As Anatol Franz points out: "The Armenians, with their power of mind, competence and diligence, can establish close ties between Asia and Europe. Their historical mission is to exchange the products of these two worlds. It is enough to let them survive to become what they once were, the most creative element in European civilisation of the Orient." 28
The trade route Trabizond-Erzurum-Tabriz, which continued on smaller paths through Tehran all the way to Mashhad and Heart, until the First World War one of the most important trade veins in the region. It was the market place of the Armenians, where they imported sugar, woollen and cotton textiles and tea, and in return exported carpets, dried fruits, cotton, silk and fur; so much so that Victor Berard named it the Anglo-Armenian road. 29
In conclusion, despite living in a country which lacked a government worthy of being called a government, and any security or safety, the Armenians strove to preserve their millennium old power of creation. It was as if the Armenian nation had preserved this creativity in the depths of their hearts, and competence had become a fund from which successive generations could draw.
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