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Armenia: A Playground for Diaspora Armenians?

By Andranik Michaelian

A recent article I read began by quoting a supposed policeman during the July 2016 Sasna Dzrer street protests telling Akhbar Armenians (those not born in Armenia) to go home, that they don't belong in Armenia, as they beat them mercilessly.

These statements were meant to show the feeling that some, if not most, Diaspora Armenians have, that they're not welcome in Armenia, are looked down on by locals, in other words should leave the country.

I suppose the writer of the article thought it would give his opinions more credence if he used the July 29 events and what some wild, half crazy policemen said, but to me it only added fuel to the fire of the sometimes hidden, sometimes not animosities between Hayastantsis and Diaspora Armenians.

Personally, as one born near Fresno, California, and living in Armenia for 16 years, I only rarely hear Hayastantsis talk negatively about foreign-born Armenians. When they do, mainly in recent years, most often they refer to those foreign-born Armenians who now live in Yerevan and, without taking the time to understand the life and local mentality and traditions here, start telling locals to accept certain Western values, some of which include the acceptance of gay rights, women's rights, and the like. A complaint I've heard from locals is that the newly arrived Armenians look down on locals as "backwards" and that they should listen to and learn from the new arrivals, some of whom don't hold back in saying that they consider themselves more educated and culturally advanced than Armenia-born Armenians.

The latter attitudes I often hear during visits to the Diaspora, where Spyurkahays often look down on Hayastantsis, even though they often don't speak Armenian or have a clue about Armenian culture, be it folk song and dance, Armenian literature, or anything else, with going to Armenian picnics and weddings and attending April 24 demonstrations the extent of their being Armenian, the result being the leftover Soviet or pop-rabiz culture that they promote, all the while thinking they're preserving Armenian culture, which although amusing is a little sad.

But this seems to be an Armenian tradition, Armenians from one country looking down on those from another country or area, as I learned in Fresno in the 70s, with the arrival of Beirutsis, who looked down on Fresno Armenians, saying most of them don't speak Armenian, etc., while the Fresno Armenians looked down on the Beirutsis for reasons I don't even remember. And the story goes on.

As a politically astute individual wisely said, many don't know that those who come to Armenia and begin promoting certain groups' "rights" are often funded by western organizations, European and otherwise, adding:

"What do they want? You start by giving rights to this or that "special" group, in effect ending our ancient traditional values, and in the end, what do you want, like what just happened in England, where a mother married her son? Instead they should worry about the large number of Persians locating in Armenia, many of them Azeris from northern Iran, or Azeris, who left Armenia during the Karabagh war. They have an agenda...one that is a danger to our national security...and here we are playing games, with an agenda of giving rights to this or that minority.

Our friends from afar spend all this time and energy trying to improve the Homeland, so they think, but if soldiers are needed on the border, if we have another Sardarabad, will they be on the front line, or will it be like the first Karabagh war, when only a hundred or so from the Diaspora came to fight?

Monte and the others were great, but where was everybody else?"

Comments (11)

Arka Gatian
An unbiased and truthful context article. Being born in diaspora and my sister married to a native born Armenian, I have heard all from both sides. The educators in Armenia & Diaspora should come up a with a common curriculum to be taught starting at kindergarten level all the way to high school, perhaps the next generation of Armenians will learn from the mistakes of this generation.
Raffi
Aram Togrom. I always pictured you as a Trump supporter
Babken
This article is on a lower level than an average college paper. I realize it's just an opinion piece, but come on.
astik
The wrtier of the article has laid an open and cogent argument of the realities facing the nation. Suddenly Trump is brought to the fore, as I am amazed they did not think of bringing Hittler in the opinion makers . roster.. Diasporan Armenians should and must contribute much much more to the wellbeing of the motherland, instead of peddling basement tawdry bargain ideas like same sex marriages, liberalism, globalism, and the general deabauchery that is consuming the western countries. . We have more than good enough biological material to safeguard the motherland without interference, the negative kind, from the decadence and nation wrecking values from the decadent west.;
MAZOD
@JOSEF Armenians will donate when corrupt Armenian leaders throw themselves into Lake Sevan tied to 500 pound khatchkars.
Josef
If every Armenian from diaspora would donate only 100 USD, some problems of Armenia can be resolved. Diaposra should support more Armenia. For example, only Kim Kardashian can donate for example 50 mil. dollars.
Mher
This has turned into a TrumpVersus Hillary podium. No one is saying Hillary is great but Trump is a buffoon. I would have voted for Bernie, Now I don;t know. ANYWAY - this article is still a joke and the author shot his own foot by including that bigot's quote.
Hagop
Trump is certainly not a good candidate for the US presidency, but the anti-Trump rhetoric here shows how inept you posters really are. And exactly what are you suggesting for Armenian-Americans? That they suppport Hillary? Clearly you've all lost your minds. Hillary and her ilk represent everything that is wrong with not just America, but the world. At least Trump isn't some war hungry crazed neocon lunatic with his puppet masters in Tel Aviv and Riyadh. Neither of the two are good for Armenians. But that witch is way worse than Trump. At least with Trump maybe the business environment will improve in the US. With witch Hillary, it is the third incompetent term of Obama.
Minas
I was just reading a bunch of liberal comments on WaPo and now I see they have infiltrated our Armenian websites! So if we are progressive that means we should allow 2 men marry each other and pretend that they are a real family?! I am glad that most people in Armenia don't buy this nonsense. We have our values and killing those values have proven, in many western societies, that is equal to killing the society itself. You might want to ask yourself why is it that Germany's biggest import now is literally Muslim young men! Family is the core of every society and it is important to cherish its values. I am against many things in Armenia but I understand that they have their own approach and while this approach sometimes might need some modification, it certainly doesn't mean we should scrap it all.
Torgom
This article was nearly as convoluted and ass backwards as someone attempting to make the argument to vote for Trump.
Gabriel
I agree with Torgom, the final quote is so dumb. It's a facebook rant, not content for a news article. In fact, that quote ruined the whole article for me. I thought the author wanted all Armenians to work together to promote Armenia. Instead, I bet the author is quite nationalistic and often repeats conspiracy theories about Soros or Open Society.

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