The Associated Press December 9, 2018 Sunday 8:49 PM GMT Armenia premier's bloc winning vote, early returns show By AVET DEMOURIAN, Associated Press YEREVAN, Armenia YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) - Early returns from Armenia's snap parliamentary election Sunday show the country's new prime minister's bloc with a commanding lead - an outcome that would help further consolidate his power. The charismatic 43-year-old Nikol Pashinian took office in May after spearheading massive protests that forced his predecessor to step down. Pashinian has pushed for early vote to win control of a parliament that was dominated by his political foes. An ex-journalist turned politician, Pashinian has won broad popularity, tapping into public anger over widespread poverty, high unemployment and rampant corruption in the landlocked former Soviet nation of 3 million that borders Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey and Iran. With 185 out of the nation's 2,010 precincts counted, Pashinian's My Step was garnering 66 percent of the vote, while the Republican Party that controlled the old parliament was a distant fourth with just under 4 percent, struggling to overcome a 5-percent barrier to make it into parliament. The pro-business Prosperous Armenia party was coming second with about 11 percent of the ballot, and the nationalist Dashnaktsutyun party was winning about 8 percent. By the time the polls closed at 8 p.m. (1600 GMT, 11 a.m. EST), 49 percent of the nation's eligible voters cast ballots. Full preliminary results are expected Monday. Pashinian exuded confidence after casting his ballot in Yerevan, saying that he was sure that his bloc will win a majority in parliament. During the monthlong campaign, Pashinian has blasted members of the old elite as corrupt and pledged to revive the economy, create new jobs and encourage more Armenians to return home. "An economic revolution is our top priority," Pashinian told reporters Sunday. Armenia has suffered from an economic blockade stemming from the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, a region of Azerbaijan that has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since the end of a six-year separatist war in 1994. Attempts to negotiate a peace settlement have stalled and fighting has occasionally flared up between ethnic Armenian forces and Azerbaijan's soldiers. Both Azerbaijan and Turkey have closed their borders with Armenia over the conflict, cutting trade and leaving Armenia in semi-isolation. The country has direct land access only to Georgia and Iran. About one-third of Armenia's population has moved to live and work abroad and remittances from those who have left account for around 14 percent of the country's annual GDP. After seven months on the job, Pashinian has remained widely popular, particularly among the young. "Pashinian has put fresh blood in our veins. I believe in the future of Armenia," said computer expert Grigor Meliksetian, 24. Others weren't so optimistic. Bella Nazarian, an entrepreneur, said Pashinian has skillfully manipulated public hopes. "He's a populist and a liar," she said. "I believe that people's eyes will open as early as the coming spring." Saak Mkhitarian, 37, a video engineer, said he was worried about what he described as Pashinian's divisive rhetoric. "He wants to create an internal enemy and hates those who don't share his beliefs," Mkhitarian said. Pashinian was the driving force behind the protests that erupted in April when Serzh Sargsyan, who had served as Armenia's president for a decade, moved into the prime minister's seat, a move seen by critics as an attempt to hold on to power. Thousands of protesters led by Pashinian thronged the Armenian capital, and Sargsyan resigned after only six days on the job. Sargsyan has stayed out of the public eye since stepping down and refused to answer reporters' questions after voting Sunday. His Republican Party has largely remained on the defensive.
Category: 2018
Preliminary voting results caused panic and decadent sentiment among the majority of race participants.
Arminfo, Armenia
Dec 9 2018
ArmInfo. The ruling "My Step" bloc positively assesses the voting process, the MP candidate from the bloc Hrach Hakobyan said in an interview with ArmIfno.
Referring to the low turnout, he explained this by saying that people had stopped carrying people to polling stations on microbuses and that ''dead souls'' had ceased to vote. "We very much hope that the" My step "bloc will overstep the 70% barrier", Hakobyan stressed.
In turn, Acting First Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia, a candidate for MP from the "My Step" bloc, Ararat Mirzoyan does not at all consider that turnout was low this year. "Actually, the turnout was neither high nor low. There is a lot of talk in social networks that the actual number of voters, that is, those who are in the country, is much less than the percentage that was previously represented after the elections. In addition, also were very deplorable weather conditions – it was raining. Well, you should not forget that in a free democratic society there is no very high voter turnout",Mirzoyan assured.
MP from the "We" bloc, Angela Khachatryan, qualified the voting process as "normal". "Voting went quite normally, without any irregularities. As for the turnout, I want to note that it is not so low. The fact is that people stopped bringing people to the polling stations at microbuses. I really hope that our voters expressed their political will, and the "We" bloc will be properly represented in the National Assembly", Khachatryan concluded.
Gevorg Gorgisyan, who is a candidate for the "Enlightened Armenia" party, also appreciated the "normal" voting process. "Voting went well, in any case, better than voting in the elections of 2017. I hope that we will take second place in the Armenian parliament", Gorgisyan said.
Gevorg Petrosyan, a candidate for MP from the "Prosperous Armenia" Party, said that turnout is low, since the emigration rate has increased significantly. He also explained the low turnout by disappointment of people and the absence of any intrigue. It is noteworthy that the PPA did not want to evaluate the voting process at all, as well as predict their outcome. However, ArmInfo sources in the party say that the "prosperous" are so disappointed with the preliminary results of the voting that they don't even want to talk about it. "Decadent mood prevails in the party", the source notes.
A similar situation is also in the ARF "Dashnaktsutyun". "Dashnaktsutyun" members also avoid commenting on various "good" pretexts.
Not better things in the Republican Party. As a source told ArmInfo in the RPA, the results of the voting in the regions are simply discouraging. "In the capital, they didn't go anywhere, but in the regions things are just awful, but let's hope that at the expense of votes in the capital, it will be possible to get about 7% of the votes," the source hoped. Officially, the outcome of the vote from the RPA agreed to comment on only 9 number of the list of Menua Harutyunyan, stating that the entire election campaign of the authorities was built antipire against RPA.
"In fact, Nikol Pashinyan does not want to see us in parliament; he doesn't need a real opposition, which will raise important issues. Many representatives of the RPA, who were village elders and mayors, left the party during the election campaign. I think the administrative resource is used, and when the authorities change, and the environment of fear disappears, they will be able to tell everyone about it. As for voter turnout, which was less than 50%, I want to emphasize that Pashinyan's next lie suffered a fiasco. He insisted that the number of voters would be unprecedented, but this did not happen. It became obvious that he was a very mediocre politician, who came to power only because of luck. For this, he postponed the elections from May to December", Harutyunyan said.
Turkish press: Former Armenian President Kocharian arrested for deadly 2008 crackdown
COMPILED FROM WIRE SERVICES
ISTANBUL
Published13 hours ago
In this file photo dated Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2008, Armenian President Robert Kocharian talks to the media at a polling station in Yerevan, Armenia. (AP Photo)
An Armenian court on Friday put the nation's former president in custody on charges linked to a deadly police crackdown on a 2008 protest over alleged voting fraud in which 10 people were killed.
Robert Kocharian, 64, spent two weeks in jail last summer on charges of violating the constitutional order by sending police to break up the protest in the Armenian capital of Yerevan. He was freed on bail on appeal, but on Friday a higher court ordered that he should stay behind bars.
Kocharian's lawyer said he walked to jail without waiting for police to escort him there.
Russia's TASS news agency reported that the 64-year-old politician is under arrest.
"Robert Kocharyan was arrested under a court ruling. As far as I know, he is being kept at the Yerevan-Center penitentiary," TASS quoted the head of Armenia's National Security Service, Artur Vanetsyan.
Kocharian rejects the charges, calling them a political vendetta by incumbent Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, who helped stage the 2008 protest. The demonstration protested the results of an election two weeks earlier for Kocharian's replacement. Eight demonstrators and two police died in the clash.
"The main organizer of the events … tries to clean himself of blood," Kocharian said of Pashinian in a statement Friday.
Armenia's Special Investigative Service had applied to the court accusing Kocharian, who was the president between 1998 and 2008, of overturning the constitutional system in the country. Kocharian denied the accusations.
In the 2008 election, Kocharian, who was president from 1998 to 2008, backed Serzh Sargsyan, who served as Armenia's president for the following decade.
In February-March 2008 the opposition held protest rallies, contesting the result of the election. The protests were dispersed and 10 people, including two police officers, were killed in clashes with police. The Constitutional Court upheld the election result.
Pashinian, an opposition activist at the time, was imprisoned in June 2009 on charges of fomenting unrest during post-election protests.
In April, due to term limits, Sargsyan shifted into the prime minister's seat in what was seen as an attempt to cling to power. But he stepped down after just six days in office in the face of massive protests organized by Pashinian, who then took the prime minister's post.
Wiretaps released earlier this week had Pashinian discussing Kocharian's arrest with the nation's top security official. Pashinian denounced the released recordings as a "declaration of war" by his political foes.
Pashinian has called an early parliamentary election for this Sunday in a bid to win control of parliament, which is still dominated by members of Sargsyan's Republican Party. Pashinian's party is expected to sweep the vote.
He stepped down in October and became acting prime minister to allow parliament to be dissolved and an early election to be held and said he expected a new legislature to emerge that better reflected the country's political realities.
Armenian PM seeks to bolster authority in early parliamentary election
Deutsche Welle, Germany
Dec 9 2018
Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian wants to weaken his predecessor's party in the parliament and cement his leadership. He took over as prime minister in May after weeks of leading anti-corruption protests.
Armenians are voting in an early parliamentary election on Sunday after acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian dissolved parliament in October to shore up his authority.
Pashinian, a former journalist, is hoping the My Step Alliance, which includes his Civil Contract Party, will achieve a parliamentary majority ahead of the former ruling Republican Party. Polls show that the alliance is on course to easily win a majority.
"We set big and difficult goals and we will achieve them, because we are a powerful, victorious free and happy nation," he said at a recent campaign rally.
Pashinian's ascent
Lawmakers elected Pashinian to the prime minister's office in May after he spearheaded weeks of protests against former Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan.
Pashinian and his followers accused Sargsyan of trying to cling to power by becoming prime minister after serving two terms as president. A 2015 constitutional amendment had shifted powers from the presidency to the prime minister's office.
Since entering office, Pashinian has targeted senior Sargsyan associates while the former prime minister has kept a low profile.
Pashinian's agenda
Pashinian, 43, vows to maintain Armenia's close military and economic ties to Russia. The former Soviet republic hosts a Russian military base and is highly dependent on Russian loans and trade.
He also pledges to continue the previous government's support for ethnic Armenian forces that control Nagorno-Karabakh, a break-away region of neighboring Azerbaijan.
That pledge is likely to maintain Armenia's isolation. Azerbaijan and neighboring Turkey closed their borders and cut trade ties to Armenia in response to its supportive policy.
amp/jm (Reuters, AP)
Armenian Election Tests the Revolution’s Power Shift
New York Times
Dec 9 2018
Armenian Election Tests the Revolution’s Power Shift
By Reuters
- Dec. 9, 2018
YEREVAN, Armenia — Armenians began voting on Sunday in an early parliamentary election as acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan sought a stronger mandate, having been elected by lawmakers in May, after a peaceful revolution this year.
Mr. Pashinyan came to power after weeks of mass protests in April against corruption and cronyism in the former Soviet republic. A former newspaper editor who was jailed for fomenting unrest in 2008, Mr. Pashinyan represents a drastic break from the cadre of rulers who have run Armenia since the late 1990s.
He stepped down in October so that Parliament could be dissolved in readiness for the early election. Former high-ranking officials were dismissed, and some were arrested following the power change. On Friday, a court of appeal ordered the detention of former President Robert Kocharyan on charges of attempting to overthrow the constitutional order.
He was first arrested in July but freed the following month, and the case was sent to the appeals court. Mr. Kocharyan was Armenia’s second president, serving from 1998 to 2008, when mass protests erupted over a disputed election.
The former ruling Republican Party, however, still dominates the current Parliament that was elected in 2017.
Mr. Pashinyan has said he expects Sunday’s vote to lead to a legislature that better reflects the nation’s new political landscape.
Nine parties and two blocs are taking part in the election, and opinion polls suggest the My Step Alliance, which includes Mr. Pashinyan’s Civil Contract Party, will easily win a parliamentary majority. Polling stations opened at 8 a.m. local time, and voting was due to end at 8 p.m.
After taking office, Mr. Pashinyan promised there would be no major shifts in Armenian foreign policy and offered assurances he would not break with Moscow. Armenia hosts a Russian military base and is a member of Russia-led military and economic alliances.
Mr. Pashinyan also suggested he would stick with existing policies on the long-running issue of Nagorno-Karabakh. A mountainous part of Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh is run by ethnic Armenians who declared independence from Baku during a conflict that broke out as the Soviet Union crumbled in 1991.
Though a cease-fire was cemented in 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia still regularly accuse each other of conducting attacks around Nagorno-Karabakh and along the Azeri-Armenian border.
Initiative group to stage protests for ex-President’s release
Panorama, Armenia
Dec 9 2018
An initiative group named “Freedom to President” has announced an intention to start demonstrations demanding the release of Armenia’s former President Robert Kocharyan who is currently placed in detention.
On December 7, Armenia’s Court of Appeals upheld the first instance court’s ruling to arrest the former president who is accused of overturning the constitutional system.
“The acting leadership of Armenia, violating the constitution and the laws of the Republic of Armenia, exerting unprecedented pressure on judges, violating the national interest of the Armenian people and downgrading the heroic pages of the newest history, illegally detained the Chairman of the Karabakh State Protection Committee, the President of the Artsakh Republic and a national hero of Artsakh, the second President of the Republic of Armenia,” the statement released by the initiative group reads in part.
The group demands the immediate release of the former president, calling for an end of the “personal vendetta” against him. According to the released statement, a start date for the protest actions is named December 11.
To note, Kocharyan was arrested in July on charges of overthrowing Armenia’s constitutional order during the March 1-2, 2008 post-election events. He was released by the Court of Appeals on 13 August on the basis of immunity from prosecution. On 15 November, the Court of Cassation rejected Kocharyan’s appeal and only partly satisfied the prosecutors’ demands to send the case back to the Court of Appeals for re-examination.
Kocharyan and his lawyers strongly deny the charges as ‘politically motivated’.
Ex-president Serzh Sargsyan casts vote in snap elections
Panorama, Armenia
Dec 9 2018
Armenia’s third President Serzh Sargsyan has cast his ballot in early parliamentary elections in the village of Dzoraghbyur together with his spouse Rita Sargsyan.
He refused to speak to reporters at the polling station. “I will not give an interview to you,” he told reporters.
Eleven political forces, including nine parties and two blocs, are vying for seats in the 101-member National Assembly.
2010 polling stations opened across Armenia at 8am Sunday as the country is electing a new parliament. The polls close at 8pm.
According to official data, 2,573,779 people are eligible to vote in the snap elections.
Voter turnout at Armenia’s parliamentary elections stands at 24,53% as of 14:00
Panorama, Armenia
Dec 9 2018
The voter turnout at Sunday’s snap parliamentary elections in Armenia is 24,53% as of 14:00, member of the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) Silva Markosyan said.
According to the CEC statistics, 636 055 voters out of 2, 592 479 eligible for voting, have taken part in the polls as of the indicated time.
To remind, the voter turnout at the previous parliamentary elections in 2017 was 33,46% as of 14:00.
’s-parliamentary-elections-stands-at-24-53-as-of-14-00/2045183
Muere el violinista armenio Rubén Poghosyan, uno de los fundadores de la OFA
El Sur Acapulco, Mexico
En 1998 llegó Acapulco para colaborar hasta hace unos años como concertino de recién creada Orquesta Filarmónica de Acapulco.
Acapulco, Guerrero, 27 de noviembre de 2018. El violinista armenio Rubén Poghosyan, uno de los miembros fundadores de la Orquesta Filarmónica de Acapulco, murió la noche del domingo de causas naturales; tenía 80 años de edad.
Así lo dio a conocer la Secretaría de Cultura del estado en un breve comunicado donde recuerda, el músico nació en Yerevan, Armenia, el 2 de enero de 1938 e inició sus estudios de violín desde los 7 años en el Conservatorio Nacional de la República Armenia donde recibió su diploma de concertista solista y maestro de violín.
En 1963 ingresó al doctorado y en 1967 recibió el diploma de doctorado en violín.
Desde 1960 fue integrante de la Orquesta Sinfónica de la Radio y Televisión Armenia donde destacó como concertino principal.
Maestro del Conservatorio Nacional de Mongolia de 1964 a 1966, fue seleccionado para dar clases en la Escuela de Arte de Pinar del Río en Cuba y en México trabajó como violinista en la naciente Orquesta Filarmónica de la Ciudad de México en 1980.
En 1987 fungió como concertino y solista de la Orquesta de Cámara de la República Armenia siendo de 1988 a 1998 concertino de la Orquesta Nacional de la República Armenia.
Realizó giras con dicha orquesta en Alemania, Austria, Francia, Suiza, España y Grecia y fue que 1998 llegó Acapulco para colaborar hasta hace unos años como concertino de recién creada Orquesta Filarmónica de Acapulco.
En los últimos tiempos colaboraba de manera indirecta con la orquesta.
Le sobreviven su esposa, dos hijos y dos nietos.
Texto: Redacción / Foto: Redes sociales
https://suracapulco.mx/2018/11/27/muere-el-violinista-armenio-ruben-poghosyan-uno-de-los-fundadores-de-la-ofa/
Travel: Peace and disquiet in Armenia
Hindustan Times, India
Dec 8 2018
Madhu Jain
Hindustan Times
Hindustan Times
Aerial view of the Unesco World Heritage Site of The Geghard Monastery, which is partially carved out of a mountain(Ajit Pal Singh)
The first time Armenia entered my consciousness was when I watched The Promise (1979), a love story set in Armenia during the final throes of the Ottoman Empire just before World War I. The film opened my eyes to the horrific genocide of Armenians by the Ottomans. India used to be home to a large Armenian population, and I’d always wondered what had led to this diaspora – another reason the film impacted me so deeply.
The first country in the world to adopt Christianity as its official religion (late 3rd or early 4th century AD), the Armenians have been repeatedly prosecuted for their faith. For two relentless years from 1894, the Ottoman King Sultan Abdul Hamid II ordered the slaughter of an estimated 80,000 to 3,00,000 Armenians because they asked for more rights. This was followed by more massacres in April 1909, where up to 30,000 Armenians were killed. And when WWI broke out, the Turkish government viewed the Armenians with distrust because of the Armenian volunteers in the Russian army. In 1915, a massive number of Armenians living in Turkey’s Anatolia region were liquidated. The killings continued until 1917.
A year after seeing the film, when a five-day trip to Armenia as part of a visit to the Caucasus was proposed by the Women’s International Club, of which I am a member, I just had to sign up.
The Tatev Monastery Complex is also a Unesco World Heritage Site (Dhruv Jain)
Simply spiritual
Before touching down at Yerevan airport, we flew over the volcanic Mount Ararat, the highest mountain range in Turkey. Prepping for this trip, I had read Genesis 8:4 of the Bible, which said Noah’s Ark landed on the “mountains of Ararat”. Excitement raced through me as I sighted the mountain. My trip to Armenia had started on a high!
At the airport, tour director Ajit Pal Singh greeted us with chocolates and fine Armenian champagne, which we popped open at the airport itself before settling into our luxury coach. A short drive later we were at our centrally located hotel.
Churches and monasteries in Armenia were simplicity personified: unadorned, pristine, signifying a religion of the masses
Soon we headed to the city of Vagharshapat, half an hour’s drive from Yerevan, to see the iconic fourth Century AD Etchmiadzin Cathedral, Armenia’s first cathedral, considered to be the oldest in the world. Built by Armenia’s patron saint Gregory the Illuminator following the adoption of Christianity as a state religion by King Tiridates III, it replaced a pre-existing temple, thereby symbolising the conversion of Armenians from paganism to Christianity. The cathedral is the mother church of the Armenian Apostolic Church, and its significance as the main shrine of religious Christian Armenians worldwide makes it an important religious, political, and cultural site. It was given Unesco World Heritage status in 2000.
The fourth century Etchmiadzin Cathedral at Vagharshapat (Dhruv Jain)
As our trip unfolded, we visited several churches and monasteries, all of which were simplicity personified: unadorned, pristine, signifying a religion of the masses. In some, the main chapel was an empty, cavernous chamber with a single, unembellished cross. There is nothing to distract the devotee from prayer. For anyone on a spiritual quest, I would recommend the churches of Armenia hands down – the very structure of the architecture echoes people’s faith in an almost palpable manner, and it is impossible to come away untouched.
The author in Khor Virap monastery in the Ararat Plains near the border with Turkey (Dhruv Jain)
As the late afternoon sun dipped, we began our city tour of Yerevan, taking in the Victory Park with the giant statue of Mother Armenia guarding the city. A Soviet rocket launcher and an S-75 surface-to-air missile at the bottom of the park served as a reminder of Armenia’s history as a former Soviet republic. Indeed, architecturally, the capital city seems caught in a Soviet-era time warp. However, the severity and starkness of the buildings softened magically as night fell on Republic Square, the city’s core. And when the colonnaded government buildings around the park were infused by diffused illumination, the area took on a wholly new character. The musical and dancing fountains sprung into life at 9pm and, much like Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, I could’ve danced all night!
Man’s inhumanity to man
The Genocide Memorial in Yerevan (Dhruv Jain)
Day two proved to be disturbing, leaving me reflecting on man’s brutality and barbarism. Built in 1967 atop Tsitsernakaberd hill in Yerevan, the genocide museum complex is the country’s official memorial to the victims of the Armenian Genocide. The Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute and Museum of Armenian History are exceptionally well-documented with first-person accounts and rich research, films, and other memorabilia. Visiting both requires nerves of steel.
The Genocide Monument was haunting, with slanting pillars going up to the sky in an open pyramid. A flame burnt in the central well of the pyramid and opera-like haunting music played in the background.
A Soviet Era cruise boat on Lake Sevan (Dhruv Jain)
I could feel the pain of an entire civilisation. But I also felt the strength of the people who have overcome such adversity and reclaimed their nation. The Armenian diaspora has, like the Jews, been a prosperous community of merchants, traders, scholars, and professionals, and I believe that the Genocide Monument pays tribute to their achievements too.
Built in 1967 in Yerevan, the genocide museum complex is the country’s memorial to the victims of the Armenian Genocide
The rest of the day was split between a visit to the Temple of Garni and the Geghard Monastery. The Temple of Garni is the only standing Greco-Roman colonnaded building in Armenia and, indeed, the former Soviet Union. The original structure, completed in 77 AD, is considered to be the best-known symbol of pre-Christian Armenia serving as a central shrine to it. The Geghard Monastery complex is high on a hill, surrounded by just cliffs. A Unesco World Heritage site, the monastery has been partially carved into and out of the mountain, and seems to merge into the rocky outcrops. The rock-cut chambers and wall carvings of crosses are of especial interest.
Outside, village women were selling souvenirs and local produce including what looked like aam-papad! Later, I was told that these were a sort of fruit lavash.
The action-packed day ended at The Cascade, a cultural melting pot. This massive limestone stairway connects downtown Yerevan with the Monument neighbourhood, and houses art museums, exhibit halls and contemporary sculptures. Not to mention, trendy cafés. This was modern-day Armenia at its best!
Hand to the divine
An ancient church inside Geghard Monastery (Dhruv Jain)
Day three was devoted wholly to another Unesco Heritage site, the 9th Century Tatev Monastery – among the most remote monasteries in Armenia – which we reached on the Wings of Tatev, one of the longest cableways in the world, which connects the monastery to the town of Halidzor. Our cable ride over the Vorotan river gorge was breathtaking.
The Tatev Monastery, among the most remote monasteries in Armenia, radiates a spirituality that draws one in
The monastery has some fascinating features, such as a millstone-driven oil press, the crypt of the last saint of the Armenian Church, Grigor Tatevatsi, and the Gavazan pillar, standing tall as an ancient celestial compass. We were also told that because it was built on a swivelling foundation, the pillar apparently swung from the tramping march of enemy troops! The pillar is the only structure in Armenia that wasn’t destroyed by either humans or nature.
The monastery radiates a spirituality that draws one in. I could feel divinity all around me. As I wandered on my own, a priest appeared out of the blue and blessed me. It was a sublime moment.
Local bread being made at a bakery near the Temple of Garni (Ajit Pal Singh)
The next day we took a long cruise on the crystal clear, untouched waters of Lake Sevan, one of the largest freshwater alpine lakes in Eurasia. An unadorned rough-hewn brick church silhouetted against the azure sky on the promontory of an island took me back in time yet again. Vibrant flea markets surround the lake, selling moonstone bracelets and iron ore knick knacks, among other things.
The last day was spent in the 6,000-year-old Areni -1 Winery, believed to be the oldest winery in the world, which was discovered just about a decade ago. Today, it’s the centre of Armenian wine making.
Local fruit-based produce being sold at a roadside market outside Geghard Monastery (Dhruv Jain)
Which bring us to an essential for every traveller: local cuisine! Armenian food has strong Russian and Mediterranean influences with liberal use of aubergine, walnuts, and a variety of beans. Happily for me, a lot of the dishes use yogurt, a favourite of mine! Since I am a vegetarian, I can vouch for the Armenian dolma or tolma (vine leaves stuffed with cabbage and sometimes with beans), okroksha (chilled buttermilk soup with veggies), the porridge-like vegetarian harissa made with wheat, onions and walnuts, and fresh salads.
I left Armenia with a deep sense of peace, feeling touched by a divine hand.
The author is a veteran designer whose exclusive textile innovation, the bamboo silk ikat, has won her international acclaim. She is also an avid traveller who loves exploring unique destinations
From HT Brunch, December 9, 2018
https://www.hindustantimes.com/brunch/peace-and-disquiet-in-armenia/story-xa1UyRgKrkXNU9uyoPFaBL.html