Armenian diaspora turns world into global village

YEREVAN: As the melancholic notes of duduk — a pipe instrument integral to Armenian music — caress the air in Vernissage, the country's biggest flea market, a woman in her late 60s waves an exquisite wall hanging made of jute and ceramic, exhorting customers: "Five hundred Armenian drams only!"

The French word vernissage means a private showing or preview of an art exhibition. The lines of desperation on the woman's face — 500 Armenian Drams for that converts to a measly amount of Rs 70 — hint at the ravages of history, of what went wrong with the country that's the cradle of a rich ancient civilisation. It produces the most exquisite brandy, wines and carpets and is believed to be the resting place of Noah's Ark.

The mountainous country in the south Caucasian region has seen fierce invasions by Arabs, Mongols, Persians, Turks and Russians, forcing local populations to flee with every wave of attack; Armenia's national symbol Mount Ararat, believed to be the resting place of Noah's Ark, became Turkey's territory in the 1920s; earthquakes in 1988 devastated the nation: 25,000 killed, thousands rendered homeless. Yet the most painful chapter remains the genocide by the Ottoman Empire in 1915 that killed 1.5 million Armenians. The violence tears up every Armenian, both resident and the diaspora.

Yet it's not the tragedies but the remarkable grit of Armenians to give back to their motherland and restore its ancient glory that is stunning. "We can never forget the genocide but we have to move on, snap out of the 'victim' mode. Showcase the beauties of Armenia, its rich civilisation and ancient history," says Armenuhi Magarditchian, a PhD scholar of classical archaeology at the University of Geneva. A Swiss national, Armenuhi is in her country of origin to study rock inscription in Greek in the ancient pagan temple of Garni, a symbol of Hellenistic culture built over two centuries before Armenia became the world's first country to adopt Christianity as a state religion in 301 AD.

Named after her country, like many others, Aremenuhi's family tree exemplifies the massive global village that Armenians have turned the world into. Born in Switzerland, her father is in Bulgaria, mother in Lebanon and maternal grandparents in Egypt where her maternal great grandparents had fled to escape the 1915 genocide. On her father's side, the family moved out of Armenian city Ani when it was attacked by the Seljuk Turks in circa 1064. Canada, Brazil, Romania and Cyprus are other places where her family moved out.

When Armenians fled in 1915, made foreign countries their home, what they carried with them were the duduk's melancholic notes that to the day make even young Armenians cry. Yet the nation's biggest tragedy has also united unite the diaspora, estimated at three to four times Armenia's population of three million.

A sense of gratitude to their saviours bonds Armenians. The Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity, instituted in 2015 by the survivors of the genocide to thank their saviours, is an example of this sentiment. The award is given to those engaged in humanitarian service- from missionary doctors in war-torn Sudan to those teaching girls despite opposition by the Taliban and mullahs in Afghanistan.

"We cannot forget how the world's people helped our forefathers. 'Gratitude in action' is our motto," says Ruben Vardanyan, co-founder of the Aurora humanitarian initiative. Ruben's grandfather's family was wiped out; his grandfather alone was saved by a man from Turkey taken in by an orphanage and grew up to become an eminent professor.

But it is no wonder that the diaspora has such nostalgia for Armenia with its picture-perfect landscapes and warm-hearted people — with flawlessly crafted features. The streets of capital Yerevan only reinforce the survey that adjudged Armenian ladies to be the world's most beautiful women. As the handsome 60-something gustily sells her colourful folk art, she leaves you with the thought that for all its tragedies, Armenia remains a land of hope and beauty.