“TOURISTS ARE MURDERED IN ARMENIA, AREN’T THEY?”
Support A1+!After overhearing a conversation in English and the French word “merci” it occurred to me that the speaker must be an Armenian. The 27-year-old girl, Marietta, turned out to be a citizen of Yerevan. She was visiting her friend in Sweden.
At Arlanda Airport Marietta was met by her friend and her nephew who were both Armenians. Marietta’s friend was a short fat woman. The young man had gone to Sweden in search of better living conditions. After warm embrace the party left the airport. I immediately realised that Marietta would never return to Armenia...
“What's the use of returning to Armenia. Why don't you stay in Sweden?” Marietta asked me just before departure.
While waiting for a bus to Sigtuna a fifty-year-old Arab woman came up to me at the bus-stop and asked something. The latter got surprised that I didn't know her mother tongue - Arabian. Then she told me that her Armenian neighbors in Lebanon (she immigrated to Sweden from Lebanon 20 years ago) knew Arabian fluently. I only smiled and said nothing to her remark. It was strange to me that her 23-year-old girl who had been in Sweden for years didn't know a single English word.
On arriving at the hotel I went sightseeing in Sigtuna. I met a Canadian traveler named Domingo near the ruins of St. Olof church. The latter had been to many countries of the world but he hadn't seen Armenia. “I have always wanted to visit Armenia. Aren't tourists in danger in your country? As far as I know they are kidnapped, robbed and even killed,” he said.
No matter how hard I tried to change his opinion about Armenia, he wouldn’t believe me.
Domingo was a Canadian top official and dealt with immigrants’ issues.
I got acquainted with Vasila Sayesyan at one of the Stockholm cafes. Vasila was of Greek decent. She married a Lebanon Armenian. The family settled in Sweden 20 years ago. They got adjusted to new conditions with great difficulty. “I had neither relatives nor acquaintances in Sweden. But now we cannot imagine our life outside Sweden.”
Ms. Vasila said that the number of the Armenian immigrants has greatly increased over the past few years. “Sometimes we are afraid to say we are Armenians as Armenians have bad reputation here, they rob stores and supermarkets.” The Swedish take anyone speaking English for an Englishman. I had the impression that they have hardly heard of Armenia as a country.
Ms. Doris, a participant of the Forum for the Future of Democracy, said, “Armenians and Azeris are always shouting at each other during the PACE sessions for Karabakh.”
To this I said jokingly, “The PACE sessions would be dull and boring without us.”
Karine ASATRYAN
Stocholm/Sigtuna
