News

Voronezh and the Armenians: what is the Armenian community doing?

Only one hour and 40 minutes’ air flight to the South and you appear in one of the Russian cities- Voronezh.

In the airplane to Voronezh, the 90% of the passengers are Armenians- mainly with Russian citizenship. They have spent the summer holidays in the Armenian land and now they are going back to Russia- Voronezh by different reasons- outgoing work, asphalt work.

At the airport of Voronezh the first landing are also Armenians. The Russian worker of the airport  warns: those staying in Voronezh for a long period need to fill in the so-called “declaration”. And the stir began at the airport. What is that? Who needs it and why? But they had to and did fill in the declaration by helping each other: our people began to fill in the so-called “declaration”. Many of them filled it in the right way. Those who had made mistakes, were sent back by the border guard until they would take the right variant. Among them there was a woman from Vanadzor who managed to step on the Russian ground by filling the declaration in some way. She opposed, she couldn’t fill it in, she didn’t know the language and that’s all. By the way, that woman managed to get in a quarrel with her grandson too by scolding him that he was a graduate of the international faculty, but couldn’t help his grandmother to fill in the declaration.

Next to the Voronezh airport there was the hotel- it might be 600 meters away from the hotel. The Armenian delegation members were the staff of the air-company “Armenia”- with the  captain, journalists, several tourists, The car column had put an aim to take the Armenian delegation for those 600 meters by car.

In the hotel everything is Armenian too. There are Armenian drinks inside, different corners telling about Armenia and the Armenians, souvenirs. And one of the first questions that interested the Armenian tourists was how much was the Armenian brandy being sold in Voronezh, whether the price differed a lot from the price in Armenia.

About the brandy: The Russians were not so interested in the Voronezh air-show as they were in the Armenian brandy in the “Armenia’s” booth. The Russians were ready to stay in the queue for hours to drink Armenian brandy. This might be considered one of the tactics of the Armenian side: to compile customers to the booth, presenting the Armenian Air-market by offering Armenian brandy.

Out of the Armenian booths there was more of Armenian. The Russians listened to Spitaktsi Hayko and danced rather well.

A city full of Armenians which is visited by 400 Armenians every week. The head of the Armenian community of Voronezh Kamo Tchobanyan tells that professors, university students are coming to Voronezh.  

Air-company “Armenia” realizes two straight flights to Voronezh in a week. Kamo Tchobanyan informs that it’s especially useful when the Upper Lars is being closed.

Kamo Tchobanyan tells that six Trade Centers are going to open in Russia. One of those trade centers will be built in Voronezh. The ambassador of Armenia in Russia will visit Voronezh, the question of the land allocation will be decided. According to Kamo Tchobanyan, the trade center will be built in Voronezh next summer.

“We are ready to accept the Armenian products and only Armenian goods will be sold there. The locals know the Armenian production- the Armenian compote, smoked meat, bread. I may say that the air-company who has come here, brings bread too”,- says Tchobanyan.

45 thousand Armenians live in Voronezh. There’s a Youth football team, consisting of Armenian young people. This year they were the second in Voronezh district. A school will be built in Voronezh for preserving the Armenian language. A church is built in the center of the city. The building of the church also has an interesting story. It had been very hard to convince the Russian authorities for building it. At first it had been decided that a trade center had to be built in that place, but finally a church had been built.

“If you want to preserve the Armenians, you need a church and a nearby school. I think the school will be opened next April”,- Tchobanyan informed.

The Armenians are mostly busy in the construction. Most of the central streets of Voronezh have been and still are being asphalted by the Armenians.

Tchobanyan informed that after the new government was formed in Armenia, 17 families have returned there. They had said that they were going to Armenia to make investments, in the worst case they would return again.

Bolshaya Privalovka: It’s a village 80 kilometers far from Voronezh. The visitors are welcomed by the Russian ensemble with salt and bread. The women are singing and dancing, telling about the traditions of their village. The tourists visiting Voronezh are offered to attend the historical places, museums and sanctuaries. In the evening it becomes more interesting and pleasant when you sail to Voronezh over the river under the sounds of music. Your guides will tell you everything that may be seen when sailing over Voronezh river.

Source: http://newmag.am/2018/voronej/?fbclid=IwAR02PqIXSO6j3MfKv_Nqahm3WN9ONdbwJ-pH7N_tOgY0yFcyynqAdmgAlNg#gallery[3]/4/