Someone very close to me has decided to leave Armenia, like many others. Until November 9, 2020, I tried to dissuade people from such intentions. Today, to be honest, I don’t want to ask them to stay in their homeland. My arguments have greatly diminished.
Until 2018, emigration was one of the main points of opposition propaganda. In particular, it was said that during the reign of Serzh Sargsyan, about 300,000 people left Armenia. Although that number, in my opinion, is exaggerated, emigration was really enormous, and its social, economic, and psychological reasons are known. There is no point in listing them again.
Did the 2018 revolution stop emigration, or at least slow it down? The truth, of course, no one will officially tell. But for the past year, 2021, the number of emigrants is 50,000. And even if that number is exaggerated, it is still obvious that our state continues to be exhausted. Of course, it is possible that “smiles appeared” on people’s faces, but that does not change the situation.
Continued emigration is no longer a subject of propaganda. Probably because those who raised concerns about emigration before 2018 are now either government officials or involved in pro-government NGOs.
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And if we talk about a more profound problem, then we must record that our state is facing the danger of collapse, and this is both the cause and the consequence of emigration at the same time. The problem is that a (small) part of Armenians sees it, but does not want to record it, another does not see it, and the third (vast majority) is not interested in this problem. That majority will live peacefully even without the state.
And that’s understandable. Owning a state requires hard work, but living like a plant is much easier.
Aram Abrahamyan
