Having a rest day yesterday was just the ‘bees knees’.
Time to do stuff like washing clothes and bedding., checking Poki’s oil level and plain relaxing. A gorgeous day with temp of 31deg. Watching last weekends edition of LR Time and getting a few email’s away. The washing dried quickly in the heat and gentle breeze.
Catching up on world news. America’s catastrophe in the Gulf and the cost to everyone, continues. Also, their alienation with the rest of the world is accelerating. Well, one mans version of it. AIPAC scrutiny and fallout is only growing in America, and not a moment too soon.
I best move on from that subject…:)
Going back to the Armenian Genocide Memorial
While on the subject of politics, (never far away), and we have left Turkey, means it’s an appropriate time to return to the Genocide Memorial visit in Yerevan, Armenia.
How many people know that the Turkish state, with knowledge and tacit support from the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires of the time, slaughtered 1.5 million Armenians? Their support was given as Turkey was seen as a critical ally and nothing was to compromise that belief.
There is too much information to provide the full story of the genocide. Suffice to say, Armenia was part of the declining Ottoman Empire, but being Christian, with a well educated sector, were a thorn in the Turkish side. The Young Turks, a nationalistic movement, lit the fuse. A great many Armenians were forcibly converted to the Muslim faith. The final straw for the Armenians were the Turks joining the Germans in WW1 against the allies.
Unspeakable horrors and acts of barbarism were perpetrated against the Armenian people mainly between 1915 and 1916 and I’m not going to detail them here.
I have a book in my library, a powerful book called ‘The Rage of the Vulture’.The authors name escapes me, detailing the factors that lead to the Ottoman collapse and gives mention of the genocide.
To be fair, at least one German, a photographer, protested to The Reichstag. Complaining of the atrocities and the complicity of his people. He was persecuted and had hundreds of evidential photo plates destroyed.
A telling statement by Adolf Hitler. “Who after all speaks of the annihilation of the Armenians”?
Obersalsberg. August 22. 1930
The Armenians, to their credit, do not labour the episode.
Forward to the present…
As the day progressed in the camp more and more campers were arriving. A rafting adventure company were hosting arrivals and a BBQ for them continued well on into the dark hours but did not deter our slumber.
On the road again by 9.30am.
A 15k drive in the opposite direction to that desired took us onto the motorway system, past the capital city, Sofia and on to the border with Serbia. I hate motorways with a passion. After 2 hours I was struggling to stay awake. Surprisingly the traffic was quite heavy.
I hate border crossings nearly as much as motorways. It took more than an hour to exit Bulgaria. Fortunately the entry into Serbia was perfunctory but still the queues were long and took another hour. No scrutiny of vehicle papers, finger prints or biometric photos, just a stamp in the passport, and through we went.
Looking for a place to camp took us down a side road. About 800m in we came across several machine operators cutting chaff in a field with an old Russian harvester. Deciding to stop and ask them if we could camp for the night in their freshly mown fields elicited a long discussion in sign language along with some Russian words. The farmer that seemed to be in charge motioned us to wait, which we did and finally he beckoned us to follow the machine down the lane and off up a steep track, he seemed to be telling us that he lived up there and we should follow him. Engaging low ratio we followed him onto a paddock above some houses and set up camp. A peaceful and sheltered spot.
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