The following is an interview that Armenian President Armen Sarkissian gave to Serbian newspaper Politika on the eve of his official visit to Belgrade.

The translated text appeared on President Sarkissian’s website.

Question: The devastating earthquake of 1988 in Armenia, which killed 25,000 people, linked the Serbian and Armenian people. Each December Armenia commemorates the deaths of seven Serbian crew members who died in the crash of this humanitarian aid plane. How much does Armenia know about Serbia at all and what is your first thought about Serbia?

President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian: The destinies of the Serbian and Armenian peoples have many similarities. Throughout history, we have often fought side by side against the same conqueror for freedom; in the late 19th and early 20th centuries our national liberation movements and the Hayduk groups closely cooperated. Today, I think, we have a common dramatic perception of history, which is explained by the enormous losses of our two peoples and the similarities of our national destinies.

Tragedy is said to bring people closer. Indeed, I remember how the tragic death of Serbian pilots, helping us during the 1988 Spitak earthquake, deeply pierced our already wounded hearts. The monument erected in their memory always reminds us of Serbia, which was a symbol of rebellion and dignity in our eyes since the Soviet times.

For the last three decades, our two countries have faced the same challenges in terms of security and development.

Question: Trends are such that more and more young people and Diaspora are also moving out of Serbia. The Armenian people are known for their great Diaspora and their respectable people in the world. What does the relationship between the Motherland and the Diaspora look like and what lessons could Serbs learn from your experience?

President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian: The Armenians have an old and multi-layered Diaspora, widespread in our neighbouring countries and almost all over the world. As time went by, earlier communities formed their spiritual-cultural centres, artisan and commercial networks in their countries of residence, and often established cities and villages, as, for instance, in the areas from the northern shores of the Black Sea to the Carpathians and Transylvania, where Armenian settlements exist to the present day.

In some places, Armenians had local government with their own laws and codices, as, for instance, in Poland and in the Armenian cities of Transylvania. Other places had strong spiritual and educational centres: the Armenian Congregation of Saint James, in Jerusalem, is one of the guardians of the holy places alongside with the Latins and the Greeks until now, also the Mekhitarists Congregation in Venice and in Vienna, which have spread their educational network around the world and the Lazarian Seminary in Moscow, which later became the Lazarian Institute of Oriental Languages, a training centre for diplomats and translators.

Enterprising Armenians, skilled in trade and crafts received commercial privileges from the African and European coasts of the Mediterranean to Persia, Russia, India, and Singapore. At one time, Armenians became an irreversible factor of trade between East and West on those powerful land and sea routes. Thus, Armenian life developed in parallel, both in Armenia and abroad.

In 1918, the relations between the Diaspora and Homeland intensified after restoration of Armenian statehood: hundreds of thousands of Armenians began returning to Armenia in the 1920s, and especially at the end of World War II to rebuild what was left of the Greater Homeland after World War I. The relatively rapid development of Soviet Armenia was to some extent conditioned by the high professional capacities of the Armenians from abroad.

Today, the relations with major Armenian communities in the Americas, Russia, France and other countries in the world have become more diverse and practical. On the one hand, they are aimed at the development of Armenia, and on the other, at meeting the needs of the Diaspora, especially in preserving its identity.

I know that your Diaspora is also patriotic and connected to Serbia. By the way, in many countries, the Serbian Diaspora supports the Armenian Diaspora, especially on the Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, for which we are grateful. We will both benefit if the Armenian and Serbian Diaspora structures find ways of cooperation and, in certain areas, coordination. Both Armenia and Serbia keep their diplomatic representations active in this mission and the exchange of experience and possible cooperation can be fruitful.

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