Your Namak for Friday, October 15
Six Armenian servicemen injured and one civilian killed in Nagorno-Karabakh, Pashinyan and Putin meet in Moscow and Covid-19 deaths hit record high in Armenia.
Hi there, here’s your weekly briefing of Armenian news in English, curated, reported and fact-checked by journalists Astrig Agopian and Maral Tavitian.
Six servicemen injured in ceasefire violation
Late in the evening on October 14, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces opened fire on Nor Shen village and several other civilian communities in Nagorno-Karabakh. According to Arman Tatoyan, Human Rights Defender of Armenia, six Armenian servicemen were wounded in the attack and two are in critical condition.
Civilian Killed While Working in Nagorno-Karabakh
An Armenian civilian was killed by an Azerbaijani sniper in the Martakert district of Nagorno-Karabakh on October 9. In a statement, the Russian Ministry of Defense said the civilian from the village of Mataghis was fatally wounded while working in the fields near the line of contact. Gegham Stepanyan, Human Rights Defender of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), said “the deliberate killing” reflected Azerbaijan’s “encroachments on the life, health and physical and mental integrity of the Artsakh people.”
OSCE Minsk Group Seeks to Facilitate Talks Between Armenia and Azerbaijan
In a statement issued on October 8, the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs expressed their willingness to facilitate a meeting between the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders. The group of nations charged with negotiating a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh “welcomed the release by Azerbaijan of an Armenian serviceman” and also discussed “detainees, missing persons and the voluntary return of all displaced persons.”
Pashinyan and Putin Meet in Moscow
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Russian President Vladimir Putin met on October 12 in Moscow. No announcements were made following the meeting. But we know what was on the agenda: peace and security in Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as Armenia’s further integration into Russia’s Eurasian programs.
Covid-19 Deaths Hit Record High
Forty-three people in Armenia died from Covid-19 on October 10, the highest number of daily fatalities recorded from the virus since the start of the pandemic. Hospitals have reached full capacity as cases in the country continue to rise. “The only way we’re going to come down from this is to significantly increase our vaccination rate, and to maintain public health measures of social distancing and mask-wearing which currently in Armenia are non-existent,” Araz Chiloyan, consultant at Armenia’s Ministry of Health, told Namak. Armenia’s vaccination rate remains extremely low despite the widespread availability of five vaccines –– as of October 14, only 17.6 percent of the population had received a first dose, and 8.6 percent were fully vaccinated.
Monsieur Vincent: Meet the “smallest cobbler” of Paris
“You think something is impossible to fix? With me it’s possible.”
From a distance, you can spot the tiny extravagant boutique under the arch that leads to the Chanel office on 12 Duphot street in Paris.
“Monsieur Vincent” as his customers call him, made sure you would –– he used all the magazine pictures he could find to cover his workplace. Bystanders love stopping and admiring all the models, politician portraits, art and personal travel pictures that Vincent has accumulated over the years.
Vincent Pirimian likes to call himself the “smallest cobbler” of Paris, not because of his height, but because of the size of his atelier: 2 square meters in which he makes his magic happen. He began honing his trade as a shoemaker and craftsman in Beirut, where he owned a small boutique that attracted the city’s most exclusive clientele.
“The name of my shop was Misé, all the princesses of the Arab world came there,” Vincent says. “Oh, I made beautiful things. Even all the Riyadh girls, they loved me!”
Vincent left his native Beirut in 1980 to flee the Lebanese Civil War with his wife. When he arrived in the French capital, the streets were full of shoemakers. You do not need to speak perfect French to do the job, and since many Armenians are shoemakers, French customers tend to trust them. Vincent started working right away.
It is impossible not to smile while having a conversation with Monsieur Vincent. He has a warm Lebanese-Armenian accent in French and loves being the center of attention. Behind his little glasses, you can just see his mischievous glance as he is planning his next joke.
“The entire neighborhood knows me. All the fashion people, the hotels… You think something is impossible to fix? With me it’s possible,” Vincent says.
He also likes to brag about all the famous people he knows. Vincent is not affiliated with Chanel, but the French luxury and fashion house loves having him in the neighborhood and promoting traditional craftsmanship.
“Karl Lagerfeld used to come here, all the Chanel models, French actors,” Vincent says. “They come, I fix their shoes and bags, I do my jokes, I tell them about Lebanon, we have coffee, so they come back!”
He starts speaking Arabic with the security guard working next door, joking about how he has gained weight. A second later he’s talking religion in Russian with one of his customers. He says hello in Armenian to a friend passing by, before helping a client in Italian, and reading out an article in English. Vincent then shares his analysis of the yellow vest movement and Napoléon’s war tactics in French.
“Is there anything he cannot do?” says the security guard, smiling.
When will he retire? Never!
“Work is health! I will work until I die,” Vincent says. “I might be over 80 years old, but in my head, I am 26! And I look younger, right?”
Vincent has no computer or phone. If you would like to meet him, just go to Duphot street on a weekday between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. and ask for “Monsieur Vincent.”
To watch: Caviar Connection, a documentary by Benoît Bringer about corruption inside the ruling family of Azerbaijan (streaming for free in Europe on ARTE in French and German).
To read: Institute of Turkish Studies Caught in Turkey’s Crackdown on Academic Freedom, an investigation into the closure of the Institute of Turkish Studies at Georgetown University.
To listen: Khosa Khosa, the first single by new duo Jinj, that blends French urban and Armenian folk sounds.
That’s it for today, see you next week!
Questions? Story ideas? An urge to say barev/parev? You can send us a secure email at namaknews@protonmail.com.
Very nice collaboration from the two of you :) thanks for sharing your work with us !
Great! Thanks for the update. Looking forward to next week's issue.