A plane carrying 21 people crashed on takeoff from Armenia’s capital early Thursday, injuring at least 10 people, the head of the country’s civil aviation authority said.
The plane, a Canadair CRJ-100, was heading for Minsk, Belarus, when it flipped over on the runway at Zvartnots Airport and burst into flames, Artiom Movsesian said.
He said there were 18 passengers and three crew members aboard. Ten people were hospitalized with injuries. A spokesman for the airport, Gevorg Abramian, said none of the injuries appeared to be life-threatening.
After the crash, it lay upside-down at the airport, much of the fuselage blackened and gutted by fire.
Posted at: 11:17 pm by Timothy Haroutunian Categories: Armenia
On February 1st at 8pm in Somerville, MA. The tickets are $28 a piece which is really expensive for an Armenian Ensemble, but I willing to pay it to see what they sound like and maybe get some pictures (most likely no though).
Surprisingly, the soul of this land-locked country is in an instrument called the “duduk,” a double-reed lute carved from the root of an apricot tree. You’ll hear that, along with the “kanoon” and the “kamancheh,” when the Shoghaken Ensemble performs. The group is the country’s premier folk ensemble, playing haunting lullabies and a “thrillingly exotic” sound. This sounds scary and sexy. I’m intrigued. The group recently performed with Yo-Yo Ma, which gives them some coveted world music street cred. Respect…
There are three songs in this play list which will play automatically back to back.
[audio:shoghaken1.mp3,shoghaken2.mp3,shoghaken3.mp3]
I was reading an article called “Life Behind Bars” and they explained what the prisoners got for food every day. Apparently Armenian food is what they feed them…alright, so it might not be just Armenian food, but it is a lot of what Armenians eat.
So far, Jassem Mohammed, has been in custody for “two years, two months and 10 days,” he says. “They feed us ‘fassoulia’[beans] and rice every single day,” he laments. “Is it possible for a man to survive the winter on such a diet?”
I understand that it would be tough eating the same food every day, but Fassoulia and Rice are amazing. Fassoulia is a great Armenian dish consisting of Green Beans, tomato sauce and Onion with some other seasonings which I love to have. Every time there is a celebration at my church, we have some main dish (chicken, lamb), fassoulia and rice pilaf. Good Eats!!!
Posted at: 11:49 pm by Timothy Haroutunian Categories: Armenia
George Bush has signed the 2008 fiscal year aid bill which is to provide $17.5 million less to Armenia compared to 2007. The bill, signed by “President” Bush, is an unchanged version of the budget expenditures item passed by the both houses a day earlier.
The 2008 overall package, known as the omnibus bill, envisions providing $58.5 million in economic assistance to Armenia within the Freedom Support Act. The omnibus aid bill includes $19 million for Azerbaijan. Also, the US will render $3 million in foreign military financing (FMF) assistance to Armenia and Azerbaijan in equality. The 2008 budget items infuriated the US-based Armenian organizations.
I don’t understand why Bush keeps on aggravating the Armenian Americans by passing bills that take away from Armenians around the country. The last time was when he told congress not to vote on the Armenian Genocide recognition bill so that he could keep good standing with Turkey. George Bush needs to be out of office and 370 days can’t come quick enough.
Posted at: 11:54 pm by Timothy Haroutunian Categories: Armenia
Today is Armenian Christmas and I went to church to celebrate it. It is also the day where Holy Water that is blessed by the vahapar (His Holiness Karekin II) once every seven years. The middle two weren’t as dark because I turned off the flash
“Turkey praised the United States on Wednesday for providing intelligence in support of attacks against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq, as it confirmed its third such air strike in 10 days.” - source
Why is it that George Bush loves the Turks? Is it because he is an idiot and doesn’t really care about what he is doing as long as he doesn’t have to take responsibility for anything.
That’s about it, just thought I would add my own comment.
Posted at: 6:56 pm by Timothy Haroutunian Categories: Armenia
Even though it is now located in Turkey, one of my life goals is to climb Mt. Ararat. This is a journal of someone’s trip to Turkey to climb the sacred mountain of Ararat. Enjoy!
Posted at: 11:29 pm by Timothy Haroutunian Categories: Armenia
While in Armenia in 2001 during the 1,700th Anniversary of Armenia becoming the first Christian nation in 301 AD, I was able to pick up a souvineer to bring back with me to the US. It was a commemorative case that held 40 boxes of matches with Armenian Churches and Locations on both sides of the box. The case that the matches were in and the match boxes themselves was created just for 2001 and they can no longer be purchased. This was given to me as a gift from my host family in Armenia.
The front cover of the box is a picture of Holy Etchmiadzin where the Catholicos resides and the birthplace of the Armenian Church.
On the inside cover is a picture of Khor Virap where St. Gregory was held captive in a pit for 13 years.
Posted at: 11:54 pm by Timothy Haroutunian Categories: Armenia
Just when I think the US government is finally going to do the right thing and recognize the Armenian genocide, George Bush and other politicians petitioned Nancy Pelosi not to vote on the resolution next month. Their reasoning behind this letter was that since we are at war, we need Turkey as an ally so we can use their air space to be closer to Iraq. He said that it would cost too much money to fly in from another country and that having them as allies will help “our” cause. The question I have for Bush, is who’s cause? Your cause? All this war has done is killed innocent Americans who are trying to cover up his mistakes by continuing to fight. Don’t get me wrong, I fully support the troops and what they are doing for this country, but I don’t think that we should still be in this war and about 65% of the country agrees with me.
Facts:
Feburary 2006: 72% of active troops in Iraq think we should leave within a year (almost two years later, still not out)
Feburary 2006: 1 out of 4 said the troops should have left in the beginning of 2006
March 2007: 69% believe the presence of U.S. forces is making things worse
March 2007: 51% of the population consider attacks on coalition forces “acceptable”
Besides the people that George Bush has killed (yes, he has killed), he has also put this country in horrible debt. At the time of this post, the cost of war is at $462,300,000,000 (over 4.5 Billion dollars) and rising drastically. Here’s an interesting tidbit of information, Bush has spent more dollars in the war than the age of the earth which is 4.54 billion years old. My parents taught me growing up that, “Money doesn’t grow on trees”, but George Bush is apparently proving them wrong because he is spending more money than we have to spend, so what do we do, borrow it from other countries. Who is going to pay that off once the war is over? The American citizens are going to now and in the future and they will pay it off in taxes and other price increases. The reason I bring up the war is because I am an Armenian American who will have to pay off that debt, but what has this country done for the Armenian American population, they have rubbed this bill in our face by not passing it.
Adolf Hitler before the Holocaust: “Who still talks nowadays of the extermination of the Armenians?”
Turkey has condemned the “genocide” bill and recalled its ambassador to Washington back to Turkey for consultation over the matter, a sign of exasperated U.S.-Turkey tension over the issue. More than 1.5 million Armenians were killed in a systematic genocide in the hands of the Ottomans during World War I, before modern Turkey was born in 1923. All Armenian Americans want is for the US government to recognize this as a genocide and not try and pull some political bull just so we can use Turkey’s land. It has been 92 years since the genocide took place and Armenian Americans want to know that the country that our ancestors escaped to is finally going to agree with us. My great grandparents were featured in an article in the Boston Globe in the 1990’s for escaping the genocide and finally coming to Ellis Island to start a new life in Boston, Mass. A new beginning that my grandmother and my father and I were able to have in this country, one that 3/4 of my ancestors were not able to have because they were killed by the Turks in 1915.
To the US government, this might be a chance to keep an ally oversees, but to the 700,000 - 1.4 million Armenian Americans currently living in the US, it is about being recognized for the lives that were taken and new start this country gave us when the US actually cared about its citizens that live here. Please help raise awareness on this cause, and vote Yes (MSNBC Poll) and help bring the numbers back up because they are extremely low. This is not about politics, this is about doing the right thing and helping the Armenian Americans take back what the US has never given us…Recognition
WE WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER!!!!
armenia, armenian, genocide, us, congress, george bush, government, politics, war, killing, turkey, turks, ottoman empire
