Dear Mr. Prime Minister,
We sincerely welcome your open letter directed to the Armenian Diaspora and respectfully hope that it will spark a response emanating from the hearts of our brothers and sisters living outside the borders of our beloved Armenia.
We are delighted that you recognize we need to change our direction. This necessary change is something only WE can do to facilitate a harnessing of the international intellectual capital hidden and underutilized in our vast and deep Armenian Diaspora. Sadly, this asset has been available to us over the last 25 years and we have not been able to harvest it properly.
Despite our inability to create a fertile platform to attract the true potential of this powerful asset, the Armenian Diaspora has played an invaluable role in almost all aspects of life here in Armenia in the fields of science, education, culture, the economy just to name a few. This has occurred mainly from the initiatives of strong-willed individuals in the absence of any state developed systematic approach to embracing our diaspora.
Unfortunately, this lack of approach can be the main cause of our inability to properly assist our compatriots who fled from their adopted homeland in Syria and have not found their place yet in their ancestral homeland here.
We believe that it is the time that our government does not only rely on the help and support of our brothers and sisters living abroad without formal support from our government.
The first principle of cooperation between Armenia and itsDiaspora must be full reciprocity as we must build our country together, thus ensuring economic and physical security and independence of our country. This is the right and responsibility of all Armenians globally.
Our attention should not only be directed to the leaders of the Diaspora with international recognition in the fields of culture, education, and science but should be extended to all citizens of Armenian descent living in the diaspora. By creating modern living conditions and ensuring their smooth immigration here, we will be able to mitigate the threat of the demographic crisis looming over our country.
It’s time to move everything mired in the bureaucratic proposals and reports to taking hard and fast actions for the purpose of close cooperation between Armenia, Artsakh, and Diaspora.
In this regard, “United Armenians” organization has developed a number of solid, clear cut proposed programs. The first and foremost of these is the creation of a national representative body for our diaspora.
Dear Mr. Prime Minister, we hope that this important call for the Armenian Diaspora is not just a pre-election promotional tactic and faithfully hope it will be a cornerstone of your platform and will become a reality in the near future.
Yours faithfully,
President of the “United Armenians” NGO
Arthur Alexanyan