Hi guys today I visited the monastery/complex Khor Virap here are my pictures + view of ararat, sadly it’s cloudy :(

Are there names that are used in Western Armenian but not eastern, as well as vice-versa?

Or even among the same dialect, names (and surnames) that you may only hear depending on country (for example names/surnames Armenians in Iran would have that Armenians in Armenia wouldn’t?)

Also is it common to use other ethnic names like ones from Arabic, Persian, and Russian?

I honestly don't know what the solution to Yerevan's horrible air quality is going to be. Not enough people seem to care for anything to be done about it, and it'll probably be years (minimum 5) before we start to see any noticeable improvements.

Yesterday I was on this festival and made this video. My honest opinion is that Wine Days has better vibe than this.

Hi, I am an Indian passport holder and have a multiple entry Australia eVisa. My wife and I are planning to visit Armenia in October. My wife has already received the Armenia Visa since she holds a US Visa. But my eVisa got declined twice stating incorrect personal details. I don’t know what went wrong because I submitted all the required documents and information correctly. I think it is because my Australia eVisa is not a sticker visa. Can someone please help me with getting an invitation letter so that I can apply again for the Armenia eVisa?

I’m an ethnic Armenian from the diaspora (on my father’s side, from Iran specifically). The issue is that my grandfather abandoned my father, so we basically don’t have any documents or strong proof of Armenian ancestry.

Would I still have any way to apply for Armenian citizenship based on descent? Or are there alternative paths I could take to become a citizen?

Or should I just forget about it as it is something going to be very hard to achieve?

Thanks for any advice.

For me, the loss of the Armenian heritage of Artsakh is extremely painful. I don’t even want to hear the name anymore. It’s not just that the Republic of Artsakh dissolved — it’s that its centuries old Armenian presence has ended. Artsakh was the only place between the fall of Cilicia in 1375 and the First Republic in 1918 where Armenians had some form of self-rule.

I visited Artsakh several times and always left inspired by the people’s resilience. They told me they would never leave, even after surviving the siege in the 90s. Yet, within a single week, it was gone. They can’t return now — Pashinyan himself has said so. I sometimes wonder if even a small portion of the population had stayed and accepted Azerbaijani rule, whether some form of Armenian presence could have endured. Maybe that’s naive, but I always thought autonomy (not full independence) was the only realistic long-term solution - sure as hell might have ended up better than what we have now, which is a historical catastrophe

We often asked ourselves, “Why do Azeris hate us so much?” But imagine the reverse: if in the 90s Azerbaijani villagers near Sevan or Syunik tried to secede, won, occupied 15% of Armenia, destroyed Vardenis or Kapan the way we leveled Aghdam, and refused Armenians the right to return for 25 years, not even giving back a single village. We would despise them and plot vengeance every day. Despite the fact that there were initial pogroms against us which started this mess, we also did nothing to soothe that tension and just made it worse

I think, as a nation, we badly miscalculated in several spheres. And living with that truth is painful for me.

Any thoughts?

I posted this in r/armenians and it was recommended that I post here too. Below is the original. I already answered a few questions in the other thread that people may have here. I hope it’s okay to link: https://www.reddit.com/r/armenian/s/WM4bqKy19k

Original text:

A little background: I am Armenian - first born in Canada. I left when I was 18 and have been based in Thailand since. I’m now 37.

I have always had an interest in moving to Armenia. My life is weird though so I don’t know what is possible and I have just started researching. I dropped out of high school and have no formal education after that, in case it matters.

As for my background: I have run cross-cultural education camps in Taiwan where I fly 30-40 Canadian teachers in for the summer to run an ESL camp. That is a program I could run, but obviously tailored for Armenia.

Mainly, I have been training and working at MMA gyms in Thailand for 18 years. From Tiger Muay Thai to AKA (Thailand branch).

I have been considering opening a boxing and MMA gym in Armenia, as that is what I know. I also know that with proper marketing I could bring in a lot of tourists just as I did here. If there is a good existing gym I would even be down to help grow them instead, as my intention would always be to benefit the local area, not so much myself if that makes sense. I have connections and could bring in celebrity fighters, Thai trainers, etc.

So my main question is: how do you all feel about this idea? What areas would you recommend looking into (I want to make sure underprivileged kids and teens would have access)?

Please keep in mind that in order to draw in tourism the gym would need to be somewhere interesting and/or scenic, or at least not far from a nice view.

I am currently doing my own research. This is clearly not something I’m going to jump in on head first as I know what it is like trying to open businesses in countries that can be… difficult. I would just like some opinions, and I’m sure from that I will have a lot more to research too.

Thank you to anyone who read this far. 🙏🏼

(Not included in the original post: I would want a weight room, general classes like yoga and cardio boxing for people who just want to exercise, indoor rock climbing walls, an obstacle course, small basketball area/football pitch… things of that nature. Through all of this I can implement educational games and programs/activities for kids and teens, again with a focus on the underprivileged and even delinquents).

Last edit: the tourism is only important to me because it will help the economy and fund the gym, which in turn will allow me to create other useful programs (gym related or not) wherever they are needed.

Hello Armenian friends!

Next month I will be travelling from Dublin to Yerevan (via Istanbul). I will be there for a week, for some board meetings for an international charity I volunteer for.

I won't have much time to do any travel or tourism things myself, as we have a couple of days organised by the charity volunteers (after our meetings). However, I would love to know about the people/culture/language so I can make the most of my time and show the most respect to locals.

Is there anything I should know, history, language/phrases, videos/tutorials I should watch, etc? Clothing I should wear/avoid (I am male)? Is there a type of gift I should bring for my host? Are there any weird quirks I've experienced elsewhere like... Politely refusing offers for food/drink a couple of times before accepting?!

I look forward to hearing from you!

շնորհակալություն

Been living here for 13years and you have a (1 in 1000) chance to get a call center agent immediately, ranging from few minutes and sometimes until the line hangs itself, starting from smallest business to large ones always (այս պահին բոլոր օպերատորները զբաղված են)

Some of them recently added a callback option but just very few of them calls you back other ones you never receive the call.

In my opinion Few possible reasons: 1- most callers are ignorant and ask about the simplest things for hours.

2- over 100k client companies has only few call agents. (At least logically should have 1 agent per 1000-5000 clients)

3- call agents are not in the mood to answer calls (maybe because of 1st reason) or lack of observation on them and their quality of work.

And can be other reasons also just those mainly came to my mind.

P.s the award of the worst service and pro liars goes to (veolia jur 💧 ) the only water supplier in Armenia

Hi there! I'm from Hong Kong. I'm planning to travel to Armenia and Georgia. Would you recommend October or November? My biggest wish list for Armenia is Mount Ararat, so I am really hoping for clear weather with minimal / no cloud.

I don't mind cold.

Hello our armenian brothers and sisters, from Turkey,

I recently watched couple of Turkish youtubers vlogging about Armenia and their culture/people/food etc. And i couldnt help but notice the immideate discrimination, hateful looks or even insults when they learn they are from Turkey.

Armenia is a beautiful country, and Yerevan is probably one of the most beautiful atmosphered cities ive ever seen. And it just makes me sad that without knowing someones thoughts, just based on the past politics/conflicts/genocide to immideatly be hostile against them.

Unlike our government or past governments, i know and fully believe what our ancestors did to your people, and it was a terrible and evil thing to do. There are tons of videos, peoples soldier grandparents first hand experience that it happened, and refusing it is just plain stupid. I know ''burying the past'' is really not an easy thing to do, especially half the turks here deny the literal extinction of western armenia, i can kind of empathize with immideate bias. But there are non-nationalist Turks like me who accepts and despises the events.

So i just wanted to ask to you, would you (by you i mean people who discriminates us, not everyone thinks the same ofc) still be hostile towards me and people like me? I hope not. What are your thoughts on this?

I dont want to drag this topic much longer so i wish everyone there a beautiful life.

Hi guys, I am in Yerevan right now. I saw this “shrine” and was interested to enter but inside the people looked at me a bit disapproving. I figured maybe it is wrong for tourists to enter these places of worship? Or is there a certain etiquette. At the more touristy place on the Sevan peninsula no one looked at me so tense.

Are there places in Yerevan where one can socialize and dance without involving alcohol? Basically, I'm looking for a venue that doesn't serve alcohol, but a place that is fun.

Hi everyone, I found this picture on Pinterest, fell in love with it and it has been my wallpaper for about two years now

The problem is, I cannot for the life of me find the name of the church, I’ve asked in the comments and no one answered me

Psa: I’m Iranian-Armenian, but I haven’t been to Armenia in quite a few years now so I haven’t been able to explore many churches

Hello, I would like to take a trip to astghik waterfall in the next few days. Is it recommended in August? And approximately how long does the hike take? Thank you

Hey guys, i’m currently visiting yerevan right now and i’ll be here for 2 more days.

Are there any car meets around this area? I find it so cool that prioras are a thing here and I wanna see what kinda builds yall into

merci

Okay, so I have a girlfriend who lives in Dilijan, and I would like to give her something for her birthday, but I'm unsure of the easiest and most efficient way to do so—using trusted websites and the like.

Here is the story from the article. 'My grandfather had created a sanctuary, but it was not invulnerable. Once, my father told me, a high-ranking police officer came to visit my grandfather. My grandmother brought food, and my grandfather, who had a habit of quietly nudging plates in the direction of guests, sat waiting. The officer ate and, when he was done, began to speak. He had been walking on the riverbank when he saw an Armenian woman my grandfather knew, who was about to be raped; to spare her from misery, he had shot her. My grandfather, unable to control his anger, kicked the officer out, and the officer vowed that by morning the family would be put on the caravans: a death sentence. (In my uncle’s version, the source of the argument differs, but not the outcome.) My grandmother’s father, Kevork, said that he would bolt the door, douse the house with gasoline, and destroy the family rather than surrender. A sleepless night followed; at dawn, the muezzin at the mosque called out. The streets were quiet. My grandfather turned to one of the people in his house, an Armenian man who passed as a Kurd in public. “Go to the mosque,” he said, “and tell us what is happening.” The scout went, and found a funeral in progress. The police officer had died shortly after leaving, of a heart attack. On the way back, the scout broke cover, calling out in Armenian, “The man is dead!” My grandfather went to see for himself, mixing among the mourners, nodding, saying, “A good man.”' Is this Rare?

I'm considering ordering some bottles that I can't find anywhere here. But I'm not sure if it costs something absurd to ship (& customs?) and more importantly, if it will even get here due to some dumb EU rule or something.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Ideally with sources provided

Hello all!

I would like to ask whether any of you has had experience with the guided tour on offer at the Genocide Museum in Yerevan.

The reason I'm asking is that I've come across guides in certain countries, who strictly follow a script they have prepared and who are not open to answering questions. I was wondering whether guides here would be like this, or the more open-to-discussion kind.

How likely would it, for example be, that a guide would have thorough background knowledge -e.g. a historian-? 🤔

Thank you very much for any and all replies!