V.H. Apelian's Blog

Saturday, April 5, 2025

The Çankırı Worry Beads by Garbis Harboyan, M.D.

Vaհe H Apelian

Բնագիրը կցուած է ներքեւը։ I was saddened to read today the passing away of Garbis Harboyan, M.D. I met him for the first time in NJ in early 1990's and we corresponded on and off. My condolences to his family, relatives, friends. The attached is my abridged translation of an article he wrote about “ THE 99 BEADS WORRY BEAD OF CHANKER, AN IRRIFUTABLE WITNESS OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE - ՉԱՆՂԸՐԸ-Ի 99 ՀԱՏԻԿՈՎ ՀԱՄՐԻՉԸ՝ ՀԱՅՈՑ ՑԵՂԱՊԱՆՈՒԹԵԱՆ ԱՆԺԽՏԵԼԻ ՎԱՒԵՐԱԳԻՐ”. He had it published in Armenian newspapers and had it posted on his Facebook page as well. Garbis Harboyan was a prolific author and an expert about Armenian medical professionals martyred during the genocide of the Armenians. He resided in Montreal, Canada with his family. Vahe H Apelian

“24 April, 1915, government officials in Bolis (Istanbul) conducted a widespread arrest of individuals named on a list prepared by the Turkish government. Approximately 200 Armenian community leaders including intellectuals, merchants, physicians, pharmacists, clergy, lawyers, activists and politicians were unexpectedly arrested and were imprisoned in Ayash (Ayaş), a small town near Istanbul.

Forty-five individuals from the list were killed and the rest were exiled to a prison in Çankırı, a city on the north coast of Turkey. Some of those who were sent there were also killed there. Among those remaining was Vartkes Atanasian (Վարդերես Աթանասեան), who was a merchant from Istanbul and an official representative of his neighborhood (թաղապետ). Vartkes Atanasian carved on the 99 beads of his worry-bead the names of the remaining imprisoned Armenians. On the larger piece through which the two strings of the worry-bead were brought together and tied, he carved the following: “Çankırı, 1915, April 11, memorial”.

While he was in prison, a Turkish coachman presented himself to his wife Srpouhy and told her that her husband gifted the coachman a watch and asked him to deliver to her his worry-bead. Srphouhy accepted it without realizing that the individual beads are engraved. Vartkes Atanasian did not return home. He was subsequently deported and was martyred in Der Ez Zor.

His daughter Eugenie, having survived the Armenian Genocide, found refuge in Paris carrying her father’s worry bead. In 1965, in the aftermath of the 50th commemoration of the Armenian genocide, she realized that her father’s worry-bead is a cherished relic not only for her family but also for the nation as a whole. Consequently, she gifted the worry-bead to the Armenian Genocide Museum in Armenia. The worry-bead ended up in a display case in the Armenian genocide as a memorial of the Armenian genocide museum bearing no caption. It was simply displayed as a “19-20th century art”.

Until 1984, no one had realized that the worry-bead is not only a mere relic from a martyred Armenian but that it is, in its way, an important historical document. None of the officials of the genocide museum had taken any interest in the worry bead as a document. Iremained in the display case.

In 1984, Garine Avakian (Կարինէ Աւագեան), a senior researcher, historian, and antiquarian, who has been affiliated with the genocide museum for the past 27 years became attracted to the worry bead that had 99 beads (far too many than a customary worry-bead).

Garen studied the worry-bead with scrutiny and found out that that Vartkes Atanasian had engraved on each bead the name of an Armenian thrown in jail in Çankırı. On the larger bead that tied the two ends of the string, he had engraved, “Çankırı, 1915, April 11, memorial.” Thus, Vartkes Atanasian had engraved 103 names from those who were jailed there. Some of the beads had more than one name.

The following are the names engraved on the beads:

1.Gomida V. (Կոմիտաս վ.), 2. Hovnan V. (Յովհան Վ.), 3. Kachouny Khn.1 (Քաջունի քհնյ.), 4. Jevaherje J (Ճեւահիրճի), 5. R. Sevag (Ռ. Սեւակ), 6. (Meskjian (Միսքճեան), 7. Topjian (Թօփճեան), 8. Vartan Khn. (Վաբղան քհնյ.), 9. T. Delar (Գ. Տէլալ), 10. Kazazian (Գազազեան), 11. Torkomian (Թորգոմեան) – physician (բժիշկ), 12. Boghosian (Պօղոսեան), 13. Denanian (Տինանեան), 14. Merza (Միրզա), 15. Altounian – dentist (Ալթունեան – ատամնաբոյժ), 16. Gkhlkharan (Կխլիառան), 17. Zareh (Զարեհ), 18. Yeznig (Եզնիկ), 19. Asadour V. – pharmacist (Ասատռւր Վ. – դեղագործ), 20. Manegian (Մանիկեան), 21. Zarifian (Զարիֆեան), 22. Meskjian (Միսքճեան), 23. Hajian (Հաճեան), 24. Chazaros (Ղազարոս), 25. Terzian (Թէրզեան), 26. Nshan (Նշան), 27. Nor-Gelejian (Նար-Կիլէճեան), 28. Arsenian (Արսենեան), 29. Tanielian B. - lawyer (Դանիէլեան Պ. – փազտաբան), 30. Cheraz (Չերագ) 31. Movses (Մովսէս), 32. D. Keleg – editor (Տ. Քէլէկ-խմբագիր), 33. P. Kgian (Բ. Քկեան), 34. Topjian (Թօփճեան), 35. Andonian (Անաոնեան), 36. Tolayan (Թօլայեան), 37. Shahnour (Շահնուր), 38. M. Mrents – teacher (Մ. Մրենց – ուսուցիչ), 39. Khonasarian (Խօճասարեան), 40. Varoujan (Վարուժան), 41. Shamdanjian (Շամտանճեան), 42. Chavoushian (Չաւուշեան), 43. Tabazian (Թապագեան), 44. Dkhpou- Okh (Տխբու-Օխ) 45. Aghababian (Աղապապեան), 46. Parselian (Բարսեյեան), 47. Dorian (Տօրեան), 48. Yessayan (Եսայեան-տաղարտը), 49. Kochoy Srpen (Գոչոյ Սրբին), 50. Yerchanig (Երջանիկ), 51. Zenop (Զենոբ), 52. Hoscheg (Հոսչիկ), 53. Hrant (Հրանդ) 54. Ereoum (Երէում), 55. Levon-2 (Լեւոն-2), 56. Azpeg (Ազբիկ), 57. Kantarian (Գանթարեան), 58. Gozmos (Կոզմոս), 59. Beylerian (Պէյլերեան), 60. Tashjian (Թաշճեան), 61. Hanesian (Հանեսեան), 62. Aram (Արամ), 63. Zeef (Russ.) (Ցիֆր (ռուս.)), 64. Deovletian (Տէօւլեթեան), 65. Kahayan- artisan (Քէհեայեան – արհեստաւոր), 66. Maysbajian (Մայսպաճեան), 67. Basmajian (Պասմաճեան), 68. Sekonian (Սէքոնեան), 69. Chbj – architect (Զպճը – ճարտարապետ), 70. Arsajian (Արսչանեան), 71. Varteres – (Վարդերես – մուխբար), 72. Ferou-Khan (Ֆէրու- խան), 73. Sarafian (Սարաֆեան), 74. Avtounian (Աւթունեան), 75. Jambaz (ճամպազ), 76. Hrach (Հրաչ), 77. Momjian (Մոմճեան), 78. Kalender (Գալէնտէր), 79. Vaghenag (Վաղինակ), 80. Kalfayan – office – employee (Գալֆայեան – պաշտօնեայ), 81. Beyepian (Պէյեբեան), 82. Barouyr (Պարոյր), 83. Noyeg-commissioner (Նոյիկ – յանձնակատար), 84. Tatarian Թաթարեան, 85. Keoleyian (Քէօլէեան), 86. Ohnegiank (Օհնիկեանք)-4, 87. Terlemez-money-changer (Թէրլէմէզ սեղանաւոր), 88. Der-Kevorkian (Տէր-Գէորզեան), 89. Basmajian (Պասմաճեան), 90. Tayezjian (Դայըզճեան), 91. Injjineyan (Ինճիճէեան), 92. Kapageozian (Գաբակէօզեան), 93.Maneasian (Մանէասեան), 94. Ghonchegul (Ղոնչէկիւլ) 95. Parisian (Փարիսեան), 96. Korian-merchant (Գորեան – վճռկն), 97. Keropian – reverend (Քերոբեան – պատուէ)- Փ, 98. Toumajian (Թումաճան), 99. Balakian-. (Պալազեան- ծ.վ).

In 1992 Garine met Vartabed Grigoris Balakian, the author of “Armenian Golgotha” and noted that his name is engraved on the last, the 99th bead. She read his book and realized that Grigoris Balakian had only mentioned the names of 69 individuals imprisoned, while Vartkes Atanasian had engraved the names of 103 individuals imprisoned in Çankırı. After long research about the names engraved on the bead, she was able to track down the descendants of many, whose names were engraved on the beads and contacted them and collected detailed information about the person whose name is engraved.

In 2002 Garine Avakian published a book about the worry-bead titling it «Եղեռնայուշ Մասունք Կամ Խոստովանողք Եւ Վկայք Խաչի» - A Genocide Relic or Confession and Witness of the Gross. The book is the story of the worry-bead. After the publication of the book, Garine received more information about the names engraved on the beads from some of the descendants of the survivors.

In the book, Garine Avakian presented the biographies of the persons whose names are engraved on the bead detailing their deportation routes. She noted that thirty-five of the engraved names were martyred, and sixty one had survived. She has not been able to collect information about the rest. The information she gathered about the names engraved on the beads revealed interesting details. For example, doctor Jevaherje survived because he was the gynecologist of the Sultan’s women.

Thanks to Garine Avakian’s diligent work, the worry-bead has ceased to be an art piece for display and has become and irrefutably primary source of the Armenian genocide. Garine Avakian noted in her book; “The worry-bead has become a piece of history, an engraved witness of the Armenian Genocide and a rosary that ties generations”.

Garbis Harboyan, M.D.

Montreal, November 10, 2015

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Բնագիրը՝ https://hairenikweekly.com/?p=35155

Friday, April 4, 2025

The Çankırı Worry Beads by Garbis Harboyan, M.D.

Vaհe H Apelian

Garbis Harboyan M.D. and the Çankırı Beads

The following are the names engraved on the beads:

Garbis Harboyan, M.D.

Montreal, November 10, 2015

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Բնագիրը՝ https://hairenikweekly.com/?p=35155

Khrimian Hayrig on his birthday

Vaհe H Apelian

Mkrtich Khrimian, the beloved Khrimian Hayrig, was born on April 4 in 1820 (1921?) to a well-to-do family of merchants who may have originated from Crimea, Khrim in Armenian, as his family last name attested.

I owe my visualization of Khrimian Hayrig to the book I read, “HAYRIG HAYRIG” (ՀԱՅՐԻԿ ՀԱՅՐԻԿ). The book shed light about the man, Mgrdich Khrimian, who would be known in Armenian history more by his endearing nickname ‘Hayrig’ implying a compassionate and a concerned father. Ara Aginian, who has passed away in 1976, wrote the book, which was published as supplement to an Armenian newspaper. Aras Publishing published the edition I read, in 2004 in Istanbul.

The book, which is a biographical sketch, begins from the time sixteen-years-old Mgrdich set foot in Istanbul as another migrant and ends with his death at the age of eighty-seven in Echmiadzin. Some of the conversations noted in the book are commonly accepted to have taken place but the overall narration is likely partly figments of the author’s imagination to give cohesion to the story and make it readable.

Reading the book it becoma evident that Khrimian stood apart from the crowd from get go. From his days as a teenage migrant in Istanbul to an aged pontiff, he attracted people by his physical attributes. He was tall, handsome and had expressive bluish eyes. The eminent British historian H.F. B. Lynch, who attended his inauguration as catholicos, commented on the imposing splendor of his appearance.

His physical endowments could have helped any ambitious person to ascend the social scale. He, on the other hand, loved to be with the common every day folks and remained totally oblivious to social status and to wealth. The upper class Armenians of Istanbul who wanted to rub shoulder with the Patriarch who sat at the apex of their social order and sat at the table with the Sultan himself, were dismayed finding him continue visiting and staying with the Armenian migrants from the interior of the country who did menial jobs and lived in the communal housing (khans). When they vehemently objected to his hitherto unheard behavior that should have no place with a sitting Patriarch, they said. He dismissed them saying, “It should not have happened, it happened. You had not seen it before, you saw it now”. He gave away his salary as a patriarch, who ranked among the high placed officials in the administrative hierarchy of the Ottoman Empire.

Five years after his resignation as the Patriarch, his successor Nerses II Varjabedian, appointed him in 1878 to head the Armenian delegation to the Berlin Conference even though Khrimian did not speak much of Turkish let alone other foreign languages and had no administrative position. He was chosen to lead the delegation because of his forceful personality and imposing physical stature and the loyalty and the trust he commanded.

His life consisted of two distinct phases. He spent the first 34 years of his life as a layperson in search for his niche. His first sixteen years were spent in Van with his parents and with the local priests learning how to read and write Armenian, a rarity at the time in the interior of the country. He came to Istanbul at the age of sixteen along the many young men in quest of knowledge while the other migrants his age looked for work to get by. Pretty soon he established a reputation as a promising, out of the ordinary young man but his association with the migrants from the interior of the country never wavered. Not long after his arrival he became the protégé of an Armenian Amira who hosted him in his opulent residence and appointed him as a tutor to his two children and had him placed as a teacher in an Armenian school.

His stay in Istanbul lasted four years. He returned home to find out that his father had passed away. He tried some business ventures that were financially disastrous. Fortunately his well-to-do family could absorb the losses. He reluctantly gave in to his mother’s wishes and married the girl chosen for him, as was the customs of the day. He became a loving father to his daughter and through her felt bonded to his spouse with whom he shared nothing much. His wanderlust in quest of knowledge eventually took the better of him and he left home embarking on a pilgrimage to get connected to his nation’s roots. He visited Etchmiadzin and other historical Armenian sites, wrote, returned to Istanbul and had his first book published through the generosity of Amira Ayvazian in memory of the Amira’s son whom Khrimian had tutored. He returned home after an absence that had lasted seven years to find out that his wife, daughter and mother had passed away. It is then that he had a revelation that celibate priesthood is his calling and the best venue to enlighten his people who indeed lived not only in abject poverty but also in ignorance.

He remained a maverick during the second phase of his life as a celibate priest even though he ascended the hierarchy all the way to its apex as Catholicos of All Armenians. Instead of finding in the church the instruments and the support he needed to help him enlighten the Armenian masses he found the entrenched clergy vehemently objecting to his efforts along with the Armenian landlords who opposed him. It became an uphill battle for him to establish the first printing press among the Armenians in their Anatolian heartland. He became a thorn and a rose, arousing heightened sentiments towards him, either way. A segment of Armenians conspired against him and plotted at least two failed assassinations. They also instigated the Turkish authorities against him. But he won the hearts of the people at large, who started calling him Hayrig, an endearing moniker he cherished a lot. The people bestowed it upon when he, as the prelate of Daron, stood with them and had their exorbitant taxes lowered a bit for their vital relief. It is through the unwavering support of the people that he ascended the ecclesiastical ranks always remaining true to them.

Six years after the ratification of the Armenian National Constitution by the Ottoman High Porte, he was elected the Patriarch of Constantinople in 1869. The Armenian denizens of Istanbul thought that the prelate from the interior of the country would be compliant. But, not long after his election he made amending the constitution, against the wishes of the upper class Armenian in Constantinople, his primary agenda. The hundred thousand plus Armenians in Istanbul commanded three times more representation in the National Assembly than the entire Armenians in the interior of the country, he estimated to be three millions. A plausible figure given that Hamidian, Adana massacres along with the rampant usurpation of Armenian lives and property had not yet run its course decimating the people to two million at the dawn of the Genocide.

He faced a vehement opposition by who’s who. Krikor Odian, an architect of the Armenian Constitution attempted to reason with him about the obvious flaws of the Constitution giving in to the wishes of the Sultan's court to secure his ratification of the Armenian Constitution. But Khrimian remained adamant. Unable to amend the constitution to have a fairer representation of his flock to have their grievances heard and acted upon, he resigned in 1873 but continued to remain a moral authority and an intellect to reckon with. With the collusion of Armenians, the Sultan’s Sublime Porte eventually had him banished on a “permanent pilgrimage” to Jerusalem in 1890. To the outrage of the people, in Jerusalem, his spiritual brethren treated him more as pariah in his ecclesiastical home. Yet everyone, foe and friend alike, knew that they were dealing with an out of the ordinary individual who commanded an unwavering loyalty and esteem by the people. When the seat of the Catholicos of All Armenians became vacant with the death of his predecessor, he was unanimously elected Catholicos of All Armenians in 1892. His move from Jerusalem to Etchmiadzin took months. There was not a community that did not want to host the newly elected pontiff on his way to occupy the throne set by Gregory the Illuminator.

His reign as the Supreme Head of the Armenian Church may be the crowning years of his long service to his people. He might have been mellowed a bit. The people at large might have understood the person more. Those years proved to be a harmonious years between the shepherd and his flock from all walks of life. His reputation as the champion of the Armenian nation was further cemented when the aging Eagle, as he himself would liken him to one, stood his grounds against the orders of the almighty Tsar to have the Armenian Church properties nationalized and he won.

He was a prolific writer and publisher. He established the first printing press in Western Armenia and started publishing a journal titled Artzvi Vasburagan (Eagle of Van) in 1855. In 1863 he started a similar journal titled Artzvik Darno (Eagle of Daron). Along with these journals, the book I read credits him with fifteen literary titles spanning from 1849 to 1909. Like Khatchadour Apovian (1809-1848) in Eastern Armenia, he wrote in local Western Armenian vernacular peppered with literary and classical Armenian. He had special reverence to Armenian authors. When the young poet Bedros Tourian, who had dedicated a poem to him as the newly elected Patriarch of Constantinople, died at the age of twenty-one, his followers wanted a music band play accompanying his coffin to fulfill the wishes of the young poet. It was unheard of to have a music band in a burial procession, so the Church did not give them permission to do so. In desperation they appealed to Patriarch Khrimian who famously told them that he too would not give them his permission, but he would forgive them for doing so.

Khrimian Hayrik to this day is referenced more as the messenger of the famous speech he delivered in 1878 upon return as the head of the Berlin Armenian delegation. The speech remains known in Armenian history as the “Iron (or Paper) Ladle Speech”. He likened his experience at the Berlin Conference to a feast where the attendants with their iron ladles took their share from the favored Armenian dish Herissa. He, on the other hand, was carrying a paper ladle and thus could not scoop anything for himself even though he was the taller and the more imposing among the delegates. He urged the people to arm themselves and to gift each other arms and only arms.

It is not uncommon to read claiming that he was a revolutionary by citing his famous speech. Reading this book has made me realize that such an interpretation is way too simplistic. Revolutionaries aim to topple an existing order and have it replaced with an ideologically more conducive one. To draw a parallel to modern parlance, Khrimian was more of an advocate of the people’s right to bear arms, a holy grail in the American Constitution, and not an advocate of revolution. He never advocated raising arms against the State be it Sultan’s or the Tsar’s. He had no vision to have these states abolished and replaced or even for the Armenians to have their own independent state.

Members of the oldest Armenian political party, Hnchag Party, tried to entice him to work with them when he was in the Western Armenian homeland. He refused to deal with them. The Tashang party was established in Tiflis in 1890, two years before his ascendancy as Catholicos. The party stood with him against the nationalization of church property but that there was no ideological parity between him and the party. He was and remained a clergyman at heart safeguarding the institution that was the Armenian Church. He wanted to ameliorate the lot of his flock, the Armenian people through the established orders. The concepts of free and independent Armenia or of social–isms were alien to him. All he wanted was to safeguard Armenians against unlawful usurpation and assure their rights as subjects of the Sultan or the Tsar. When the Sultan’s Sublime Port proved to be unable or unwilling to the sanctity of the lives, labor, honor, and property of his flock, the Armenian people, he appealed them to take matters in their own hands and assure those rights by themselves.

He passed away on October 27, 1907 and in the grounds of Etchmiadzin, not far from the Cathedral.

The book “HAYRIG HAYRIG” made for a fascinating reading and portrayed a way of life and living the Genocide would end up obliterating.

Tuesday, April 1, 2025

How soap came about

Vaհe H Apelian

ԼaurApel soap at different stages

Everything we use came about because of a collective know how or because of a person’s know how and invention. I am not speaking of rockets and robots; but of the mundane, such as pen, pencil, and pin. We do not think much of them, or wonder whose bright idea was to come with colored pencils, dry ink rollerball pen, and different kinds of pin, such as hair pin, cloth pin, safety pin and a few other kinds as well.

How about soap? How did soap come about?

The other day my maternal cousin Jack Chelebian M.D, brought to the attention of a group of us about soap. I quote his posting of a post he had read: “Up until the 1900s, many people in the Appalachian hills relied on making their own soaps. Soap making season usually coincides with hog killing season, on account of needing the hog fat, to render into lard, to make the soap. While lard was the main ingredient in traditional Appalachian soaps, lye was also an essential ingredient. Lye was necessary for a chemical process called saponification, or in other words, turning the lard into soap. Lye was usually obtained through a method that called for collecting rainwater in an ash hopper and filtering it through wood ashes, the resulting liquid being lye. The lye, lard, and water would all be boiled together until it thickened, and left to set and form soap that would later be used for everything from personal hygiene, to laundry. Due to isolation and poverty, it was essential in Appalachian culture to learn to respect the land, flora, and fauna by utilizing what the land provides around you, and to not waste any part of the animals you sacrifice. Creating homemade soap from hog fat, rainwater, and wood ashes is a great example of that, and a tradition that is still in practice today. Soap may seem like a simple luxury we don't give a second thought to, today, but it also reminds me of the resilience and determination of our ancestors when I see photos like this one.”

Manufacturing soap in Kentucky

That is about making soap in Kentucky in the United States. How about soap in Kessab and in that and other parts of the world? Archeologist claim that soap has been around even before the common era.

Jack then added a note saying, “It’s all over my head and seems far from LaurApel. But I thought Stepan might get it and have something to say about it”

Stepan is my paternal cousin and LaurApel is his brand of famed soap made from Laurel tree (see link below) that bear small, olive-like, purple fruits or berries that are not edible. Kessab, much like Syria in general, is known for Laurel soap, called ghar soap. Stepan has its patented brand ghar soap made from the berries of the Laurel tree, he manufactured in Kessa under LaurApel brand.

Stepan had the manufacturing process perfected and had it expanded into a thriving manufacture and exported LaurApel ghar soap as far as Japan.

Stepan is a soap affectionate and is a soap aficionado. He was planning to convert the one-time Keurkune school into a soap museum. But hell broke loose on March 21, 2014 when Muslim extremists from Turkey attacked Kessab, sacked and plundered it and decimated Stepan's Laurel soap manufacturing facility and his dream of the soap museum.

This is how Stepan explains how soap came about in that part of the world.

“Actually, that's the way soap was invented. Women doing their laundry along rivers, creeks or streams, used ash for cleaning. Some women noticed that the ashes collected from the sacrificial altars mixed with the animal's lard, cleaned much better than the pure ashes. Hence the idea of mixing lard with ashes to get a more effective cleaning agent came about.

That idea was later developed into making soap and for saponification of oils.

Hence the soap making industry was called "turning ashes into gold”, but regretfully onto dust as well in Kessab.

Those who are interested to read about the manufacture of soap in Kessab it its hey days, may read the following link:http://www.laurapel.com/

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Link: In praise of Gasli – Laurel – tree: https://vhapelian.blogspot.com/2021/11/in-praise-of-gasli-tree_97.html

Monday, March 31, 2025

A city called Gyumri, its municipal elections & their ramifications.

Vaհe H Apelian

I have to say that Gyumri reminds me of Knarig Meneshian's book - A Place Called Gyumri. That is why I titled my blog, the way I did.

In my mind Gyumri is a different kind of city. After Yerepuni, the city of Yerevan, was always and is Yerevan. But that is not the case with Gyumri which, next to Yerevan, is the largest city of Armenia. I quote Wikipedia: “. The area of modern-day Gyumri was originally known as Kumayri (Armenian: Կումայրի) during the period of the Kingdom of Urartu. Over time, the name became disrupted through phonetic changes to Kumri, then Gumri, and finally Gyumri. In 1837, Gyumri was renamed Alexandropol after Czar Nicholas I's wife, Princess Alexandra Fyodorovna. Between 1924 and 1990, the city was known as Leninakan in honor of Vladimir Lenin. Following independence, the original name Kumayri was used until 1992, when Gyumri was chosen as the name of the city.”

In 1988, a powerful earthquake devastated Gyumri and the surrounding areas.

Gyumri is where Nikol Pashinyan took his first step on March 31, 2018 that culminated in the Velvet Revolution. Almost exactly 7 years after that momentous event, Gyumiry held its municipal election, which pundits claim has serious political ramifications on national level and may be the barometer of what may come in mid 2026, when Armenia will hold its general election..

According to the results, opposition forces collectively secured 50.36% of the vote, while the ruling Civil Contract party received 36.39%. The remaining 13 % of the votes were scattered among the other parties who could not secured d the required 4% to have a seat in the municipal council. Based on reported numbers, the Gyumri municipal council seats are expected to be distributed as follows:

• Sarik Minasyan from the Civil Contract Party, which had 36.65% of the votes, secured– 14 seats

• Vardan Ghukasyan from the Communist Party of Armenia, had 20.71% of the votes and secured 8 seats.

• Martun Grigoryan form “Our City” Alliance, secured 15.85% of the votes and secured – 6 seats.

• Ruben Mkhitaryan from My Strong Community Party, had 7.94% of the votes and secured 3 seats.

• Karen Simonyan from Mother Armenia Alliance, secured 6.18%a – 2 seats.

Courtesy Massispost

Although the Civil Contract party won the most votes but not the majority votes to name its candidate as the “mayor” of the city. It is inevitable that an alliance will have to be forged to secure at least 17 seats to have majority in the 33 members municipal council. If no candidate in the upcoming Gyumri city council vote receives 17 votes, a second round will be held between the two leading contenders. The next Gyumri council session is scheduled for April 16.

The PM Nikol Pashinyan issued the following statement: “The Citizen of the Republic of Armenia has the opportunity to freely make a choice. The choice of the Citizen is a law for us. I congratulate all the political forces and candidates who have won the elections and earned the trust of the Citizen.

PS: All reports of illegal influence on the will of voters must be thoroughly investigated, with the primary goal of excluding their further repetition.”

If the Gyumri election is the barometer of the upcoming national election in 2026, the following may be noted.

1. The days of a single party rule more likely than not will be over. Thus far Armenia has been ruled by one party. Although Serzh Sargsyan government included the ARF Kerakouyan Marmin in the government, the Republican Party of Armenia had the absolute majority of NA to form a government and did not need the Kerakouyn Marmin’s seven votes. But the Republican party, for reasons it knows best, invited the ARF Kerakouyn Martin to join them. The latter accepted the invitation.

2. There is a major disconnect between the agenda of the opposition in the National Assembly and in the municipal election. The Artsakh flag symbolizes the opposition in the National Assembly. Artsakh, the plight of Artsakh Armenians, Turkish Armenian relations, the government's crossroad for peace initiative constitute the central themes of the opposition in the NA. But none of these issues had any prominence in the Gyumri municipals election. The citizens' concerns were the mundane, such as improving the city’s lot and their lots, concerns for increase in taxes, in transportation fees, for lack of adequate housing, housing affordability, beautifying the city etc. These seemed to the drivers against the ruling Civil Contract party. They may also be the drivers for voting in the upcoming national election as well, which is expected to take place in mid 2026.

3. It is to be seen whether the four opposition parties to the Civil Contract, would join force over a common agenda to snatch the leadership of the city from the Civil Contract. Obviously they did not present a unified front. There appears to be serious divisions among the opposition parties in this municipal election. I cannot rule out that the Civil Contract party may form a coalition with one or two of the opposition groups, especially the two that have 3 and 2 seats. They may gain more by negotiating with the Civil Contract, a situation that often happens in Israel and smaller parties tilt the balance among the major parties and end up exercising undue influence than their seats would by themselves.

4. Overall, the election seems to have been mostly orderly and leading to multi-party governance.

When a kiss is not a kiss

Vaհe H Apelian

Today, on Yahoo News, I read the following headline: “How often should you kiss your partner? Experts weigh on Reddit debate.” I glanced over the report. It was pretty long to read. There were more than 500 comments. Apparently, the article had stirred quite a bit of interest.

I was reminded of that pretty famous kiss in American politics, Al Gore kissing his wife Tipper on the Democratic convention stage accepting the party's nomination, especially when Bill Clinton’s campaign was mired with his extra marital affairs and his presidency as well became mired by affairs but Hillary stood by him and famously said the following on Sixty Minutes during Bill Clinton's presidential election campaign: “You know, I’m not sitting here, some little woman standing by my man like Tammy Wynette, I’m sitting here because I love him, and I respect him, and I honor what he’s been through and what we’ve been through together. And you know, if that’s not enough for people, then heck—don’t vote for him.”

The famous Armenian writer Hamasdegh in his epic work "The Village and the Rain" describes a kiss between a boy and a girl whom their parents had promised betrothal but were never allowed to be together. One day he caught her carrying food to her father and brother toiling in the fields and he kissed her. But they were seen. The news spread quickly in the village. The villagers vouched that he held her so tightly that even the wind could not pass between them. It became a scandal and had serious ramifications. Her father annulled the promise for betrothal. He ended up eloping her. Her father disavowed her as their daughter and forbad his wife visiting her. But when she gave birth to his grandson, things changed. The story ends with the grandfather sweet talking to his grandson..

Al Gore was with his wife throughout the campaign. In his excitement of having nominated in the Democratic presidential ticket, he kissed his wife Tipper holding her also very tightly but on the stage in the limelight and in view of millions. That kiss also had its ramifications.

The following day the NY Times had a commentary whose headlines I copied for this blog, and wrote the following: “IN Vice President Al Gore's campaign to change his robotic image, nothing may have helped more than the big smooch. Mr. Gore stepped on stage at the Democratic Convention on Thursday and greeted his wife, Tipper, with a quick embrace and a kiss on the lips. But instead of letting go, as nice politicians are supposed to, he wrapped her tighter in his arms, closed his eyes and gave her a full-mouthed kiss that lasted a exceptionally long time. (Actually, three seconds; we have tapes; we've counted.) When he remembered where he was -- on national television about to accept his party's nomination for president -- he backed away and went on with his business.

Of course, he could not really have forgotten the cameras for a second, and soon commentators were speculating about how calculated the kiss was. Mrs. Gore had spent days on the talk show circuit trying to humanize her husband's image, after all. And here was the living proof of his humanity, and a photograph the papers couldn't resist.

The next day MSNBC had two people on the case. Chip Reid reported that he had interviewed the Gores' daughter, Karenna Gore Schiff, who told him that kind of kissing goes on around the house all the time. He did not report whether the Gore children had spent much of their youth saying, ''Yuck! Mom! Dad!''

But, lo and behold, that kiss on national television right before Al Gore was about to accept his party's nomination for president, did not help Al Gore secure the presidency nor his marriage. The Gores divorced after 40 years of marriage. But the philandering Bill Clinton was re-elected as president and his marriage endures.

So, it appears that kissing is not a salvation. There is more to it to save your marriage, or your partnership with your significant other.

My recommendation is to read the message the prophet conveyed Kahlil Gibran and he, in turn collected the prophet’s wisdom in his famous book, titled “The Prophet” and this is what Kahlil Gibran wrote the prophet told him,..................

On Marriage

BY KAHLIL GIBRAN

Then Almitra spoke again and said, And

what of Marriage, master?

And he answered saying:

You were born together, and together you

shall be forevermore.

You shall be together when the white

wings of death scatter your days.

Ay, you shall be together even in the

silent memory of God.

But let there be spaces in your togetherness,

And let the winds of the heavens dance

between you.

Love one another, but make not a bond

of love:

Let it rather be a moving sea between

the shores of your souls.

Fill each other’s cup but drink not from

one cup.

Give one another of your bread but eat

not from the same loaf.

Sing and dance together and be joyous,

but let each one of you be alone,

Even as the strings of a lute are alone

though they quiver with the same music.

Give your hearts, but not into each

other’s keeping.

For only the hand of Life can contain

your hearts.

And stand together yet not too near

together:

For the pillars of the temple stand apart,

And the oak tree and the cypress grow

not in each other’s shadow.

March 31, 2018: Remembering the Armenian Velvet Revolution.

Vaհe H. Apelian

March 31, 2018 marks the start of a bloodless revolution in Armenia, led by the Yelk Party representative Nikol Pashinyan. It is the only revolution in recent history that the Armenian nation experienced, for historically we have had revolutionaries, but no revolution. The revolution spanned 40 days,from March 31, 2018 to May 8, 2018, with both dates inclusive. During that period a fundamental change took place in the governance of Republic of Armenia. The revolution came to be known as the Velvet Revolution. It was an Armenian brand, bloodless revolution. It surely was a historically consequential event in modern Armenian history that reverberates to this day.

Recently I read «Հայկական Թավշյա Հեղափոխություն»- “The Armenian Velvet Revolution”, to learn the course of the revolution. . It appears that the original text of the book was not in Armenian as it acknowledges Loucine’ Sargsyan (Լուսինէ Սարգսյան) as its translator and lists Galya Hovhannisyan (Գալյա Յովհաննիսեան), as the publishing editor, Heghine’ Peloyan (Հեղինէ Փիլոյան), as the typesetter, and Arapo Sargsyan (Արաբո Սարգսյան) as the formatter.

Stepan Grigoryan (Ստեփան Գրիգորյան), who is a physicist by educational training, has authored the book. He was born in Tbilisi on September 24, 1953. From 1975 to 1983 he was affiliated with the prestigious A. Alikhanian Yerevan Institute of Physics in Yerevan. He has authored many scientific as well as social or political papers. He has also assumed different positions in the government and in the private sector. He is married and they are parents to a son a daughter.

The book book is in a soft cover and was published on March 16, 2019 by Edit Print publisher. It measures 6x8 inches. It is 183 pages long including the foreword, table of contents, acknowledgments and the listing of the photographs in the book and their photographers and the author’s closing statment. On a front cover inside flip, the biogrpaphy of Nikol Pashinyan is listed and on the back cover inside flip the biography of the author is listed. It is in an easy to read script size on white glossy paper and contains many colored pictures depicting the historic event.

The Barnes and Nobles overview of the book accurately notes the following: “The book discussed the political situation in Armenia in recent years and presents a chronology and analysis of the political processes in the country from March 31, 2018, when the opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan and his allies started a march from Vardanants, the center square in Gyumri, to Yerevan until May 8, 2018, when the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia elected Nikol Pashinyan prime minister of the country in a special session.”

The content of the books is divided into two sectors. The first contains 7 sections. This section jump starts with the historic meeting between the opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan and PM Serzh Sargsyan in the Marriott Hotel reception hall in downtown Yerevan that ended with the PM holding Nikol Pashinyan accountable for the turmoil in the country and reminding him of the March 1, 2008 incident. From there the author takes the readers through grievances people harbored regarding the Serzh Sargsyan rule, the prevailing corruption and to the constitutional change from a presidential form republic to a parliamentarian form that perpetuated Sezh Sargsyan's rule as PM without a general election. To make his point that the people were caught in a dilemma he cites the example of an incident that had nothing to do with the turmoil in the country but in his estimation presented a graphical picture of the dilemma the people were facing. On May 3, a police captain attacked a bank but it was the people who intervened to take control of the situation and resolve the issue, blurring the responsibility for keeping law and order in the country. This section analyzes grievances and is the shorter of the two sectors of the book and extends from page 12 to page 54.

The second sector is the longest and gives a detailed chronology of the events that transpired from the day Nikol Pashinyan took his first step, of what came to be known as "My Step" movment, on March 31, 2018 from downtown Gyumri to his arrival to Yerevan on April 13, and from there to his election as the Prime Minister by a special session of the National Assembly of Armenia on May 8, 2018 in Yerevan.

This sector contains 5 sections and is detailed in chronology not only by day but also at times by the hour. It starts from page 58 and ends on page 179.

The five sections are as follow:

The first section starts from March 31 and end on April 12 (pages 62 to 63). It covers the start of the “My Step” march headed by Nikol Pashinyan from Vardanants center in Gyumri to Yerevan that lasted until April 12.

The second section starts from April 13 and ends April 15 (pages 64 to 69). It covers the opposition starting its demonstrations in Yerevan

The third section starts from April 16 and end on 18 (pages 70-89). It covers the spread of the public demonstrations in many parts of the country while on April 17 in a snap session the National Assembly of Armenia elected Serzh Sargsyan as its Prime Minister.

The fourth section starts from April 19 and ends on 24 (pages 90 to 128). It covers the continued spread of public demonstrations and acts of public civic disobedience and PM Sargsyan’s call on April 21 for negotiating with Nikol Pashinyan for a common ground. The call, the author noted, was wholeheartedly endorsed by the ARF. However, on April 22, the two negotiators had diametrically opposing stands. While PM Sargsyan had presented itself for negotiating, Nikol Pashinyan stated that he had come to meet the PM to discuss the terms of his resignation. The author had already alluded about that historic meeting earlier in his book. The following day, on April 23 afternoon, the PM Serzh Sargsyan announced his resignation with his famous statement that will reverberate into history, that he was wrong and Nikol Pachinyan was right.

The fifth section is the last section. It starts on April 25 and ends on May 8 (pages 129 to 178). It starts with Nikol Pashinyan ruling that the resignation of the PM Sargsyan was in effect but no one from the ruling Republican Party of Armenia could assume the premiership. On May 1, Nikol Pashinyan conveyed his vision to the National Assembly of Armenia as a candidate for Prime Minister and on May 8, he was elected the PM by a vote of 59 in favor to 42 opposing him. 53 votes were needed for his election. The author noted that ARF, which broke rank with the Republican Party of Armenia, voted in favor of Nikol Pashinyan’s election as the PM. Without their votes, NP would not have been elected as the PM of the third republic of Armenia, a parliamentarian form of a republic.

The book ends with the author’s closuring text analyzing the event giving his assessment of the historic Velvet Revolution of Armenia.

In my view it was a unique Armenian brand bloodless revolution. It differed from the revolutions I have read, not only because it was bloodless, but primarily unlike all previous revolutions that brought a change in governance, the Velvet Revolution DID NOT subvert the existing order. On the contrary it held the constitutional order and the did not pursue a social "-ism", unlike the other revolutions that eventually failed. Russian communist revolution imploded into a quasi, unregulated capitalism. The Chinese revolution morphed into a one party rule again overseeing their brand of capitalism. Cuban revolution morphed into a dictatorship of sort, North Korean revolution gave birth to an hierachial order .

The Armenian Velvet Revolution, at the coast of sounding repetitious, not only was bloodless but it also upheld the existing order but aimed to amend it and has the promise of a fundamental and lasting change of the Armenian mindset. Although there came the Covid-19 pandemics and the 2020, 44-Day Second Artsakh war and brought the revolution at a crossroad. But the citizens of Armenia, in June 2021, voted for Nikol Pashinyan again and for the third time to continue governing of Armenia.

The book is in modern Armenian language. Arti Hayeren –Արդի . Հայերէն, is a term that is commonly referenced nowadays, especially in the academic circles in Armenia. I have been an avid reader in Armenian and my mother, who was a teacher of Armenian language and literature, had ascribed my poor grammar to my reading in Soviet Armenian dictation, known as Apeghian dictation. Reading this book was also a realization that our language is also undergoing a seismic revolutionay change. I would not have been able to understand some of the words used in book had I not known English for they were Armenianized foreign words and their use is becoming common place. But that is an altogether a different matter.