The Plan Version 1.1

Well, it's months into the the (re)build-a-house-in-Tbilisi project, and I still don't have even the building permit.

But there is hopeful signs: my architect requests for more time are dropping in duration. He started asking for a few more months, then weeks, and now he says he'll "have everything ready in a day".

He was also nice enough to produce these neat three dimensional renderings of our latest designs.

Hey, the pictures are so cool I'm not even sure what I need to build the house for.

Some previous posts may be of interest: this is what the place looked like when I bought it, this is what the original building plans looked like and this shows the partial reconstruction of the first floor.

Armenian Repatriation?

Armen Ayvazyan in this article calls for repatriation of Armenians as a solution to Armenia's problems.

Well, I disagree. Here is the comment I left on his blog:

I generally approach articles from the Armenian Diaspora with some suspicion, but yours was a pleasant surprise: an honest attempt to deal with a complex issue.

This said, I must disagree with two fundamental premises of your article.

First, Armenian culture's very nature is "diasporan". Armenians have always lived both abroad and as minorities in their neighboring countries. The idea of an Armenian state is not a return to something – it is a new experiment. The first Armenian book was published in Italy, Sayat Nova is Tbilisi Armenian and wrote in Azeri. Armenia is much closer to the Israeli model than Armenians care to admit (even those making the comparison) and it has created the exact same problems for Armenians that Israel has created for Jews.

I'm not suggesting that Armenia shouldn't exist of course, but just as there are Jews who are not Zionists, there is nothing "unarmenian" about having doubts about what is going on in Armenia.

Second, for those of us who have traveled not just in Armenia but in Turkey and the South Caucuses as well, it is striking how much similarity there is within the region (I'm sure the North Caucasus or Iran would show other links as well). Having seen these similarity firsthand, the differences between the various Armenian communities seem very large by comparison. Is the "Armenianess" between the Diaspora and the Yerevan Armenians really stronger than the culture and history ties that bind, say, Georgians and Armenians?

The diasoporan Armenian in Armenia have in many ways been a shock and a disruption to native Armenian culture. Seven years ago I used to laugh at the impact the Diaspora hoped to achieve in Armenia. Of course I wasn't agreement with the diasporan goals, but the diaspora projects seemed so doomed that I couldn't take them seriously.

Well, I'm not laughing anymore. The Diaspora is succeeding, but never more that now does it seem to me that Armenia is not better off for the diasporan influence.

Where is it written that the nation is best served by a nation state? Certainly the experiences of the last two hundred years or so (when the idea of a nation state was born) should give anyone pause but it especially should certainly give pause to one of nationalism's first victims, the Armenians.

I'm not sure if Armenia's problems are best dealt with mass Armenian repatriation, and the wholesale changes in Armenia that would entail, more than the country cooperating more closely with its neighbors. Does Armenia really need more flag waving diasporans, or does it need a better strategy for regional economic, cultural and even spiritual integration into the region?

Sameba And The Armenian Cemetery

Many post communist countries have built large national or religious monument after the fall of the Soviet Union and with its large Sameba Church Georgia is no exception.

However, Sameba (which means trinity in Georgian) is not without a certain controversy: it is built on an Armenian cemetary.

That I personally don't revere human remains much doesn't stop me from respecting the views of those who do, but I don't want to debate this point since it seems to me it is more an emotional rather than logical topic. This said, there is another issue here that I would like to talk about: many Armenians have view this as evidence of anti Armenian policies and sentiments in Georgia.

At a cursory glance this seems likely enough and everyone is certainly entitled to their own views, but I don't agree with this position.

A while ago, I received the following an an open letter written by a fellow Canadian Armenian to President Mikheil Saakashvili complaining about the Church's location, and a few other things regarding Georgian-Armenian relations in Tbilisi. I wrote to him in rebuttal, but now I think that the issue is important enough to post both his letter (it is an open letter after all) and my reply here.

Here is his letter, and below you'll find my rebuttal.

First his letter:

By way of introduction, my name is Raffy Dikranian and I am a Canadian citizen born in Montreal, Canada.

I hereby wish to inform you that I recently visited Tbilisi, Georgia on 6 and 7 September 2007 and was utterly horrified by what I discovered behind the recently built Georgian Orthodox Holy Trinity Cathedral and in front of the Armenian Pantheon in the Avlabar district of Tbilisi. A large ditch has been dug out where the Armenian cemetery used to be. The construction of a Centre for Orthodox Studies (Djemaran) will soon begin on top of the Armenian cemetery and the bones of deceased Armenians have not been properly relocated as you can see in the attached photos.

My last visit to Tbilisi dates back to September 2005. During that visit, I was told by the local Armenian population of Tbilisi (in the predominantly Armenian Avlabar district) that the Georgian Government had constructed the largest cathedral of the Caucasus (Holy Trinity) on the graves of Armenian writers. It was mentioned to me that only the gravestones had been moved to another site behind the cemetery (what is currently the Armenian Pantheon), while the bones had not been relocated. It was hard for me to believe that such an insensible act can be possible. But during this trip, I received confirmation that the Armenians of Tbilisi had not exaggerated the truth in any way.

Also, upon my arrival in Tbilisi on 6 September 2007, a Georgian friend of mine informed me of President Saakashvili’s plans to completely tear down all the buildings in the Avlabar District and to build a new, luxurious neighbourhood in that area (around the Holy Trinity Cathedral) for the President’s elite. It must be mentioned that the buildings occupied by the Armenians had never been renovated by the Government over the years and were unsafe. The Government has recently informed the Armenian residents of Avlabar that it will pay them 1,500 Lari (approx. $906 USD) per square metre and move them to a housing project to be constructed outside the centre’s boundaries. The Armenians of Avlabar whose families have lived there for centuries do not want to leave but have no choice.

I urge upon you to write to President Saakashvili and ask him to show some respect to the Armenians of Tbilisi by properly burying the bones of the deceased and allowing them to continue to reside in Avlabar as they have done so for centuries. Here is the email address of Mr. Saakashvili’s office: http://www.president.gov.ge/letter.php?l=E

Thank you for your kind attention regarding this matter.

Raffy Dikranian
Montreal, Canada

Raffy included some photographs in his email, but I don't feel comfortable reprinting them here. I also removed his telephone number, which he had provided.

Here is my rebuttal:

Raffy,

In regards to your letter regarding Avlabari let me inject a few facts:

1. If the the choice of the Sameba church were anti Armenian, then Georgian cemeteries would not have suffered such a fate. This however is not the case: a good part of the neighborhood of Vake (easily the most prestigious neighborhood in Tbilisi) is constructed on a cemetery, for example.
2. Believe it or not the Christianity does not hold dead bodies as particularly sacred (unlike Judaism). In Canada, mostly you just rent a spot in a cometary.
3. This elite neighborhood that "Saakashvili is creating" has drastically increased up property values in Avlabari, once one of modern Tbilisi poorer districts. Now, Avlabari is maybe the second or third expensive neighborhood in Tbilisi. Avalabarians are more or less rich now by local standards by virtue of the property they own.
4. Armenians before this project viewed that Avalabari gets no development as anti Armenian. Now that they have development, that is anti Armenian?
5. Hardly the whole neighborhood is being torn down, just a few blocks.
6. If you're right and the Government is giving people 906 USD per square meter, then this is very, very generous. What do you mean by "just" 906 USD? That would mean that the average "two room" apartment is going to be about 60,000 USD! Apartments in brand new buildings (and most of the buildings in Avlabari are crumbling) sell for 750 to 800 USD. My apartment cost me 750 USD a square meter in a brand new business/residential complex in Saburtalo, a neighborhood more expensive than Avlabari. I would think in the kinds of buildings that are being expropriated in Avlabari the market value would be no more than half of what they are being offered (again if you are right about the 905 USD compensation). I'm sure that 906 USD per square would easily buy you a flat in the same building that would replace yours in Avlabari.
7. As to your pictures, well what can I say: I'm a photographer too, so I know the artificial world the camera lens creates. I'm not accusing you sticking bones in the sand just to take their picture, but I must tell you the pictures you selected shows a very biased view of what things are really like here.

President Saakashvili has done a lot, an awful lot, for Armenians (just like for everyone here), and I, as also a Canadian Armenian (but one that has taken Georgian citizenship), feel horribly ashamed by your letter. This is the last place in the south Caucasus where people get along well more or less and the last thing we need is for someone who obviously knows little about the place or has a personal biases to come along and try and cause trouble.

Stop spreading provocation! How much were the Azeris forced out of their homes at gunpoint in Ngorno-Karabakh given in compensation by the Armenians? Maybe you should get your own house in order before criticizing your neighbors!

Gregory Levonian

I can't tell you how upset this kind of one-sided thinking makes me. Maybe there different facets to this issue but I can't see how it's a question of nationalities.

This is Raffy's web site and you can get his email address there. I urge you to write him and to tell him to be a bit more nuanced.

Of course it goes without saying that I'm interested in your views as well. You can post a comment or if you prefer mail me.

Kobuleti To Batumi, Stalker And Distant

A few weeks ago I did another of my longish walks, this time from Batumi to Kobuleti. Here are a few of my impressions.

Warmed all year by the Black sea, Batumi and Kobuleti are have a subtropical climate. There are palms everywhere and as soon as you get out of the cities it looks like a rain forest.

When I started walking it was overcast and there was a light drizzle. Vacationers hate this kind of weather but the reality is that it's not all that uncommon in this part of Georgia (Rain forest, sort of does mean the occasional rain after all).

Have you ever seen the movie Stalker? It's one of Andrei Tarkovsky's best films and the beginning of my walk reminded me of the film: everything dark and dreary, rain, an atmosphere of sadness, and just like the film I started near a railway yard.

Soon after, just like in the film, the sun broke through the clouds, and everything turned emerald green. Just like "The Zone" in Stalker, the rain continued but everything glistened and sparkled under the sun.

In the film something had altered the physical laws of The Zone and walking in a straight line was often not only not the shortest distance between two points but also such arrogance would sometimes incur the wrath of whatever gave The Zone it's peculiar properties.

It was just plain weird: just like in the film, walking along the beach to Batumi was fraught with the same dilemmas. Many small streams and springs flowed into the river, and though some could be stepped over or traversed by makeshift bridges, others required more complicated measure to cross: sometimes I could follow the stream up to the railway that went along the cost and cross on the railway tracks, but other times fences or ravines made backtracking the only solution.

As I had neared Batumi the coast was getting steeper and steeper. I realized that if I came to an unfordable stream, I would no longer be able to easily climb up to the railway. Continuing on, backtracking became less and less of an option. Finally, just like in the movie (Don't worry, I'm not going to spoil the film for you by giving away the plot.) I came across an almost impossible situation: I met an unfordable stream when backtracking would have meant a at least a two hour detour. The only solution was most unpleasant: there seemed to be a dark crawlway height tunnel with no end in sight that went into the side of a mountain.

As I looked around I saw an old man tending a heard of cows. He knew what I was going to ask, before I even got to him. With gestures and broken Russian he explained, yes, it would take me to the other side, but it would take a full half hour of crawling, and I would definitely need a flashlight.

With the glow of my MP-3 player as my only light source, in a went. If you've not been in a similar situation, you have no idea how dark dark really is. Let me tell you, it's really dark. Darker than you can imagine. With the MP-3 player's LCD screen I could barely see my hands. I couldn't see my feet unless I pointed the MP-3 player straight down. The only sensation was the sound of water dripping from the tunnel walls and roof. The whole time I kept thinking, if something happens and I get stuck here, even if I end up dead, the worst part of this is going to be the embarrassment. What exactly was I thinking going down here?

And then, just as the old man had said, after about half an hour I could make out a pinpoint of light. Another ten minutes later, I came out not into a field or forest but right into the outdoor patio of a stylish cafe. I kind of blinked, sat down at the nearest table, and ordered a coffee. Nobody had seen me come out of the tunnel and everybody thought I had come in the gate like everyone else. The waitress brought my coffee, I drank it, paid, asked for directions, and off I went again.

After that I was in Batumi in no time.

What's really strange is this isn't the first time I've been reminded of Tarkovsky. About a year ago I was watching a Turkish film called "Distant" when I got the strange sensation that the film was a lot like a Tarkovsky film. I even mentioned this to the people I was watching the film with, but they'd never heard of him.

But it turned out I was more right than I had thought. Later in the film, one of the characters stays up late to watch another of Tarkovsky's films Solaris. Later on at a party the topic of a conversation is Tarkovsky.

At the time I never thought the film was exceptional, but scenes from the film come back to me over and over again. Now, I think it's a great film.

So, visit Batumi and Kobuleti and see Stalker, Solaris, and Distant.

Anyway, here are a few photographs...

Leaving Kobuleti!

The Black Sea was a little rough...

The tunnel: the way in...

The tunnel: in the middle...

The tunnel: where I came out...

Make sure you click on this picture and read the inscription...

Batumi!

Ships in Batumi Harbor.

Armenians love to criticize Georgia for nationalism. Could somebody please tell me where in Armenia I'll find Rustaveli Street?

Batumi Harbor.