Yerevan, capital of Armenia

The end of communism was brutally sudden for Armenia. It had been one of the better off countries of the Soviet Union with a lot of skilled and technical jobs, most of which disappeared with the Russians. At the same time the country was assisting the Christian Karabakhis against the Muslim Azeris in Nagorno Karabakh. Many Armenians moved abroad at this time and are now helping the country by sending money home to their families. With US aid and the help of the diaspora, the economy has started to recover and today in the centre of Yerevan shining black 4x4s rev up at the traffic lights before racing off as the lights change.

Nearly everyone here relies on relations abroad to help keep up their standard of living. A friend told me that her neighbour has a daughter and a son living with their mother. Another daughter living in America invited her over to live with her. Realising they would lose the money sent back every month, the son and daughter bought their mother a special T shirt for when she went to the American Embassy to get her visa. The T shirt was covered in slogans, and the children assured her it was the latest thing to wear. The main slogan written large across the front was ‘I love Osama Bin Ladin’. The poor mother couldn’t understand why it took such a short time for her to be denied a visa. Nearly half the population live in and around Yerevan. I was invited up to the mountainous Tavush region to see a horse trekking centre, where a local businessman with a vision of helping both the villagers where he was born, and the people in the local town make contacts and find jobs. He has built a high class resort on a mountainside using local labour and employing local people to staff it. Instead of leaving, several new houses have been built in the village, and there is an air of optimism. In the nearest town Ijevan, the population was 24000 in 1974, now it is 6000. New businesses are beginning to start up as communications improve, but there is a heavy reliance on tourism throughout the country with new hotels opening all the time. In Yerevan it is cheaper to rent a flat than stay in an hotel, where the price can double for the high season in September and October, when many diaspora come back to visit friends and family.

It is a country which is looking forward while its history governs the attitude to its neighbours. Reminders of the Armenian Genocide from 1915 to 1922 are everywhere and the borders with Turkey remain closed, because it will not admit that there was a systematic eradication of 1.5 million Armenians were killed or died on death marches. The border with Adzerbaijan is also closed and are likely to remain so, until some sort of agreement can be worked out about Nagorno Karabakh. There is no quarrel with Iran, from where they get their fuel and Georgia, through which lorries carry Armenian Brandy, wine and other goods to Russia.

I am going back to Georgia on Monday; I had planned to take the overnight sleeper train on Saturday, rather than sweat it out in a crowded minibus for seven to eight hours, but a riding club which specialises in Traditional Armenia Horse Sports is having its 30th anniversary on Sunday and I have been invited. So on Monday morning, at eight, in the pitch dark I will set off back to Tbilisi. The clocks here are an hour in front of Tbilisi, so instead of everywhere being open at nine, it is by ten

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