Author: Maral Chavushian

AW: St. Gregory Church announces 46th Annual Armenian Fall Festival

Maral Chavushian
 Guest Contributor Announcements 0

INDIAN ORCHARD, Mass.—St. Gregory Armenian Apostolic Church is excited to announce its 46th Annual Armenian Fall Festival will be held on Saturday September 30 from 12-5 p.m. at 135 Goodwin Street. A vibrant celebration of Armenian culture, featuring an immersive experience of food, music, dance and community engagement, the festival is free and open to the public with free parking. 

“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to share our rich history, culture and heritage through food, music and dance,” said Tanya Garibian, chair of the Board of Trustees. “Through these festivals, we celebrate our survival and growth since the Armenian Genocide 100 years ago. Join us as we share that growth, celebration, resilience and hope.”

Indulge in homemade Armenian meals either at the festival or as take-out. Select from shish kebab, losh kebab, chicken kebab, spinach boreg and more. These authentic dishes, prepared fresh and grilled on site, showcase our rich culinary tradition. Explore a delightful assortment of homemade pastries, such as choreg, kourabia, paklava, kadayif, bourma and jars of tourshi (pickled vegetables), among other treats, all available for purchase. 

A live Armenian band will serenade attendees while traditional Armenian dancing takes place, offering a firsthand experience of our cultural traditions. This event is a testament to the unity, resilience and hope that the Armenian community embodies. Please join us!

For more information, visit www.saintgregoryarmenianchurch.org or contact Claudia Muradian-Brubach at 413-209-1439 or [email protected].




Continual Azeri fake news campaign indicates its intention to commit provocations, warns Nagorno-Karabakh

Maral Chavushian

 23:44,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 16, ARMENPRESS. The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry has falsely accused the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) Defense Army of carrying out reinforcement work in the Shushi region, the Nagorno-Karabakh Ministry of Defense has warned.

“The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry’s statement claiming that Defense Army units carried out reinforcement work around 19:40, August 16 in the Shushi region, which was allegedly prevented by actions of the Azerbaijani armed forces, is another disinformation. It is obvious that by continuously disseminating fake news Azerbaijan is preparing information basis for its next provocations,” the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Ministry said in a statement.

Azerbaijani Press: At last, Armenians understand reintegration is only solution

Maral Chavushian
AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Aug 12 2023
Qabil Ashirov

As far as it can be seen, the passion and enthusiasm for Armenian propaganda based on the myth about great Armenia playing out from the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea is getting dampened. This sacred myth for Armenians has a claim that as though Armenians are the most civilized and the most ancient nation in the world, and everybody in the world is obliged to fight and die for them. This fetish belief drove them to the extremes of terrorism, genocide and finally invasion. Even fanatically believing in this fabrication, Armenians tried to wrest Garabagh from Azerbaijan.

Taking advantage of the internal turmoils and economic crisis in Azerbaijan, Armenians were able to invade 20 percent of Azerbaijani territories and expelled over 1 million residents from their hometowns 32 years ago. Although it was useless in every visit, Azerbaijan did not take a step back from the negotiations even for a moment. The whole world witnessed the exhausting processes at the negotiating table. Finally, the biggest offer for reintegration – the offer to give Garabagh the highest status – came from Azerbaijan. However, the society, brainwashed with past mythical ideas of the most civilized and ancient nation, rejected this proposal. Even having gone further, David Tonoyan, the former Armenian Defense Minister, solemnly announced a new war, new territories.

Following this motto, Armenia attacked Azerbaijan to snatch new territories in 2020. So, Azerbaijan was obliged to respond with a counterattack.. First, Hayk demanded assistance from other nations and called them to come to Garabagh to fight against Azerbaijan for them. Then they started to beg but nobody came to help them due to their brazen and disgraceful ideology. So, the war resulted in a humiliating defeat for Armenians as a result of which Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed the November 10 Statement – the capitulation act. Swift and unexpected defeat fumed the Armenian society and they poured into the streets to hold protests. The meeting continued for several days, but nobody understood to whom they protested. The streets of Yerevan were alive with reproaches directed to all nations in the world for not having come to sacrifice themselves for the sake of the “most civilized and ancient” nation. Russian blogger’s interview with an unknown old Hay became a culmination of the protests. The old man was very angry and solemnly claimed that he had made Vladimir Putin the president of Russia by shouting. Ostensibly, he asked a friend of a friend of a friend of Boris Yeltsin, the former president of Russia, to make Putin president after him. Actually, the interview revealed how deeply the Armenian myth influenced the citizens. The old man really believed that Armenians are so a well-esteemed nation in the world that even when Russian state apparatus chooses the president, it takes into account the desire of a Hay living in a remote village in Armenia. He was so sure that Vladimir Putin was not elected by Russians but appointed to the post in accordance with his request. So, he reproached Vladimir Putin for not sending the Russian Army to fight against Azerbaijan.

All surveys conducted by different foreign organizations read that prior to the war in 2020, the majority of Armenians believed that someone will come to save Armenia. But it did not happen. But Armenians did not accept the reality and continued to take advantage of the goodwill demonstrated by Azerbaijan. Despite being the victor, Azerbaijan complied with the commitments of the November 10 Statement. In contrast, Armenians persistently violate their obligation. Even today, they are reluctant to open the Zangazur corridor. Despite being detected, they continued to transfer illegally some weapons into Khankendi. They did all provocations. Smuggling forbidden products to Khankendi and firing at Azerbaijani servicemen were the last straws. Azerbaijan closed the Lachin Border Checkpoint only for security purpose. Hoping that someone will come to save them, they performed a “tragedy named a humanitarian crisis in Garabagh.” Through this period, Azerbaijan offered reintegration again and again. Of course, the answer was no.

However, last week, Samvel Babayan, one of the leaders of separatists in Khankendi spoke about opening a common market in Agdam where both Azerbaijanis and Armenians will collaborate initially. Despite he explained his proposal in favor of separatists, many on social media said that it is a hint for integration. As everybody was busy making out the market proposal, Dilara Afandiyeva, the head of the Centre “Women: Peace and Security” operating under the Dilara Aliyeva Azerbaijan Society for Protection of Women’s Rights, stated that several Armenians in Garabagh have made calls to the hotline requesting that they wanted to accept Azerbaijani citizenship. She said that Armenians also ask questions about the fate of the people who fought against Azerbaijan in the first and second Garabagh Wars. Besides, they also are interested in getting pensions from Azerbaijan. All this foreshadows the crumbling of the Armenian myth. It reveals that at last Armenians understood that nobody care about them and with such kind of demands they just lose their face. At last, after tasting the the power of the Iron Fist over their heads, they understood that the reintegration is the only solution.

Armenian Christians trapped and facing genocide

Maral Chavushian
Aug 11 2023

Peter Pinedo and Kevin Jones, Catholic New Agency

More than 120,000 are currently trapped, without food or medicine, behind a blockade in the Muslim-majority nation of Azerbaijan. Former ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom Sam Brownback, who recently returned from Armenia, calls it the Azerbaijani regime’s latest attempt at “religious cleansing.”
https://www.thecatholicthing.org/2023/08/11/armenian-christians-trapped-and-facing-genocide/

As Armenian Fish Farming Expands, a Pristine Aquifer Is Drying Up

Maral Chavushian
Aug 10 2023

In recent decades, aquaculture has proliferated in Armenia’s Ararat Valley. The heightened use of water, combined with a warming climate and increased drought, has led to groundwater reserves shrinking by two-thirds, once-bountiful farms withering, and wells going dry.

BY LORI YOUMSHAJEKIAN • AUGUST 10, 2023


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On an overcast morning this past spring, Gegham Muradyan searches for signs of water trickling through the dry soils of Armenia’s Ararat Valley. In an opening between two stone houses in the village of Dalar, some 15 miles southwest of Yerevan, the nation’s capital, he finds a single pipe protruding from knots of weeds.

A hydrometeorologist at Armenia’s Ministry of Environment, Muradyan holds a measuring cup beneath the water flowing from the pipe and notes the time it takes to fill. He does a quick calculation, then records the well discharge rate — an indicator of underground water pressure — in a logbook. Over the past year, the rate has dropped from 850 milliliters per second to 570 milliliters. “That’s very serious for this one,” he says.

For several years, Muradyan and his colleagues have crisscrossed this region to record the depth and velocity of groundwater at wells and boreholes. In 2016, they surveyed more than 2,800 sites — the most comprehensive analysis performed since the early 1980s. Their painstaking work has confirmed that the aquifer has shrunk from more than 32,000 hectares, in 1983, to just over 10,000 hectares. In some parts of the valley, the water table has dropped as much as 49 feet.

Years of overexploiting groundwater in the Ararat Valley have brought the aquifer to a crisis point.

Muradyan knows why. “Look around,” he says, pointing toward the horizon. “Do you see those?” Barely perceptible in the distance are rows and rows of concrete vats filled with fish.

Years of overexploiting groundwater in the Ararat Valley have brought the aquifer to a crisis point. Today, the valley hosts more than 200 documented fish farms, with potentially dozens more operating without permits. Together they are responsible for more than half of the region’s annual groundwater consumption, according to data collected by the U.S. Agency for International Development — more than irrigation, industrial, and household use combined.

Rainfall and snowmelt replenish the aquifer, but climate change has reduced these flows. Now, despite government efforts to shut down illegal wells and encourage water reuse on fish farms, experts say more needs to be done to preserve this vital natural resource.

The Ararat Valley, which lies along the Turkish border and is home to roughly 260,000 people, is the nation’s agricultural hub. Its prized apricots and pears, its melons and vegetables, have long thrived thanks to the valley’s artesian aquifer, which holds an estimated 2 billion cubic meters of water, equivalent to about 800,000 Olympic swimming pools.

But today, a bird’s-eye view of the region would reveal a stark contrast: a dusty, brown landscape dotted with striking blocks of blue and green. These tanks are filled with native trout, salmon, and sturgeon, most of which will be exported to Russia.

Aquaculture is the world’s fastest-growing food sector, according to the United Nations. But commercial fish farming is relatively new in Armenia, and an unlikely industry for a mountainous, landlocked country. The government first granted water extraction permits in the 2000s, allowing dozens of entrepreneurs to tap into the valley’s aquifer. Hydrologists say those early permits allowed aquaculturists to set up too many wells that pumped too much water, and that the permits were granted without an understanding of how much extraction the aquifer could handle.

“It was not good management and not a long-term vision for the Ararat Valley,” says Alexander Arakelyan, a hydrologist at Armenia’s Institute of Geological Sciences, who works with Muradyan.

Nowadays, aspiring fish farmers pay about $1,000 for a water permit, according to Muradyan. But once they’ve done that, the clean, cold water is virtually free — fish farmers can fill an entire tank, about 280,000 liters, for just a few dollars. It’s not surprising, then, that the valley quickly became a hotspot for enterprising aquaculturists, who caused extensive groundwater depletion in just a few years.

The Ararat Valley, which receives just 8 to 10 inches of precipitation yearly, is likely to become even drier.

As fish farming has grown, groundwater withdrawals in the Ararat Valley have far surpassed the aquifer’s rate of replenishment. The problem was first discovered in 2013, when groundwater withdrawals were more than 1.5 times the sustainable level. Three years later, nothing had changed. Users withdrew 1 billion cubic meters more than the aquifer’s natural recharge amount for that year.

“If we keep using [the aquifer] indiscriminately,” says Muradyan, “the time will come when it cannot recover.”

For a time, the problem seemed to be under control. In 2016, the Ministry of Environment attempted to close illegal farms and plug some of the valley’s unused, free-flowing wells. But now the warming climate — which enhances evaporation, triggers more drought and ramps up water demand — is exacerbating the crisis, says Alexander Arakelyan, a hydrologist at the Institute of Geological Sciences in Armenia.

Groundwater is the most important source of water for at least half of the world’s households and supports about a quarter of the world’s irrigation systems. But as the planet warms, water scarcity is expected to affect two-thirds of the world’s population by mid-century, according to the U.N.


The Ararat Valley, which has historically received just 8 to 10 inches of precipitation a year, is likely to become even drier. The United Nations Development Programme predicts rainfall will decrease by about 8 percent by 2100. “Armenia is warming much faster than expected,” says Naira Aslanyan, climate change coordinator at the UNDP in Yerevan.

This past winter, the lack of snowpack dramatically shifted the basin’s timeframe for regeneration. Usually, the water table rises until April as snow from the surrounding mountains melts into the valley’s recharge zones. But in 2022, the regeneration season ended in February, according to Muradyan. This year, he says, the water table started declining even earlier — in January.

The consequences of a decade of unmitigated groundwater abstraction and increasing climate pressures are already emerging, sometimes miles away from the heaviest users. Gevorg Avakian grows strawberries, eggplants, and grapes on a small farm in the village of Aknashen. Up until 2016, water flowed freely from an artesian well on the edge of his property, between the chicken pen and a few rows of grape vines.

“It’s not the right approach if we think that we can bring water from other places to close the deficit,” says a hydrologist.

In 2016, Muradyan helped install a deeper well on Avakian’s property to replace one that had dried up. But even this one is dying. “It’s only going down and down,” says Avakian. “You can see the fields around me. They’re all yellow. That’s because the water isn’t coming.” Avakian found the money to install a pump on his dry well, but it’s expensive to operate.


In more than 30 communities dotting the valley, residential wells are now too shallow to reach the ever-dropping water table. Villagers — not all of whom have access to municipal water supplies, which draw on reservoirs — have watched their wells dry up in the space of a few short years. Like Avakian, they are forced to either dig deeper or install costly pumps.

Farmers who partly depend on the aquifer for irrigation are increasingly reliant on water discharges from Lake Sevan — a large, freshwater lake about 45 miles northeast of the Ararat Valley that is already suffering from algal blooms and low water levels. This summer, the Armenian government agreed to discharge 240 million cubic meters of water from the imperiled lake to service shortfalls around the country, even though the annual maximum is set at 170 million cubic meters.

“It’s not the right approach if we think that we can bring water from other places to close the deficit,” says Arakelyan.

Still, many local fish farmers won’t accept that they’re part of the problem. Samvel Lablajyan, based outside of Hayanist village, insists nothing has changed on his plot of land. “The water isn’t going down, and it isn’t going up, either,” he says. “This situation will work for 100,000 years.”

In other parts of the Valley, Lablajyan concedes, “there are places where the water is decreasing naturally.” He blames climate change. “There’s no rain, the winds are stronger, everything on the Earth is changing,” he says.

Groundwater is not evenly distributed beneath the Earth’s surface, so some areas may feel the pinch of depletion more than others — at least for now. Fish farmers like Lablajyan, says Arakelyan, will inevitably come face-to-face with the problem. “We need to [make] these businesses understand that this environment is for everyone, it’s not a private thing,” he says.

After harvesting their fish, most farmers drain their nitrogen-rich water into the nearby Aras River.

Experts say all of the basin’s residents have to face reality: The years of insatiable extraction have caught up with them. “We don’t want to get to a situation where we have a massive water shortage, and we’re not that far off,” says Garabet Kazanjian, an aquatic ecology researcher at the American University of Armenia. “What are we going to do then?”

Powerful economic interests have stymied any reforms of aquaculture. After years of economic hardship, fewer Armenians are choosing to work the land. Many young people have moved to the city or left the country altogether. Creating employment opportunities for the remaining rural population is more important than ever.

Fish farms annually produce more than 18,000 tons of commercial fish, most of which is exported to Russia, according to the Ministry of Economy. Russian consumers have a taste for Armenian red and black caviar, as well as its trout and sturgeon — varieties that are too expensive to be viable on Armenian grocery shelves. The farms also employ local villagers. Artyom Torosyan’s business, called Svet Fish, recruits 10 people from Hovtashat, a village of about 3,000. Dozens of other fish farms do the same.


Torosyan’s expansive business is impossible to miss on Hovtashat’s Yerkatughayinner (metal works) Street. His elaborate, brass-trimmed gates stand out on the dirt road, where a half-mile of dilapidated factories once produced car parts and machinery. Torosyan believes he’s part of revitalizing the country’s economy and its global status, he says, because 90 percent of his product goes abroad.

Still, Torosyan calls himself one of the unlucky fish farmers: neighboring farms have about five permitted wells each, he says, whereas he has a permit for only one. And so Torosyan, like other aquaculturists without enough water, implemented water-saving measures out of need.

After harvesting their fish, most farmers drain their nitrogen-rich water into the nearby Aras River, which flows to the Turkish border. The process is both wasteful and polluting. On Torosyan’s farm, a system filters the water, reoxygenates it, and then reroutes it to another tank, ready to host several hundred more fish.

The pace of depletion will determine whether the fish farming industry can continue to operate.

Torosyan built the recirculating system himself, importing materials from China, Russia, and the European Union, and he believes his efforts could be a blueprint for the region’s other fish farms. But while recirculating systems result in higher fish production with less water use, the capital investment — from $16,000 to $130,000, depending on the size of the farm — can be prohibitive for smaller farms, according to research from the International Centre for Agribusiness Research and Education, an agricultural NGO based in Yerevan.

Nor do relatively water-rich fish farms have any incentive to invest in building a sustainable system, says Torosyan. “The fish farms around me have a lot of water already,” he says. “They don’t use these kinds of processes.”


Still, local environmental authorities are encouraging widespread adoption of recirculating systems. In January, the Ministry of Environment gave fish farms one year to install them, but experts on the ground have not seen any progress. “I’m not so sure that it will be done by January because it requires a lot of money and effort from businesses,” says Arakelyan. And without government subsidies to make the upgrades, smaller businesses might close if the deadline remains. “As usual in Armenia,” Arakelyan adds, “everything will happen at the last moment.”

Even for an enterprising operator like Torosyan, there might not be much water left to recirculate within a few decades. The pace of depletion will determine whether the fish farming industry can continue to operate. “If the water runs out,” Torosyan says, “we’re all going to be in trouble.”

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Lori Youmshajekian is a freelance journalist based in New York covering science, health, and the environment. MOREABOUT LORI YOUMSHAJEKIAN →

 

Deputy Speaker Rubinyan presents NK situation to Ambassador of Estonia

Maral Chavushian

 16:58, 9 August 2023

YEREVAN, AUGUST 9, ARMENPRESS. On August 9, Deputy Speaker of Parliament Ruben Rubinyan, received the Ambassador of Estonia Riina Kaljurand.

During the meeting the parties discussed issues related to regional developments, the Parliament’s press service said in a readout.

Ruben Rubinyan presented the situation created in Nagorno-Karabakh as a result of the illegal blockade of the Lachin Corridor by Azerbaijan and the deepening humanitarian crisis. The Deputy Speaker of the Parliament emphasized the need for international partners to take clear steps to prevent ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh.

At the ambassador’s request, Ruben Rubinyan also referred to the process of regulating Armenia-Turkey relations.

My Journey in the Armenian Language: From Duty to Desire

Maral Chavushian
August 9, 2023 Tara Ourfalian Opinion, Youth 0

Tara Ourfalian

Speak Armenian, love your culture, cherish your heritage, protect your community…

But to what end?

For many diasporan Armenians, these patriotic words are nothing short of ordinary. They have been ingrained into our hearts and our minds, having become second nature for us all.

As a “lifer” of Armenian institutions, I was raised to always honor and appraise these values, regarding our motherland with the utmost respect and admiration. I was raised to place my culture and my heritage on the highest pedestal because of its sacred and rich history and the countless ways in which it has facilitated the survival of our marginalized race. However, I repeatedly found myself in distress regarding the use of my own language – the same language that constitutes the very essence of what it means to be an Armenian and that has bolstered our community for thousands of years. Despite my intensive language education, why was it that when I utilized Armenian, I refrained from venturing beyond my familiar horizons, from taking risks that challenge the immunity of socially determined margins?

Ultimately, it was the result of a lack of exercise. During my years as a youngster studying at an Armenian school, from preschool to high school, I learned how to speak, read and write in my native tongue. Yet, in doing so, I developed an inclination to isolate the Armenian language – a tendency to place our sacred tongue on a pedestal, guarded from any foreign corruption. This behavior has become increasingly normalized in our diasporan community. As a bilingual diasporan myself, this trend not only impeded my personal language development, but it can also have grave implications for the future of all bearers of Armenian culture.

To reach this realization, I had to live through countless grueling, and oftentimes unpleasant experiences, the significance of which only struck me upon my pursuit of a higher education. And that is exactly what I did: pursue higher education – not one signified by a diploma, but rather one marked by spiritual and intellectual enrichment.

During the winter quarter of my sophomore year at UCLA, I chose to enroll in my first college-level Armenian language course. Putting all of my expectations aside, I joined the class entirely impartial, yet confident in my proficiency with the Armenian language, because I believed that after graduating from an Armenian school, I had to continue to speak, read and write in Armenian. I had to ensure that I did not forget the grammatical frameworks of my language. I had to surround myself with other like-minded Armenian youth who held similar patriotic values. This was my obligation as a descendant of genocide survivors and migrant parents who evaded assimilation. These were my responsibilities to fulfill in order to preserve my allegiance to my heritage.

I started to ponder: what was the purpose of this compulsory duty that weighed so heavily on my conscience? For years, I blindly followed this nationalist messaging that I have been fed since childhood, without taking a moment to consider its intent or ramifications. What exactly would result from speaking Armenian? Why do we appraise our language with such significance? The answers to these questions had finally started to unveil themselves to me.

During our first class meeting, we were given an excerpt from Krikor Beledian’s “Mdmdook”…I was at a loss for words. Grasping little to no understanding of the piece, I wondered how I had gone so long without ever having seen such sophisticated and complex ideas represented in Armenian literature, despite having gone to an Armenian school my entire life. I recognized, in that very moment, that I had intuitively enclosed Armenian within bounds, restricting my ability to harness the full potential of all of its bountiful richness and intricacies to express a higher order of thinking. I had monumentalized and sacralized the language by limiting its application to strictly Armenian-affiliated motifs and ideas. For so long, this predisposition inclined me to establish an inherent classification, whereby I would only utilize Armenian for concepts relating to our history and other cultural associations relevant particularly to the past, while I defaulted to English in order to express myself, create, reflect and analyze ideas pertinent to the present and the future.

I recognized, in that very moment, that I had intuitively enclosed Armenian within bounds, restricting my ability to harness the full potential of all of its bountiful richness and intricacies to express a higher order of thinking. I had monumentalized and sacralized the language by limiting its application to strictly Armenian-affiliated motifs and ideas.

Throughout the duration of this course, I encountered countless new ideas and novel perspectives that encouraged me to embark on a transformative journey to relearn and reimagine my mother tongue. It was important to assume responsibility with a willing desire. Making the decision to undertake this language revolution was critical to ensuring that it did not revert to a tedious or undesirable obligation. I welcomed the opportunity with a newfound aspiration to expand the horizons of my bilingual intellect. The result was an explicit testament to the fundamental significance of choosing to endorse this evolution, as opposed to an enforced compulsion originating from the pressure of external forces. As such, my relationship with the Armenian language had acquired a new shape, and I had procured an entirely new outlook on the academic groundwork established and transmitted through our institutions.  

My first endeavor was to overcome the unease and timidity that stemmed from my fear of writing in Armenian – my fear of making mistakes, of being criticized for being wrong, of being misunderstood. There had been several instances in this particular course when I struggled to respond to unfamiliar abstractions or vague prompts that we had been assigned to answer on a weekly basis. I found myself repeatedly sitting for hours on end, my eyes frozen on the blank page that loitered on my laptop screen. After several minutes, I would write a sentence, only to erase it and relapse to where I had started. It was a destructive pattern of confusion, self-doubt and hopelessness. I had established an unrealistic expectation to continuously produce a “perfect” product, an exceptional outcome that I was proud to consider impactful and meaningful. But it wasn’t until I learned to accept that this expectation was virtually unattainable that I finally began to defy the bounds of my self-imposed intellectual imprisonment. I stopped fearing, and rather welcomed, criticism as an instrument of progression. Step by step the barriers started to crumble, and I entered a new world of possibilities where my imagination diffused into a realm far beyond the margins of an ethnocentric rationale.

I then knew that the next stride I had to make would be to read my first full-length Armenian book, as that would be critical to expanding the breadth of my vocabulary and enhancing my ability to think critically through the lens of a different language. That book happened to be yet another work by Krikor Beledian, titled The Name Under My Tongue, per my professor’s recommendation. Just as I had anticipated, I came face to face with the same hurdles. I read the first ten pages, then twenty, and then fifty, without the slightest comprehension of what was being said. It became increasingly difficult not to succumb to the temptation of surrender and defeat. However, one lesson in particular allowed me to persevere: learn to not understand. In other words, come to terms with not understanding every term, every sentence or every concept. Avoid turning to a dictionary every time you come across an unfamiliar word; refrain from rereading the entire page even if you couldn’t grasp the meaning; untie yourself from the weight of mastering the material, and eventually, you will begin to see all of the fragmented pieces come together to form a coherent story. Gradually, I learned – or rather unlearned – my process of understanding to develop a genuine deeper comprehension of the texts I had been reading. This allowed me to entirely immerse myself into Beledian’s transcendent world of verbose run-ons and uncover the elaborate postulations that were veiled beneath his assemblage of long-winded passages. As I began to implement these critical adjustments in my day-to-day habits, both within and outside of the classroom, I started to appreciate the value of literature more than ever before, and my love for reading heightened.

Through my experiences as a maturing college student outside of the protected bubble of my upbringing, I have come to a few new realizations regarding the work being carried out by our cultural institutions in the diaspora. It goes without saying that Armenian schools and educational establishments play an instrumental role in setting the foundation to foster generations of bright and spirited youth, of which I am a proud product. However, they appear to lack a salient element of any organization, being a clear vision and a purpose. Instilling the overbearing pressure to keep our culture alive has limited effectiveness if it does not translate into concrete, measurable outcomes. Most Armenian-based instruction emphasizes the importance of knowledge about our culture and the duty to preserve it, but fails to instill the desire of integrating oneself into the culture by consuming it and creating in it. As students, we have been conditioned to serve our language – revering it, as opposed to utilizing it as a space where we can intellectually thrive. Today, this vision has transformed into a fantasy of idealism, while the mission or the means of pursuing it has been replaced by the act of paying respects to the ideal. Although the importance of invoking a vigorous spirit and pride in one’s heritage is undoubtedly necessary, the vision of Armenian community schools has to embody a bold shift that embraces consumers and producers of language products to pave the path for a prosperous future. As diasporans, it is pivotal that we generate producers, writers, poets and inventors, who will continue to enrich our culture and our language with their instrumental efforts.

Despite being a life-long product of Armenian culture, my experience with the Armenian language feels like it has only just begun. As I take on this mindful and willing journey of rediscovery and break down the barriers that had once shielded me from the boundless opportunities my native tongue can bestow upon me, I impatiently await where I will find myself in the coming years.

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Tara Ourfalian was born and raised in Los Angeles, with familial origins in Musa Dagh. She is a proud graduate of Holy Martyrs Ferrahian High School and will be a rising junior at UCLA in the fall, studying environmental science with a concentration in environmental systems and society. In the future, her dream is to pursue a career in environmental policy and civil rights law. Tara is a member of the ANCA Leo Sarkisian Class of 2023. Tara has always regarded serving her country as a top priority for all Armenian youth. With her efforts and involvement in the community, she strives to further the ambitions of the Armenian Cause and to continuously enrich her culture by becoming a producer of her language and heritage. She is a dedicated member and volunteer for numerous Armenian organizations, including her university’s Armenian Students Association (ASA) and Hidden Road Initiative (HRI) chapters, the AYF, Homenetmen, the Armenia Fund and a participant of the ANCA “Leo Sarkissian” Summer Internship Program.


‘Still Suffering’: Armenia Resort Struggles To Heal After Azerbaijan Attack

Maral Chavushian
BARRON’S
Aug 3 2023
  • FROM AFP NEWS
By Karen MINASYAN

August 3, 2023

Jermuk was Armenia’s busiest spa resort before arch foe Azerbaijan attacked nearly a year ago. The mountain spa town dotted with hot springs came under artillery fire in September 2022. While authorities insist Jermuk is ready to host tourists again, locals say the wounds are still raw and the tourism industry has been struggling to recover in the aftermath of the assault. The town is now deserted, with its remaining inhabitants “suffering from psychological trauma,” according to tour guide Vazgen Galstyan.

Watch the video at the link below:
https://www.barrons.com/news/still-suffering-armenia-resort-struggles-to-heal-after-azerbaijan-attack-a16b643

Vietnam treasures friendship, cooperation with Armenia: NA official

Maral Chavushian
Aug 2 2023


POLITICS
Vietnam always treasures its traditional friendship and multifaceted cooperation with Armenia, Chairman of the National Assembly (NA)’s Committee for Foreign Affairs Vu Hai Ha said while receiving Armenian Ambassador to Vietnam Vahram Kazhoyan in Hanoi on August 2.
VNA Wednesday, 22:31  



Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam always treasures its traditional friendship and multifaceted cooperation with Armenia, Chairman of the National Assembly (NA)’s Committee for Foreign Affairs Vu Hai Ha said while receiving Armenian Ambassador to Vietnam Vahram Kazhoyan in Hanoi on August 2.

Ha expected that both sides will promote effective and substantive cooperation in many areas, particularly trade, to make it commensurate with their potential, strengths, and bilateral relations.

He stated that the Vietnamese NA wants to enhance collaboration with the National Assembly of Armenia in a more profound, practical, and effective manner.

The official also hoped that during his tenure, the Armenian diplomat will play an active role in further promoting the development of the relationship between the two countries and legislatures.

For his part, Kazhoyan proposed Vietnam and Armenia actively step up the exchange of delegations, especially high-level ones, to further beef up the bilateral ties across many spheres, including trade and tourism.

While informing his host about the Armenian NA’s establishment of the Armenia-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentarian Group, he hoped that the Vietnamese side’s counterpart would soon be set up.

The ambassador proposed the Vietnamese NA support Armenia’s early acquisition of the observer status in the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA), contributing to stronger parliamentary ties between the country and the bloc in general, and between it and Vietnam in particular./.

https://en.vietnamplus.vn/vietnam-treasures-friendship-cooperation-with-armenia-na-official/265516.vnp


Central Bank of Armenia: exchange rates and prices of precious metals – 27-07-23

Maral Chavushian

 17:30, 27 July 2023

YEREVAN, 27 JULY, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 27 July, USD exchange rate down by 0.04 drams to 386.36 drams. EUR exchange rate up by 2.08 drams to 430.21 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate stood at 4.29 drams. GBP exchange rate up by 1.38 drams to 500.53 drams.

The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.

Gold price up by 91.89 drams to 24424.91 drams. Silver price up by 1.39 drams to 306.44 drams.