Azeris and Armenians Best of Friends in Moscow
(CRS No. 298, 04-Aug-05)
IWPR
By Samira Ahmedbeily and Elina Arzumanian in Moscow
(Samira Ahmedbeily is a journalist with Azerros newspaper in Moscow. Elina Arzumanian is a reporter for Mir TV and radio company)
[...]
Agif, an economics graduate, spent three years looking in vain for a job at home, so he decided to move to Moscow and join the army of market traders from the Caucasus. In 1998, he met and went into business with Levon Arayan, an Armenian, at the Kuzminki market.
Although the two nations have been in conflict with one another over the disputed territory of Nagorny Karabakh since 1988, Armenians and Azerbaijanis in Moscow say they get along well with one another – and often find they have much in common as Caucasians in the Russian capital.
[...]
If the 2002 census results are to be believed, there are 96,000 Azerbaijanis and 124,000 Armenians in Moscow, each group accounting for about one per cent of the city’s population. However, most observers think this is a gross underestimate.
Muscovites were never especially friendly to visitors from the Caucasus, even in Soviet times. Now they are lumped together under the pejorative tag of “persons of Caucasian nationality”. The conflict in Chechnya has worsened Russians’ attitude towards people from the region, and harassment and race attacks on southerners have become commonplace.
This shared experience of xenophobia has brought Armenians and Azerbaijanis closer together. But in many cases the partnership is of longer standing, stemming from a shared background in the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, which once had a large Armenian population of 200,000. All but a handful of them left Baku between 1988 and 1990.
[...]
Caucasians have traditionally specialised in certain trades in Moscow – commonly working as market traders and ticket inspectors.
[...]
And – as if to confirm the prejudices of some Muscovites - the two nationalities team up in the criminal world as well.
[...]
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
IWPR
By Samira Ahmedbeily and Elina Arzumanian in Moscow
(Samira Ahmedbeily is a journalist with Azerros newspaper in Moscow. Elina Arzumanian is a reporter for Mir TV and radio company)
[...]
Agif, an economics graduate, spent three years looking in vain for a job at home, so he decided to move to Moscow and join the army of market traders from the Caucasus. In 1998, he met and went into business with Levon Arayan, an Armenian, at the Kuzminki market.
Although the two nations have been in conflict with one another over the disputed territory of Nagorny Karabakh since 1988, Armenians and Azerbaijanis in Moscow say they get along well with one another – and often find they have much in common as Caucasians in the Russian capital.
[...]
If the 2002 census results are to be believed, there are 96,000 Azerbaijanis and 124,000 Armenians in Moscow, each group accounting for about one per cent of the city’s population. However, most observers think this is a gross underestimate.
Muscovites were never especially friendly to visitors from the Caucasus, even in Soviet times. Now they are lumped together under the pejorative tag of “persons of Caucasian nationality”. The conflict in Chechnya has worsened Russians’ attitude towards people from the region, and harassment and race attacks on southerners have become commonplace.
This shared experience of xenophobia has brought Armenians and Azerbaijanis closer together. But in many cases the partnership is of longer standing, stemming from a shared background in the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, which once had a large Armenian population of 200,000. All but a handful of them left Baku between 1988 and 1990.
[...]
Caucasians have traditionally specialised in certain trades in Moscow – commonly working as market traders and ticket inspectors.
[...]
And – as if to confirm the prejudices of some Muscovites - the two nationalities team up in the criminal world as well.
[...]
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
posted by Vahe Balabanian at 11:04 AM
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