Notes from the Pink City Archives

“My Agri Summer Camp” wants your kids to learn about their Armenian roots and nature

February 25, 2020 at 1:28 pm Raffi Elliott 1

Satenik Khachatryan is an early childhood educator with a lot of experience under her belt. Her master’s degree on the subject carries the seal of not one, but four prestigious educational institutions: University of Gothenburg, […]

Is Jared Kushner the key to peace in Karabakh?

February 19, 2020 at 5:48 pm Raffi Elliott 4

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin trotted down the steps of Tel Aviv’s City Hall one November evening in 1995 when a gunman discharged three rounds from a concealed Beretta 84F. The PM had just concluded […]

Echoes of Deir ez-Zor at Auschwitz

January 29, 2020 at 8:54 pm Raffi Elliott 14

I’ve actually been to Hell – well, this Hell wasn’t located in the fiery depths of the afterlife, but in the countryside on the outskirts of the baroque Polish city of Krakow. Accompanying me on […]

Overlooked: The Armenian Greta Thunberg who Spent Six Days in Jail

January 8, 2020 at 3:40 pm Raffi Elliott 1

Just days before Christmas, a Russian court sentenced a young climate activist to six days in jail for participating in a climate change demonstration in Moscow. Supporters of the 25-year-old violinist Arshak Makichyan claim that […]

Is Armenia’s proposed wiretapping bill unconstitutional?

December 11, 2019 at 3:06 pm Raffi Elliott 0

If passed, an amendment to Armenia’s current law on intelligence-gathering operations would give police the authority to wiretap telephone conversations of private citizens independently from the National Security Service (NSS). Such a legislative amendment would […]

HDIF aims to turn Armenia into fair trade crocheting nation

December 4, 2019 at 7:32 pm Raffi Elliott 0

With Christmas only three weeks away, crocheted gifts from Armenia are flying off the shelves from Yerevan to Los Angeles. Two tags stick out from many of these hand-knitted gloves with Armenian carpet motifs or […]

The Problem with Taxpayer-Funded Public Art

November 20, 2019 at 7:36 pm Raffi Elliott 0

At the height of the Second World War, the British government tackled the unenviable task of reorienting the besieged island-nation’s economic productivity towards the war effort. A well-known anecdote recounts how a member of Prime […]

Tsap Tsapik hopes to reinvent the way we teach music to children

November 7, 2019 at 9:55 am Raffi Elliott 1

Sevana Tchakerian may be a household name among contemporary Armenian music connoisseurs as the singer and accordion player for the trad band Collectif Medz Bazar, which has toured in over 20 countries so far. But […]

Armenia’s Proposed Data Collection Bill Threatens Privacy Rights

October 30, 2019 at 9:14 pm Raffi Elliott 0

Last week, the Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC)—Armenia’s equivalent to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)—circulated an early draft of a bill which would empower internet service providers (ISPs) to engage in bulk collection and storage […]

Is Armenia ready for the tourism boom?

October 16, 2019 at 8:33 pm Raffi Elliott 8

Well, the secret is out—2020 looks like it’s going to be a very busy year for the Armenian tourism industry. This week’s news that the Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair will start flights to Yerevan follows […]