I am in Hong Kong now, and have finally had some time to check out the news from Armenia. It isn't looking particularly happy right now. The elections two weeks ago triggered deomonstrations which have got out of control and resulted in 8 deaths and a big number of injuries.
There are lots of media coverage up to 1 March but nothing afterwards. It is now difficult to get the real story from the media as there is a media blackout going on. What news there is is not great:
Things are calming down, or the media coverage is so controlled we dont know what is going on. The other story i am reading which is also of concern is that the has been a break in the ceasefire with Azabaijan. The Armenians are saying the Azeris are taking advantage of the political situation and the Azeris are saying that the Armenians are doing it deliberately to take the heat off the political situation. Either way this conflict is a long way from where i live (its ok Mum!)and it sounds like things in Kapan is still pretty relaxed.
The emails i have had from work indicate that that things are fine in Kapan, and we should just be careful when we stay in Yerevan. They have recommended we dont leave the hotel in Yerevan. This brings a rather serious consequence for me, that means that i wont be able to buy any red wine or other treats to bring with me to Kapan. This could be a very long 6 weeks!!
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Not leaving the hotel is overdoing it a bit (much). Things are very quiet now in Yerevan, nothing going on, life is back to usual. But there is still some sort of tenseness in the air. I have the feeling that something is still going to happen at some point, but what and when (and whether it'll be violent or not) is a complete unknown. There really is no need to stay in your hotel.
What the local media are now reporting borders on hilarious if it were not so tragic and incredibly sad. There is some sort of "brainwashing" going on. There are enough eyewitness account to state that the real version of what happened is very probably very different from the official version. People are still angry. Really sad.
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