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Garen Yegparian
Asbarez Columnist
Garen Yegparian is a fat, bald guy who has too much to say and do for his own good. So, you know he loves mouthing off weekly about anything he damn well pleases to write about that he can remotely tie in to things Armenian. He's got a checkered past: principal of an Armenian school, project manager on a housing development, ANC-WR Executive Director, AYF Field worker (again on the left coast), Operations Director for a telecom startup, and a City of LA employee most recently (in three different departments so far). Plus, he's got delusions of breaking into electoral politics, meanwhile participating in other aspects of it and making sure to stay in trouble. His is a weekly column that appears originally in Asbarez, but has been republished to the Armenian Weekly for many years.
Latest posts by Garen Yegparian (see all)
- Drones for Armenia - November 15, 2022
- So Sad, Too Far Gone - November 7, 2022
- Pomposity to Mask Ineptitude - October 31, 2022
So glad you are covering this topic. For the last 30 years I battle with this issue with my Armenians friends and family not to purchase anything made in turkey. Even had arguments at the Armenian grocery stores that sell Turkish produce, they still do. Armenian government has lot of fault in this. Why aren’t there Armenian products in the markets, why not encourage the Armenian farmer, help them to produce Armenian goods and export them. Whenever I go to any grocery store that sells Armenian preserves, I purchase a few, even though we don’t eat any of it. I give them away to my American friends, so they will start buying also. Just to help the sales of Armenian products. I always see Turkish product in Armenian homes, trust me they here my criticism……every little bit helps the big picture. Thank you for the article.
Well, I have always been against buying any (made in turkey” products. I chose to pay a little more than spending my hard earned dollars on Turkish products. I keep questing myself why do Armenian owned/managed grocery stores even promote such products? I once asked a grocery
Store owner “why do you have made in turkey anything on your shelves?” I was very disappointed when he responded by saying “why not” I simply stopped shopping there
The confiscation of Armenian agricultural land awarded to Turkish and Kurdish fortune hunters, during the Armenian Genocide is a noteworthy aspect of cultural genocide perpetrated against the Armenian People. This problem has been compounded by Ataturk’s Turkey, which aggressively works to erase Armenian Cultural Heritage in present day Turkey. The Armenian Apricot is a distinctly Armenian fruit variety of the apricot. In fact, the orange stripe in the Armenian Tricolor Flag symbolizes the Fertility of the Armenian Apricot, as well as the Fertility of the Armenian Land; despite that, we see these very same apricots being marketed as Turkish Apricots (in places like Whole Foods Market, and Trader Joe’s).
The proper way to do it, is to give credit to the originators of these agricultural products, as is the case with Native American Corn (or Maize), rather than erasing the legacy of the founders of these products. This article does well to draw our attention to our ethical compulsion to ban these so-called Turkish Products. It’s not only about import/export economics, it’s also about the thievery of the Turks and Kurds whom have financially benefitted from the thievery of cultural genocide, and the Armenian Genocide.
Patronize stores that don’t sell Turkish products. For example, Voskevaz Market in Glendale, on Colorado Blvd.