Yerevan

Ryan Carter Yerevan, Armenia, will be the lone trade outpost for California. Under the state budget compromise hashed out last week, the state's 12 foreign trade offices will be closed when their current leases end. But one that hasn't even opened yet -- the trade office in Armenia -- was spared, and is scheduled to start operating next year in Yerevan. For Glendale's Armenian entrepreneurs, saving the office is significant because it can open the region to California business, they said.

Robert Shaffer GLENDALE -- A bill making its way through the California Legislature would establish a state trade office in Yerevan, the capitol of Armenia. Assemblyman Jack Scott (D-Montrose), who introduced the bill Jan. 31, said California must find ways to expand California's economy. Under the bill, the state would spend up to $149,000 per year to open the office. "California can leverage a relatively minor investment into increased jobs and business ventures for California entrepreneurs," Scott said in a statement.

What started out as a personal return trip to Armenia soon snowballed into an official visit for Mayor Ara Najarian this past week. Once word got out in Yerevan, Armenia, that Najarian was in town to attend a conference on the future of the Western dialect of the Armenian language, it wasn't long before he was invited to meet with a slew of high-ranking government officials and dignitaries, including President Serzh Sargsyan and Prime Minister Tigran...

They are a people who have long endured repression and reigns of terror across Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Even here, in the Promised Land where so many Armenians are thriving, they still are victimized. Sometimes it's the pain of prejudice that every wave of immigrants has felt when their numbers threaten the way things were. This time, it comes from their own people, a vast Los Angeles-based international syndicate called Armenian Power that is accused of preying on Armenians, engaging in kidnapping, robbery and extortion even as its 250 members and hundreds of runners stole millions from banks and credit card companies, dealt drugs and committed other crimes against us all. On Wednesday, a joint local-state-federal task force of nearly 1,000 law enforcement officers — Operation Power Outage — rounded up 74 of the 99 suspects indicted by grand juries in Los Angeles and Orange County on 234 counts of criminal activity and racketeering.

More than 140 people suffered burns or other injuries Friday in Yerevan, the capital city of Armenia,  when bunches of balloons at a concert and political rally exploded. The balloons were supposed to be filled with helium but may have instead been filled with methane, said  Aghasi Yenokyan, director of the Center for Political and International Studies, a Yerevan-based think tank. The incident occurred in downtown Republic Square during events organized by the ruling Republican Party of Armenia as part of the parliamentary election campaign.

Throughout history, trade has been the great accelerator of civilization. Commerce between nations has promoted communication among cultures, advancement in the sciences and the arts and an understanding of the "interconnectedness" of humanity. These are just a few of the reasons why we see the latest push to increase trade between California and Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, as a positive thing. On the heels of a recent historic trade expo in Glendale featuring products and services, state Sen. Jack Scott (D-Glendale)

GLENDALE — Glendale city officials rolled out a red-carpet welcome for Yervand Zakharyan, mayor of Yerevan, Armenia, as he paid a visit to the city Wednesday to see what life is like in one of the nation's largest Armenian communities. Zakharyan is working with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to make Yerevan a sister city with Los Angeles. One of Zakharyan's interests while in Glendale was to see how the city conducts public services such as waste pickup and police and fire, said Glendale Councilman Rafi Manoukian, who was with the mayor for the day. "I'm really honored to have him here to share some of his concerns and hear some of our concerns," Manoukian said.

Reaching from Los Angeles to Yerevan, local doctors are healing the eyes of Armenian infants who otherwise would go blind. In June, a team of six doctors performed surgeries at a neonatal clinic in Yerevan, delivered key equipment and trained roughly 200 Armenian doctors in how to treat retinopathy of prematurity. The illness strikes premature infants whose eyes have not developed enough to be exposed to the outside environment, said Dr. Thomas Lee, director of the Retina Institute at the Vision Center at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, which partnered with the Armenia Eye Care Project on the mission.

Long before wars, closed borders and power struggles turned Armenia and Azerbaijan into mortal enemies and carved out an almost exclusively mono-ethnic population in both countries, they each had sizable, ethnically diverse populations living and working together. A 1970s travel guide from Russian travel agency Intourist even calls the Caucasus the most multinational area of the Soviet Union where “people of more than 50 nationalities,” including Armenians and Azeris, “live and work there as a closely knit family.” While Armenia has seen a rise in tourism - with Italian, French and German tourists feeling adventurous enough to charter the mountainous country full of ancient monasteries and historical sites and Peace Corps volunteers that are placed in unsuspecting cities around the country - Armenia remains largely, well, Armenian.

Psst. This message is for Margaret Hammond. Pass it on real quiet. Hey Maggie, hush up and don't be a fool. If no help is sent to Armenia to improve things over there, there'll be many more Armenians coming to live over here. Surely, you don't want more of us doing all the terrible things we are doing to wreck this jewel of a city. On the other hand, with about a third of the population being Armenian and Glendale being one of the safest and most desirable cities in the United States, we obviously are not doing enough to completely ruin things.

With the recent celebration of the 21st anniversary of Armenia's independence, we should note that Americans of Armenian descent have helped, participated or, in many instances, just watched from the sidelines as the country has tried to stabilize itself in a tough neighborhood where it is surrounded by hostile neighbors like Turkey and Azerbaijan. The country is far from perfect, and like most of the former Soviet countries, is predominantly run by oligarchs who control most of the business and government infrastructure.

Last month, a handful of military doctors walked into the extravagant Harsnakar restaurant located in the outskirts of the Armenian capital of Yerevan and never managed to walk out. A violent fight over dress codes, allegedly with the restaurant's security guards, put all of them into the hospital with severe injuries. On June 29, Maj. Vahe Avetyan died after the beating, and an uproar across the country broke out. But civil society wasn't just outraged at the unnecessary death of a service man, the tragedy gave way for an awakening that sought to call the end to oligarchy, which runs rampant in the country.

More than 140 people suffered burns or other injuries Friday in Yerevan, the capital city of Armenia,  when bunches of balloons at a concert and political rally exploded. The balloons were supposed to be filled with helium but may have instead been filled with methane, said  Aghasi Yenokyan, director of the Center for Political and International Studies, a Yerevan-based think tank. The incident occurred in downtown Republic Square during events organized by the ruling Republican Party of Armenia as part of the parliamentary election campaign.

In the early morning hours last Wednesday, I set off on a more than 800-mile road trip across California and into Oregon to finally quench the years-long thirst I felt for Portland, a city that has often given me an inkling that it could feel just like home, even from far away. After soaking in a landscape bursting with creativity, natural beauty, awe-inspiring art and zines - as well as more cyclists than I've seen in any other city I've visited - Portland, or “Stumptown” as it is so affectionately called, was as comforting as I had imagined.

On a mild summer day, itching to get out of Yerevan, I took a Soviet minibus known locally as a marshutka to the northern Armenian city of Vanadzor. After weeks in the congested capital, Vanadzor's lush landscapes, wide spaces and crisp air put me at ease. Picnic blanket in hand, I walked past neighborhood backgammon games in the middle of the street and trunks full of watermelons for sale to a forested area where I was hoping to relax. Instead, I ended up having lunch and several rounds of homemade vodka with three local builders who had just finished installing a khachkar, which is a stele that bears the image of a cross - a yearlong stonecarving project that had found a home in a city known for its Soviet chemical plant history and summer retreats.

Long before wars, closed borders and power struggles turned Armenia and Azerbaijan into mortal enemies and carved out an almost exclusively mono-ethnic population in both countries, they each had sizable, ethnically diverse populations living and working together. A 1970s travel guide from Russian travel agency Intourist even calls the Caucasus the most multinational area of the Soviet Union where “people of more than 50 nationalities,” including Armenians and Azeris, “live and work there as a closely knit family.” While Armenia has seen a rise in tourism - with Italian, French and German tourists feeling adventurous enough to charter the mountainous country full of ancient monasteries and historical sites and Peace Corps volunteers that are placed in unsuspecting cities around the country - Armenia remains largely, well, Armenian.

“The motherland is best loved from afar,” I was told several times en route to Armenia late last month. When I arrived in Yerevan, the country’s capital and its largest city, this cautionary advice lingered in my mind as I rode by blocks of flashy casinos, my taxi zipping through the center of a city that's said to be 29 years older than Rome. My driver, a chubby man who chain-smoked and yelled out to other drivers at various stoplights, begged for more money as I handed him the fare.

They are a people who have long endured repression and reigns of terror across Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Even here, in the Promised Land where so many Armenians are thriving, they still are victimized. Sometimes it's the pain of prejudice that every wave of immigrants has felt when their numbers threaten the way things were. This time, it comes from their own people, a vast Los Angeles-based international syndicate called Armenian Power that is accused of preying on Armenians, engaging in kidnapping, robbery and extortion even as its 250 members and hundreds of runners stole millions from banks and credit card companies, dealt drugs and committed other crimes against us all. On Wednesday, a joint local-state-federal task force of nearly 1,000 law enforcement officers — Operation Power Outage — rounded up 74 of the 99 suspects indicted by grand juries in Los Angeles and Orange County on 234 counts of criminal activity and racketeering.

Revelations that U.S. officials charged Armenia in 2008 with supplying Iran with weapons later used to kill U.S. troops in Iraq were "enormously troubling," said Rep. Adam Schiff, who has been a staunch supporter of Congress officially recognizing the Armenian Genocide. The charges were described in a cable sent from the U.S. embassy in Yerevan that also showed Americans considered sanctions against Armenia and demanded that leaders there impose greater controls on the movement of weapons.

Reaching from Los Angeles to Yerevan, local doctors are healing the eyes of Armenian infants who otherwise would go blind. In June, a team of six doctors performed surgeries at a neonatal clinic in Yerevan, delivered key equipment and trained roughly 200 Armenian doctors in how to treat retinopathy of prematurity. The illness strikes premature infants whose eyes have not developed enough to be exposed to the outside environment, said Dr. Thomas Lee, director of the Retina Institute at the Vision Center at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, which partnered with the Armenia Eye Care Project on the mission.