Photostory: Bushels of Hope in Yerevan’s GUM Market

By Sareen Habeshian, CivilNet

“Gumi Shukah,” or GUM Market is an indoor marketplace in Yerevan where vendors sell fresh fruit, vegetables, spices, nuts and coffee beans. The large warehouse also houses booths that sell clothing, shoes and household products.

On the way to the market, a kilometer away from Republic Square, Norayr, a taxi driver, explains that police officers no longer stop drivers without reason to collect bribes. He says the country has changed in the months since the Velvet Revolution which he attributes to Nikol Pashinyan, the opposition leader turned prime minister who led the movement.

Through the long windows of the market, the sunset illuminates the strings of walnuts coated in molasses hanging above rows of dried apricots, pears and figs. Many of the vendors, housed inside circular display cases, say they have been working at the market for several decades. When asked what has changed in the last twenty or thirty years in which they’ve been working there, they all point to the last few months. They talk about how Pashinyan has brought forth a newfound sense of hope in the country. When asked if they will be voting in the December 9 parliamentary elections, they all answer with an obvious ‘yes’ or ‘of course.’