Armenian state needs new wave of repatriation

“Arab Spring” may well raise the question of maintaining the huge Armenian community in the Middle East.

In 1946 the Soviet government announced beginning of repatriation of Armenians into their historic homeland. Hardly is it possible that anyone in the Politburo of the CP Central Committee, including Joseph Stalin, did not know why the Armenian nation was scattered throughout the world. Nevertheless, everything was done for those willing to come back and build a “bright communism.”

PanARMENIAN.Net - Of course, it was not done out of altruism – the demographic situation in Armenia was catastrophic. Before World War II the population of the Armenian SSR was only 700.000, of which 500.000 went to war. Around 300.000 were killed in the fight. And it was under these circumstances that the decision on repatriation was made. The first wave of repatriation to Armenia – to the Armenian SSR – began in 1946. However, it had an unsuccessful conclusion – many of the returnees went back: too different were the worlds they came from and they saw. Now we seem to witness a new wave of repatriation – more sensible, achieved through much suffering and, therefore, quite precious.

The recent message about the desire of 200 families of Hemshil Armenians to come back home caused quite a controversy in the Armenian society. To begin with, Hemshil Armenians (Hamshenis) are Islamized Armenians still living in Karadeniz - Hemşin (Turkey). Many of them moved to the Central Asian republics, retaining their language, customs, everything except belief. We must assume that on arriving in Armenia and Artsakh, they’ll again become Christians. However, there are rather many questions and the very first of them is the State’s attitude to the problem of return. We should not forget, though, that the “Arab Spring” may well raise the question of maintaining the huge Armenian community in the Middle East. It is true that the Armenians in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq verbally say that they are not going to leave for anywhere, but in fact we can say that the almost half a million community are all packed and ready to go. And they are going to leave neither for Armenia nor for Artsakh, but for the USA, Canada, and, at worst, for Europe, which is understandable. As an example can serve the Armenians of Lebanon, who after the civil war in 1974 left for the U.S. and Canada, and only a few settled in Yerevan.

If the Armenian government did not confine itself to one-time actions like “Ari Tun” (Come Home), in the framework of which several families in fact arrived for permanent residence in Armenia, but also assisted the returnees at the start, the flow of immigrants would be no less than in 1946. More serious is the case with those wishing to settle in Artsakh. There are plenty of settlement areas there, but because of some unjustified “fear of the world community” the NKR authorities do not send anyone to live in the safety zone. Such short-sightedness can prove costly in the near future. However, not everything is lost yet; simply such steps are to be carried out instead of being spoken about all the time. It is common knowledge that the same international community much more easily puts up with what is already a fait accompli, rather than with the intention to accomplish one. Let us hope that neither the Hamshenis nor the NKR authorities will change their minds. In this regard, it is useful to take a cue from Israel, which accepts all the Jews, irrespective of their color, and settles them wherever she finds it appropriate. In our case, we should welcome all the Armenians, irrespective of their belief. The demographic factor can be decisive in confrontation with Azerbaijan.

Karine Ter-Sahakyan / PanARMENIAN News
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