Author: Talar Tumanian

Kalavan – ‘chocolate’ village where oligarchs are banned to enter: photos

Talar Tumanian
Aravot, Armenia

Nelly BABAYAN 

Kalavan residents upgrade their village on their own

Amrkher village, formerly fully resided by Azeri people, again turned into an Armenian populated one throughout Artsakh war, it was renamed as well, now it is the prospering Kalavan. As said by the villagers, this village located at the “edge of the world”, started to “get revived”, when the villagers got a dream.

Kalavan resident Robert Ghukasyan was 9 years old, when his family was displaced from Azerbaijan’s Sumgayit city: he says he remembers those cases, but does not feel hostility towards the Azeri people, they were political “games”. Robert proves by his example that if one loves his village very much, he will develop it. As soon as he starts to tell about the village, he notes first and foremost that it was an Armenian village, they started to populate it with Azeri people in 1800s, back then even Azerbaijan as a state and nation did not exist.

During the years of war the Armenians started to resettle in this village of Gegharkunik province, they came from several villages of Azerbaijan’s Shamkhor region. 113 residents live in the village, 3 families from Yerevan have settled in Kalavan, surrounded by forests. Entering Kalavan, it is difficult to believe that it is a developing community: abandoned and destroyed houses are all around, these destroyed houses have been Azerbaijani people’s houses, but they, as Robert says, are interesting to the tourists similarly. Robert has succeeded to turn the flaws of the village into places of tourists’ interest. Today Kalavan is one of the world best places for adventure and ecotourism and Robert has accomplished this in simply a few years, he has brought his plan and dream to life in 2014.

Kalavan is visited from various countries, even Peru and Chile, Australia and Israel. Robert Ghukasyan says, this is not tourism development, this is community development which encompasses all fields.

Archaeologist and zooarchaeologist Robert runs “Time Land” foundation through which they have generated ideas for the development of the village. “I have traveled a lot, but every time, for example, being at the center of Paris, I wanted to return to my village do something good. I did not expect where I would reach, I did not have an idea of neither tourism, nor community development. But I succeeded, I started and after a year Kalavan village became rather famous”, tells Robert.

Asked how he started, Robert answered: “With 20 USD. My friends came, we built a Stone Age shelter in the forest and had dinner. And the idea came out. I made out the game Mammoth. The tourists come here and start to live with the life of Stone Age people. They make fire by themselves, make tools and build Stone Age shelter.

Last year Kalavan received 2500 tourists. Robert had to sell his cow to have means to participate in the International Conference in Alaska and present the village. After this visit, the village had a demand of 10.000 tourists. “Now we have given a pause, we cannot receive 10.000 tourists, we should receive cheap loans from Small and Medium Entrepreneurship Development National Center and build the guesthouses, that is – the villagers will make their houses resemble guesthouses and we will receive a lot of guests 2018 onwards again”, tells Robert.

The launch of the village’s development was not difficult, as Robert says, they started to examine human resources and the villagers did not need to have knowledge of computer or foreign language, good knowledge of flora and fauna and of making tasty dishes and tea from plants was enough.

“And an important thing is that the villagers understood that they are a value and not a voice”, says Robert.

The villagers, all of them are engaged in the field of tourism, one takes the tourists to the village by his Vilis, the other makes tasty dishes, the 3rd one receives tourists in his house, the 4th one knows the surrounding well, recognizes the birds by each tweet, tells the tourists about the location, nature and animals during the hikes. Robert says, the women of the village have a special talent, they make 102 types of dishes from the plants: “The tourists are attracted by the harmony between the humans and nature in our village. The visitors can recognize the edible plants and get acquainted with preparation method. We have non-standard hikes, dance of the Caucasian grouses, during which we see the grouse from the Red Book.”

Entrepreneurs’ and oligarchs’ entry is banned in Kalavan: Robert says the villagers strictly refuse the investments of the foreigners: “They will come and think solely of their business, provide their income, and that will not have an influence on the living standard of the villager, even if they work in the hotel built by them. And via our community development program, every villager should be involved and have his work. We refuse other investments forasmuch as we have a dream and will realize it by ourselves. We refuse, because we have made a “chocolate” village by our inner resources, and the businessman will come and provide his income based on that? Business will contaminate the village. Strangers have nothing to do in here, we will do everything on our own.”

The road to the village is difficult to pass, ruined, no asphalt is in place, it is again a Stone Age road. Robert says it does not upset the tourists: “This is the very weak side that we have converted into a competition privilege. When one knows s/he goes to a heavenly place… the asphalt can never lead to a heavenly place.”

Asked whether they will replace the Vilis taking the tourists to the village by Jeep one day, Robert replied: “At the very second when Vilis is replaced by Jeep, the interest of the village will disappear.”

Even the uncultivated lands of Kalavan have turned into a competition advantage for the development of the village: Robert says, when people have not cultivated the lands maybe from laziness, maybe from hopelessness, they have not filled the soil with pesticides, they have created ideal conditions for organic agriculture. Kalavan has received now a 3-year grant for the organic agriculture development – they do beekeeping and gardening, grow raspberries.

“Not a community exists which has not a development opportunity, they simply have to use the human resources correctly and appreciate people”, says Robert. Although people leave Kalavan to work abroad, Robert says: “It is temporary, we need money to build guesthouses at the moment, they leave. Our victory is that Kalavan residents see their future in the village, and previously no one wanted to associate their lives with the village. Formerly, when they wanted to tell about the place they lived in, they described the neighboring villages, now they proudly indicate Kalavan.”

NELLY BABAYAN

The article has been prepared via International Center for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) support. “Aravot”  


Culture: Raspberry festival to be held in Armenia’s Syunik province

Talar Tumanian
ARKA, Armenia

YEREVAN, July 21. /ARKA/. A raspberry festival will be held Saturday in Armenia’s Syunik province with World Vision Armenia's support.

The festival is in its second year. The fist festival was held in 2016 in Aragatsotn province on the flank of Mount Aragats.

Tamara Barbakadze, World Vision Armenia project manager in Aragatsotn province, told Novosti-Armenia that climate and human resources factor for growing raspberry are very favorable in Syunik, just as in Aragatsotn.  

She said that the organization embarked on creating of farmer groups for growing raspberries in Aparan, Aragatsotn province, yet two years ago, and now there are five such groups made up of ten farmers each.    

Each of the groups grows around 130 tons of raspberries every year. This is 20 to 30 tons more than before.

Barbakadze said that the organization doesn't finance farms, since it wants them to manage their crops and their business independently.  

«First of all, we help them to establish ties with purchasers and other donor organizations,» she said. -0– 

Elections can in no way affect Karabakh peace process – Artsakh MFA

Talar Tumanian
Public Radio of Armenia

12:34, 19 Jul 2017

“Free, fair, transparent and competitive elections, as an integral part of political processes in the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh Republic), are aimed at organizing the public life in the Republic and forming government through democratic procedure,” Artsakh Foreign Ministers Spokesman Artak Nersisyan has said.

“They can in no way have a negative impact on the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs for a peaceful settlement of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict. This position has been confirmed in one form or another by the Minsk Group Co-Chairs in their numerous statements,” the Spokesperson said in comments to News.am.

The remarks come after the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Spokesman called the upcoming elections “an attempt to undermine the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs.”

“Moreover, the mediators have also noted the role of the people of Nagorno Karabakh in determining their future within the framework of the settlement of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict. We believe that elections are one of the forms of expressing the will of the people, and therefore their conduct is fully consistent with the logic of a peaceful settlement of the conflict,” Artakh Nersisyan said.

“Azerbaijan’s negative reaction to the political processes in Artsakh is caused not by concern for the efforts of the Minsk Group Co-Chairs, which Baku itself undermines in every possible way, but the desire to exclude the very existence of Artsakh,” the Spokesperson said.

“It is obvious that the irreversibility of strengthening the statehood of Artsakh and its institutions causes a nervous reaction from Baku. Moreover, Azerbaijan’s rejection of the objective reality is one of the main obstacles in the process of the settlement of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict,” Nersisyan concluded.

Armenian Parliament Vice Speaker slams Latvia-Azerbaijan declaration as "unacceptable, strange"

Talar Tumanian 
Armenpress News Agency, Armenia
 Wednesday


Armenian Parliament Vice Speaker slams Latvia-Azerbaijan declaration
as "unacceptable, strange"



YEREVAN, 19 JULY, ARMENPRESS. Vice Speaker of the Armenian Parliament
Eduard Sharmazanov finds it at least strange and odd that a EU member
country – Latvia – is signing a strategic cooperation declaration with
one of the world’s most authoritarian regimes: the Azerbaijani
president.

In an interview with ARMENPRESS, the Vice Speaker reminded that the
very European media and structures have numerously talked about the
human rights abuse, corruption scandals and support to terrorism by
Azerbaijan.

“If the EU is the embodiment of human rights protection and democratic
institutions, then how can one understand the cooperation of a EU
member country and the most authoritarian regime of the world –
moreover in the military sector. I, as the leader of the
Armenian-Latvian friendship MP group, express my doubt to my European
colleagues. This is unacceptable at least for me, because th European
Union is first of all the protection of human rights and freedoms. And
if you profess these values and sign a strategic declaration with a
country which is thousands of miles away from protection of human
rights, then this puts your reputation to doubt”, Sharmazanov said.

Commenting on the ideas and assessments which were voices in Latvia,
the Vice Speaker mentioned that they have serious discontent in this
regard.

“Latvia is a EU country, and any EU country must maintain the official
EU stances in at least the official statements. In this specific
statement and declaration, speaking on the process of Nagorno Karabakh
settlements, it mentions peaceful settlement, territorial integrity,
inviolability of borders, but there is not a word about the right of
self-determination. To the consideration of our Latvian colleagues, it
must be mentioned that a Minsk Group co-chairmanship format exists,
where three principles exist. One of them is the principle of
exercising the self-determination right, at least five statements of
the Minsk Group co-chairing countries’ presidents are available on
this. One of these co-chairing countries, France, is a EU member
state, and not once has the EU, Mrs. Mogherini, declared that the
three principles of the Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship, which include the
self-determination right and the exercise of this right, are
inviolable”, he said.

He found it at least uncertain and unacceptable that a EU member
country does not mention the self-determination right in the
statement.

Speaking about Baku’s assessments about the declaration, Sharmazanov
said: “If Azerbaijan got so happy about this declaration, let me
remind that without the complete implementation of the
self-determination right of the people of NK the problem cannot be
solved, while territorial integrity has nothing to do with Nagorno
Karabakh, because it hasn’t been part of independent Azerbaijan for a
single moment”.

US Congressmen join protest of Armenians, Kurds and Yazidis outside Turkish embassy in Washington D.C.

Talar Tumanian 
Armenpress News Agency, Armenia
 Wednesday


US Congressmen join protest of Armenians, Kurds and Yazidis outside
Turkish embassy in Washington D.C.



YEREVAN, JULY 19, ARMENPRESS. Representatives of the Armenian, Kurdish
and Yazidi communities of the US held a protest outside the Turkish
embassy in Washington D.C., reports Armenpress.

The protest was also attended by US Congressmen.

Congressman Jim McGovern in his remarks said Turkey’s Constitution
should protect the freedom of speech and assembly, however, President
Erdogan declared emergency situation and uses it as a justification to
exert pressure on civil society. “All these are being done for
strengthening his power. We call this authoritarianism, clear and
concrete. Fundamental human rights and freedoms are being violated in
Turkey. Erdogan tried to use the same tactic here, however, it failed.
This tactic doesn’t work here, in the US. Raise your voices and let
the Turkish embassy here that we will not be silenced”, Jim McGovern
said.

Congressman John Sarbanes stated that Erdogan’s aggressive and
authoritarian actions do not allow Turkey to solve its problems.

“We have seen violence and discriminatory practices which are being
committed in Turkey at the state level against Kurds, Armenians, as
well as other ethnic and religious minorities. I have never thought
that I would witness these authoritarian manifestations here, in the
US land. We have a right to peacefully raise our voice and protest
against these manifestations”, Sarbanes said.

The protesters were holding posters entitled “Extradite Turkish
criminals”, “Defend the N1 change of the Constitution”, “Erdogan: No
violence on US soil”, “Free Demirtas now” and etc.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s bodyguards have attacked
peaceful protesters in Washington D.C. The demonstration, which began
at Lafayette Square at noon, was organized by a coalition of
organizations, including the Armenian National Committee of America
(ANCA) and the American Hellenic Council. Several different groups,
which included representatives from the Armenian, Greek, Kurdish, and
Assyrian communities, participated in the protest, while President
Erdogan met with US President Donald Trump at the White House. Later
the footage shows that Erdogan personally ordered the security detail
to attack the protesters.

Film: Turkish director’s film included in Golden Apricot’s competition program tells Armenian woman’s story

Talar Tumanian
Panorama, Armenia

Mother Derdo and the Walnut Tree directed by Turkish filmmaker Serdar Önal is included in the Documentary Competition section of the 14th Golden Apricot Yerevan International Film Festival. The film won Golden Tulip Award during the 2017 Istanbul Film Festival.

The film unfolds the story of mother Derdo, a 70-year-old Armenian woman, who lives in Istanbul and Bitlis together with her children and grandchildren.

“When I visited Istanbul to shoot a film, I met with Derdo’s granddaughter Mari, who told me this story. I was surprised to find out that there are Armenians still living in the eastern Turkey, who have a story to tell,” Serdar Önal told the reporters on Wednesday at a news conference in Yerevan, Armenia.

The director met with mother Derdo and talked to her for more than three hours.

The film has been shot in Bitlis, Yerevan and Echmiadzin.

Asked what purpose does the film pursue, the Turkish director said: “This tells the story of an Armenian woman, meantime presenting the live of a mother and a woman.”

The filmmaker also added that he has come across numerous interesting stories about Armenians and Greeks, which may turn into films in the future.

About the film

Derdo Ana is a 70 year old Armenian woman who lives in Istanbul and Bitlis with her children and grandchildren. She was born in a village in the province of Bitlis, in the East of Turkey (an important Armenian city during the Ottoman Empire). Derdo's siblings and even her father converted to Islam to after 1915, but Derdo resisted to remain as Christian. When Mother Derdo was staying with her husband and 8 children in Bitlis, living on agriculture and stock breeding, her family was continuously harassed and threatened by the village headmen. One day, her husband was murdered in the village while she was away working in the fields with her children. Nonetheless, Derdo Ana and her children kept to be threatened even after her husband's death, and was thus forced to run away with her children: they all came to Istanbul in 1976, spending their first years living in very difficult conditions. Mother  Derdo sued the village headmen in order to get back their stolen fields: after 9 years she won her case and she returned to her home in the village. Today, even after all these sufferings and incidents, Derdo can't give up going to her village: every summer, she goes there just for two months, picks up the walnuts from the little piece of land that is left to her, and then comes back to Istanbul.

Film: Golden Apricot Film Festival Opens in Yerevan

Talar Tumanian
Xinhua, China
 
 
Golden Apricot Film Festival Opens in Yerevan
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-10 02:32:23|Editor: Zhang Dongmiao
 
Minister of Culture of Armenia Armen Amiryan (R) attends the opening of the Golden Apricot Yerevan International Film Festival (GAIFF), one of the biggest cultural events in Armenia, in Yerevan, Armenia, on July 9, 2017. (Xinhua/Gevorg Ghazaryan)
 
YEREVAN, Armenia, July 9 (Xinhua) — The 14th Golden Apricot Yerevan International Film Festival (GAIFF), one of the biggest cultural events in Armenia, kicked off here on Sunday.
 
According to the organizers, this year, the annual film festival, founded in 2004, received 1,100 film submissions from 96 countries. However, only 47 films will be competing in three main categories: International Feature Competition (12 films), International Documentary Competition (16 films) and Armenian Panorama National Competition (19 films).
 
Since 2005, Golden Apricot has been taking place annually under the auspices of the European Cultural Parliament. It has also received continual support from the Armenian Foreign Ministry as well as the Ministry of Culture.
 
This year members of the jury for different categories include film director Hugh Hudson from the United Kingdom, director Tom Fassaert from the Netherlands, Jens Geiger from Germany and others The international film festival will last for a week with the closing ceremony scheduled for July 16.
 
 

Music: Narek Hakhnazaryan to perform at the first edition of “Armenia” international music festival

Talar Tumanian
Panorama, Armenia
July 1 2017

Armenian world-known cellist Narek Hakhnazaryan announced about his upcoming performance with State Youth Orchestra in Yerevan.

“As you can see I am back to Armenia, to my beloved Yerevan. I am very excited to be playing on July 5th at Aram Khachaturian Concert Hall on “Armenia” international music festival. I will be playig pieces by Alexey Shor and Camille Saint-Saëns,” Hakhnazaryan said in a video message, posted by the Armenia Music Festival Facebook page.

To note, an International music festival and competition called “Armenia” will be held in Yerevan for the first time from July 4 to 12. The organizers of the festival and competition are the State Youth Orchestra of Armenia (SYOA) and European Foundation for Support of Culture.

Pianists up to 34 years old will have a chance to compete in this competition. The total prize fund of the competition is 20 000 Euro (the 1st prize – 10 000 Euro, the 2nd prize-5000 Euro, the 3rd prize- 3000 Euro and special prize-2000 Euro).

The jury of the competition consists of 5 famous musicians and performers from different countries. In the competition, Armenia will be represented by Professor Armen Babakhanyan, a famous Armenian pianist.

Film Review: The Promise

Talar Tumanian
The Advertiser, Australia
FILM REVIEW | The Promise

Jess Layt
26 Jun 2017, 10:03 a.m.

The Promise is an important film shining a light on the Armenian Genocide.

Love story: Oscar Isaac and Charlotte Le Bon star as Mikael and Ana in The Promise, set during the Armenian Genocide. The film is in cinemas now and rated M.

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The Promise is a love story – on its surface.

But the romance is merely the entry point for the real story of the film: the Armenian Genocide.

Believed to be the first modern genocide, and in fact the mass killings which spawned the very word ‘genocide’, the systematic killing of Armenian people in the Ottoman Empire from 1915 is not something that has been regularly made into films.

In comparison, there are countless films that deal with the Holocaust, but only a handful which delve into the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians.

The Promise follows Armenian medical student Mikael (Oscar Isaac, Star Wars: The Force Awakens) as he takes to his studies in Constantinople at the start of World War I.

He meets Ana (Charlotte Le Bon, The Walk), a French Armenian, and her American war correspondent partner Chris (Christian Bale, The Fighter) and the three fast become close.

Mikael, already betrothed to a woman back in his hometown, is attracted to Ana but does his best not to act on his feelings.

Ana, frustrated with Chris’ drinking, is also drifting away from her boyfriend and toward Mikael.

But their love story fades into the background once Mikael’s uncle is rounded up by authorities, simply for being Armenian.

This is just the start of the devastation, as more and more Armenian people are deported and slaughtered.

The Promise is directed with heart and compassion by Terry George, who has previously shown his skill at handling extremely tough subject matter with the immensely superb Hotel Rwanda.

The tragedy of The Promise is shocking and heart-wrenching and could move even the most stoic of viewers to tears.

It is, as cases of genocide are, unfathomable that such atrocities could be inflicted upon innocent people.

The love story is fictional, but the backdrop is historically accurate. The Promise is an important film, well conceived and perfectly acted.


Film fans who use IMDb.com ratings as a guide to good films should be advised to ignore this film’s current 5.9 score – a breakdown shows significant scores of both ‘1’ and ‘10’, from people of Armenian and Turkish heritage skewing the votes.

Bots, Blockades And Blackouts: How Armenia Media Copes

Talar Tumanian
OC Media
 
 

by Chai Khana

On the eve of Armenia’s parliamentary elections this April, journalist Gegham Vardanyan found himself in what would be a crisis for any reporter — his Twitter account had been suspended.

But he was not alone. Aside from Vardanyan, the editor-in-chief of media-industry monitor Media.am, the accounts of non-profit media outlet Civilnet.am, investigative-news site Hetq.am and political analyst Stepan Grigoryan were suspended, too. All had been providing active coverage of the elections.

The outage — the apparent work of a Russian bot attack — only lasted a few hours, Coda Story has reported, but it underlined, for many Armenians, the importance of online sources of news and information during major national events.

That status came not just from technological change, but, ironically, from blockades established by the government itself. While the government does not routinely restrict online access, its thinking can change in times of crisis.

And Armenians respond accordingly.

Chai Khana provides below a retrospective.

Screenshots of Armenian media outlets and journalists’ Twitter accounts that were suspended on April 1, 2017.

It all started with a hashtag. Active Armenian Twitter users had chosen #armvote2017 to disseminate coverage of  the country’s April 2 parliamentary vote.

But a day before the elections, about a dozen fake Russian Twitter accounts began spreading fake news about the US Agency for International Development’s alleged intervention in the vote. They also used the #armvote2017 hashtag. Within a few hours, some of Armenia’s most active Twitter accounts covering the election and suspected violations of electoral law had been suspended.

That reaction is standard for accounts about which Twitter has received multiple complaints, noted Media.am’s Vardanyan. Nonetheless, it caused a shock.

“In the beginning, I  was worried a little bit because, according to Twitter, my account could be recovered within 24 hours; that is to say, on the evening of election day. This would hinder the coverage of elections on that platform. We contacted one American media-security organization [Access Now] and the problem was solved. After four hours, all the suspended accounts were unblocked,” says Gegham Vardanyan.

Blocking Twitter accounts is a classic example of prohibiting journalists from doing their job. But governments as well as outside bots can cut off information.

On March 1, 2008, Armenia got its first taste of what it means to not be able to access reliable information online in the midst of a national news event.

Ten people were killed in Yerevan on March 1, 2008 during street clashes between police and protesters over the results of Armenia’s presidential election, according to official statistics. (Photo: Archive of the Media Initiative Center)

That morning, violent  street clashes broke out in Yerevan between police and protesters who rejected the February election of Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan as president. A March 1, 2008 order by then President Robert Kocharyan announced a 20-day state of emergency and stipulated that media covering domestic politics and state affairs must only use information from official bodies.

Former Armenian President Robert Kocharyan (Photo: 2rd.am)

For more than 20 days, Armenia’s media sector was paralyzed. No newspapers were printed, and leading independent news websites (notably, A1plus.am, aravot.am, azatutyun.am) were blocked. One of the main sources of information at that time, YouTube, where many Armenians actively watched the opposition’s promotional videos, disappeared as well.

The order put Armenia’s printed press into a coma as well. The Armenian Times Managing Editor Hayk Gevorgyan, 50, remembers the night of March 1. When Gevorgyan took the daily’s March 2 issue to the printers, the first person he met there was an officer from the National Security Service, Armenia’s intelligence agency.

Armenian Times Managing Editor Hayk Gevorgyan. (Photo: Grigor Yepremyan)

“An officer — I guess, a captain from the National Security — was reading and checking the front page of our daily. Then, he would call somewhere for consultation and then prohibit our publishing. For exactly 20 days, we were working like this; taking prepared editions [of the paper] to the printers, [and] then getting a rejection. After several days of this, we lost our hope that we’d be published at all. We were taking the issue to the printers, then getting refused, drinking coffee with the National Security representative, [and] then coming back,” recounted Gevorgyan.

The paper’s website also was blocked. The Armenian Times’ newspaper and websiteonly resumed their work on March 21, one day after the state of emergency was lifted.

The Armenian Times’ first issue after Armenia ended its state of emergency on March 21, 2008

But the state of emergency contributed to more Armenians using the internet, Gevorgyan believes, as people tried to find ways to get around the information blockade and find reliable information about what was going on in their country. Relying on anonymous proxies, many internet users found ways around the blockade.  Websites with non-Armenian domain names also were set up to publish materials by registered Armenian journalists, media outlets and citizen-journalists.

Yerevan passers-by survey damage from the March 1, 2008 clashes between police and protesters over Armenia’s presidential-election results.  (Photo:Media Initiative Center’s Archive) 

Even elderly people, who never before had used computers or the internet, headed to internet cafés to get news and information from sources not just channeling the government’s line.

The 20-day state of emergency contributed to the popularity of blogs as an alternative source of information. Most Armenian blogs on Livejournal, a frequently used blogging platform in Eurasia, actively covered the post-election situation.

Blogger Samvel Martirosyan, 44, an information-security expert, is also known as @kornelij. This nickname comes from his blog, kornelij.livejournal.com,which gained public attention during the March 2008 media-blackout.

“During the 2008  information blockade, traditional media outlets (printed press and websites) were not functioning, TV stations were controlled by the authorities and, according to the order signed by the president, they had to broadcast only official information. And as Livejournal wasn’t blocked in Armenia, many people started to read blogs and create their own. Besides opinions and analyses, on Livejournal one could also find reliable information about the events that were happening during the state of emergency,” recounted Martirosyan.

That trend, though, led to some rivalry. As has happened elsewhere, several journalists started blaming bloggers for infringing on their profession. The accusations stopped, Martirosyan said, when journalists started using bloggers’ posts and Facebook statuses as sources of information.

A screenshot of Samvel Martirosyan’s (@kornelij) LiveJournal account.

Blogger Samvel Martirosyan

Early in the morning on July 17, 2016, an armed group stormed a police station in Yerevan. The group announced on their Facebook page that they had started a revolution and asked users to join them. For about an hour, people within Armenia could not access Facebook.

As elsewhere in the Caucasus, Facebook is one of the main sources of information in Armenia. The social-media site reaches roughly 32% of the country’s more than  2.12 million internet users; the second highest rate in the region after Georgia, according to Internet World Stats.

A “Daredevils of Sassoun” member speaks with media during the group’s July 2016 takeover of a Yerevan police station. (Photo: Photolure Photo Agency)

Most leading Armenian media outlets attract their readers to their websites through Facebook, and rely on the platform’s status updates and postings for their own information.

That dependence on Facebook means that blocking the platform during emergencies can contribute to panic, asserts Civilnet.am Editor-in-Chief Karen Harutyunyan, 42.

The blockage of Facebook and a police attack on journalists livestreaming during a Yerevan protest over electricity prices prompted the Washington, DC-based rights organization Freedom House to downgrade Armenia’s 2016 ranking for internet freedom.

Media analyst Mesrop Harutyunyan, 57, a lecturer in media studies at Yerevan Brusov State University of Languages and Social Sciences, believes that, whatever the restrictions, journalists will always find ways to get information to their audiences.

Media expert Mesrop Harutyunyan, a columnist for Media.am, a site that monitors trends in Armenian media. (Photo:Suren Stepanyan)

‘Today, it is useless to block websites. How many of them should you block? It is impossible . . .To disconnect Armenians from online sources of information, a grandmother in Georgia should mistakenly cut through the internet cable which comes to Armenia [a reference to a 2011 event — ed]. Blocking is not a way out. I hope there never will be this kind of situation in Armenia again’, Mesrop Harutyunyan says. 

Armenians, including some of the journalists in this story,  use a range of free apps and software to get news and information when a blockade is in place.

Arguably the best known, TOR allows users to access blocked websites anonymously by diverting their internet to so-called “virtual tunnels,” a chain of private servers run by volunteers throughout the world.  Security is TOR’s most cited weakness. The last connection between its chain of servers and the target destination is not encrypted.

Applications that work with a VPN (Virtual Private Network), which indirectly connects to the blocked website,  provide both encryption and anonymity, but security ultimately depends on how the VPN treats its users’ data.

TunnelBear offers a free VPN (for accessing servers in 18 countries), but with restricted data. In a May 2017 review, PC magazine highly rated its security.

In mobile-obsessed Armenia, other options also are common. Veteran VPN  Psyphon has been credited for its variety of censorship-dodging options, but is available for Android and Windows phones only. Owners of Apple devices often turn to  Opera Free VPN, based in Canada, benefits, as PC World wrote, from strong Canadian privacy laws.

By Suren Stepanyan.