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Arsinée Khanjian to Diaspora: Sign Up to Become Observers in April 2017 Parliamentary Elections in Armenia

The following is an open letter penned by Arsinée Khanjian, urging Armenians worldwide to “re-examining the nature of the Armenian Diaspora’s engagement with its homeland.”

I was detained by Armenian police, in the capital city of Yerevan on July 27, 2016, while photographing a rally for democratic rights and social and political reforms. This random, unjustifiable arrest made me realize that as an artist and human rights activist, it is my responsibility to speak out about issues essential to the stability, unity and perpetual sustainability of the Armenian homeland. I also realized we are overdue in re-examining the nature of the Armenian Diaspora’s engagement with its homeland.

On this 25th anniversary of independence, there are huge social, political and economic obstacles deeply challenging and taxing the livelihood of the Republic of Armenia.

The country has major internal problems due to systemic corruption, nepotism and an oligarchic economy, where power and wealth remains in the hands of a few. Absence of equitable rule of law and upward social mobility combined with the suppression of freedom of speech and thought as well as civil liberties and rights, have all further exacerbated an already intolerable situation in the Republic.

There are other alarming factors fomenting Armenia’s domestic and foreign problems. Lack of natural resources, an economic blockade by Turkey and Azerbaijan, geopolitics of superpowers in the region, adversarial neighbours, a ‘no war no peace’ situation at its border with impending and continued international pressure in the peace negotiations for NagornoKarabakh Republic, have all thwarted international interest in the twin Armenian republics. These circumstances have created an existential impasse where public mistrust, resentment and fear coupled with inadequate economic and social welfare, have resulted into desperate acts of defiance and outrage.

This deadlocked situation and the sudden incursion of Azeri forces beginning of April, 2016, that caused the death of over one hundred soldiers along with the loss of some 800 hectares of land to Azerbaijan, led to a group of gunmen to take over a police station in Yerevan on July 17, 2016, as an act of last resort after exhausted attempts at promoting change through political movements.

The subsequent _expression_ of public support for the group’s extreme measures illustrated the level of the frustration that has been percolating in Armenian society in the face of governmental indifference and negligence towards the plight of the people. In short, the citizens of Armenia have widespread misgivings about their government and have ceased to believe that their children and grandchildren can have sustainable and dependable living conditions or a future in their ancestral homeland.

Hundreds of thousands are leery about the ruling elite and the questionable, constitutional legitimacy of those in power. Over a million people or one third of the population, have opted quietly, for an exit strategy from the country causing massive depopulation and brain drain of the cream of the crop of our homeland. The preservation and the security of the Republics of Armenia and Artsakh is alarmingly threatened as a consequence.

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