Armine, Sister: Armenia-themed performance by Teatr Zar in London

“The title, Armine, Sister, recalls the first two words of a letter with no clear address, which is doomed to drift around in time and space.”

This was a very unusual Armenia-themed performance combining theatre, dance, music, reflecting the Armenian Genocide from a different angle. It was about memory, about dead souls, about ghosts, the unbearable pain of memory. About witnessing the crime and inaction that made the very crime happened.

This performance could have been a reflection of any such crime, not just the Armenian Genocide, including contemporary massacres and genocides, the ones that are “developing story” right now, in front of our eyes.

Dance acts were so intimate, intense and unsettling that at times pretty difficult to watch. You wanted to turn away, to put a blindfold to cover your eyes, to pretend this is not happening, which was exactly a reflection of what has happened at the beginning of 20th century (and continues nowadays).

Lavash (Armenian flatbread) and pomegranate were organic part of the performance. Performance, that started before it began and continued afterwards.

Audience members were offered to taste lavash after the performance, and to take home a complimentary package of lavash for free. Of course, this lavash did not taste nearly as good as the one you can get in Armenia, but still was a nice touch and yet another connection to Armenia.

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Selected extracts from the programme about the project Armine, Sister that is on 2-11 October at Battersea Arts Centre, London:

“Armine, Sister refers to the history of the Armenian people in Anatolia and their near-extermination at the beginning of the 20th century. The project enters into the history of Europe’s silence and is a refl­ection on the act and inheritance of witnessing.”

“Rather than focusing on the history of the events of 1915 or the history of the ensuing denial and taboo, Teatr ZAR centres on the history of ignorance that feeds on inaction and leads to inaction on the part of today’s Europeans. On the other hand, the history of ignorance also includes the social story of building an accord of silence around each act of violence. The events in Anatolia in the early 20th century launch us into a wider debate about lessons in “witnessing after witnessing”, which always turn into lessons in identity.”

“Armine, Sister not only reveals the history of the Armenian extermination, but also the history of silence and the responsibility for it. ­The work explores what it means to be a witness, and what witnessing means to us today. We cannot and do not want to speak on behalf of Armenians, but we wish our performance to break the chord of silence.”

Tupolev TY-154: ancient Soviet plane that crashes and should be banned

From my tweet today: #Iran plane crash en route to #Armenia 2009 & #Poland plane crash in #Russia: Tupolev TY-154. Ban this plane! (see my 2009 tweet below)

My tweet of 2009 re Iran plane crash en route to Armenia:

Why on earth #Iran still uses that ancient Russian plane TY-154! They should be banned. #armenia #yerevan.

[from AFP 2009 report: "The Tupolev Tu-154 plane is a Soviet-designed, medium-range three-engine aircraft. It was a best-seller for the Russian aircraft industry between 1972 and 1994."]

Back in 2009, after raising that question (above) re TY-154, I then posted an answer, via BBC:

BBC confirmes http://bit.ly/BpFW9 that poor air safety record in #Iran is due to sanctions imposed by US. #armenia #yerevan

I may understand the reasons in Iran, but why on earth Poland still uses these planes is beyond me.

[from BBC report: "The president was flying in a Tupolev 154, a plane that was designed in the 1960s and capable of carrying more than 100 passengers. Our correspondent says there had been calls for Polish leaders to upgrade their planes."]

Two Polish journalists denied entry to Armenia in past six days

I never heard before about the "list of undesirable journalists" allegedly in a circulation within the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States). Bizarre, to say the least. Armenian Foreign Ministry and government has to respond to this.

Reporters Without Borders calls on Armenia to lift bans on two Polish journalists who have been denied entry in the past six days. The most recent case was that of Wojciech Jagielski, a well-known foreign correspondent working for the Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza, on 14 August. An immigration official said he was on a list of journalists banned throughout the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Jagielski was turned back at the land border between Armenia and Georgia, where he had been covering the war. He had planned to drive from Tbilisi to the Armenian capital of Yerevan in order to get a flight to Warsaw from there. He was forced to return by road to Tbilisi.

He blames the ban on Russia, which did not like the Polish media’s coverage of the war in Georgia. Russia’s ambassador to Warsaw, Vladimir Grinin, accused the Polish media of bias on 16 August.

Reporter Marcin Manon of TVP, the Polish public TV station, was turned back on arriving in Yerevan on 12 August on a flight from Warsaw which the Polish government had chartered to evacuate its citizens from Georgia. He had hoped to continue to Georgia but immigration officials told him he was persona non grata in Armenia and had to return to Warsaw. Manon also blamed the Russian authorities for the ban.

Gazeta Wyborcza told Reporters Without Borders it believes there is a list of undesirable journalists that is used by all the countries that are members of the Commonwealth of Independent States - Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Georgia has just pulled out of the CIS, while Ukraine is no longer a full member.

“We urge the Armenian authorities to grant access to all journalists who want to enter the country,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Journalists cannot be held responsible for their government’s policies. They are just independent observers of wars and do not participate in them.”