ARMENIA THIS WEEK
Monday, May 23, 2005

In this issue:

Yerevan scholar urges renewed Diaspora focus on repatriation
Officials see “movement forward” in Karabakh peace talks

YEREVAN SCHOLAR URGES RENEWED DIASPORA FOCUS ON REPATRIATION
A growing number of individual Armenians are immigrating to Armenia
and both the Armenian government and Diaspora leaders should focus on
ways to encourage this process, the American University of Armenia
Political Science Professor Armen Aivazian argued at a roundtable
discussion hosted last week by the Armenian Assembly of America in
Washington, DC. Aivazian, who is also a researcher at the Matenadaran
Institute of Ancient Manuscripts and is involved in non-government
anti-corruption efforts in Armenia, is currently on a speaking tour of
Armenian communities throughout the United States.

Aivazian reported that thousands of Diaspora Armenians from the Middle
East as well as the United States and other countries have moved to
Armenia since independence, and argued more would resettle should
there be an organized campaign to promote the process. Aivazian said
that Armenia’s economy has sufficiently stabilized to provide new
arrivals with relatively comfortable living and opportunities for
personal growth, absent for much of the 1990s. The period following
the 1988 earthquake, economic disruption caused by the fall of the
Soviet Union and blockades by Azerbaijan and Turkey, witnessed a
country-wide energy crisis, economic standstill, deteriorating
standards of living and resultant permanent and temporary emigration
of up to a million people from Armenia. Official figures show that
following four years of double-digit growth, Armenia’s Gross Domestic
Product has recovered to the level of the late 1980s, and the economy
grew by eight percent in the first four months of this year. Last
year, for the first time in more than a decade, more people moved to
Armenia than left the country.

Aivazian noted that the large-scale emigration of the 1990s will have
a lasting negative effect on Armenia’s demographics and argued that
repatriation is the only available remedy. Armenia’s current
population stands at just over three million, with an estimated five
million ethnic Armenians living in the Diaspora, primarily in Russia,
the United States, Europe and the Middle East, a majority of them
descendants of victims of the Armenian Genocide in Ottoman
Turkey. Aivazian stressed that only through prioritizing the issue of
repatriation, including creation of high-profile dedicated structures
in both Armenia and Diaspora, can Armenia’s population grow at a
robust rate to reach four million by 2025 and six million by 2050, for
the country to be able to face pressing national security
challenges. (Sources: Mediamax 3-23; Armenia This Week 4-25; Arminfo
5-20; R&I Report 5-20)

OFFICIALS SEE “MOVEMENT FORWARD” IN KARABAKH PEACE TALKS
Both Armenian and Azerbaijani officials made upbeat statements,
following more than two-hour talks between Presidents Robert Kocharian
and Ilham Aliyev at the Council of Europe summit held in Warsaw,
Poland last week. But officials made differing interpretations of what
was discussed at the meeting. Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar
Mamedyarov claimed that the sides discussed a “timetable” for the
Armenian withdrawal from the formerly Azeri-populated districts
outside Nagorno Karabakh’s Soviet-era borders. Azerbaijan has long
insisted on unilateral Armenian compromises, but both the Armenian and
Nagorno Karabakh leaders maintain that all contentious issues can be
resolved as part of a package settlement.

Armenia’s Foreign Ministry rejected the Azeri claim that withdrawals
were discussed, with Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian noting “small
movement forward” on the status issue, which will now allow for
further talks between the two sides on the ministerial level. Oskanian
and Mamedyarov are expected to resume their talks, dubbed the “Prague
Process,” after the French, Russian and U.S. mediators, working under
the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)
umbrella, visit the region some time in July.

In the meantime, Nagorno Karabakh’s Deputy Foreign Minister Masis
Mailian noted that last month’s statement by the OSCE mediators, which
urged an end to continued war rhetoric and called for a renewed
commitment to the 11-year ceasefire, has had a positive impact on the
situation along the Line of Contact between Karabakh Armenian and
Azeri forces. In March, Mailian accused Azeri forces of moving their
positions closer to Karabakh’s leading to an increase in cease-fire
violations. Mailian also urged the OSCE to beef up its monitoring
presence, currently limited to monthly inspections by several unarmed
observers. (Sources: Armenia This Week 4-19; Mediamax 5-13;
Eurasianet.org 5-20)

Note to Readers: Armenia This Week will not be issued next week due to
the Memorial Day holiday. Publication will resume the week of June
6. Visit for archive dating
back to 1997.

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