it crashed into the Black Sea. Denis Sinyakov/AFP–Getty Images
Posted by Christian Garbis at 8:58 PM.
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Armenian plane crashes into Black Sea

I just received word from a friend of mine living in California that a plane en route to Sochi from Yerevan crashed into the Black Sea at approximately 3:30 am, when the plane disappeared from radar screens. There were approximately 113 people on board, including the crew. Everyone is believed to be dead.

The plane was an Airbus A320 and operated by Armavia Airlines, which from what I understand was renting the plane, but from where I am not certain. This I believe is the first such plane crash in the Armenian republic's 15 year history, although I may be mistaken. So far bad weather may be to blame for the crash although nothing related to the cause of the crash is certain as of this writing. Russian emergency crews scrambled to the area shortly after hearing about the crash.

Debris has already been found along the coast of the Black Sea. Sochi is a Russian coastal city and a popular vacation resort, to which thousands of Armenians travel each year. Just after the 1988 earthquake thousands of people from Vanadzor, including my wife's family, and undoubtedly other towns in northern Armenia located along the fault line were sent by the Soviet government to Sochi by train in order to live until things were brought to some order back home.

This news is a shock for sure. It will be a difficult time not just for the victim's families but for Armenians here in general. Although this speculation may not be that important Armavia's business will undoubtedly be affected as well. I daresay tourism by Armenians traveling outside the country will also suffer as a result, albeit temporarily.

A more detailed report can be read on CNN online.
Posted by Christian Garbis at 11:10 AM.
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May 1, 2006
Happy May Day

Today is May Day, otherwise known as International Workers’ Day, as is celebrated around the world. May Day was important during the communist days of course due to the socialist overtones associated with the holiday’s symbolism—apparently May Day was endorsed officially by the Soviet Union and was marked by military parades and all associated fanfare in the good ol’ days. But it was also a day when workers took the day off to hold mass demonstrations in support of their communist country.

May Day’s celebration went away in Armenia as soon as the Soviet Union fell apart, then made a come back in 2001 as an official state holiday, then supposedly marked only by communists according to a news report. But last year much more was made of the holiday, including an honorary ceremony for war veterans held in Yerevan’s Victory Park on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II. It’s interesting to note that of the millions of troops that served Mother Russia during the second world war, 600,000 of them were from Armenia—about half of them returned alive.

The image above is a Soviet World War II-era propaganda poster marking the arrival of May Day and encouraging the people’s support for their country.

In an unrelated note, President Aliyev of Azerbaijan met with President Bush in Washington a few days ago, where they talked about various topics including regional peace and stability and so forth. But the most notable, hot item on the agenda was the Karabagh war resolution. According to an RFE/RL report, the two presidents did not have much to say on the topic, at least not in the limelight. But apparently President Aliyev assured President Bush that he was hopeful a peaceful resolution would be found to the conflict. This runs contradictory to the rhetorical statements President Aliyev has been spewing during the last few months about Azerbaijan willing to use military force at a moment’s notice in order to reclaim Karabagh, raving that Azerbaijan will never let the region go, even though it technically lost it in 1994 when a ceasefire agreement was signed. Regarding this matter I believe President Bush told his Azeri counterpart either one of two things: to give Karabagh up once and for all or to restore his country’s territorial integrity. The next few months will be interesting regarding whether a final outcome will be salvaged. Although the status quo cannot go on indefinitely, even though Armenia clearly holds the upper hand geo-strategically, economists and diplomats claim that the long-term socioeconomic survival of Armenia depends on closing a peace deal, whereas Azerbaijan has nothing to worry about supposedly because it has a steady flow of oil money in the billions of dollars.

You can read some more about President Aliyev’s rhetoric here and here. The article about his meeting with President Bush can be read here.
Posted by Christian Garbis at 12:32 AM.
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