After yesterdays intro to Yerevan it was back on the Metro with its Soviet style metro stations to find a helpful female employee at the main Yerevan train station who us secured our ist class sleeper train tickets (only the best) from Yerevan to Tibilisi Georgia for this Friday night. All done despite Kev complaining about borders inspections at 3.45 a.m., we headed to the end of the Metro line with a view aiming to visit the Armenian Genocide memorial and Museum. I say aim as after 2 false starts (going the wrong way from the metro) 3 kms walking to Yerevan's 172 step Football stadium thinking it was the museum, another 3 km detour down and back up a hill only to find the Museum next to the Football stadium, we arrived with Thunder and lightning brewing in the air.
We made it just in time to the Memorial and its Eternal flame before a deluge of hailstones had us taking cover ! Once passed we skated across the now winter wonderland to the Museum which although fairly small punches way over its size in terms of emotional impact. Most of us have only vaguely heard of the events of the 1920s but this was man's inhumanity to man at its highest level. It was an attempt by the Ottoman Empire to wipe a race out based purely on religion and geo political reasons. Over a few years while being observed by the international community (including writers like Hemingway) one and half million Armenians perished being killed, starved or marched to death. Properties were confiscated and wealth stolen by many that make up modern day Turkey. The Brutality of the genocide was breathtaking and even caused Hitler to remark to his Generals in the 30's that no one cared about the Armenian Genocide - an obvious prelude to his thoughts on European Jews. Today the argument still goes on about whether or not the event should be classified a genocide but let's just say that the invention of the term in the 1940s was a direct result ofwhat happened in Armenia . Today over 7 million persons of Armenian extraction live around the world and only just under 3 million in Armenia itself .. actions speak louder than words !
Sent from my iPad
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| Hail |
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| The rains coming ! |
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| Memorial |
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| Yerevan |
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