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129PROBLEMS OF THE THIRD GENERATION OF ARMENIAN DIASPORA
Gevorg Poghosyan1
During almost 100 years following the Armenian Genocide Armenian Diaspora underwent several stages of development. Different fragments of the Diaspora history are studied rather thoroughly. Nevertheless, we think that it needs generalization and complete re-interpretation. Now let us discuss several conceptual aspects relating to the issue.
The main task for the first generation of the Armenian Diaspora was to survive physically and assert themselves in new settlements.
Although the Armenian Communities had existed since the loss of the Armenian Statehood in the 14th century, they grew in size after the Armenian Genocide. 1.5 million Armenians were exterminated, others managed to escape, and established themselves in various Eastern European, Balkan, and Middle Eastern cities. Thousands of Armenians settled in Western Europe (France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands) as well as in the North and South Americas. Substantial number of Armenian communities also exists in Russia as well as in the former Soviet Republics of Central Asia. Armenian communities can also be found in India, Australia, New Zealand, Africa (Sudan, South Africa, and Ethiopia), and as far east as Singapore, Myanmar and Hong Kong and the Philippines.
According to different expert judgments today the number of Armenians all over the world is approximately 8 million
Today, the countries with the largest number of Armenians are Russia which is the first as to the size of the communities, the United States, France, Iran (although the communities have shrunk in size since 1970s), Lebanon, Georgia, Syria, Argentina, Canada, and the Ukraine.
1 The head of the Institute of Philosophy, Sociology and Right at the NAS of Armenia; the Doctor of Social Sciences; Correspondent-member of the NAS of Armenia.
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State The number of Armenians
Armenia 3,215,800
Russia 1,130,491 (2002 census)
USA 1,000,000
France 500,000
Iran 400,000
Georgia 248,900 (2004 census)
Syria 190,000
Lebanon 140,000
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic 138,000
Argentina 130,000
Ukraine 99,894 (2001 census)
Poland 92,000
Turkey 40,000 to 70,000 (the Hamshenis are not included)
Jordan 70,000
Uzbekistan 70,000
Germany 42,000 - 60,000
Canada 40,505 (according to 2001 census) (some estimates to 60,000)
Greece 35,000 - 55,000
Brazil 40,000 - 50,000
Australia 45,000
Abkhazia 44,869 (according to 2003 census)
Spain 42,000
Turkmenistan 30,000
Bulgaria 30,000
Belarus 25,000
Kazakhstan 25,000
Iraq 20,000
Uruguay 19,000
United Kingdom 18,001
Hungary 15,000
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State The number of Armenians
Belgium 10,000
Czech Republic 10,000
Israel 9,800
Egypt 8,200
Moldova 7,000
Netherlands 6,000
Tajikistan 6,000
Latvia 5,000
Switzerland 5,000
Sweden 5,000
Kiewit 5,000
Kyrgyzstan 3,285
United Arab Emirates 3,000
Denmark 3,000
Austria 3,000
Nicaragua 2,907
Ecuador 2,800
Cyprus 2,740 (1987 census)
Venezuela 2,500
Lithuania 2,500
Italy 2,500
Estonia 2,000
Romania 1,780
Norway 1,000
Finland 1,000
Chili 1,000
Sudan 1,000
Thailand 1,000
Honduras 900
New Zealand 600
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State The number of Armenians
Mexico 560 - 10,000
Albania 500
India 500
Colombia 250-300
Monaco 200
South Africa 200
Qatar 150
Cuba 100
Ethiopia 100
Dominican Republic 75
Ireland 50
Costa Rica 40
Singapore 35
Peru 35
Zimbabwe 28
Indonesia 20
Pakistan 20–200
Japan 20-100
Guatemala 20–50
Approximately 10.000 Armenians are said to reside in Mexico, while the Armenian community in Iraq has dwindled after the 2003 US invasion of Iraq and according to www.Wikipedia.org.,www.Armeniandiaspora.com a scattering number of Armenians remain in East Asia.
These are rather general data and it is quite obvious that the current number of the Diaspora, its potential as well as its place and role in different countries of the world need to be seriously studied by applying various scientific methods. To have the real picture, we need to conduct a census-like study in all those countries of the world were the number of the Armenian community is rather big – e.g. in the USA, Russia, Georgia, France, Lebanon, Iran, etc. It is not an easy task and for this purpose we need to mobilize the efforts and structures in Armenia, Diaspora, as well as the Armenian Apostolic Church.
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The conducting of the so called all-Armenian census is to be considered as a number one all-National project. There may be several all-National programmes of such importance. Only one-third of the world’s Armenians live in Armenia.
The second generation established many different structures operating in the Diaspora.
Immediately after the Armenian Genocide, the resettled Armenians lived in refugee camps. However, as their financial situation improved, the camps grew into towns, and these towns became cities. This was the case with many of the Armenian-populated regions in Lebanon. In time, the Armenians organized themselves by building churches, schools, cultural centres, etc. Various political parties and charities, such as the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) “Dashnaktsutyun”, Ram-kavar-Azatakan Party, Social-Democrat Hnchakian party (“Hnchak”), and the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU), started to act wherever there was a considerable number of Armenians.
There was also a conflict between the leaders of the Armenian Apostolic Church. As it is known Armenians had two Catholicoses. One of them resided in Echmiadzin and was supported by the Soviet Armenia, the “Hnchaks” and the “Ramkavars”, while the other seated in Antilias, Lebanon and was supported by the “Dashnaktsakans”. As a result of the Pan-Arabism in Egypt and Syria, Islam-ism in Iran, and the Lebanese Civil War, tens of thousands of Armenians emigrated from the Middle East and established themselves in the USA, Canada, France, and elsewhere, where they are lobbying to support the Republic of Armenia and to extend the international recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide.
Armenian Diaspora Political Organizations
1. European Armenian Federation for Justice & Democracy - Europe
2. Armenian National Committee of America - USA
3. Comite de Defense de la Cause Armenienne - France
4. Campaign for Recognition of the Armenian Genocide - United Kingdom
5. Armenian National Committee of Canada - Canada
6. Armenian National Committee of the Middle East -Middle East
In our opinion, the task of the third generation is to study the historic role and the place of the Armenian Diaspora and its future actions. It is necessary to create new so called think-tank active Diaspora structures, which will study from scientific perspective the situation, future actions and development programmes.
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Armenians are introduced to the world by their three segments: the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Artsakh and Armenian Diaspora. By the way, these three parts are important subjects to the international relations existing in the modern world: an independent state, a non-recognized state (or territory) and international movement (in this case, ethnic or national movement).
Today the world differs completely from the traditional conceptions. It is not merely a family of independent states but a rather diverse and many faced phenomenon. Today it exists also in the form of different international, supranational and transnational structures, also non-recognized state entities, as well as non-state, nonofficial movements and associations. Thus, today Armenia is introduced to the world in three different forms: state, non-recognized state entity and international transstate movement.
This can be of a great advantage if the three parts coordinate their activities, in other words, if they are treated as the implementers of common all-national programmes. The interrelation between these three segments, their harmonized and nation-oriented development, as well as elaboration of conceptual ideology of their roles and contribution can be considered as an all-national scientific programme.
Traditionally, Diaspora activities were managed by the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Armenian Catholic Church, Evangelistic organizations, political parties (Dashnaktsutyun, Ramkavar-Azatakan, Hnchak), cultural associations, countrymen unions and charities. But it is already high time to coordinate and unite all these historically established organizations by one, all-national, elective body with representative functions. Already established Diaspora structures act as “ministries” for the Armenian Diaspora, which does not have and cannot have a structure of a state.
If, for a moment, we assume that they execute the functions of a state, we can say that the Diaspora “ministries” have proved their vitality and efficiency long ago. Today it is often mentioned that it’s high time to find a body, which will coordinate the Diaspora structures’ activities as well as to establish an All-national Assembly or Parliament to pass legislative resolutions. Undoubtedly, this hour has already struck and even more it is even late to speak about it. Not at all trying to underestimate the role of the abovementioned structures, we find it important to mention that Diaspora does not and cannot have a structure of a state. Diaspora in general, and Armenian Diaspora, in particular, has a network structure; hence, we need to think about creating such units that will correspond to that structure.
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The Diaspora investment in the RA economy is rather big. It becomes obvious when we study the data related to the Diaspora direct investments in Armenia: Russia 29%, USA 17% and Iran 14% (www.crrc.am). We always appreciated the financial support of the Diaspora. But today it is evident that for Armenia the intellectual potential of the Diaspora is probably more important than the financial assistance it provides.
The Republic of Armenia together with the Armenian Diaspora has initiated a number of voluminous events; among them Armenia-Diaspora conferences (1999, 2002, 2006), Pan-Armenian Olympic games (1999, 2001, 2003, 2007) and different events (“One Nation, One Culture”, “Golden Apricot” etc). And finally, the new edition of the RA Constitution of 2005 set forth the legislative basis for dual citizenship and in 2007 the National Assembly adopted the corresponding law. The RA Government envisages the creation of a Diaspora Ministry this fall.
Every single Armenian should realize that all the events of national importance are more essential than personal or private affairs and family matters and events. That is, we need to make fundamental changes in the mentality of the Armenian people. As long as the wedding seremonies and christening celebrations of Armenians in California are much luxurious and genezous, than the events organized by the Diaspora, which are aimed at well-being of our people, we can say that the Armenians historical-political consciousness needs to be cured. Every Armenian should consider the affairs and matters of national importance much higher than his/her personal affairs (including family and personal matters).
Every nation, which has established a state, has also a Diaspora. In other words, every state consists of the main part or the bulk of the given nation, and as a rule, a definite part of the nation representatives live abroad in foreign countries. This is a natural phenomenon and it holds true for all the nations and countries. The representatives of the given nationality that live abroad may be very small in number, but sometimes they can make 15-20% of the population of the given country or even more. However, in the case of Armenia, we deal with an exceptional phenomenon, when the one–third of the nation lives in Armenia and the two-thirds live abroad, in different countries. It is a unique phenomenon, when the number of the Diaspora exceeds the main population of the state in two or three times, which can only be compared with the case of the Jewish and Irish peoples. You can never come across such a phenomenon elsewhere. But this is not the only thing that makes Armenians exceptional, due to the national homogeneity inside the country. The thing is that 97% of the population of Armenia is eth-
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nic Armenians. This is also an exceptional phenomenon and probably, you will not be able to find any other country in the world with such homogeneity of population structure.
Only 3% of Armenia’s population belongs to other ethnic groups. They are mostly Kurds and Russians. There are also a few representatives of other ethnic groups. According to the world statistics in different countries of the world national minorities make 10-25%, sometimes 50-60%.
Thus, we can say, that the Republic of Armenia is a unique phenomenon in the world due to its internal national structure as well as the much bigger Diaspora. The historical reasons for this are quite clear and understandable. It can be explained by historical processes related to the creation of the Armenian statehood, the Genocide phenomenon and the formation of the Armenian Diaspora. Nevertheless, the outcome of the phenomena of being exceptional and the perspectives of the further development of the Armenian statehood are not sufficiently studied. We may even say that they are not studied at all.
We must establish an international scientific research centre (institute) for the Diaspora, like the Museum-Institute of the Genocide in Armenia. It should be a rather powerful research structure, “think-thank”, with its full-time staff, but there may also be a lot of scientists from different countries, and not only those who are ethnic Armenians, who will collaborate with the institute on a contractual basis. I do not doubt even for a while that the Diaspora and the Genocide are interconnected aspects of the Armenian Question. Simply, the Genocide Museum studies the past, whereas the Diaspora institute should be future-orientated.
In our opinion, the scientific research work and the scientific approaches on the Diaspora on the whole are late. It is undeniable truth. But, let us not forget, that the reason for it was the Soviet Union. All of us know very well that during many years communists prohibited not only scientific studies but even speaking about the Genocide. In this respect, one can say, that the Soviet Union acted as accomplice to Turkish perpetrators of the Genocide. Now, we are doing what our previous generations were supposed to do some 50-80 years ago. We started to study freely the Genocide about 20 years ago (and not even since 1965). So, what does it mean? It means that we don’t have time; we are to hurry, in order to fill the gap, resulting from decades of silence. The Soviet Union did everything so that the Armenian Genocide was forgotten. But they failed.
Coming back to the scientific research work, we must realize that the thorough profound legal study is very important, but at the same time it is not less im-
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portant to try to find non-traditional, innovative, coercive, pecuniary, and other solutions to the problems. We must try everything.
The more we succeed in the just and efficient solution of the Armenian Question the more will increase the influence of the Turkish State, which will try to intervene, sent its agents and spies, and even try to organize coup d’etat in Armenia.
We should not overestimate our enemies, as it will affect our courage. Yet, it is more dangerous if we underestimate our enemies, as it will bring us to failure.
April, 2008
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