smoko posed to leave the club small who turns circles photo in the big old. corinthian if he permits rather some this is strongly convinced he must go to egypt to look you for you. know sort of. welcome back you're watching r t here's a look at the top stories as the hague tribunal prepares for rucka largest first appearance in court serbia finds the arrest of its former army general is not enough for entry into the e.u. club. a major fire at an ammunition depo in central russia turned the skies red by setting off a chain reaction of artillery shell explosions. spain's losing millions of euros in trade following false accusations its vegetable was the root of the deadly european

in cold i'll break. georgia buries the victims of a savage police crackdown that left hundreds of other protesters in hospital. coming out party looks at how russia's southern neighbor over media has developed twenty turbulent years after the fall of the soviet union the documentary is next. people living in this land seven thousand years ago world ready making wine and shoes this world's oldest shoe was vern right here in this hole in the fourth century armine adopted christianity as its state religion i was fit for astonished . in the early twentieth century armenians went through the horrors of genocide. in the one point five million years we killed groups in the army and broke free from the soviet union in september one thousand nine hundred ninety one what has independence brought to this ancient country.

in two thousand and eight archaeologist but east yesterday and could have rivaled armenian politicians in terms of popularity news of his discovery had spread far and wide for around the world in caves in the mountains around the village of out any way archaeologists have found the settlements dating back to the year five thousand b.c. . it's in this also with these drizzles were among the first violence when we saw them it was immediately clear to us that they dated from the copper in stone age that means that people were already living in these caves seven thousand years ago even the communities maintaining very close contact inhabited nereus which were in the north caucasus and miss betray me i'm used to migrate from north to sell this and the self to normal goodness. excavation work at the site of the ancient

settlement has been going on for three years now but archaeologists still unable to say with certainty what kind of people lived in these caves seven thousand years ago. just take a little contingency a very interesting ritual the bodies of babies under one year of age old buried intact but women between the ages of eleven and twenty five were simply chopped up of for burial. the most interesting artifact was found in the case in two thousand and eight the world's oldest shoe was dug up from a depth of just half a metre is estimated to be about six thousand years old this world's oldest shoe was very right here in this whole it was a great deal of effort to get it to the discovery of the settlement is an event of crucial importance to the small trans cook asian country armenians are proud of the long history of this land and the find reinforces their pride.

in our media there are a few other handicrafts they can unite generations is not such as the making of hatch cards or tombstones. the arts has undergone little change throughout its thousand year history i am a chisel and stone are all that's needed for the job and man and his grandson are working on this much god. this year i've done this all i like the job. it is handed down from generation to generation. the one who taught me as my grandfather. over the course of his long life the elderly man has made scores of hatch cars nowadays he mentors his grandson in the ways of hatch car sculpting.

there are millions of hijackers here each with a different is they different just as people do all of the carving patterns are different even on some particular don't stone this is the sure that the world isn't perfect. each grave or monastery has its own tail or mainstream stone normally it takes about a month to make one this symmetry in a village of norrath those is one of the oldest in armenia the long history of this caucasian country a history packed with. drama can be traced by looking at the tombstones up until the seventh century look great simple there is nothing but across a job that for us crossed off. the housecarls in the cemetery don't feature carvings although the graveyard of the small town of spin is much larger.

than before the quake it was a small symmetry but as you can see now it's quite big. which are some of it too soon for today's to very quake victims are tossed such as yann comes to the symmetry quite often the always follows the same route and is more full place as he moves from one grave to another on the same of the seventh one thousand nine hundred eighty eight he lost nearly all of his family. it was ten forty am when the first tremor with a magnitude of seven on the ridge the scale shook spit out the seconds later the tiny town was no more just a pile of rubble. on the lawn of the main street in the center of the town was c. and. one quake struck there were people in every apartment of a five story houses to the phyllis's here and both sides of the road gives you

practically all of them fell apart and food dish only roost lying on the also could be seen after the quake while. there is a church where our tours house once was more than twenty years on there are few reminders of that devastating earthquake. but in the cold month of december one thousand nine hundred eighty eight people around the world came to know the name of this small town in armenia aid began pouring in. from across the soviet union at that time armenia was part of it. the powerful earthquake affected all of armenia's northern areas as well as attack. the scale of the disaster only became apparent after several days just a handful of people had survived on of the rubble the earthquake had claimed twenty five thousand lives. such as the huge did or when the smoke cleared away three or four hours after the earthquake became clear the town had been razed to

the ground they'd begin arriving towards leaving because there were no rooms for. some of the aged came from numerous diasporas in foreign countries. this footage shows charles as an avoider a french saying at of armenian origin after a visit to devastated spitta he vowed to do his best to help armenia. but there's so much that i was really shocked by what i saw in streetcar. i couldn't imagine their polling scale of that disaster. because so many people were killed here but. the french singer set up a fund for the earthquake struck country the money was used to restore dozens of houses in st tacon gordie's armenia's second largest town it too had been affected by the disaster the town's residents unveiled a monument to as novel as

a token of gratitude to him there for a memory on build the monument on the twenty second of september in two thousand our church was nobody who from all over or nearly came here they were also just as from france. after the breakup of the soviet union in one thousand nine hundred ninety one reconstruction work in armenian town slowed down the new houses built in the three years after the disaster made up only one fifth of those destroyed by. the earthquake. recovery we came here on december second we were given a room on the ground floor and we still live here most of the tenants here are refugees. or petty and his family also lost their home in december one thousand nine hundred eighty eight they became refugees but not as a result of the earthquake it was a bloody interethnic conflict that forced them to flee.

armenia is a republic situated in the trans caucuses enjoying the soviet union in one thousand nine hundred twenty two when the republic won independence in september one thousand nine hundred ninety one this was the most troubled region in the post soviet space the country was at war with neighboring azerbaijan over nagorno-karabakh. bleach up the wood for the winter. like. this one and this is our home. these are my grandchildren doing their

homework. is our store fit and we made it ourselves because there's no other source of eating in here it's out of your news from. his house in azerbaijan's capital of baquba was larger and more comfortable they had to leave their native city in a hurry already there was gunfire in the garden a kind of black as and by johnny's fleeing that area meanwhile the situation for armenians living. in azerbaijan i was becoming increasingly dangerous. and i went through quite a good deal for instance my husband had an aunt with a dark complexion it was easy to see that she was a median she was attacked several times under natural that the conflicts root cause stems from the one nine hundred twenty s. when azerbaijan and armenia joined the soviet union the golan and care about a territory where armenians had been a predominant population from time immemorial was placed under azerbaijan's control

they didn't matter much who controlled nichol nick had a bad back then the soviet republics were part of an integrated country by the time bomb eventually went off and violence erupted between the two in the late one nine hundred eighty s. . those soviet government showed signs of weakness at the start of perestroika when people were told they could speak up without running the risk of being imprisoned oryx accused of people across the serbia union for again talking about their concerns and i mean ian's in a golden color black started asking questions they wanted to know why they were part of azerbaijan even though armenia was next door to a country populated by people of the same nationality and culture which would of. who flatly rejected yet advance demands the nagorno-karabakh be handed over to armenians control. meanwhile the first major interethnic conflict was gathering

pace in the soviet union south it had been fueled by events in the small town of some great the azerbaijan's capital to trade will soon go out massacre was the point of no return people were murdered mind you people were killed not in the going to care about itself but in soon going to a town situated far from not going to care about going to go to there is no war now because no peace either they knew there was no peace treaty to control the. a lot of our time certainly enough knowledge about those down here is nearly there gil i was in the army them as memories are those days come thick and fast and this is vocal opposition there is a map of the soviet union in go not a petty ends workshop as a tailor he needs something colorful to rest his eyes on but the map also gives

food for thought he recalls the days when everybody lived in the same country a country that later burst at the seams. this lps barrow which was founded in november two thousand and one day for the said it to found the bell to call it in there and is a descendant can and i can and i am. nobody at this distillery can say with any certainty when cognac from this barrel will be bottled but it has every chance of becoming a vintage brand adding to the distilleries rich collection. at stella's cents to a church of three hundred bottles and branded meat which here and the train equip brandy. the british prime minister was not alone in appreciating this brandy in soviet times and many in cognac was the main symbol of the republican. many agree

that the strong beverage produced in a trans caucuses could easily compete with french cognac manufacturers and. trained and soon they're going to flavor is intense you can sense a whole decay of flavors vias gone pretty unique beverage has just risen here i can detect the flavor of our brands the sunshine of our ad volumes and the beauty of our landscapes elaine. the production process in armenia and france is totally identical the spirits of distilled in the same way and the oak barrels look very much alike the armenians are just proud of their product as the french are of theirs but now i think that calling up is one of the most important and most recognizable brands produced in armenia but if you go where you will see there it's want to warn me as symbols symbol of. mountain out of rocks can be

seen from several spots around the entire history of the armenian people is links to it but it's off limits to armenians they can't reconcile themselves with the loss. of more than a month. in one of the most extreme environments on the planet this is and large adults and people have to be aware that they're far away from civilization sean thomas discovers what makes sense arctic is so special and attractive for many live in antarctica is a bonus if you lived in the front of. the expedition to the bottom of the earth are three.

movies soon which brightened if you move about sung from finest impressions. princetown totty dot com. the mountains height is five thousand one hundred thirty seven meters above sea level according to the bible out of rats was the first landmark the no a song after escaping. the great flood. you know in the bible testified and it is connected with noir arc saw after the doodle noir arc a stop to the peak of mind. however alamance is the main source of pain and suffering for armenians under the nine hundred twenty one agreements signed by soviet and turkish leaders the symbolic mountain was left on the other side of the border the mountain to do in the territory of turkey but still it continues to be i

mean seen by who and i mean people they are asked about their national identities they start with the amount that the fact that out of that is no longer in their territory also serves as a reminder of the greatest tragedy of the country's people the armenian genocide genocide is the word used in armenian to describe the policy pursued by the ottoman empire towards ethnic armenians from the late nineteenth century through to the nineteenth twenties in toward those in ninety eighty ninety four ninety and twenty two were doing thirty years nearly thirty years they are one point five million armenians killed brutally at the same time turkey was the first country to officially recognize armenians independence in one nine hundred ninety one today turkish society is divided over the events that led to the deaths of one and a half million armenians in the early twentieth century and killer a fuse is to officially acknowledge the fact there what happened

a century ago was genocide as one of the hardest. problems between two nations was the fundamental problem on them and the problem here is turkey in order is sort of facing its own history a try and keep trying to deny it a very part of take a shower shave full page of it's own history i read in genocide we're writing. history is one of the dangerous processes in every society uncurse supported as a diversion at the height of the ethnic conflict over nagorno-karabakh it closed its borders to armenians the border between armenia and azerbaijan is likewise locked up. given airport is the main gateway to armenia travelers have little choice considering year of arms difficult relations with neighboring countries the z s way of getting together van is by air with both of. you have to go by here

if you want to leave armenia was the only way because this country has been blockaded throughout the post soviet period of. course or really has land borders with georgian around but there is little cross border traffic there and therefore going by here is still of their star. nearly every plane is filled to capacity it's clearly demonstrated by flights going to russia which is now armenia's biggest economic partner one of the largest armenian diasporas is found in moscow and else that many of these deviation is the only means of transport for amenia it's obvious that there is no other way out. that's why ugly ends are always full of passengers.

armenia was the world's first country centrist sanity into a state religion that was way back in the early fall century a.d. for more than fifteen centuries armenians have regarded face and church as a substitute for the state. hierarchy work and saving human souls and preserving the nation are the two missions pursued by the armenian church today as it has been doing throughout its existence we're doing our best to remedy the harm done by the genocide of armenians and eighty years of godlessness under the soviet regime. fortunately the soviet campaign to stamp out the church had little impact in armenia it didn't affect the schools of ancient monasteries many of them are over a thousand years old. it's now possible to reach the top tier of ministry

one of armenians oldest by cable way. is the world's longest reversible road a fifteen minute journey offers a magnificent view of a deep picturesque. numbers we're in the cabin of the total of cableway the world's longest it links the village of avid sword to the total monastery but there's this five thousand seven hundred fifty metres long and its highest point above ground is three hundred twenty meters and. when the cableway was opened in october twenty ten the hope was that it would attract foreign tourists. its design is unique in many ways for instance an eighty six kilometer long cable way has only three supports european specialists help to build it. this is our main electric generator that produces five hundred thirty three

kilowatts here you can see be emergency diesel generators that if the electricity fails we will turn these on and of back you with the passengers we have a great safety system in place too and most of the cable car passengers are people living in nearby villages who gets. free transport the influx of foreign tourists is small for the time being but the businessmen who have invested in the ambitious projects believe that in a couple of years armenia will become a popular tourist destination. hotels and campsites already being built around the monastery and the cable way. we need water of different temperatures to treat gastrointestinal diseases destroyed is in particular if the patient is suffering from high city of destroyers the temperature of the mineral water we give him is between fifty and fifty three degrees celsius in the low as it is the case is it's from thirty to thirty five degrees that. the town of jenin

maclise in the mountains during the soviet years people here already knew how to attract tourists the spa similar to the celebrated karlovy valley resorts has been in operation in general but their caves that it must have. come position of our water is doing better than barrow at the water at carlevaro in the czech republic. our water contains more on our hands and minerals and all that said the. local mineral water is yet another armenian brand it is true though that it's not as famous as cognac or ancient monasteries but residents of jeremy cope with the water and spa resorts will be another incentive for people to visit armenia. they germinal communal water springs from the ground in those words. between forty five and sixty degrees or what is sold thirty minutes result from our mineral water of

the. the time being only tourists from russia visit the gentleman explains. this huge bucket contains molten iron minium it will take several hours and a production process involving a dozen phases for the allen minium to be turned into super fine for oil this plant is one of amin is leading industrial enterprises like many others it was inherited from the soviet era of the like most other industrial plants is said on all during the first years of independence that was a very difficult period for this nation to plan survival began in two thousand when it became part of a row. been holding them up this is not the bunch was reopened after modernization . to describe the crisis it has grown stronger with each passing year it is their actions and armenians worked here together the assets are russian the. other turn stepan young represents what might be called the local element in him in

a state his father used to work at this plant filed in my mother and father used to work here now it's time for my brother and me i'm not a unique case and everybody here has taken the job over from their old folks. the plant is one of the most successful in the country it should come as no surprise they have russian investment in the whole of the caucuses as their markets. work through example the color of the more detail you see a little bit of sleep we get dies from herbs or go to the mixture of many dyes meets the road loop darker it looks like terry if there were fewer divers the root of the matter produces a very beautiful red dye no chemicals around it nothing but natural components making rugs is a family business to the subtleties of this very old all means handicraft handed

down from generation to generation. because the little square means and not just a weave row after row but you know every color is here it is. like the element implants this factory has a soviet past behind it then automatically looms are brought in to make rugs quickly and in large quantities none the less ancient technologies have become popular in armenia since independence. it takes a month for the weaver to complete one square in. severe a difficult job with taking a lot of air for that reason their prices are higher than those of machinery and rope so. researcher a good home is seen as a sign of wealth. there are some ten million ethnic armenians around the world just simmer three million of them live in armenia the armenians at home believe that the worst of their country's history is a thing of the past any advantage they like to say the nights are their darkest

just before dawn people across armenia believe that dawn has already broken over their country.