On November 20 of the current year, a symposium titled “Armenian Diaspora. Selected leadership and international structure” took place in South California University.
Let me mention in the beginning that I wasn’t present because I was sick on that day. However, I watched the whole video. The surprising thing was in the beginning when I, a person, who had lived in the US for years and had moved from Armenia, knowing three languages, got really surprised. The whole symposium, entitled “Diaspora international structure” was held in English. They could have arranged translation for one or two American guests, couldn’t they? The main objective of the Diaspora is the protection of Armenian values and number one guarantee of that is the Armenian language. In that case, why would they organize this symposium? Perhaps they organizers don’t have enough respect to Armenian but they need an international stricture of Diaspora. Frankly said, it was a pretty good show. About 500 people were present. With the main organizer Harut Sasunian among the invitees were professors Dokmejian, Asturian, Marashlian. Among the guests were the former governor of California Djukmejian, RA Consul in the US, former US Ambassador to Armenian Evans and many others. So the question was the following. According to the main initiator of this project Harut Sasunian, each 20.000 Diaspora Armenian elects one deputy (via online voting) and the 350 MPs immediately become deputies representing 7 million Armenians in the world. Indeed, from among these 350 deputies there will be a bureau formed consisting of 7 deputies, which will indeed have its president. And we, dear compatriots, will have a president of Diaspora. Oh, wow, dear Armenian nation you have two presidents in Armenia and Artsakh and now the third one for the Diaspora. So now all your wrinkled issues will be solved. Now let’s return to the democratic elections and technical means of this election held during the symposium. The initiators of the symposium emphasized that it would perhaps be impossible to elect a deputy from an enemy country like Turkey because of well-known reasons. But, according to late Hrant Dink approximately 2 million Armenians live in Turkey. So almost 100 of the 350 deputies should be from Turkey but unfortunately this is impossible. The leadership of the symposium also mentioned that at least two million Armenians live in Russia but the Pan-Armenian Union of Russia is an undemocratic structure and so the Russian-Armenians will probably be ignored. So, according to Sasunian’s logic and mathematic model another 100 deputies will not be represented in the structure. If we subtract 200 of imaginary deputies from 350 we will have only 150 left. If we take into account the internet and computer opportunities of the Middle East and Iran then at least 50 of the possible deputies will not be able to vote and will suffer in the result. And if everything goes well in the other countries of the world the national big shots will gather with nearly 100 people and would proclaim that they’re representing the pan-Armenian Diaspora by ignoring the rest of the Armenians living in the mentioned countries and regions. Eh, I wish Hakob Paronyan was here. But there is another question as well. A democratic election is one thing but registration of numbers received online is another thing. The question is who is this person going to be to have this much trust to calculate numbers on the computer and announce the names of people, who are going to represent millions of people. A Russian-Armenian businessman Ara Abrahamyan came up with such an initiative years ago. At that time people were talking a lot that either he is too ambitious or had been ordered by the Russian government to handle a special mission for Armenians. And the traditional powers of the Armenian Diaspora in America didn’t endorse this idea but some of them didn’t bother to violate the copyright of the idea and realize it themselves. And the American Armenians have long ago started to circulate this idea on TV stations but they forgot to ask them a question, “What is the point of all this?” So if the international structure is a means then what is the purpose? So does this mean that the national big shots cannot differentiate the purpose and the means of reaching this purpose? We all know that in the Diaspora we have three traditional parties, the Armenian Cause, Armenian Assembly, Clerical wings both Echmiadinyan and Antillean branches, hundreds of NGOs, thousands of cultural and educational unions, etc. Although the traditional parties have certain historical contradictions but in terms of pan-Armenian principles they are all on the same page – protection of Armenian values, recognition of genocide, supporting Armenia and Artsakh. But when need they all unite around this or that ideology or project. For example, in the framework of the Pan-Armenian Fund or through their pickets against the President they showed their discontent related to the Armenia-Turkey protocols. Then what is the goal of establishing an international structure? Perhaps the reason is that to make sure that there is a contact person for the President of Armenia to call whenever he needs. He will need a President of Diaspora and a phone number to call, won’t he? Isn’t it ridiculous? But, dear reader, I am not joking. This “brilliant idea” came out during one of Harut Sasunian’s speeches on TV. Indeed, the idea doesn’t belong to him. He had plagiarized it from a failed campaign commercial of Hillary Clinton. But this is an ultimate pan-Armenian goal, isn’t it? Ok, now let’s just be honest to ourselves. For me it is no secret that some of the supporters of the international structure of Diaspora think that such a project may serve as a good baton for the authorities of the Republic of Armenia. But, dear sirs, have you have thought about the possibility that this initiative and structure may also serve as a tool for super powers and their intelligence services. As these 7 or 8 members of these bureau may be “bribed and bought” in order to make one or two anti-Armenian statements. They may also be terrorized. This may cause irreparable damage to the interests of all Armenians. We all know that after the soccer diplomacy the NATO member Turkey as well as the west have started to make various statements at various levels addressed to the Armenian Diaspora. Or I would even like to know why the idea of establishment of an international structure is born by a citizen of a powerful state Ara Abrahamyan and later the same idea is born by the US citizen Harut Sasunian. The power of the Diaspora is in its variety. And first of all we need to clearly define the big issues, which the Diaspora faces for the coming 10-15 years and what projects are needed to resolve those. Or you just maybe need a driver with a car and presidency. Maybe you should be kind enough to think about strategies first and then start to think about structures to resolve the issues.
By Artur Armin
President of “Spyurk” public-cultural organization, Los Angeles, Novemver 24, 2010