Often my acquaintances and people I don’t know, as well as representatives of political forces, make comparisons between our country and Georgia – many people think that the neighbors are more advanced than we in many respects. I don’t know, perhaps from the viewpoint of business atmosphere or investment attractiveness, it is so – to understand such things one needs professional researches. However, they usually make comparisons at a simpler, domestic level. For example, the attitude of traffic policemen. Actually, there are no police officers who “hide behind a bush” and “go in for the kill” on the Georgian highways. However, there are no such police officers on the Armenian roads today either – at least, we haven’t met such policemen. They also say that Armenian customs officers search those who cross the border thoroughly and the Georgians don’t. I assert that there is no such thing – crossing our part of the border at the Bagratashen checkpoint lasted 10 minutes and the Georgian part 5 minutes, because in the first case, passengers have to get out of the car and in the second case, they don’t. It certainly would be desirable, if our folks organized it in a way that there would be no need to step out of the car. Besides, the highway leading to the checkpoint on the Armenian side is being repaired and the bypass is dusty and stony. It is our “minus” too.
However, for me, the traffic is a test for civilization. In that sense, I cannot say that drivers and pedestrians in Tbilisi are more “pro-European,” than those in Yerevan. On the contrary, instead of driving at 60-70km/h in the city provided for by the law, they drive at 100km/h and moreover, beep from behind “angrily,” probably complaining about the fact that you abide by the law. Around 20 percent of drivers in the capital city of Armenia drive in this way and in Tbilisi, almost everyone drives so. Besides, the “institution” of winking and letting pedestrians pass is almost absent. Therefore, to say that psychologically, we, Armenians, are groping in the middle ages of civilization and the Georgians have already joined enlightened Europe would be a big exaggeration.
The old town in the center of Tbilisi is certainly impressive. Hats off to our neighbors that they, as opposed to us, have managed to retain the spirit of the old town and it is more attractive for tourists, than, let’s say, the Northern Avenue. There is a construction under way in that part of Tbilisi, but it is done exceptionally in imitation of the buildings of the 19th century. Along with that huge advantage, there is also a disadvantage – the abundance of garbage, beggars and homeless people. Generally, the merely superficial impression is that people’s social conditions in our two countries are almost the same.
…When we would ask Georgians how to get to a certain place, they would usually say “все время прямо” (straight all the time). When we asked an Armenian valet the same question,
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he started to explain “first you turn left, then left again, then right….” A difference in mentalities.
ARAM ABRAHAMYAN
