Russia's Oppressive Policies Changed My Name

[@AkravHistory]

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[@anatolearakelian8454]

I grew up in Ukraine with the last name Arakelov without giving it a second thought. Only later in life I started thinking about it. I found out that this surname goes back 3-4 generations and then we loose track of it. So I don’t know at what point and why my surname was changed. I started more seriously thinking about this topic in 2020 when I visited Armenia through Birthright. In 2022 I’m in Ukraine once again, under attack by Russia, and that completely convinced me to change my surname to Arakelian, which is what it was meant to be. So far the change is unofficial, but I’m considering changing it officially, especially once I repatriate to Armenia once the war in Ukraine is over

[@AkravHistory]

That's fascinating, thanks for sharing! I'm sure you must already know Arakelian is a common Armenian last name, so that makes sense. Please stay safe over there!

[@sakogekchyan7366]

I look forward to seeing you there, brother. I myself am repatriating next month.

[@sakogekchyan7366]

@@AkravHistory You should consider it yourself brother. Have you done Birthright or AVC?

[@chrdiloet]

Where do i find about my last name and where it comes from ? Is there a site?

[@alenvaneci]

I have been watching your content for a while and want to sincerely thank you for your work. It's incredibly valuable.

[@AkravHistory]

Thank you so much for watching it. It means a lot that you're enjoying it!

[@armenian_cartographer_neo]

There was no real friendship between Russia and us ... even now ...

[@AkravHistory]

Russia has no friends, but vassals.

[@armenian_cartographer_neo]

@@AkravHistory You need to talk about this more , you know how much important it is . And I have some ideas for your video. You can talk about First Republic of Armenia and about how its borders could be , from West to Eastern borders .

[@fahik]

There was never, Russia is a mere ally, that turned out to be useless and work against our benefit. The fact that Russia keeps good relations with our enemies, cancels automatically our alliance.

[@owlmirror178]

@@AkravHistory True

[@flappley]

It's sad we are allied with Russia, they are no allies and don't care for us, but they are all we have. Nice video though learned a lot, please keep making videos, you are doing a lot for the Armenian community and you should be proud, and these are damn well interesting, good job

[@AkravHistory]

Thank you so much for the nice words. Glad you're finding them interesting!

[@dancan4949]

The thing is NATO could not give any security guarantees to Armenia because Turkey and Russia are preoccupied with their war in Ukraine. The situation seems quite helpless because of the current geopolitical configuration. Azerbaijan is much more important to the EU because of its energy diversification plan. So what about the US? The US strategy with regard to Armenia is minimizing Russian influence while maximizing its own national interests. Their primary interest is to prevent Armenia from forming ties with Iran or China which they see as a threat. This contradicts Armenia's national interests because this implies that they should sever ties with Iran which is a friendly neighbor, and make great political concessions towards Turkey and Azerbaijan which Armenians historically sees as hostile. In my personal opinion, it is with great disappointment that Russia does not help its orthodox brothers as it did in the past like in Bulgaria against the Turks, but these are different times where geopolitics is much more convoluted and interests are clashing at every turn.

[@Srbenda126]

Russia would definetly defend if Armenia proper was attacked. It pains me to see how much the Armenians have suffered just like us Serbs. Unfortunately Turkey has Russia by the balls so they must be careful not to anger them. Artsakh doesn't invoke the CSTO article for defence

[@QWE2623]

oh man, this is a high quality video. I'm going to binge your channel now :p

[@AkravHistory]

Glad you like it, please do, haha!

[@ArsenAl-zorK]

Very interesting, didn't know the exact reasons for the -ian and -yan differences. I have eastern (Iran -julfa, isfahan and azerbaijan -ganja, voskanapat) Armenian background and we spell our name with -ian.

[@AkravHistory]

That is interesting indeed. I think Persian Armenians speak more Eastern but use the classical orthography? Cool!

[@armanarmadillo]

What's up bro, I wouldn't have guessed you'd make this video out of all the ideas we discussed! Great info as always, hope to see you in Armenia again soon!

[@AkravHistory]

Great to hear from you dude, glad ou enjoyed it, and I'll definitely be back in Yerevan this year!

[@ArmanMartirosyan23]

From the title I would have guessed you were going to criticize the spelling reform(s) but you didn’t talk about them much. Though I guess you are against the new spelling since you mentioned the yan/ian thing and also that the spelling was changed to apparently make it closer to Russian (though I don’t see what you mean there). All I can say is that the reformed spelling is very much preferred by Armenian citizens and academics and there is no need or desire among us to change it back to the classical spelling which is outdated for modern Eastern Armenian. Today, unlike during Soviet era, nobody is forcing the Western Armenian diaspora to change their spelling (keep in mind that our diaspora is no longer only Western Armenian, and the Eastern half also uses the reformed spelling), so technically your surname isn’t changed :) It’s just written with yan so that Armenians can read it easily; just like how in WA they change EA spelling for their own conveniences, and I don’t see a problem with that either. But these are just my opinions! (I agree with everything else you said about Russian oppression, past and present.) Thanks for the context in the video as always 😊

[@AkravHistory]

Thanks so much for the comment! And you're right, I did not focus or citicize the spelling reform for the exact reason that Armenian citizens seem to prefer them and even I can see how it makes the language easier! (Perhaps I would have done better in school if I had it, haha). My only crticism is that it distances the two dialects, and it's not obvious to me that it was accidental. But I digress, the language reform was initially supposed to be the main topic of a short video, then one thing led to another and it ended up being a pretext to more important topics that I think are worth discussing.

[@hayots_lernashkharh]

Except the եան spelling is closer to classical spelling. same with the իւն:

[@Lafuerza_V]

I personally enjoyed the video a lot

[@dainomite]

Fascinating video as usual Akrav! This got me thinking about the largest Armenian diaspora population, in Russia. Would you ever consider making a video on similarities and differences Armenian diasporas hold around the world? Like what is different about the Russian diaspora and their relationship with Armenia than say the diaspora from Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Ukraine, US, France?

[@AkravHistory]

Thanks so much once again! It's not a bad idea, but I don't know where to find data on something like that. I wouldn't want to generalize groups of people without some kind of data to back it up, but I'll look into it!

[@Incidental104]

My grandma always said "Turq te Rrus nuyn qaq" Yet after all this they're are til Armenians calling Russia "Axper azg"...

[@AkravHistory]

I agree with your grandma. Glad to see the tides are shifting and I don't know if there's many Armenians who would still call Russia that!

[@Incidental104]

@@AkravHistory Rrusahayer they’re like Stockholm syndrome

[@AkravHistory]

I would guess a lot of them don't live in Armenia and still have superiority complex because Armenia used to be poorer.

[@АртёмКаленд-з1х]

Russians are White Turks

[@AkravHistory]

That earned a chuckle 🤭

[@rubenguirado4766]

I’m eastern (Artsakh) and my surname (2nd surname, bc I’m also Spaniard and we use 2) is written the traditional way (-ian).

[@AkravHistory]

That's very interesting. Are you in Artsakh now? How are you holding up?

[@rubenguirado4766]

@@AkravHistory I’m in Spain, been my whole life, my father is Spanish. That’s why my 1st surname is Guirado. Great grandparents stayed in Artsakh, unfortunately we think they passed away in the 1st War. Now only some cousins of my mother remain, we don’t know how they’re doing, hopefully they’re managing to stand on their feet just fine.

[@AkravHistory]

Ah, entiendo, gracias 😊

[@ViewerFromLA]

I would like the make a clarification about the origin of YAN vs IAN. Unless you are talking about the Armenian spelling ՅԱՆ vs ԵԱՆ, it started not in 1922 but 1995. Up until 1995 the passports issued by Soviets & then by Armenia were using IAN for spelling the latinized version of Armenian last names. Then starting 1996 Armenia introduced the new (blue) passports. At this time someone in passport authority made a decision to switch to YAN when latinizing the last name endings. As a result, people like me who left Armenia before the passport reform of 1995 and never received a blue passport still have an IAN, but my own brother & father who live in Armenia were issued blue passports and have their last names spelled with YAN. However, both IAN and YAN are spelled ՅԱՆ when using Armenian script.

[@AkravHistory]

That is very interesting. I did not know that Armenia kept using "ian" for the latin spelling until the 90s. Thank you for the comment!

[@mino6059]

what you said was very interesting, I want to ask if there is a phonetic difference between yan and ian? what is the correct sound in the last name?

[@nexusanphans3813]

It matters less when you spell it in Latin alphabet. What matters most is the way how it is spelt in Armenian alphabet.

[@alal7194]

All Armenians should understand that this colonization that continues till now shall be ended 🇦🇲🇦🇲🇦🇲✊🏼✊🏼✊🏼

[@StaLeninosus]

0:44 Some people believe that there were old Armenian letters that looked similar to the moder ones. A Greek historian (sorry, I don't remember his name...) once went to Armenia. He says, he went to hunt witht he Armenian king Artaxias I. And, he said that he was wearing a necklace, something was written on it with Armenian letters. Now obviously Artaxias I lived before 405 A.D. So... it's kind interesting It might not be true because, I didn't do much research. But still is interesting.

[@heldersantana9145]

Very informative, good work!

[@AkravHistory]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!

[@CXSGroupie]

Again a very interesting video, Thanks man. I really like your voice, it sounds so calmy and pleasant.

[@AkravHistory]

Thanks very much for the kind words, really glad you enjoyed it!

[@RATPPF]

My name is Arsen Hakhumyan and my grandfather's name is Arsen Hakhoumian

[@AkravHistory]

Thanks for dropping by! Did you know why before this?

[@RATPPF]

@@AkravHistory Your video explained most of it to me

[@AkravHistory]

Very happy to hear that!

[@narinehakobyan7919]

u deserve more followers! love from Artsakh 🇦🇲❤

[@AkravHistory]

Much love back to Artsakh, glad you're here!

[@mEtalec]

So you know that your real surname is Hakobian?

[@nxp38_66]

Could you make a video abt medieval Armenia?

[@AkravHistory]

I'll add it to the list of ideas, not sure how long it will take but I will get there eventually!

[@nxp38_66]

@@AkravHistory thanks, man!

[@rubeng160]

I am not sure English -ian and -yan has anything to do with that. After all, prior to the spelling reform, it was -եան (not -իան), which literally means -ean, but since it is pronounced as -յան (-yan), anyway, it was changed to that. I am an Eastern Armenian, and I use -ian in English, but in Armenian, I would, probably, write the reformed way -յան (-yan) because it is not for me to decide whether to return to the classical spelling but rather for the Armenian Republic. English does not have exact correspondence, anyway. That's why, some people use -ian and others use -yan. You know, there is an Eastern Slavic form for the Greek name Georgios, Юрий. In reformed Armenian spelling that would be Յուրիյ. In classical spelling, it would, probably, be Եուրիյ, not sure. Anyway, in reformed spelling it is crystal clear how to pronounce the name, but if you try to find how to write it in English, you will find so many different attempts: Yuriy, Yury, Iuriy, Iouriy, Ioury, etc. And most probably, the native English won't pronounce it correctly, anyway. That's why I would not make the parallels between -եան/-յան and -ian/-yan. They don't exactly match. Another reason may be Soviet English. In the Soviet era, it was expected the Russian я(յա) letter to transform into -ya in English, that's why in Soviet Armenia, they would use -yan, but even if they all switch to -ian in English, it won't change the spelling in Armenian. There should be pan-Armenian consensus on that; or the government of the Republic has to decide. And I don't see any indication they would like to switch back to the classical spelling. After all, the reformed one is easier. And the human nature tends to choose the easier way.

[@hovsepouzounian3399]

I appreciate your summary about յան. I wanted to note that in classical and western armenian that եան would not be confused with sounding like ean, because that would be written as էան in that case. When ե is followed by a vowel it makes the y sound. This is also why the spelling of գործունէութիւն here is spelled with the letter է because if it was with ե it would be pronounced gordznyutyun instead of gordznEutyun. But I know what I just said doesn't apply in the soviet reformed armenian orthography. My point is, only Hayastancis get confused that Եան sounds like Ean and I don't believe in written reform unless there are convincing enough reasons.

[@malachi5813]

Great video!

[@AkravHistory]

Thank you!

[@Zaman805]

I somewhat had to change my name when I live in Canada it was not a big change but it went from Rassul to Russell to make it fit in more and no one thinks that it is a foreign name And the fact that they changed the alphabet for Persian in the USSR makes me mad because as a Persian speaker it makes it impossible to communicate to writing and only through speech which is dumb but a Tajik person who I know said that they are going back to the Persian alphabet because the Russian one does not make sense

[@Alektoum]

I remember seeing that most Tajiks didn’t know how to read in early USSR

[@balabani]

Dear Akrav, you are an amazing one man institution of extreme knowledge. Essential for every Armenian to follow you and listen to your videos. Greatly appreciated. A thousand thank you for your efforts.

[@AkravHistory]

Thank you so much for your kind words! It's truly heartwarming to hear that you find the videos valuable. A thousand thank yous back to you!

[@middleeastarmenia407]

Thank you so much brother. The unfortunate matter of fact is that Armenians assimilate most in Slavic countries, many I've met identify with their Slavic ancestor, join the protestant or Baptist church or even Russian Orthodox, and change their last names, men can change Hagopian to Hakobov, and women take their Slavic husband names. There's a reason why and Monte Melkonian states this reasoning, any "richer" nation Armenians are likely to join residential struggles rather than for the homeland, and Armenians in oppressed nations like Arab countries tend to preserve.

[@AkravHistory]

That's interesting, I never thought about the correlation. It's not immediately obvious though, for instance to me it seems like French Armenians are very much in Armenian politics, but it's mostly anecdotal.

[@DaTrainMan]

Thats so interesting I am a georgian in Georgia with an armenian heritage and an armenian surname ending with yan! [Dadashyan] so it intriggues me learning all abt this

[@nickmat994]

Hope you keep making these great videos. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and discoveries. Be well.

[@AkravHistory]

Thank you very much for watching and commenting Nick, glad you enjoyed it!

[@Dersimite]

Lav video axper.

[@AkravHistory]

Shnorhagal em axper!

[@Dersimite]

Could you make a video about Ashot III and the historical Armenian city of Ani?

[@AkravHistory]

I'll look into them, thanks! Maybe I can jump to Bagratunis at some point, but having too much fun with the Arshakunis!

[@unitedarmenia6346]

Hello, I'm sorry for asking, but can I translate your video 《Armenians in Ukraine》 into Russian and put it on my channel?

[@AkravHistory]

Thank you for asking, it means a lot that you want to share my video! After thinking about it a bit, I decided it's a good idea because I think the subject of that video is most needed to be heard by Russian Armenians who often don't speak English. But please mention the original in the beginning of the video and description if you decide to do it. Thanks!

[@unitedarmenia6346]

@@AkravHistory Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to translate your work. Of course, I will mark the original and in the description of the video I will leave a link to your channel and the original video. Thank you very much!

[@nxp38_66]

Cool!

[@AkravHistory]

Thanks!

[@nxp38_66]

@@AkravHistory youre welcome!

[@Sonzoul1]

More than 50% of our Armenian Western last names are Turkish words. Bajaksouzian (which means legless; assigned to a short man), Soghanyemezian (which means one who does not eat onions), and Srmakeshkhanlian (which means owner/worker of a factory where gold/ silver thread is drawn). Apparently, prior to the Ottoman Empire, Armenians were called the Loyal ones and had Turkish last names as per C.K. Garabed Etymology (ist) of Armenian Surnames.

[@AkravHistory]

Fascinating. Thanks for sharing!

[@АртёмК-ъ9ц]

"Loyal ones" is just a non-offensive way to call someone a slave

[@alexandrub8786]

9:20 - 9:40 that makes it sound like "the more yoiu opress a people, the more the people will assimmilate".

[@AkravHistory]

There's some truth to that. How many Turks are actually Greek or Armenian?

[@alexandrub8786]

@@AkravHistory yeah,i understand and believe that. But from the "western perypheria" that i come from is a bit "faux pa"(or how you write it) concentrating only on "opression eads only to rebelion" (which is part true,but it suffers from surviver's bias) while ignoring the times the tactic of opression "works as intended".

[@purpleflower506]

Where is the language split of West and Ost Armenia?

[@Garfield_Minecraft]

my teacher always spell my name wrong it's kool not kul! just show them your ID card that fixed the spelling

[@AkravHistory]

Believe it or not, they copied it wrong from my ID too.

[@mrSargi7]

Excellent job, learned a lot!

[@AkravHistory]

Cheers!

[@zariaalhajmoustafa2573]

In Aleppo we have a lot of Armenian community they live in Close neighbor to the area they are a lot of army and don't speak Arabic if they speak they spoken badly one thing for sure they preserve their language

[@tighlatpileser1687]

My name is Maghikian,i think it have iranian root

[@asharista3152]

Both of my grandparents on mother side were deported to Siberia by stalin. Their fathers were both part of Dashnak groups of Andranik Zoravar and Garegin Njdeh. Patriotism was not permitted.

[@AkravHistory]

It's a sad part of our history that I think we often overlook. It's worth thinking about where we would be when all those people were not deported from their homes.

[@TigranAbgarjan]

Well, and then there's me, being born in Germany and having his name pronounced "Abgardshan" all the time :D ("j" in German is pronounced like "y")

[@AkravHistory]

Look on the bright side, if you were in Spain, it would be a "kh"!

[@crackersphdinwumbology2831]

Every day Russian history finds a new way to disgust me. Thank you for making this video, even if it was deeply uncomfortable to watch.

[@AkravHistory]

Oh we haven't even scratched the surface when it comes to Russian/Soviet crimes. Thanks for watching!

[@bramvs123]

@@AkravHistory Ah, well, are you planning to make a video about it? Nice video by the way man, I learn a lot about armenia on your channel

[@AkravHistory]

@@bramvs123 Soviet war crimes? I think they are fairly well covered but I could visit the topic someday. And thanks so much, that really means a lot!

[@bramvs123]

@@AkravHistory nice, I started learning Armenian too recently, but I'm still having a hard time with the alphabet

[@Alektoum]

What

[@trotrasdamad]

What do you think of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation?

[@AkravHistory]

So we're having a fight today? 😂

[@trotrasdamad]

@@AkravHistory so you don’t like them 🥲

[@glenipolus9731]

@@AkravHistory haha fax.. if he says i hate them..... there will be war! If he says i love them..........there will be war!

[@lolhp._.]

im Lebanese-Armenian and we write ian instead of yan

[@AkravHistory]

Yup, that's expected.

[@lolhp._.]

@@AkravHistory are you an American-Armenian? also i actually didnt expect for you to comment lol cuz im like a year late.

[@AkravHistory]

@lolhp._. I'm a Western Armenian like yourself 😊

[@lolhp._.]

@@AkravHistory yeah but what country like Syrian-Armenian etc

[@sergeyyeremyan1586]

🏞️🛕🗿🗽Axtamar

[@AkravHistory]

Yes sir!

[@veldrensavoth7119]

3:34 BLYAT Fukkin AHKAVIR!!

[@qpdb840]

Can you speak Western Armenian

[@AkravHistory]

Ayo

[@qpdb840]

@@AkravHistory what

[@AkravHistory]

Yes

[@qpdb840]

@@AkravHistory in Persian the word for man is mard مرد I know some Eastern Armenian because someone I know was nice enough to teach me and in Eastern Armenian it is mard and I know ayo is yes but I thought it was AYO as in a response to somthing Կներեք հայերենը, եթե ես էլ պարսկական առոգանություն ունեմ, բայց հայերենս հիմնական է

[@AkravHistory]

@qpdb840 fascinating!

[@pargevkarapetyan2251]

👍👋👋👋

[@AkravHistory]

🙏

[@cardsofkoi]

There are only two main points I’ve learned from this video. 1: Russia is a bad influence on Armenia, wanting to profit off of them, and it is a horrible thing. 2: (not biased!!!) Yan is better than Ian because I said so!! (Defn not in my real name)

[@AkravHistory]

-ian crew for the win!

[@galernagr843]

Long live to real Armenia and to the catalan countries or real Catalonia!!!

[@MrBrianYoutube]

🇷🇺 🤝 🇦🇲 ❤

[@MrBrianYoutube]

@SuperSentaiAteSlay1975 why?

[@ariebrons7976]

Well, in defense of the spelling reform: Did it make learning Armenian easier? I don't speak Armenian myself, but in the case of Greek; In modern these all make an 'i' sound: "ει, η, ι, οι, υ". That makes it needlessly hard for beginners. Hæd ìnglìš bīn spɛlt lïĸ̄ þÌs Ìt wʊd bī mƏć īßīëŗ föŗ bigiñeŗs tu ŗīd Ənd rït (Had English been spelled like this it would be much easier for beginners to read and write) Didn't the Soviets have "Universal litteracy" as their motto; I learned Russian for two years, and cyrrilic is really beginner friendly. The tradeoff however, is that it has 32 letters, and no modifiers at all. (you wouldn't write 'Th' as тЪ rather "ѳ" or "ӟ") It's easy, but bulky, inflexible and makes reading older text more difficult. Maybe you could compare the two spellings, and make a video about your experiences.

[@AkravHistory]

That's right, I do think it made the Armenian alphabet easier to learn, and thanks for sharing the comparison with Greek. But then we can also question if that justifies the move. Should simplification for the sake of literacy compromise a language's rich heritage, especially for a culture whose identity is intertwined with its unique alphabet? I am not sure, but even if we give the benefit of the doubt for the alphabet reform, we'd still have a myriad of other elements suppressed or erased, undeniably aimed at diluting the Armenian identity. What do you think?

[@ariebrons7976]

@@AkravHistory Thanks for the reply: The Soviets did consciously destroy cultures. From their point of view, tradition, specifically Christianity was a tool of 'oppression'. Due to it dividing people into 'sects'. I find this was due to the cruel methods of instruction in Empirical Russia, and Germany. ~Where Christianity was physically beaten into the students~ Their sollution was to erase all religions, especially Islam, which they viewed as backwards. And replace them with secular identities. Which they thought would bring about world peace and universal coexistence. It shure sounds good in theory. But, in practice, as you pointed out:I wouldn't like to replace my culture with some disneyland version of it either. So they forced it. With all the disasterous consequences it had.

[@ariebrons7976]

@@AkravHistory As for your question: Does simplifieng spelling actually work; The problem is: in the short term it does. For as long as the spoken language does not change. Here are the alternatives: - periodically reform the spelling. - teach children 'propper speech' - anarchy ~Rait da wey u pronauns da wurds~ Each of these has it's own benefits and drawbacks.

[@andresslide9087]

The russian boot doesn't look that much "sophisticated" :)))

[@AkravHistory]

Not really, no. And yet, here we are. :)

[@glenipolus9731]

Whos name ends with ian lol. #fakeArmenian

[@AkravHistory]

1v1 me bro!

[@Roubentvo]

[@AkravHistory]

🤷