PRESS RELEASE
Armenian Center for National and International Studies
75 Yerznkian Street
Yerevan 375033, Armenia
Tel: (+374 – 1) 52.87.80 or 27.48.18
Fax: (+374 – 1) 52.48.46
E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]
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December 21, 2004
ACNIS Releases Opinion Polls on Armenia’s Political Agenda
Yerevan — The Armenian Center for National and International Studies
(ACNIS) today issued the results of both a public survey and a
specialized questionnaire on “Urgent Issues on Armenia’s Political
Agenda,” which involved 2002 citizens and 100 experts from Yerevan and
across Armenia. The poll addressed patterns and priorities in European
integration, Armenia-Diaspora relations and Armenian foreign policy,
as well as education, youth, and minority affairs.
ACNIS founder Raffi Hovannisian greeted the invited guests and public
participants with opening remarks. “This comprehensive survey covers
a broad range of items on the national agenda, and revisits a number
of urgent policy questions broached by ACNIS over the year past. It is
our hope that the findings will provide a solid basis for recording,
evaluating, and interpreting public attitudes in the light of more
specialized opinions,” Hovannisian said.
ACNIS legal and political affairs analyst Stepan Safarian presented the
results on European integration, comparing in detail the conclusions
of the expert and public opinion polls. Accordingly, 64% of citizens
surveyed and 92% of experts are in favor of Armenia’s accession to
the European Union, 11.8% and 7% respectively are not, while 24.2%
and 1% find it difficult to answer. 29.4% of citizens first and
foremost expect improvements in the economic situation from Armenia’s
accession to the European Union, whereas 49% of experts anticipate
the establishment of irreversible democracy. 16.7% of citizens and 3%
of experts look forward to a just resolution of the Karabagh issue,
9.7% and 5% respectively to development of education and science
in accordance with European standards, 8.7% and 6% to a decrease
of corruption, and 7.3% and 14% to raising the level of national
security. 11.9% of respondent citizens and 6% of experts do not
expect anything. 31.3% of citizens view the foreign and domestic
policies pursued by Armenia’s authorities as the major obstacle to
Armenia’s policy of European integration, 29.4% regional conflicts,
and 13.6% the Armenian people’s “mindset.” Among the experts these
figures are 65%, 13%, and 11%, respectively. 16.7% of citizens think
it will take Armenia up to 15 years, 15.6% up to 20, 10.2% up to 25,
and 14.8% up to 50 years, to fulfill the criteria of the European
Union and become its member. Among the relative optimists, 11.1%
think it will take 5 years and 20.8% 10 years. 13% of experts believe
it will take 5 years, 21% 10 years, 10% 15 years, 27% 20 years, 14%
25 years, and 8% 50 years. 9.7% of citizens and 6% of experts predict
that Armenia will never become a member of the European Union. 28.7%
of citizens and 61% of experts are in favor of Turkey’s accession
to the European Union, 52% and 22% are not, while 19.3% and 16%
find it difficult to answer. 30% of surveyed citizens and 8% of
experts are concerned about losing attributes of national identity
and statehood as a result of accession to the European Union. 52.9%
and 87% respectively are not concerned about this.
ACNIS economic and diaspora affairs analyst Hovsep Khurshudian referred
to the poll results on the Armenia-Diaspora agenda. 50.2% of citizens
assert that the potential of the Diaspora has been sufficiently
employed for the establishment and development of Armenia, 23.6%
think it has been employed little, 12.5% very little, 6.9% fully,
just as 1.8% are of the opinion that it has not been employed at
all. Among the experts 14% opine that the potential of Diaspora has
been sufficiently employed, 32% little, 36% very little, 5% fully,
and 5% think it has not been employed at all. Among the broader
public the major expectation from the Diaspora is its work toward
international recognition of the Armenian Genocide (35.1%) and
its making investments in Armenia (27.7%), whereas a plurality of
experts will be satisfied if their compatriots in dispersion simply
remain Armenian (22%) or focus on making investments (22%). Next
on the expert list at 18% is the combining of efforts to facilitate
Armenian membership in the European Union, with another 18% noting the
priority of working toward international recognition of the Armenian
Genocide. 3% of citizens and of experts do not have any expectation
of the Diaspora. It is noteworthy that 5% of citizens and 8% of
experts underscore the importance of the Diaspora’s participation in
Armenia’s state administration. 20% of citizens and 16% of experts
are in absolute favor of dual citizenship. Another 42.6% and 44%
respectively favor it on condition that dual citizens also perform
military or alternative service, and that only those who are permanent
residents of Armenia exercise the right to elect and be elected. 24.1%
and 19% are against dual citizenship.
The majority of both citizens (70.5%) and experts (67%) are ill
disposed to Armenia’s dispatch of a 50-member military group to take
part in reconstruction works in Iraq. Only 15.6% of citizens and 24%
of experts are in favor of it, whereas 13.9% and 9% find it difficult
to answer. As for the current stage of the Karabagh peace process,
only 1.6% of citizens and 0% of experts are completely satisfied with
it, 11.4% and 5% are satisfied, 41% and 30% are concerned, while 21%
and 49% are very much concerned. 51.3% of citizens and 38% of experts
are positively disposed toward the fact that European structures are
more frequently referring to the regulation of the Karabagh conflict,
12% and 32% respectively express a negative opinion, 19.3% and 14%
are neither concerned nor satisfied with it, and the rest find it
difficult to answer.
Hranush Kharatian, chairperson of the National and Religious Minorities
Board of the Government of Armenia, offered a comment on what the
figures reveal upon the minorities agenda in Armenia. 69.6% of citizens
and 40% of experts think that sects and other religious minorities
constitute a danger for Armenia. As for the national minorities,
the majority of surveyed citizens and experts reject the notion that
they threaten the republic. 70.5% of citizens and 90% of experts look
favorably upon their compatriot Yezidis, 51.1% and 68% Kurds, 66.4%
and 95% Assyrians, 53.4% and 84% Jews, 71.7% and 97% Greeks, 79% and
86% Russians, 53.9% and 91% Georgians, 65.6% and 97% Germans. 10.8%
of citizens and 3% of experts find signs of danger among the Jewish
community, 7.3% and 3% the Kurds, 6.8% and 1% the Georgians, 2.2% and
0% the Germans, 2.1% and 0% the Yezidis, 0.8% and 8% the Russians. As
for sexual minorities, 61.1% of citizens and 30% of experts do not
accept and are intolerant toward them, 24.3% and 56% do not accept
but are tolerant of them, and only 8.3% and 11% respectively think
it is natural and bear a normal attitude toward them.
In his corollary intervention entitled “Tolerance or Intolerance,”
Avetik Ishkhanian, chairman of Armenia’s Helsinki Committee,
continued the deliberations on the minorities issue by expressing
his satisfaction with the high level of tolerance toward national,
religious, and even sexual minorities, which testifies to the gradual
deepening of progressive views in Armenian society. “Another major
achievement is the public’s precise awareness of its own rights,”
noted Ishkhanian, attaching importance to this trend as a positive
step toward establishment of a civil society.
Nouridjan Manoukian, chief of the Control Department for the Board
of Secondary Education of the Ministry of Education and Science,
presented the survey results on education matters. 4.3% of respondent
citizens and 0% of experts assess Armenia’s current educational system
as gratifying, 42.1% and 11% as good, 47% and 81% as unsatisfactory,
with 6.6% and 8% finding it difficult to answer. 16.6% of citizens
and 4% of experts are concerned about bribery in public schools
and universities, 7.7% and 5% about protectionism, 10.8% and 22%
the content of educational programs, 15.2% and 0% the unjustified
optimalization of schools, and 7.8% and 3% the scale of state financing
for educational institutions and other circumstances.
The pivotal issues for Armenia’s youth have recently assumed a new
appearance and new substance–lack of jobs, insufficient wages, absence
of equal conditions and opportunities for career advancement, and
so on. The poll results on youth concerns are especially alarming,
as the majority of citizens (65.5%) and experts (78%) do not see
a future for young people in Armenia. Only 18% and 13% are of the
opposite opinion, while 16.5% and 9% find it difficult to answer. 33.7%
of citizens view the absence of jobs as the main reason for a lack
of confidence in the future and 26.4% mark insufficient wages for
normal living, whereas the majority of experts (46%) point to the
moral-psychological atmosphere in the country and 27% to unequal
conditions and opportunities for progress and career. As for the
measures to be taken to stop youth emigration and to overcome the
problems they face, 50.7% of citizens and 29% of experts find it
necessary to provide jobs to educated young people through a close
cooperation among universities, enterprises, and organizations, 23.7%
and 24% respectively are for the encouragement of entrepreneurship
among young people through allocation of government loans, and 15.3%
and 24% hold that the educational system should be modernized in
correspondence with the modern demands of the labor market.
The formal presentations were followed by contributions by National
Press Club chairperson Narine Mkrtchian; Artashes Ghazakhetsian of
the Armenia 2020 Project; Anahit Bakhshian, principal of Derenik
Demirchian High School; Ruzan Khachatrian of the People’s Party
of Armenia; Spartak Seyranian of Yerkir weekly; Tamar Gevorgian of
the United Labor Party; Yerevan State University professor Vardan
Khachatrian; Hovhannes Hovhannisian of the Liberal Progressive Party;
former Yerevan mayor Vahagn Khachatrian; Vardan Vardanian of Aib-Fe
weekly; and several others.
Among the 2002 citizens polled, 43.1% of them are male and 56.9%
female; 16.3% are 16-20 years of age, 24.8% 21-30, 21.5% 31-40, 21%
41-50, 9.3% 51-60, 5.5% 61-70, 1.6% 71 or above. 43.9% of participating
citizens have received a higher education, whereas 22.1% incomplete
higher, 17.4% specialized secondary, 14.6% secondary, and 1.9%
incomplete secondary training. 53.6% are actively employed, 19.2%
are not, 5.5% are pensioners, 1.6% welfare recipients, and 20%
students. Urban residents constitute 59.6% of public respondents,
and rural residents make up 40.4%. 33.5% hail from Yerevan, the rest
from all of Armenia’s regions.
All 100 professionals who took part in the specialized poll are
from Yerevan. 73% of them are male, and 27% female; 22% are 21-30
years of age, 29% 31-40, 27% 41-50, 18% 51-60, 4% 61 or above. All
of the experts surveyed have received a higher education: 2% are
full professors, 20% are candidates of science (PhD), and 78% hold a
Master’s degree. The principal profession of 16% of the expert pool
is political science, 13% journalism, 9% engineering and architecture,
9% history, 9% Near Eastern studies, 8% linguistics, 6% economics, 6%
international relations, and so on. 29% of them work in state-run
institutions, 57% in non-governmental associations, and 14% at
international organizations.
Founded in 1994 by Armenia’s first Minister of Foreign Affairs Raffi K.
Hovannisian and supported by a global network of contributors, ACNIS
serves as a link between innovative scholarship and the public policy
challenges facing Armenia and the Armenian people in the post-Soviet
world. It also aspires to be a catalyst for creative, strategic
thinking and a wider understanding of the new global environment. In
2004, the Center has focused primarily on public outreach, civic
education, and applied research on critical domestic and foreign
policy issues for the state and the nation.
For further information on the Center or the full graphics of the
poll results, call (3741) 52-87-80 or 27-48-18; fax (3741) 52-48-46;
e-mail [email protected] or [email protected]; or visit or