Two days ago, during a consultation convened by the Cabinet of the Republic of Armenia, President of the Republic of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan specifically talked about Syria. The President of the Republic of Armenia stressed, along with a series of problems, “The state bodies of Armenia play a specific role at present. It is very important for state bodies of Armenia – the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Diaspora, the Ministry of Territorial Administration, the police, the National Security Service and other competent bodies – to act quickly and in an organized manner, to be able to respond adequately and to make a decision in a concrete situation. I specifically request that you pay as much attention as possible to our compatriots who have emigrated from Syria and provide them with comprehensive support if necessary.”
That the President of the Republic of Armenia talked about such problems in such a way during such a comprehensive consultation, in the presence of officials from all governing bodies, testifies to the fact that the head of state is, to put it mildly, not pleased with the policy that is carried out in this area. www.aravot.am applied to Karine Hakobyan, a member of the Support to Syrian Armenians and Repatriation initiative group, to get clarification. She said during a conversation with us, “Something has been done in this regard, but what has been done is beyond the general problem. And the problem is that the Armenian society, as well as the government and the Diaspora, cannot understand that we must support the idea of Armenians’ being in Armenia. We often hear from Syrian Armenians that their fatherland is Syria, their home is Syria; there must be a change in that mentality, in order that we tie our future and security to Armenia. The very Syrian problem should have been oriented toward that. Syrian Armenians are the cream of all Armenians, when they are scattered around the world, first of all we must be concerned about this. And that mentality seems not
to be present in our government.” Ms. Hakobyan stated that they had proposed the establishment of an intergovernmental commission to deal with the mentioned problems, whereas a body was created under the Ministry of Diaspora that cannot solve those problems. K. Hakobyan expressed the following idea on the work of the Ministry of Diaspora, “The Ministry of Diaspora has no mandate. For example, the department of migration isn’t subordinate to the ministry – so the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing. There is a huge drawback in terms of coordination.” We asked K. Hakobyan to clarify whether sufficient steps had been taken to deal with the problems of Syrian Armenians so far, “Certainly, what has been done is not enough, since there is no coordination and no organization that will quickly respond to the problem. One of the main problems is to provide Syrian Armenians with work. Each of their problems is individual. The Republic of Armenia is also interested in supporting Syrian Armenians. Perhaps, it would be better, if the President of the Republic of Armenia appealed to Syrian Armenians in his speech saying that the doors of the fatherland are open for them, since Syrian Armenians need that appeal. And one should consider the fact that insufficient steps have been taken in the context of our whole government policy – the same applies to the careless attitude of our government toward migration. If we look at the bigger picture, we can say that our distorted national mentality is to blame. We don’t want to realize that we should contribute to our fatherland’s prosperity and not to other countries’ or towns’ prosperity, since the fatherland is not a present to be served on a plate. The Diaspora should understand this too.”
Read also
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
