Armenia Quotes

I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose history is ended, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, whose literature is unread, whose music is unheard, whose prayers are no longer uttered. Go ahead, destroy this race. Let us say that it is again 1915. There is war in the world. Destroy Armenia. See if you can do it. Send them from their homes into the desert. Let them have neither bread nor water. Burn their houses and their churches. See if they will not live again. See if they will not laugh again. See if the race will not live again when two of them meet in a beer parlor, twenty years after, and laugh, and speak in their tongue. Go ahead, see if you can do anything about it. See if you can stop them from mocking the big ideas of the world, you sons of bitches, a couple of Armenians talking in the world, go ahead and try to destroy them.

Armenia is dying, but it will survive. The little blood that is left is precious blood that will give birth to a heroic generation. A nation that does not want to die, does not die. April 9, 1916 Sorbonne

Childhood is bound like the Gordian knot with my memories of the Black Sea, and I still feel its waters welling up within me today. Sometimes these waters are leaden, as grey as the military ships that sail on their curved expanses, and sometimes they are blue as pigmented cobalt. Then would come dusk, when I would sit and watch the seabirds waver to shore, flitting from open waters to the quiet empty vastlands in darkening spaces behind me, the same birds Ovid once saw during his exile, perhaps; and the same waters the Argonauts crossed searching for the fleece of renewal. And out in the distance, invisible, the towering heights of Caucasus, where once-bright memories of the fire-thief have transmuted into something weird and many-faceted, and beyond these, pitch-black Karabakh in dolorous Armenia.

I'm no Armenian. I'm an American. Well, the truth is I am both and neither. I love Armenia and I love America and I belong to both, but I am only this: an inhabitant of the earth, and so are you, whoever you are. I tried to forget Armenia but I couldn't do it.

Although I write in English, and despite the fact that I’m from America, I consider myself an Armenian writer. The words I use are in English, the surroundings I write about are American, but the soul, which makes me write, is Armenian. This means I am an Armenian writer and deeply love the honor of being a part of the family of Armenian wrtiters.

Being an Armenian is a merciless task and a heroic enterprise. It is a commandment, a mission, and a destiny that history has imposed on us from the depths of centuries. We are the shock troops of the struggle between light and darkness… And we are charged with an awesome responsibility. Gostan Zarian.

There is a small area of land in Asia Minor that is called Armenia, but it is not so. It is not Armenia. It is a place. There are only Armenians, and they inhabit the earth, not Armenia, since there is no Armenia. There is no America and there is no England, and no France, and no Italy. There is only the earth.

The Armenian language cannot be worn out; its boots are stone. Well, certainly, the thick-walled words, the layers of air in the semi-vowels.

And I realized more and more that the Armenian story was not so much one of massacre and persecution, as survival.

I don't know how it is with others, but for me the charm of a woman increases if she is a young traveler, has spent five days on a scientific trip lying on the hard bench of the Tashkent train, knows her way around in Linnaean Latin, knows which side she is on in the dispute between the Lamarckians and the epigeneticists, and is not indifferent to the soybean, cotton, or chicory.

My birthplace was California, but I couldn't forget Armenia, so what is one's country? Is it land of the earth, in a specific place? Rivers there? Lakes? The sky there? The way the moon comes up there? And the sun? Is one's country the trees, the vineyards, the grass, the birds, the rocks, the hills and summer and winter? Is it the animal rhythm of the living there? The huts and houses, the streets of cities, the tables and chairs, and the drinking of tea and talking? Is it the peach ripening in summer heat on the bough? Is it the dead in the earth there?

Yes indeed, both Muslim and Jewish!I, her father, am Muslim, at least on paper; her mother is Jewish, at least in theory. With us, religion is transmitted through the father; among Jews, through the mother. Therefore, according to the Muslims, Nadia was Muslim; according to the Jews, she was Jewish. She herself might have chosen one or the other, or neither, she chose to be both at once...Yes, both at once and more. She was proud of all the bloodlines that had converged in her, roads of conquest or exile from central Asia, Anatolia, the Ukraine, Arab, Bessarabia, Armenia, Bavaria...She refused to divide out her blood, her soul.

All Romani dialects – about 60 in all - contain Armenian words, proof if you will that the Lom Bosha passed through Armenia in the early 11th century, trading spices along the Great Silk Road, that network of ancient trade routes connecting China with the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. The Romani traded Armenian carpets, silk, dyes, lapis lazuli and tin, and it’s no surprise that five capitals of Armenia are on The Great Silk Road.

Do not tell me that it is not God-like to get angry or go into a fit of rage. God himself when enraged will grasp a star and hurl it through the heavens. And at night, you can see bits of the star flashing through the sky, fallen apart merely by the shear force of which it was thrown. Know when He is angry and stay out of His way… And the same holds true for my grandson.” Yervant Yacoubian.

-On sharing the love story of the Persian prince Khushraw and the niece of the queen of Armenia Shirin (who were looking for each other but in opposite directions): "Both lovers then departed, looking for each other in opposite directions, a theme universal in its pathos, because we all spend our brief lives doing just that, even if we physically share our beds with the same person every night for years. Always we carry an image in our head of a better person, of an ideal person, which blurs our chances of finding happiness.

Երկրի ճաքած սրտում անկշռության մեջ քարացել են հայկական ժամանակն ու տարածությունը. [էջ 70, «Ռադիո Երևան» պատմվածքից]

Armenians have more imagination than Mohammedans.

This isn’t how I imagined our lives would be when I was Queen of Libya and you King of Armenia.

Though the first wave entered at New York, Worcester, Massachusetts must be regarded as the earliest Armenian community in America.

Then he’d given Alexander the territories of Armenia, Media, and the unconquered empire of Parthia.

the Christian churches of Armenia, Lebanon and Egypt are still Monophysite today.

The fallout caused by denial was inherited by later generations of Armenians, linking them to the fateful days of 1915, and compelling them to set the record straight.

Sleep is light in nomad camps. The body, exhausted by space, grows warm, stretches out straight, recalls the length of the trip. The paths of the mountain ridges run like shivers along the spine. The velvet meadows burden and tickle the eyelids. Bedsores of the ravines hollow out the sides. Sleep immures you, bricks you up. Last thought: have to ride around some ridge...

The soul wants to connect, to be heard, and to persuade. But the storyteller, having heard herself so many times before, loses faith in the innate power of her experience or in her ability to convey it.

Waaant equity," hisses the alien intruder. "You can't be Pamela Macx," says Pierre, his back to the wall, keeping the sword point before the lobster-woman-thing. "She's in a nunnery in Armenia or something. You pulled that out of Glashwiecz's memories - he worked for her, didn't he?" Claws go snicker-snack before his face. "Investment partnership!" screeches the harridan. "Seat on the board! Eat brains for breakfast!" It lurches sideways, trying to get past his guard.

landed after fleeing the Turks in Armenia, and they moved to the Mission District of San Francisco when she was a child. She had a secret that she rarely mentioned to anyone: She had been married before, but her husband had been killed in the war. So when she met Paul Jobs

If someone skilled at studying moons, planets, stars and other celestial bodies such as galaxies, comets, asteroids and gamma-ray bursts were to analyse the Romani migration and settlement patterns, as they wandered India and Persia 1500 years ago, passing through Armenia in the early 9th century, trading spices, incense, rugs, fabrics, colouring agents and jewellery along the Great Silk Road, and then beginning to establish themselves in Europe, arriving in Transylvania in the 13th century, and then onto Germany, Switzerland, Italy, France and England in the 14th century they may very well discover that their routes mirrored that of the stars

Some 250,000 people in Armenia are still homeless in the wake of the 1988 earthquake, centered in the city of Spitak, which killed some 25,000. In March 1991, eighty percent of these survivors were still living in makeshift huts and tents, two months after the two-year reconstruction deadline declared by the Soviet government.

If Russia is to survive its demographic Twilight, it must do nothing less than absorb in whole or in part some 11 countries — Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia. This Twilight War will be a desperate, sprawling military conflict that will define European/Russian borderland for decades.

At times, we cannot see the end in the beginning. We just have to tollow where it goes.

Կապույտ երինջների արձակ նախիրն ազատ ճարակում էր մեհյանի շուրջը։

History supports those who work with it, not against it

They can be divided three ways: those that are neutral, the pro-Western group and the pro-Russian camp. The neutral countries – Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan – are those with fewer reasons to ally themselves with Russia or the West. This is because all three produce their own energy and are not beholden to either side for their security or trade. In the pro-Russian camp are Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Belarus and Armenia. Their economies are tied to Russia in the way that much of eastern Ukraine’s economy is (another reason for the rebellion there).

Within twenty-five years of the prophet Muhammad's death in 632, they had conquered all of the Fertile Crescent and Persia, and thrust into Armenia and Azerbaijan. Their lightning advance was even more penetrating towards the west: Egypt fell in 641 and the rest of North Africa as far as Tunisia in the next decade. Two generations later, by 712, the Arabic language had become the medium of worship and government in a continuous band of conquered territories from Toledo and Tangier in the west to Samarkand and Sind in the east. No one has ever explained clearly how or why the Arabs could do this.

The Caucasus mountain range is probably the most variegated ethnological and linguistic area in the world. It is not a melting pot, as has been said, but a refuge area par excellence where small groups have maintained their identity throughout history. The descendants of the Mediaeval Alans, a Scythic Iranian people, live in the north Caucasus today and are called Ossetes. Iranian cultural influences were strong among the Armenians, Georgians and other peoples of the Caucasus and many times in history large parts of this area were under Persian rule. So it well deserves to be mentioned in a survey of Iran.

I had sat at table with an old, semiliterate man in a dirty jacket and canvas boots and felt in my heart an excitement I had seldom known. By then Armenia and Russia no longer seemed to matter. I was no longer thinking about the nature of greatness or the characteristics of a particular nation. There was only the human soul, the soul that did not lose faith as it suffered anguish and torment among the scree and vineyards of Palestine, the soul that remains equally human and good in a little village near Penza, under the sky of India, and in a northern yurt—because there is good in people everywhere, simply because they are human beings.

On all sides, as far as the eye could reach, rose the grass-covered heaps marking the site of ancient habitations. The great tide of civilisation had long since ebbed, leaving these scattered wrecks on the solitary shore. Are those waters to flow again, bearing back the seeds of knowledge and of wealth that they have wafted to the West? We wanderers were seeking what they had left behind, as children gather up the coloured shells on the deserted sands. At my feet there was a busy scene, making more lonely the unbroken solitude which reigned in the vast plain around, where the only thing having life or motion were the shadows of the lofty mounds as they lengthened before the declining sun.

ԱՆԴՈ (մթնոլորտը ցրելով, աշխույժ) – Կենա՛ց, կենա՛ց, կենա՛ց: Արի խմենք, որ երազանքները գունավոր լինեն: Թող թզուկը չերազի մեծանալ, թող որ ինքն իր թզուկ տեղով իրեն մեծ զգա, ու բոլորը չծիծաղեն, թե թզուկ է թիզ ու կես: Ու թող մեր տխրությունը միշտ լուսավոր լինի, իսկ մենակությունը` թևավոր, որովհետև աշխարհը վառ է, վառ ու լուսավոր, էդ մենք ենք դարդից կուրանում:

To be moved by a tragic story that had happened to someone, anyone, was natural. It was another thing to take that tragedy upon yourself as a kind of catchall for whatever pain and grief your own life had held, to brandish it like a badge of honor--or worse, like a weapon, to take from it a lesson of hatred that only perpetuated the kind of thinking that created such tragedies in the first place

And then everything changed. Liberal democracy crawled out of history’s dustbin, cleaned itself up and conquered the world. The supermarket proved to be far stronger than the gulag. The blitzkrieg began in southern Europe, where the authoritarian regimes in Greece, Spain and Portugal collapsed, giving way to democratic governments. In 1977 Indira Gandhi ended the Emergency, re-establishing democracy in India. During the 1980s military dictatorships in East Asia and Latin America were replaced by democratic governments in countries such as Brazil, Argentina, Taiwan and South Korea. In the late 1980s and early 1990s the liberal wave turned into a veritable tsunami, sweeping away the mighty Soviet Empire, and raising expectations of the coming end of history. After decades of defeats and setbacks, liberalism won a decisive victory in the Cold War, emerging triumphant from the humanist wars of religion, albeit a bit worse for wear. As the Soviet Empire imploded, liberal democracies replaced communist regimes not only in eastern Europe, but also in many of the former Soviet republics, such as the Baltic States, Ukraine, Georgia and Armenia. Even Russia nowadays pretends to be a democracy. Victory in the Cold War gave renewed impetus for the spread of the liberal model elsewhere around the world, most notably in Latin America, South Asia and Africa. Some liberal experiments ended in abject failures, but the number of success stories is impressive. For instance, Indonesia, Nigeria and Chile have been ruled by military strongmen for decades, but all are now functioning democracies

¿La historia de la humanidad no es acaso toda entera, desde sus inicios, la historia de un crimen? Las naciones europeas no cesan de recodarse mutuamente el holocausto judío, pero ¿fue éste el único? ¿En qué ciudad se decretó el genocidio de Namibia (1904-1908)? ¿En qué mes el de Armenia (1915-1923), el de Ucrania (1929), el de España (1936-1975), el de la Franja de Gaza? ¿Lo recordamos? Tan sólo en los últimos sesenta años, con implicación directa o indirecta de los gobiernos de Occidente, fueron masacrados siete millones de vietnamitas dos millones de camboyanos dos millones de krudos quinientos mil serbios un millón doscientos mil argelinos setenta mil haitianos ochocientos mil tutsis y hutus doscientos mil guatemaltecos trescientos mil libaneses un número aún creciente de palestinos ¿los recordamos? Y aunque así fuese, ¿nos sentiríamos concernidos? Cuanto más alta sea la cifra más espectacular será el suceso y, por lo tanto, menos habrá de implicarnos: el dolor siempre acude en singular. Sumamos y redondeamos como para ajustar la tasa de sufrimiento. ¿Puede acaso sumarse el sufrimiento? ¿Será más el dolor de todo un pueblo que el de cada uno de sus miembros? ¿Cómo sufre "un pueblo"? ¿Existe el pueblo o la Nación independiente de su gente? Y cada uno de los seres que padecen ¿no serán siempre el mismo, una y otra vez, infinitamente? Ahora, cuando todo es aquí, irremediablemente aquí y ahora, ante la permisión del horror yo digo: Si viniera, si una mujer viniera, ahora, si una mujer viniera al mundo con la espiga de luz de las matriarcas: debería si hablara de este tiempo debería tan sólo balbucir, balbucir y así tal vez tal vez así asíasí tal vez

Իրեն փոքրուց հայտնի էր միայն, որ հոր անունը Հայրիկ է: Մայրը բացատրել էր, որ «հայրիկ» բառը, եթե գրես մեծատառով կդառնա անձնանուն: Ամեն անգամ իր ծննդականը բացելիս լարվում էր ու վերստին համոզվում, որ մեջը հոր մասին ոչ մի տող, ոչ մի տառ չկան: Մտքով հազար ու մի բան էր անցնում. գուցե հոր տվյալները սխալմամբ լրացրել են ցնդող թանաքո՞վ կամ շուտ ջնջվող մատիտո՞վ: Ամեն դեպքում, դպրոցական մատյանում հայրանվան տեղում գրված էր «Հայրիկի»:

The area occupied by the Christians in Syria and Palestine, called Outremer because of its location beyond the Mediterranean Sea, was a thin coastal strip extending from Armenia in the north to the borders of the Fatimid caliphate of Egypt in the south. By 1109, the Christian territory was divided into four large states: the Kingdom of Jerusalem, extending from Gaza to Beirut; the County of Tripoli, from Beirut to Margat; the Principality of Antioch, from Margat to Alexandria; and the County of Edessa, which stretched northeast all the way to present-day Urfa. These Latin states were governed by noble courts in much the same way as their counterparts in Europe. They were often rocked by dynastic disputes, which, together with the scarcity of available troops and the latent threat of Muslim attack, put the security of the Christian population in a constant state of uncertainty.

Seven days west of Katañga flows another Lualaba, the dividing line between Rua and Lunda or Londa; it is very large, and as the Lufira flows into Chibungo, it is probable that the Lualaba West and the Lufira form the Lake. Lualaba West and Lufira rise by fountains south of Katañga, three or four days off. Luambai and Lunga fountains are only about ten miles distant from Lualaba West and Lufira fountains: a mound rises between them, the most remarkable in Africa. Were this spot in Armenia it would serve exactly the description of the garden of Eden in Genesis, with its four rivers, the Gihon, Pison, Hiddekel, and Euphrates; as it is, it possibly gave occasion to the story told to Herodotus by the Secretary of Minerva in the City of Saïs, about two hills with conical tops, Crophi and Mophi. "Midway between them," said he, "are the fountains of the Nile, fountains which it is impossible to fathom: half the water runs northward into Egypt; half to the south towards Ethiopia.

Biblia pamoja na historia vinatwambia kuwa mitume kumi na wawili wa Yesu Kristo waliamua kufa kinyama kama mfalme wao alivyokufa, kwa sababu walikataa kukana imani yao juu ya Yesu Kristo. Mathayo alikufa kwa ajili ya Ukristo nchini Ethiopia kwa jeraha lililotokana na kisu kikali, Marko akavutwa na farasi katika mitaa ya Alexandria nchini Misri mpaka akafa, kwa sababu alikataa kukana jina la Yesu Kristo. Luka alinyongwa nchini Ugiriki kwa sababu ya kuhubiri Injili ya Yesu Kristo katika nchi ambapo watu hawakumtambua Yesu. Yohana alichemshwa katika pipa la mafuta ya moto katika kipindi cha mateso makubwa ya Wakristo nchini Roma, lakini kimiujiza akaponea chupuchupu, kabla ya kufungwa katika gereza la kisiwa cha Patmo (Ugiriki) ambapo ndipo alipoandika kitabu cha Ufunuo. Mtume Yohana baadaye aliachiwa huru na kurudi Uturuki, ambapo alimtumikia Bwana kama Askofu wa Edessa. Alikufa kwa uzee, akiwa mtume pekee aliyekufa kwa amani. Petro alisulubiwa kichwa chini miguu juu katika msalaba wa umbo la X kulingana na desturi za kikanisa za kipindi hicho, kwa sababu aliwaambia maadui zake ya kuwa alijisikia vibaya kufa kama alivyokufa mfalme wake Yesu Kristo. Yakobo ndugu yake na Yesu (Yakobo Mkubwa), kiongozi wa kanisa mjini Yerusalemu, alirushwa kutoka juu ya mnara wa kusini-mashariki wa hekalu aliloliongoza la Hekalu Takatifu (zaidi ya futi mia moja kwenda chini) na baadaye kupigwa kwa virungu mpaka akafa, alipokataa kukana imani yake juu ya Yesu Kristo. Yakobo mwana wa Zebedayo (Yakobo Mdogo) alikuwa mvuvi kabla Yesu Kristo hajamwita kuwa mchungaji wa Injili yake. Kama kiongozi wa kanisa hatimaye, Yakobo aliuwawa kwa kukatwa kichwa mjini Yerusalemu. Afisa wa Kirumi aliyemlinda Yakobo alishangaa sana jinsi Yakobo alivyolinda imani yake siku kesi yake iliposomwa. Baadaye afisa huyo alimsogelea Yakobo katika eneo la mauti. Nafsi yake ilipomsuta, alijitoa hatiani mbele ya hakimu kwa kumkubali Yesu Kristo kama kiongozi wa maisha yake; halafu akapiga magoti pembeni kwa Yakobo, ili na yeye akatwe kichwa kama mfuasi wa Yesu Kristo. Bartholomayo, ambaye pia alijulikana kama Nathanali, alikuwa mmisionari huko Asia. Alimshuhudia Yesu mfalme wa wafalme katika Uturuki ya leo. Bartholomayo aliteswa kwa sababu ya mahubiri yake huko Armenia, ambako inasemekana aliuwawa kwa kuchapwa bakora mbele ya halaiki ya watu iliyomdhihaki. Andrea alisulubiwa katika msalaba wa X huko Patras nchini Ugiriki. Baada ya kuchapwa bakora kinyama na walinzi saba, alifungwa mwili mzima kwenye msalaba ili ateseke zaidi. Wafuasi wake waliokuwepo katika eneo la tukio waliripoti ya kuwa, alipokuwa akipelekwa msalabani, Andrea aliusalimia msalaba huo kwa maneno yafuatayo: "Nimekuwa nikitamani sana na nimekuwa nikiitegemea sana saa hii ya furaha. Msalaba uliwekwa wakfu na Mwenyezi Mungu baada ya mwili wa Yesu Kristo kuning’inizwa juu yake." Aliendelea kuwahubiria maadui zake kwa siku mbili zaidi, akiwa msalabani, mpaka akaishiwa na nguvu na kuaga dunia. Tomaso alichomwa mkuki nchini India katika mojawapo ya safari zake za kimisionari akiwa na lengo la kuanzisha kanisa la Yesu Kristo katika bara la India. Mathiya alichaguliwa na mitume kuchukua nafasi ya Yuda Iskarioti, baada ya kifo cha Yuda katika dimbwi la damu nchini India. Taarifa kuhusiana na maisha na kifo cha Mathiya zinachanganya na hazijulikani sawasawa. Lakini ipo imani kwamba Mathiya alipigwa mawe na Wayahudi huko Yerusalemu, kisha akauwawa kwa kukatwa kichwa. Yuda Tadei, ndugu yake na Yesu, aliuwawa kwa mishale alipokataa kukana imani yake juu ya Yesu Kristo. Mitume walikuwa na imani kubwa kwa sababu walishuhudia ufufuo wa Yesu Kristo, na miujiza mingine. Biblia ni kiwanda cha imani. Tunapaswa kuiamini Biblia kama mitume walivyomwamini Yesu Kristo, kwa sababu Biblia iliandikwa na mitume.

Oil “Soviet Russia cannot survive without Baku’s oil,” told comrade Vladimir Lenin. One of the plans was to drain the Caspian Sea: “Is it possible? Can you drain the Caspian Sea?” said the powerful Stalin. It was more an order than a question.” (- Angelika Regossi, “Russian Colonial Food”. Chapter: Azerbaijan - Oil Country). Mafia “With his wife Victoria, they reigned here for nineteen years. This period Georgians called ironically the Victorian Era, and his wife got the name Queen Victoria. Victoria created the system when all was for sale: state documents ten times the price; 5,000 roubles to enter the Communist party; 50,000 for the judge job, … “ (- Angelika Regossi, “Russian Colonial Food”. Chapter: Gruzia - Where Soviet Mafia Was Born). Smoking “Smoking breaks in the USSR were long and often—and became an official excuse not to work, causing huge damage to the already failing state economy. But on the other hand, with zero unemployment and prison terms, if you are not on a payroll, the state could not provide enough work for everybody. People had to show up every day in the workplace. Boredom from nothing-to-do turned into massive laziness and Soviet workers spent long hours in the smoke rooms. For some, it was a place to relax, for others, to provoke a frank conversation—because … Well, let’s talk about it later.” (- Angelika Regossi, “Russian Colonial Food”. Chapter: Litva - Friends and Rebels). God “The bus was driving slowly, just forty km an hour on the slippery winter road. Outside was a spectacular view of the Caucasus mountains. Here and there appeared churches: nearby and far away, but always on the top of the hill: “Closer to God, as high as possible,” crossed His mind. The bus stopped with a creaking sound, and He slowly got off: “For me, Khor Virap Monastery will be the resting place: from the Soviet life … from the communist lies … I shall spend here the rest of my life. And from here … I shall go to eternity …” these were His last thoughts before He entered the monastery gate. He was dead tired from all that happened, walking uphill closer to God.” (- Angelika Regossi, “Russian Colonial Food”. Chapter: Armenia - Road in the First Christian State).

Մամը գետնանցումի աստիճաններով իջնում է ներքև և քայլում պատին նկարող տղաների ուղղությամբ: Նրանք երկուսն են, մեկը բարձրահասակ է (այսուհետ` Բոյով), մյուսը` կարճլիկ (այսուհետ` Կոլոտ): Նկատելով մոտեցող կնոջը՝ առանց իրար անցնելու շարունակում են իրենց գործը: Բոյովը կանգնել է ծալովի աթոռակին, ձգվել ու փչում է ներկը: Կոլոտը նույնն անում է պպզած, ներկով տառ առ տառ պզզացնում է «ՁԵՐ» բառը: Ուսապարկերը գցած են գետնին, փչովի ներկերի մի մասը` մեջը, մի քանիսն էլ շպրտած են: Մամի մոտենալու պահին Բոյովի ներկը վերջանում է: Թափ է տալիս ներկամանը, կտկտոցի ձայն է գալիս, բայց այլևս ներկ չի պզզում: ԲՈՅՈՎ – Սատկեց: Կարմիր տուր: Կոլոտն անխոս կատարում է Բոյովի հրահանգը: Ուսապարկից հանում, մեկնում է կարմիր աերոզոլը: ՄԱՄ – Բարի երեկո: ԿՈԼՈՏ – Բարև, մորքուր ջան: ԲՈՅՈՎ – Բարև ձեզ: ՄԱՄ – Ի՞նչ եք անում: ԿՈԼՈՏ – Street-art, մորքուր ջան: ԲՈՅՈՎ (դեպի Կոլոտը) – Քաղաքական արվեստ: ՄԱՄ – Գիտեմ, Բենքսի… ԿՈԼՈՏ (ոգևորված) – Հա~, հա, Բենքսի…Ինքը մենակ ա անում, մենք`ախպերովի, սենց ավելի ուրախ ա: ՄԱՄ – Իմ տղան էլ Բենքսիի… (Հանկարծ դեմքը պայծառանում է): Չէ, ձեր պես… իմ տղան ու իր ընկերը … Տղաս էլ է ձեր պես փողոցային նկարիչ: ԿՈԼՈՏ – Հա՞, ովքե՞ր են, անուններն ի՞նչ են, հաստատ կճանաչենք, մենք էնքան քիչ ենք, սաղս իրար գիտենք: ՄԱՄ – Տղաս էստեղ չի հիմա… Չէ, չեք ճանաչի: Ընկերն էլ նկարիչ չի, ուղղակի միշտ հետն էր, որ մենակ չլինի: Կոլոտը, պպզած, զրույցի հետ մեկտեղ հիմա էլ տառ առ տառ պզզացնում է «ՈՌԸ» բառը: ԿՈԼՈՏ – Հա~, հա, սատկա պահելն էլ ա կարևոր գործ: ՄԱՄ – Ինչպե՞ս: Չհասկացա: ԿՈԼՈՏ – Սատկա պահել, էլի, մորքուր ջան, աթանդա կանգնել, որ, ասենք, մենթ-մունթ գա` խաբար անի, թռնեն, պահակի ղայդա, էլի: ՄԱՄ – Հա~… սատկա: Չէի լսել: Մամը ոտքը կախ է գցում: (Կոլոտին` մատնացույց անելով «ՈՌԸ»): Շա՞տ չի կոպիտ: ԿՈԼՈՏ – Չէ~, հա, մորքուր ջան, սրանց հասնում ա… Մեր զենքն էլ էս ա: ԲՈՅՈՎ (առաջին անգամ Մամի դեմքին նայելով) – Քաղաքականությունը հարվածներ տալու և հարվածներ ստանալու արվեստ է: Իրենք մեր դեմ իշխանական բիրտ ուժ են կիրառում, անխնա հարվածում են, մենք էլ արվեստով ենք հակահարված տալիս: (Կոլոտին): Ես վերջացրի: ԿՈԼՈՏ – Ես էլ: Երկուսով արագ հավաքում են ներկերը, լցնում ուսապարկերը: Բոյովը ծալովի աթոռակը փակում, դնում է թևի տակ: Կոլոտը մի քիչ հեռանում, մի քանի անգամ հեռախոսով լուսանկարում է: Մամը հետ է քաշվում: ՄԱՄ (Բոյովին) – Դու քանի՞ տարեկան ես, տղա ջան: ԲՈՅՈՎ (բարեհամբույր) – Քսան: ՄԱՄ – Ուսանո՞ղ ես: ԲՈՅՈՎ – Ոչ: ՄԱՄ – Ծառայել վերջացրե՞լ ես: ԲՈՅՈՎ – Ազատված եմ` առողջական խնդիրներ ունեմ: Այ, եղբայրս ծառայած է: ԿՈԼՈՏ- Հա~, հա, ծառայած, պաշտպանած, պսակված, բաժանված, կյանք տեսած տղա եմ: (Բոյովին): Գնա՞նք: ՄԱՄ – Դուք հանգիստ գնացեք, ես սատկա կլինեմ էստեղ մի քիչ… (Շփոթված): Թույլ չեմ տա` անցորդները փչացնեն ձեր փողոցային… քաղաքական արվեստի գործը: (Դադար): Հաջողություն ձեզ, տղաներ, զգույշ կլինեք: Բոյովն ու Կոլոտը զարմացած հայացքներ են փոխանակում: ԲՈՅՈՎ – Ձեզ էլ: Բարևեք ձեր տղային: ԿՈԼՈՏ – Ընկերոջն էլ: Բարի գիշեր, մորքուր ջան: Նրանք անշտապ քայլում են: Կոլոտն ընթացքում շրջվում է, նկատելով, որ Մամը չի հեռանում, փսփսում է Բոյովի ականջի տակ, որն էդպես էլ չի շրջվում: Տեսադաշտից անհետանում են: Մամը երկար, սևեռված նայում է պատկերին, մատով դիպչում, համոզվում է, որ ներկը դեռ չի չորացել: Դեմքը մոտեցնում ու սկսում է հոտոտել թարմ գրաֆիտին, ապա քնքշորեն շոյում է պատի ու պատկերի եզրագիծը` առանց լղոզելու: Սկսում է փչել պատին, ասես իր շնչառությամբ ուզում է ներկը չորացնել: Աստիճաններով գլորվող դատարկ մետաղական տարայի ձայն: Մամը սթափվում, հայացքը գրաֆիտիից չկտրելով՝ հետ-հետ է գնում, մինչև հասնում ու մեջքով հենվում է հանդիպակաց պատին: Քարանում է: Մթերքով տոպրակը թուլացած ձեռքից ընկնում է: Նա, մեջքը պատից չպոկելով, դանդաղ սահում է ցած: Նստում է գետնին: Ծալված ոտքերը մեկնում է առաջ: Տխրությունը կամաց-կամաց փոխվում է լացի: Գետնին ընկած, ճակատը` սառը քարին, սրտակեղեք լաց է լինում: Դիմացի պատին երևում է ամբողջական պատկերը: Հավերժության անվի կենտրոնում սրախողխող, փետրած թռչուն է: Ներքևում`գրություն. «ԻՄ ԶԵՆՔԸ՝ ՁԵՐ ՈՌԸ»: Աղեկտուր հեկեկոց:

Moreover, by means of the Semitic inhabitants of Babylonia Sumerian culture continued to exert its influence on other and more distant races. We have already seen how a Babylonian element probably enters into Egyptian civilization through Semitic infiltration across the Straits of Bab el-Mandeb or by way of the Isthmus of Suez, and it was Sumerian culture which these Semites brought with them. In like manner, through the Semitic Babylonians, the Assyrians, the Kassites, and the inhabitants of Palestine and Syria, and of some parts of Asia Minor, Armenia, and Kurdistan, all in turn experienced indirectly the influence of Sumerian civilization and continued in a greater or less degree to reproduce elements of this early culture.

Ցանկացած իշխանության հիմքում ընկած է մարդուն հասկանալն ու նրան կառավարելը։ Թե՛ եկեղեցին, և թե՛ թագավորը իրականում կառավարում են ոչ թե մարդկանց, այլ մարդկային վախերն ու ցանկությունները։ Իսկ մարդուն կառավարելու ամենահեշտ ու դիպուկ միջոցը նրա վախը կառավարելն է։

With the return of Yanukovych, first as prime minister in 2007 and then as president in 2010, the Holodomor began to fall back again in terms of public remembrance. Because of this political shift and because this was a taboo topic in Soviet times, the Holodomor has not entered into the DNA or soul of Ukrainian politics, or worldview, as the Holocaust and the Armenian genocide have in Israel and Armenia.

What facts? The word of a guard who saw nothing? What did the men who followed Jesus gain? Not money or power or the esteem of men. They were reviled as the Lord was reviled. James was beheaded by King Herod Agrippa. Andrew was stoned in Scythia. Bartholomew was flayed alive and beheaded in Armenia. Matthew was crucified in Alexandria, Philip in Hieropolis, Peter in Rome. James the Less was beheaded by order of Herod Antipas. Simon the Zealot was sawn in two in Persia. And none of them recanted. Even in the face of death, they still proclaimed Jesus the Messiah. Would they all have died like that to preserve a lie? My father told me they were all afraid when Jesus was crucified. They ran away and hid. After Jesus arose and came to them, they were different men. Changed. Not from without, but from within, Marcus. They spread the Good News because they knew it was true.

Percibía aquella belleza de una manera extraña. No eran deseos, ni entusiasmo, ni tampoco placer lo que Masha suscitaba en mí, sino una honda, aunque agradable, tristeza. Era una tristeza indefinida, vaga como un sueño. Sin saber por qué, sentía lástima por mí mismo, por mi abuelo, por el armenio y por la misma pequeña armenia, y experimentaba una sensación como si los cuatro hubiéramos perdido algo importante y necesario para la vida, algo que jamás volveríamos a encontrar.

In the third century the kingdom of Armenia anticipated the union of Church and State under Constantine the Great, by making Christianity the state religion of Armenia. Yet the continuity of churches maintaining New Testament principles remained unbroken.

What would she do? What could she do? Her heart was in Armenia. But, then again, so was her heartache.

Dusk had fallen, and shadows loomed larger than life. An eerie mask of quiet enveloped the houses like some foreboding fog. Anyone hiding within nearby walls hardly dared to breathe, fearing getting dragged from their homes and added to the forced deportation march.

Similar in some respects to the Ravenna sarcophagi are stone crosses found in Armenia and Georgia. Although the earliest date from the ninth century, such crosses continue to be made into the modern period. These memorial steles, called khachkars, typically display crosses enclosed within interlacing designs of vines, fruit, and flowers. The cross’s arms generally flare and are tipped with buds. Only a few of the later examples show a corpus on the cross.

For some reason (working on Hoffmann) I remembered Armenia. A thunderstorm, and a shepherd drives his flock of sheep into the half-ruined church. 'Marmarashen'. A film

Parthian King Vologases II had directed the invasion of Armenia,

The people of Ashchenaz are found in earliest times in Armenia, and later Jewish writers associate them with the Germanic races (Germanic Jews to this day are called Ashkenazim). They appear also in the 6th century BC records of Assyria as the Askuza who allied themselves with the Mannai in a revolt against Assyria, an event also mentioned in Jeremiah (51:27) - whose prophecy incidentally confirms the identity of the Askuza with the Ashkenazim.

We have all of Iran on our right, Iraq and the Persian Gulf on our left, and Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkey ahead of us

Georgia was not the first. In 301, Tiridates III, the king of Armenia, the buffer state between Rome and Persia, had converted after a Christian saint cured his mental illness – though this was done partly to assert his independence from the stridently Zoroastrian Persians.

I have since learned that at other latitudes and at other times, the same Communist powers created similar traps for making people believe and hope in illusions. This led to the misery of countless peoples: in France, in America, in Egypt, and perhaps most notably, in Armenia. Tens of thousands died there in 1947 under the spell of Stalin’s propaganda, which had painted the Soviet Socialist Republic of Armenia as the land of milk and honey. The Soviets… promised that the ancestral culture and religion would be respected and that the newcomers would shortly see a new generation rise and flourish in social justice.

In less than fifteen minutes, one of the missiles exploded over Tehran, while the other one released an electromagnetic pulse thirty miles above the country of Iran. Tehran ceased to exist in minutes, while the power went out and electronics were fried in the rest of Iran, Kuwait, half of Iraq, and in parts of Turkmenistan, Pakistan, Afghanistan (not that it mattered there), Azerbaijan, Armenia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and some of the even smaller Persian Gulf countries. The EMP affected the regions by throwing them back to the nineteenth century as far as technology goes, while Afghanistan pretty much remained in the Stone Age.

According to the Paris Temps, Paul Rohrbach “in a conference held at Berlin, some time ago, recommended that Armenia should be evacuated of the Armenians. They should be dispersed in the direction of Mesopotamia and their places should be taken by Turks,

With the wholesale slaughter of the 1915 era, Armenians of the western regions of historic Armenia were decimated, and virtually to the last man, woman, and child were annihilated or driven out of their homeland, denuding Armenia of the people that gave it its name, one that it had borne for two and one-half millennia. That action was clearly an attempt to annihilate the race and its culture.

The world’s first Christian kingdom was Osrhoene, beyond the eastern borders of the Roman Empire, with its capital at Edessa: its king accepted Christianity around 200.15 That regime did not last long, but neighboring Armenia made this the official religion around the year 300 and retains the faith until the present day.

Avetis Aharonian lived in Paris until his death in 1948. He is remembered as the poet who became President of Armenia.

The Persian ruler, Yazdegerd, was a fanatical believer in the fire-worshipping (Zoroastrian) faith. He wanted Christian Armenia to give up its faith and embrace his, thus he exerted tremendous pressure on Armenia to gain this end. Initially, there were exchanges of notes between Yazdegerd and the Armenian bishops. Each claimed to believe in the true faith and called the other’s false. Eventually, Yazdegerd summoned the Armenian princes to his palace on the Tigris River at Tizbon (Ctesiphon), imprisoning them and demanding that they yield to him. The princes feigned agreement in order to be released from captivity. Yazdegerd was overjoyed. However, on their return to Armenia, the wives of the princes (historians call them “delicately reared ladies”) showed greater resolve, and belittled their husbands for having acted without courage.

By 1906 the number of Armenians in Fresno was about 2,500, and together they farmed about 13,000 acres of land.

Today, regular church services are held there. It also serves as a place where the devout can make an offering with a sacrifical lamb or fowl.

in Yerevan. The American University of Armenia, where teaching is in English, operates under the auspices of the University of California. English has nearly replaced Russian as the second prevailing language, as on street name signs, store fronts, advertisements, etc.

it was the miracle of St. Gregory’s (the IEnlightener, “Sourb Grigor Lusavorich”) that brought about the conversion of Tiridates III, King of Armenia, to Christianity, and with it the nation.

The Armenian word for the Bible is Astvadzashounch (Breath of God).

Who was Vardan Mamikonian, and how did he come to play this most crucial role in Armenian history? It may justifiably be said that without his committed leadership, the term “Armenian” today might have referred to no more than an obscure, one-time, Christian people of long past.

Both had been riding horses and wielding bows and spears since childhood, so they probably took pleasure in chasing game and practicing battle skills together. She wore typical Amazon-Scythian-Persian attire, and we know that Mithradates dressed in traditional Persian style, so we can picture the couple similarly garbed in long-sleeved tunics adorned with golden animals and geometric designs, wool cloaks edged with gold, heavy leather and gold belts with golden buckles, and patterned trousers tucked into high boots. Each carried a Scythian bow exquisite workmanship, and two light spears. Their horses, of the finest stock from the high pastures of Armenia, would have been decorated with ornaments of gold.

Tacitus provides a clearer illustration of the tension between imperial authority and the need to make decisions quickly, on the spot, when the governor of Syria learns that Rome's nominee to the throne of Armenia has been deposed and killed. He calls a council of his own friends to decide what action to take; they determine to do nothing at first, but nevertheless the governor, Quadratus, sends an embassy with a stiffly worded message to the invaders, "lest he appear to condone the crime and Caesar should order something different" (Ann. 12.48). Here, Quadratus intends to write to the emperor about the situation but cannot wait for his reply to make an important decision. Thus the emperor's authority placed limits-albeit vague ones-on what a governor could do.

The Soviet counterpart to the Green Bank meeting, the First All-Union Conference on Extraterrestrial Civilizations and Interstellar Communication, was held in May 1964, at the Byurakan Astrophysical Observatory in Soviet Armenia. Perhaps less concerned about the “ridicule barrier” and any public threat to research funding in their more centralized scientific enterprise, the Soviet scientists were eager to publish their papers. So this is the first SETI meeting for which published proceedings exist. The

There, by the Golden Gate, in the heart of a mighty concourse, waited the lords of Byzantium: the lesser Caesars and Despots and Sebastocrators, the Grand Logothete in his globular headgear, the Counts of the palace, the Sword Bearer, the Chartophylas, the Great Duke, the thalassocrats and polemarchs, the Strateges of the Cretan archers, of the hoplites and the peltasts and the cataphracts; the Silentiaries, the Count of the Excubitors, the governors of the Asian Themes, the Clissourarchs, the Grand Eunuch, and (for by now all Byzantine history had melted into a single anachronistic maelstrom) the Prefects of Sicily and Nubia and Ethiopia and Egypt and Armenia, the Exarchs of Ravenna and Carthage, the Nomarch of Tarentum, the Catapan of Bari, the Abbot of Studium. As a reward for bringing good tidings, I had by this time assumed the Captaincy of the Varangian Guard; and there they were, beyond the galleons and the quinqueremes in corruscating ranks of winged helmets, clashing their battle axes in homage.

We should, however, not forget that ethnic cleansing, especially of nonwhite Muslim peoples, has old historical roots in Russia. John Dunlop, for instance, reminds us that “in May 1856, Count Kiselev, minister of state domains, informed officials in the Crimea that Alexander [tsar Alexander II] was interested in ‘cleansing’ (Kiselev used the verb oshishchat’) Crimea of as many Tatars as possible.” That the tsarist empire was interested in annexing foreign lands, but not in annexing foreign peoples, was expressed by the famous remark of a tsarist minister that “Russia needs Armenia, but she has no need of Armenians.” [192]

Peter speaks of a church at Babylon; Paul proposed a journey to Spain, and it is generally believed he went there, and likewise came to France and Britain. Andrew preached to the Scythians, north of the Black Sea. John is said to have preached in India, and we know that he was at the Isle of Patmos, in the Archipelago. Philip is reported to have preached in upper Asia, Scythia, and Phrygia; Bartholomew in India, on this side the Ganges, Phrygia, and Armenia; Matthew in Arabia, or Asiatic Ethiopia, and Parthia; Thomas in India, as far as the coast of Coromandel, and some say in the island of Ceylon; Simon, the Canaanite, in Egypt, Cyrene, Mauritania, Lybia, and other parts of Africa, and from thence to have come to Britain; and Jude is said to have been principally engaged in the lesser Asia, and Greece. Their labours were evidently very extensive, and very successful; so that Pliny, the younger, who lived soon after the death of the apostles, in a letter to the emperor, Trajan, observed that Christianity had spread, not only through towns and cities, but also through whole countries.

a South American mercenary who served as Inspector General of the Turkish forces in Armenia, reported that the Governor-General of the province had ordered the local authorities in Adil Javus ‘to exterminate all Armenian males of twelve years of age and over’.

Unhappy Places According to World Values Surveys from 1995 to 2007, the 10 unhappiest places on Earth are: 1. Zimbabwe, 2. Armenia, 3. Moldova, 4. Belarus, 5. Ukraine, 6. Albania, 7. Iraq, 8. Bulgaria, 9. Georgia, 10. Russia.

On the previous day, four Armenian witnesses told the Congressmen how the Bolsheviks had overthrown the Armenian First Republic in 1920. All of them were affiliated with the ARF, and two, Reuben Darbinian and General Dro Kanayan, had served in the government of the First Republic. The Armenian testimonies also appear to have been choreographed with the aim of throwing all possible blame on the Bolsheviks and suppressing the role of other culprits in the fate of the Armenians—in this case, the Turks. So Beglar Navassardian, executive secretary of the still-extant American Committee for the Independence of Armenia (and son of the ARF leader in Egypt), gave a brief excursion through the history of Armenia that surely would have caused apoplexy in his predecessors in that committee in the 1920s.     Navassardian barely mentioned the 1915 Genocide in his testimony. He managed only to say, “Finally during the First World War, the Armenian people made the final and supreme sacrifice. They firmly and squarely sided with the Allies, gave volunteer forces under the Allied Command in the Middle East, on the eastern front and elsewhere. For a people whose numbers had been decimated to less than 4 million, they gave a participation of 250,000, fighting against the Axis Powers.”34     General Dro spoke through an interpreter. The awkward issue of his wartime collaboration with Nazi Germany was not mentioned. The general reminisced about a luncheon in 1921 hosted for him by Stalin, whom he described as an old comrade from the revolution of 1905, at which promises were made and then broken. Dro, a veteran of the Russian-Ottoman war, also conspicuously failed to mention Turkey or 1915. He only spoke about atrocities committed by the Bolsheviks, who, he said, “took over Armenia with a brutality and persecution characteristic of the Middle Ages.”35     A certain kind of Armenia—one that had lost its independence, bravely fighting Soviet Russia—was required by the Cold War American political imagination. Concluding the hearings, the chairman, Representative Michael Feighan, praised General Dro, saying, “Our committee appreciates very much this first-hand testimony from you who have fought so vigorously for the freedom and independence of Armenia.”36

Efectivamente, su dinamismo tiene algo de brasileño. Armenia es guapa, va bien vestida, despliega todo el encanto de esas mujeres que parecen no tener edad y, por si fuera poco, es tremendamente sensual.

At first impression, the interminable series of wars between the Roman Empire and Persia (both in the Parthian period and again in the Sassanid period) look almost inexplicable. They went on and on, century after century. There was a potential economic gain for both sides—the disputed provinces were rich provinces. But it was evident, certainly by the time of Ardashir, that the wars were very costly, that it would be very difficult indeed for either party to deliver a knockout blow to the other, and that any gains would be difficult for either side to hold permanently. The wars and the disputed provinces had taken on a totemic value—they had become part of the apparatus by which Persian shahs and Roman emperors alike justified their rule. This explains their personal participation in the campaigns, the triumphs in Rome and the rock-reliefs carved on the hillsides of Fars. Upper Mesopotamia, Armenia, and Syria had become an unfortunate playground for princes.

Istanbul is a city laced by three seas: the Marmara, the Bosphorus Strait, and the Black Sea.

The country occupied by this ancient people of Van was the great table-land which now forms Armenia. The people themselves cannot be connected with the Armenians, for their language presents no characteristics of those of the Indo-European family, and it is equally certain that they are not to be traced to a Semitic origin. It is true that they employed the Assyrian method of writing their inscriptions, and their art differs only in minor points from that of the Assyrians, but in both instances this similarity of culture was directly borrowed at a time when the less civilized race, having its centre at Van, came into direct contact with the Assyrians.

Two different geologists (who simply do not have a hand in this debate since they are secular), who were searching for oil deposits, have mapped the regions that include the mountains of Ararat and beyond extensively.10 What we find are layers intrinsic to the formation of the mountains of Ararat (Armenia and Anatolia regions) that include: 1. Permian 2. Lower-Middle Triassic 3. Middle Triassic-Middle Cretaceous 4. Paleocene-Lower Eocene 5. Lower Eocene 6. Middle Eocene 7. Middle-Upper Miocene For much of this, the Eocene and Miocene rock layers are inverted and pushing up the Cretaceous and Triassic rock layers. In other words, without the Eocene and Miocene rock layers, the mountains of Ararat cannot exist! What can we glean from this? It means that Miocene and Eocene rock layers existed by day 150 in the mountains of Ararat. These layers are tertiary sediments much higher than the K/T boundary. What we can know is that these Eocene and Miocene rock layers were formed prior to the post-Flood period.

So where are the mountains of Ararat? The mountains of Ararat form a mountain range named after the Urartu people who settled in that region after the dispersion event at the Tower of Babel. In Hebrew, Ararat and Urartu are even spelled the same way. Hebrew does not have written vowels, so both are essentially spelled rrt. Josephus, a Jewish historian living about 2,000 years ago, said that Armenia was made up of the descendants of Hul through Aram and Shem.6 Armenia is the later name of the region of Urartu/Ararat, which is a specific part of the Armenian highlands. So it is understandable why Josephus used the later name, whereas Moses used the earlier name.

The persecutions by the established Roman Catholic Church are hard, cruel and perpetual. The war of intended extermination follows persistently and relentlessly into many lands, the fleeing Christians. A "Trail of Blood" is very nearly all that is left anywhere. Especially throughout England, Wales, Africa, Armenia, and Bulgaria.

Justinian reorganized Roman Armenia and put it on an aggressive military footing, which provoked Persia.

So that’s it. In my heart, I understand that you did not intend to end our relationship on such a mundane way and you did not mean anything to end quite this way. Maybe happy endings are things that don’t seem to be a part of us in the long run.

So that’s it. In my heart, I understand that you did not intend to end our relationship on such a mundane note, that you did not mean anything to end quite this way. Maybe happy endings are things that don’t seem to be a part of us in the long run.

Then, in 535–536, Justinian divided Roman Armenia into four civil provinces

Si la vida de la diáspora armenia nació de la muerte, mientras la muerte siga viva quizás la diáspora armenia seguirá unida… mas, ¿qué pasará cuando ese pasado-presente oscuro sea reconocido?, ¿qué o quién mantendrá unida la diáspora?

Perhaps not wanting to say goodbye is just another word for loving.

The liberal Manchester Guardian newspaper, an enthusiastic supporter of the Zionist cause, hailed the declaration as ‘the fulfilment of an aspiration, the signpost of a destiny’. Without a national home the Jews would never have security, argued the editor, C. P. Scott, citing a recent case of the fateful vulnerability of another minority in a Muslim land. ‘The example of Armenia and the wiping out of a population fiftyfold that of the Jewish colonies in Palestine was a terrible warning of what might be in store for these.’ Scott saw no contradiction between the declaration’s central promise and the rights of the country’s native Arabs – and thus reflected widely held contemporary Western views.

I have cultivated in myself a sixth sense, an “Ararat” sense: the sense of attraction to a mountain.

The next day, 13 January, murderous anti-Armenian violence overwhelmed Baku. A vast crowd filled Lenin Square for a rally, and by early evening men had broken away from it to attack Armenians. As in Sumgait, the savagery was appalling and the center of the city around the Armenian quarter became a killing ground. People were thrown to their deaths from the balconies of upper-story apartments. Crowds set upon and beat Armenians to death. Thousands of terrified Armenians took shelter in police stations or in the vast Shafag Cinema, under the protection of troops. From there they were taken to the cold and windy quayside, put on ferries, and transported across the Caspian Sea. Over the next few days, the port of Krasnovodsk in Turkmenistan received thousands of beaten and frightened refugees. Airplanes were on hand to fly them to Yerevan.

Romania, as I am forced to refer to it, constitutes one of those indigestible ethnic nations, like Georgia and Armenia, that have miraculously survived the millennia despite being oppressed, overrun, and vanquished.