"WE MUST MAKE USE OF THE DIVERSITY OF DIASPORA, TELLS ARMENIA’S MINISTER OF DIASPORA AT THE MEETING WITH LEADERS OF ARMENIAN ORGANIZATIONS OF FRANCE

Noyan Tapan
Apr 10, 2009

Marseilles, April 10, Noyan Tapan, "The Armenians Today". The
minister of Diaspora of Armenia met with the leadership of Armenian
organizations on April 7 in Lyon. Issues related to the mission,
principles, activities and tasks of the ministry of Diaspora were
discussed at the meeting. As the Information and public relation
department of the ministry of Diaspora reported, H.Hakobian informed,
that the concept of developing the Armenia-Diaspora cooperation was
elaborated aftercareful examination of the archive of the Diaspora
Committee, all activities of Diaspora related departments at all the
ministries, all speeches and other materials. A number of individuals,
institutions, university chairs, centers and editors of well-known
newspapers operating in the Armenian Diaspora were familiarized with
the concept. Only after taking into consideration suggestions and
remarks, will the concept be submitted for approval to the Government
of Armenia. The next question of the discussion was related to the
issue of emigration from Armenia. According to the minister H.Hakobian,
labor migration is more topical problem in Armenia at the moment
rather than the issue of abandoning the motherland. At the same time,
Ms. Hakobian stressed, that Armenia can’t stand raising a question
of gathering Armenians back to the motherland, since two-third of the
Armenian people lives out of the Motherland. According to the minister,
the problem should be approached from two perspectives: first, millions
of Armenians live in the countries bordering Armenia (Syria, Lebanon,
Turkey, Georgia, etc), where the risk of collision is high and the
situation is not stable. Thus, as the minister mentioned, Armenia
should be ready to accept and provide with jobs her counterparts in
the case of clashes. Second, as the minister characterized, there
is an utter necessity to unite around all-national tasks: "We all,
together with you, must build such Armenia, that everybody would dream
to come and live in. It is impossible to build such Armenia in 17
years. 17 years in the course of history is only an instant. We ask
you to invest into Armenia not your resources, but your experience,
abilities, knowledge and skills to help her to flourish. Therefore
we declare the Diaspora to be our comparative advantage. If it
is oil for some, ‘Spyurk’ is for Armenia. Every Armenian has
rights and responsibilities in relation to the motherland," says
the minister. According to her, the Armenian nation should unite
around all-national goals and move forward. The Diaspora is diverse,
‘multilayerad’ and with diverse needs: We must make use from that
diversity. We don’t want all become the same. Remaining different,
let’s be together", – declared the minister.