tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34420397668463461012011-08-31T18:17:51.625+05:00Dr. Spurkian is a self-styled intellectual (the emphasis is on the ‘self’) living in the Disapora(s) and criticizing everything and anything relevant to things Armenian.Dr. Spurkianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09323878380402884466noreply@blogger.comBlogger231100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3442039766846346101.post-6597816879448498712009-10-26T17:32:00.000+04:002009-10-26T17:32:37.716+04:00

so what woudl Star Wars and Armenians have in common? I would say at least one analogy that comes to my mind is hte dialogue that two of hte characters have. Thus in a scene when the two characters are about to have their culmianting fight the follwoing conversation goes on: Anakin Skywalker: If you're not with me, then you're my enemy. Obi-Wan Kenobi: Only a Sith deals in absolutes. this

Dr. Spurkianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09323878380402884466noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3442039766846346101.post-24771447853478623672009-10-18T15:14:00.000+05:002009-10-18T15:14:13.415+05:00

being the lazy person I am, instead of a blog entry I wanted to share an email corespondance with a reader regarding one of my recent postings. Mr. X wrote The only sensibly thing you say, Sir, is this: All this makes me wonder where were all these labels when Armenia was being run to the ground for the last decade, the social deterioration, the increase corruption, the political oppression,

Dr. Spurkianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09323878380402884466noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3442039766846346101.post-19915672861487451482009-10-13T04:41:00.000+05:002009-10-13T04:41:09.566+05:00

it's done, the protocols are signed and the traitors of the Armenia nation have already been assassinated in the media and in the minds of many people. However what will be done now? Well for one thing, there should be a lot of contemplation on the Armenian side to realize what happened and why couldn’t people stop it from happening. The numbers’ game put aside, the lack of leadership in the

Dr. Spurkianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09323878380402884466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3442039766846346101.post-33726132189058572772009-10-11T15:16:00.001+05:002009-10-11T15:16:20.995+05:00

These days the only thing that Armenians talk and write about are the signing of the protocols and their impact on Armenian life. The “anti-protocolites” (who will now be promoted to “anti-normalizationites”) have been up in arms calling for the president’s removal and calling him traitors. It seesm that being a traitor is so easy these days, first Obama was labeled as such (because he failed to

Dr. Spurkianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09323878380402884466noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3442039766846346101.post-57331713118967415792009-10-06T22:06:00.000+05:002009-10-06T22:06:30.141+05:00

Following the tour that Armenia’s president has been on, the demonstrations “welcoming” him and the public statements made during and after those visits I cannot help but wonder about some of the issues raised there. Being a doctor, I am in the habit of identifying a problem, finding its causes and then, if I could, find remedies or solutions. In this case my initial diagnosis is a acute case of

Dr. Spurkianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09323878380402884466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3442039766846346101.post-91916868332687550902009-10-04T02:08:00.000+05:002009-10-04T02:08:09.215+05:00

This past week the Armenian media reported about the protests held in France when President Serge Sarkssian visited Paris to try to mobilize support for his upcoming signature of Turkish-Armenia protocols. While following the media I realized that the Armenian media (especially in the Diaspora) has been catching up with art of propaganda and opinion shaping which is quite common in Western media.

Dr. Spurkianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09323878380402884466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3442039766846346101.post-82764817036532584512009-09-29T22:07:00.000+05:002009-09-29T22:07:08.087+05:00

Does anyone wonder how come people who do not have any background in, or understanding of political issues end up writing grandiose opinion pieces and articles explaining things that they can only imagine to understand. in Armenian reality it seems that instead of raising the level of discussion to a more professional setting we have actually allowed issues to be oversimplified and hence based on

Dr. Spurkianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09323878380402884466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3442039766846346101.post-91146886641938068542009-09-28T03:07:00.000+05:002009-09-28T03:07:04.931+05:00

I find it quite fascinating the mobilization of the diaspora in recent weeks after the announcement of the protocols that would, assumingly, normalize relations between Turkey and Armenia. What amuses me is that after over 18 years of relations between an independent Armenia and the Diaspora, the latter still views itself as a "major player" in Armenian politics. Can't these people they realize

Dr. Spurkianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09323878380402884466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3442039766846346101.post-20867216061236679792009-09-28T02:51:00.000+05:002009-09-28T02:51:08.685+05:00

Over two years ago, a friend of mine encouraged me to start a blog based on a serried of travelogues I wrote. Appealing to my ego and to my sense of self promotion she managed to convince me and I started this blog. As you can see nothing this blog has been as empty as the heads of some of our “leaders” (be those in Armenia or in the diaspora). Recent developments in Armenian and diasporan life

Dr. Spurkianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09323878380402884466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3442039766846346101.post-88633908186979072122007-02-01T00:04:00.000+04:002007-02-01T00:18:17.666+04:00

First of all, I would like the readers to rest assured that I’m not running for any position. I wanted to make this ‘disclaimer’ since it seems that around the time of elections – be those in political parties, professional groups or in a country – whenever someone starts saying anything, people would always associate what is being said as a campaign statement and promise and hence stop listening

Dr. Spurkianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09323878380402884466noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3442039766846346101.post-16524936369402598142007-01-26T07:49:00.000+04:002007-01-26T17:01:59.734+04:00

Welcome all,This blog is an offshoot of several pieces I wrote back in 2004 (we can actually say that to 2004 now—“back in the good old 2004”) during my nth visit to Armenia. At the time I thought that Dr. Spurkian would be just like a summer romance (a good and memorable experience in the summer but disappears once you get back to your home and work).I’m sorry to say that it wasn’t. There was

Dr. Spurkianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09323878380402884466noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3442039766846346101.post-10457922294653367292007-01-21T08:46:00.000+04:002007-01-26T17:06:13.294+04:00

After receiving several e-mails commenting on my previous entry “DR. SPURKIAN’S NEW YEAR’S WISH LIST FOR ARMENIANS” I figured out that it’s now safer to venture into more “serious” issues. So do write with your opinion to the email address at the end of the piece.Last week while walking around in the center of Yerevan—of course that is just a figure of speech since the level of cold, snow and ice

Dr. Spurkianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09323878380402884466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3442039766846346101.post-53686035696563350052006-12-27T08:44:00.000+04:002007-01-26T08:45:51.148+04:00

Well, it’s that time of the year where people wait in ridiculously long lines at check out counters at malls to buy presents or at post-offices to mail letters, cards and packages to loved ones in an ever-shrinking world. As is the case with many people I decided to make a wish list and see if any of those wishes would be realized in the coming year. That being said I have to mention that not

Dr. Spurkianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09323878380402884466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3442039766846346101.post-46400223510969653052004-08-20T08:23:00.000+05:002007-01-26T08:37:48.884+04:00

As I write these final paragraphs I am struck with a feeling that I am about to leave home. I never had that feeling before. Maybe I didn’t know my ‘home’ well enough to experience separation anxiety. What has changed since the last time I was here to make me feel more at home? Definitely one thing is that I have given directions to some locals when they were lost (but of course being typical men

Dr. Spurkianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09323878380402884466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3442039766846346101.post-25103185689566759552004-08-19T08:23:00.000+05:002007-01-26T08:37:32.247+04:00

No I don’t have insomnia, neither am I suffering from jetlag, it just happens that I am more operational during the early hours of the morning (between 3 and 6 am). Of course there are several reasons for this. The first is that the Internet in Yerevan is faster during those times since less people are online. The second reason is that nights in Yerevan are cooler and it’s more pleasurable to

Dr. Spurkianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09323878380402884466noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3442039766846346101.post-38376680125219905962004-08-17T08:22:00.000+05:002007-01-26T08:37:00.034+04:00

The rich cultural life of Yerevan always allows at least several options for entertainment. Here I want to mention two of my own favorite venues. The first is an Armenian stage actor/director who usually comes up with a new show every other year or so. Over the past several years, I have managed to attend three of his works. The shows usually deal with political, economic and social issues of the

Dr. Spurkianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09323878380402884466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3442039766846346101.post-63737902399966406772004-08-13T08:21:00.000+05:002007-01-26T08:36:31.120+04:00

For a die-hard militant nationalist the above statement would sound like an intellectual jargon-frankly up until a couple of weeks ago it had the same connotation for me as well. The reason it changed for me was because after writing about the condition of the people I saw during the “poverty tour”, I received some responses and some of the writers even asked for ways to help the inhabitants of

Dr. Spurkianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09323878380402884466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3442039766846346101.post-35557479506111181982004-08-11T08:20:00.000+05:002007-01-26T08:36:08.456+04:00

In one of my chance meetings I met up with an old acquaintance of mine who in turn introduced me to a local journalist. After several meeting and having discussions over glasses of beer about Armenia and the region my acquaintance offered to take us on a ‘poverty tour’ of Yerevan. The concept was a novelty and both the journalist and I signed up for the ‘tour’. On the set day we met up at the

Dr. Spurkianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09323878380402884466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3442039766846346101.post-11828526536023512822004-08-08T08:19:00.000+05:002007-01-26T08:34:59.738+04:00

In Yerevan, one does not need to make an appointment to meet people. A night stroll in the city center and you could meet up at least several acquaintances and friends. I experienced this first hand when one evening while walking around an area where there was an open-air concert I met four people whom I was not planning to meet (not that I didn’t want to meet them) within the span of 15 minutes.

Dr. Spurkianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09323878380402884466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3442039766846346101.post-54493939454016563452004-08-07T08:18:00.000+05:002007-01-26T08:34:43.337+04:00

First of all I have to give an explanation about the timeline. It’s not that I’m getting lazier (although some people have argued – with some good cases I may add - that I am inherently lazy and would try to get away with as little job as possible). If one has been to Yerevan before, one would know that unless you have a regular work schedule throughout the week or have appointments set for every

Dr. Spurkianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09323878380402884466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3442039766846346101.post-81362324167285515802004-08-05T08:18:00.000+05:002007-01-26T08:34:20.554+04:00

After taking a long nap (or a short sleep) I woke up to the sound of protesters and shouts coming from ... my stomach. It was not an unreasonable demand since the last `real’ food I had was on the airplane. The human body being more democratic than any other form of government in any country of the world, my mind (government) bowed to pressure from the protesting and growling stomach (middle

Dr. Spurkianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09323878380402884466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3442039766846346101.post-52502399927152125502004-08-04T08:15:00.000+05:002007-01-26T08:33:59.549+04:00

The Austrian airline flight landed at the Yerevan Airport earlier than the expected time. This flight has been one of the shortest and most comfortable I have taken to arrive to Armenia. Considering that I have been in Vienna for over a week and was already adjusted to the time zone made the travel even easier. However the fact that the flight leaves Vienna at 10:00 pm and arrives to Yerevan at 4

Dr. Spurkianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09323878380402884466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3442039766846346101.post-65380230091899456352004-08-03T08:07:00.000+05:002007-01-26T08:33:09.649+04:00

DAY 1. VIENNA AIRPORTI arrived at the Vienna airport in preparation for my flight to Yerevan. It has been over two years since the last time I was in Armenia. Two years ago I spent some time in the country teaching and since then I never had the opportunity to return. The time spent in Yerevan was an eye opening experience to observe the country up close and personal. When I left the country in

Dr. Spurkianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09323878380402884466noreply@blogger.com0