Lifestyle
Pulsating Armenia at crossroads of modern silk route
Armenia’s Christmas lighting extravaganza started early this year since the capital city, Yerevan, hosted the 20th annual Junior Eurovision Song Contest. Armenia was designated host following the 2021 first place win by the Armenian contestant, Maléna.
Under the magnificent light shows and towering Christmas tree centering Yerevan’s Republic Square that brought thousands of holiday revelers, Armenia remains wounded under the aggression cloud from its two neighboring countries: NATO-member Turkey, and Azerbaijan in 2020 unleashed a full-scale war over the disputed, Armenian-populated region of Nagorno-Karabakh (NK), or Artsakh as it’s known to the Armenians.
Remanence of the war against the 300,000 NK inhabitants in 2020, and over 5,000 Armenian casualties, reflects on the veterans undergoing rehab at Yerevan’s Zinvori Tun (Soldier’s Home)–scared by disabilities, PTSD, and a wide range of other psychosocial problems. There are some 100,000 displaced NK Armenian residents. Those housed in make-shift homes across bordering communities in Armenia are once again traumatized by the September Azerbaijani invasion of 10 kilometers into the Republic of Armenia’s territory. With 100 civilians killed and civilian infrastructure destroyed, there are still no sanctions on Azerbaijan for its well-documented 2020 war crimes.
Armenia’s Winter of Discontent
Armenia’s winter of discontent started with warmer weather. With the enemy only miles away, there are daily casualties of Armenian civilians in both the NK region and in Armenia’s border communities. Azerbaijani civilians, and “environmentalists” continue to disrupt passage through the only humanitarian corridor between the two countries.
But all this doesn’t seem to deter the buoyant, fun-loving Armenian populace from celebrating life.
Complaints of high price tags on everything don’t seem to deter Armenians–and the over 30,000 Russian and Ukrainian emigres from spending at local retail shops, restaurants, beauty salons, cafes and bars. The number of cars on Yerevan’s streets has multiplied–causing continued traffic and high pollution levels.
The newcomers, mostly financially secure IT professionals, spiked rental fees, pushing Yerevan’s apartment rental prices to 109,000 drams (about 273 Euros) per square meter. The high rents have leveled up after greedy landlords pushed out their lower-paying tenants to accommodate the newcomers. Prices in Armenia are nowhere as high as in Moscow or Kyiv. Some newcomers, employed at Yerevan’s countless eateries and retail shops, use their Russian and English language capabilities with expats and tourists–as they slowly pick up the Armenian language. Armenians remain, for the most part, gracious hosts allowing Russians in without visa requirements. Mostly, the Russian newcomers keep to themselves; work on their laptops, frequent retail shops and restaurants, and Russian schools and churches.
The underlying resentment among some Armenians stems from an innate distrust of their previous landlords (the Soviet Union ruled Armenia for 70 years). Moscow’s failure to stop Azerbaijan’s attacks in 2020 is a fresh wound. One taxi driver says the Russians lack loyalty to those who extend a helping hand–having lived with the Russians for years.
In late November, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan refused to sign the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization declaration as a protest against the members failing to take a stand against Azerbaijani aggression. Some Armenians cheered the action, others wonder if this leaves Armenia even more vulnerable to attacks by Azerbaijan, backed by NATO-member Turkey and with Israeli weapons.
Minorities and New Comers Are Well Integrated
Interestingly, while Turkey, Azerbaijan and Israel do not recognize the Armenian Genocide of 1915 perpetrated by Ottoman Turks, in Yerevan’s Paplovok Park a holocaust monument with inscriptions “To Live and Never Forget” honors the Genocide and Holocaust victims. There are other memorials, including one honoring the martyrs of the Assyrian genocide of 1915.
Armenia’s Russian, Jewish, Bahai’, Yazidi and Assyrian communities freely practice their religion and language. With 35,000+ Yazidis in Armenia, the country is now home to the world’s largest Yazidi temple–Quba Mêrê Dîwanê.
Some 10 years ago, the newcomers were the Syrian and Lebanese refugees of Armenian descent, fleeing wars and resettling in Armenia. These Western Armenian dialect speakers are still getting used to Armenia’s Eastern dialect which is primarily spoken in Armenia and Iran. But now, fully integrated into the local fabric, even Western Armenian dishes such as hummus, muhammara, tabbouleh, fattoush, labneh and others are part of the local cuisine.
Armenia’s Culinary Delights
The expats, tourists, the nouveau riche, and the IT sector workforce are the frequent diners at Yerevan’s posh restaurants. Among countless eateries are the Collective, Mayrig (mother), Tavern Yerevan, Sherep (ladle), Lavash (leavened bread)– the last three are among the Yeremyan Projects empire founded by restaurateur David Yeremyan. His culinary empire includes over 10 restaurants, cooking shows, a culinary academy, gastro tours, social impact projects like food for the military, and Yerevan’s Christmas market, among others. The local eateries also serve a wide selection of seafood choices, delectably prepared and devoured within this land-locked country. A variety of seafood is cultivated, or naturally available in Armenia’s majestic Lake Sevan–the largest freshwater, high-altitude lake in Eurasia.
With over 100 wineries in Armenia and Artsakh, Armenia’s thriving, reinvigorated cradle of wine industry reflects on most restaurant’s wine lists offering a rich collection of domestic wines, harvested and produced in Armenia’s wine country. One of the local favorites is Qirs–made and manufactured in Artsakh. The bottle label design of the 2,724.6 meter-high Mets Kirs mountain–one of the highest peaks of the southern branch of the mountain range– is known to the locals as the Artsakh fist.
Paying high prices, the clientele at high-pulse quaintly decorated café’s and charmingly designed restaurants and eateries expect only the best service and food quality–and fully trained culinary artists serving their meals. Last minute dinner and lunch reservations are hard to secure–regardless of the day of the week. For now, the exiled, and the locals, are living it up, untainted, it seems, by their countries’ volatile state.
Complaints of Unemployment Don’t Reflect in Shoppers
Oddly, the tropical kiwi fruit is a constant in the fully stocked shelves of countless supermarkets around Yerevan. Some of the mom-and-pop produce shops in hayats (Persian word for yard) still accommodate old timers in Soviet-era apartment complexes that circle backyards that provide residential parking space and dilapidated metal playgrounds for the young who haven’t yet discovered screens.
Most folks in Armenia complain of the unemployment rate, which since 1998 has averaged around 12 percent but reached over 21 percent in 2019. Employers are searching for good workers–but as one retired businessman turned taxi driver who doesn’t believe there’s much of an unemployment problem in Armenia, says “there’s always work for those who want to work.” An engineering supervisor can’t find new hires since the young, recent graduates she interviews demand monthly salaries as high as hers. “I have 30 years’ experience, they’re new graduates with zero work experience and very high expectations.”
The hospitality industry is one of the high employment sectors. Between 2010 to 2020, Armenia’s annual tourism growth rate of nearly 15 percent set it as one of the world’s fastest growing tourist destinations. In 2019, there were nearly 1.9 million tourists who contributed some three percent to Armenia’s GDP, pumping over $300 million into the country’s economy. Another top employment sector is the IT industry. With over 65 technology companies calling Armenia home, the country is the main Caucasian hub for software development, industrial computing, and electronics.
Yerevan’s famed Vernissage open market’s unique handmade souvenirs by local artisans are replaced with mainly mass-produced items. There are handmade, locally sourced items available, beyond the tourist trap chachkies, but mostly not at the Vernissage. Armenian women designers, artists and agronomists lead the way, masterfully incorporating modern techniques with ancient Armenian practices and motifs as Piafchik Handmade’s brass, needle painted, one-of-a-kind jewelry, or Ornamen’t paintings turned into silk scarves–and organic, locally farmed and raised products by Green Lane which empower rural women agronomists.
Walking away from Yerevan’s mesmerizing winter wonderland and Christmas market’s holiday spirits, the thousands of mesmerized revelers gathered at the Republic Square fail to notice their tightly guarded Prime Minister, Pashinyan, taking an incognito walk down Abovyan Street around the square’s festival of lights.
The glittering Yerevan is a stark contrast to the Armenia that went dark in 1992 as the Turkish blockade cut off electricity, power, and petrol to the three million populace. But today, as in 1992 at the crossroads of the modern silk route, Armenia perseveres, pulsating with a feverish zest for life, once again putting a stake on the ground of its existence.
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