An academician friend walked through the door smiling, saying he had heard the latest absurdity going around Yerevan: “Have you heard, (pop singer) Sirusho is the Armenian ambassador to Greece? Even though this might not be true, the fact remains that in Armenia, it’s a possibility. Now that Sirusho is a member of a ‘royal family,’ and that family is from Karabagh, it’s more than a possibility.”

This statement didn’t go over very well with a Karabaghtsi visiting our home at the time. Nevertheless, the academician continued his thoughts. “Many who remember the Dark Years in Armenia, and what Levon Ter Petrosyan did during those times, think that it’s better to have these Karabaghtsis in power. But in Levon’s time, our culture hadn’t slipped to where it is today, with oligarchs promoting their girlfriends into becoming major stars, and, education was still at least fairly strong, which isn’t the case today.

“And you can’t say that Karabaghtsis aren’t favored when it comes to getting jobs, good jobs, in banks and the ministries, especially in Yerevan,” to which the Karabaghtsi answered, “This is because they’re good at math, and are better workers,” to which the academician said, “I’ve seen Karabaghtsis working in banks who barely spoke Armenian, and had no experience in banking at all, so what are you saying? Karabaghtsis and oligarchs, together, are ruining our country.”