When oppositonal party demonstrations start, mass transport into Yerevan stops.

On ordinary days, residents of nearby towns and villages in Echmiadsin, Abovian, Armavir, Arshtarak – 10 or so kilometers surrounding the capital – reach the capital by minimally-priced minibus. But over the past two weeks, getting into Yerevan has often been influenced by whether the political opposition has a meeting planned.

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Events of this week have placed some of us in the unfamiliar position of necessarily agreeing with Minister of Defense Serzh Sargsyan who, after unleashing brutalizing force on oppositional party demonstrators Tuesday said:

“Nobody would have understood us if 2,000 people had paralyzed all Yerevan.”

Except for the fact that fewer than that number of minibus drivers paralyze Yerevan everyday, there’s no argument here.

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When birth comes to the village of Tsovak, Evelina Sahakyan comes just before it. Whether three in the morning, or during Sunday dinner, when labor pains begin, so does Evelina’s work.

As a trained mid-wife, Evelina has been delivering babies for eight years in the village, some 100 kilometers north of Yerevan.

Tsovak has a population of about 1,500 families, plenty of whom have come into the world at the hands of the Evelina the midwife.


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Media in Yerevan wrote editorials about Tuesday’s clash between police and protestors (and journalists). Here, as compiled by www.armenialiberty.org, is a sampling of how the press reacted.

“Aravot” daily: Who has violated constitutional order? When our citizens use their constitutional right to hold peaceful gatherings and demonstrations it amounts [in the government’s view] to a breach of constitutional order for which they must be punished. This is what our authorities think.” The paper points out that Russian President Vladimir Putin has recently vetoed a government bill on public gatherings, saying that it would restrict on Russians’ freedom of assembly.

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Argentina came to Armenia last Sunday on the music of a quintet impassioned by the compositions of tango maestro Astor Piazzolla.

The music was emphatically and devoutly loyal to the composer, but the musicians were all local. And the effect was a rare chance for the Yerevan audience at Aram Khachaturyan Hall of the Opera House to experience the peculiar taste of tango.

The music created by a unique combination of piano, guitar, contrabass, violin and accordion presented the audience with 90 minutes of tango rhythms and a mood of raving circles.

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Armenians won two gold medals and one silver medal at the 51 st European Greco-Roman Wrestling Championships last week in Haparanda, Sweden. However the Armenian team returned from competition with only one gold medal and one sixth place, as some winners represented nations other than Armenia.

The team was presented at the competition with six wrestlers competing against 205 wrestlers from 32 countries for prize places in six weight categories out of seven (Armenia was not presented only in 96 kg. weight category).

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As an Easter gesture ArmeniaNow delivered pajamas for women and long underwear for men to a Yerevan home for the elderly who benefited from readers’ contibution to our wintertime “HyeSanta” project. About 240 senior citizens – the entire home in fact – were fitted and benefitted from your help.