A.Abramian: Problem of Ethnic Tension Really Exist in Russia
The main cause of ethnic and religious tension in Russia is in the fact, that many ethnic groups in Russia continue to look for national identity, said Ara Abramian, the head of CAR (Council of Armenians of Russia) during an interview to The Novoye Russkoye Slovo. In his words, first of all it concerns to Russians, who, being the core of the Soviet Empire, are trying to define their place in the Russian State, their interests and goals and build new relations with other ethnic groups.
"The problem really exists. We can just take the latest example of obstruction towards people with Georgian nationality. Or the long-playing problem of monopolization in the food markets by Azeris. All those issues create a negative background both in home and foreign policy and harm Russia's reputation," he stressed. Alongside, the head of CAR underlined that traditionally Armenians beginning from soviet times not only were adopted in all those systems, but also were part of their elite. If we touch the adaptation problems we can speak about the integration of Armenians of the new wave. The 5th part of 2.5 million Armenians living in Russia make the so-called new migrants, who have Armenian passports. And just those we, the Council of Armenians of Russia, assist first of all. People come from Georgia to Russia because of the conflicts in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, from Azerbaijan, fearing from probable new war between Armenians and Azeris. To tell the truth, the integration process of new migrants has not gone and is not going without problems. Say, in 1990-ies we were having serious conflicts with Cossacks in Krasnodar and Stavropol Territories. But thanks to CAR's active mediation the degree of that opposition was greatly decreased. I think, that we would not have such results, if our organization did not have chambers in 70 regions and 300 towns," Abramian said.
"The problem really exists. We can just take the latest example of obstruction towards people with Georgian nationality. Or the long-playing problem of monopolization in the food markets by Azeris. All those issues create a negative background both in home and foreign policy and harm Russia's reputation," he stressed. Alongside, the head of CAR underlined that traditionally Armenians beginning from soviet times not only were adopted in all those systems, but also were part of their elite. If we touch the adaptation problems we can speak about the integration of Armenians of the new wave. The 5th part of 2.5 million Armenians living in Russia make the so-called new migrants, who have Armenian passports. And just those we, the Council of Armenians of Russia, assist first of all. People come from Georgia to Russia because of the conflicts in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, from Azerbaijan, fearing from probable new war between Armenians and Azeris. To tell the truth, the integration process of new migrants has not gone and is not going without problems. Say, in 1990-ies we were having serious conflicts with Cossacks in Krasnodar and Stavropol Territories. But thanks to CAR's active mediation the degree of that opposition was greatly decreased. I think, that we would not have such results, if our organization did not have chambers in 70 regions and 300 towns," Abramian said.
