“There was a lapse in a place as the invitations were divided according to the following principal: parties, AGBU, and church organizations. But our community of Constantinople, which is one of the oldest communities, was omitted, we presented a motion, and it was granted and the Istanbul “Nor Zartonk” Union is participating in the conference”, informed Alexan Kushkeghian, SDHP Lebanese party executive chairman, in the conversation with Aravot.am, at the “Armenia-Diaspora” Fifth Conference. He also mentioned that pertaining to distribution of speeches, a discrimination was displayed. “The speeches are not well distributed, as there are organizations that have received the right to more speeches. I do not know why yet, hence, I do not want to make irresponsible statements.”
Mr. Kushkeghian also referred to the Armenian community issues in Lebanon. “In our country, the process of merging is not progressing rapidly as in Europe, as we are in close ties with Armenia. But the military situation in Syria affects us.” The SDHP Deputy-chairman Vazgen Mesropian, in the conversation with us, mentioned that the situation in Syria is not good and detailed, “Our population are day to day running away from there. Moreover, the situation is not encouraging in the sense that the terrorists get close to Aleppo from all four sides, which is not a good sign.” Mr. Mesropian stated that the settlement of RA migrants from Syria is difficult and explained, “There are problems especially in the sense that the Armenian people already are not in good shape. It is also hard for the Armenians coming from the Diaspora. The oligarchy should be eliminated, and local Armenians should also live well so that the Diaspora Armenians are not afraid to make investments here.” Syrian-Armenian businessman, Hrayr Azizian, working in the industry of carpentry has been settled in Armenia.
During our conversation, he mentioned that the mentality of local and diaspora businessmen is different, particularly, in the sense that they give much importance to production quantities, whereas here, it is not. We inquired to know whether there are obstacles in developing the business in Armenia, Mr. Agilian responded, “Minor accidents happened, but generally we can easily set up a business in Armenia. Soon, I will expand the network of my stores.
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We talked to the founder of «AzadHye» website, also editor-in-chief, Hrach Kalsahakian, about the themes of press freedom and politics. The site operates in Dubai, it is an English language site with 100,000 visitors per month. As the editor mentioned, they abide by local conservative laws and specified, “Our website is a representative of free press. We do not interfere in political matters of the country, it is not allowed, we voice Armenian identity matters, we strive to make the local weekly school to a daily one.” They slightly touch upon the political life in Armenia, and with regard to Armenia’s foreign policy orientation to join the Eurasian Economic Union, the editor said, “We want the relations with Europe are not obstructed, but whether Armenia would be able to maintain equality, we do not know.”
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
