The Culture of Armenia

Armenia is a poor country and there are more "Armenians" in Los Angelos than in Armenia. It is a proud, corrupt and sad country. It is a country that has been beaten up by every other country that has conquered them. They have been conquered by both Turkey and the Soviet Union in just the last 100 years. Armenia is a country without hope. Many of our Peace Corps friends told us that they are depressed going to work everyday because it seems like no one is doing anything. The people are sad because there is no opportunity - or more likely - they do not seize opportunities that come to them. Armenia has a run-down infrastructure. Everything that is running in this country is from the Soviet Union or earlier. This makes for tough going when it comes to buying a car... it must be imported at great expense (mostly because Armenia is landlocked and broke its ties with Turkey, its greatest trading partner, over the rights to Mt. Ararat). There are 8 oligarchs who run the country and are amazingly wealthy but most of that wealth is built on the backs of people who work for little or no money.

The Peace Corps volunteers get paid by the US government about 300USD a month, and for that they can live reasonably well, but to the rest of the country they can live like kings. The volunteers can travel wherever they want and eat and drink and make the conditions in this country bearable. From an outside perspective, I can see why there is no investment in the country, because who wants to invest in a country with a high rate of corruption and little to no work ethic? One Peace Corps volunteer told me that to get a business license he was applying for in order to help a village open a market, they asked for a 3,000USD bribe. That is about one year's salary for the average person here. This country has a lot to work on.

Another Peace Corps volunteer is working with a tourist company and is trying to boost the tourism rate in Armenia. Sadly, Armenians think that Armenia is the best tourist destination in the world (why wouldnt they?) Armenia is difficult at best to travel through. He told us about an ad for Armenia that ran in Western Europe that tried to convince Europeans to come to Armenia. The ad was about the trek of Noah... from Noah's ark, the Biblical story. There is one problem with the story: the main attraction for the tour is not in Armenia, but rather, the mountain in question is in Turkey. Mt. Ararat (the supposed "scene" of Noah and his adventures) is actually in Turkey, and Armenia has been fighting with Turkey over this land for some time now. This is important to know because for tourists, they do not care where the attraction is, whether its in Armenia or Turkey. They just want to see it. The Peace Corps Volunteer told us that running a tourism ad with a political undertone is so useless and more possibly damaging to Armenia's reputation. The churches that were in the ad were mostly destroyed by the wars with Turkey, Azerbijan and the Soviet Union. The road to get to the churches are mostly washed out or gravel.

(Pictured is Armenian White House)