The Report of the Armenian Relief Society
To the Armenia-Diaspora Conference
Yerevan, September 23, 1999
Presented by Maro Minassian,
Chair of the ARS Central Executive Board
Excellencies, Your Holiness, Reverend Fathers, Fellow Armenians:
With great joy, the Armenian Relief Society greets the
Armenia-Diaspora Conference. As a pan-Armenian organization of
nearly ninety years experience, feeling the necessity of a serious
dialogue over the multi-faceted issues facing Diaspora-Homeland
relations, three years ago, the ARS decided to organize a symposium
with the participation of leaders and intellectuals from both
Armenia and the Diaspora.
After long preparation, in the spring of 1998, that project became
reality when on May 29 and 30, under the high auspices of the
President of the Republic, the Symposium entitled "Armenia and the
Diaspora on the threshold of the 21st Century" took place in
Yerevan.
It was an initial dialogue, an attempt to overcome rigid provincial
attitudes, unyielding priorities and prejudices with a process of
unbiased evaluation and objective analysis.
Today, the organizers of this Armenia-Diaspora Conference have
focused mainly on four issues:
- The obstacles in the way of Armenia-Diaspora cooperation;
- The nature of the mutual efforts necessary for the coordination
of Armenia-Diaspora activities;
- The possibility of an umbrella structure for the supervision of
all-Armenian activities;
- The conclusions drawn by the pre-conference workshops on the main
issues of Armenia-Diaspora relations.
In reference to the first issue, given the limited time, it is not
possible to enumerate here all the obstacles that impede the normal
process of Armenia-Diaspora cooperation - among which, we consider
paramount the right to citizenship of the Armenian Republic. In our
opinion, there can be no question that the tighter and more binding
the relationship between the Diasporan and the Armenian State, the
more enthusiastic and generous the commitment of the Diasporan
masses will be towards the needs of the Motherland. Therefore, the
first factor to enhance the concept of "One Nation, One Motherland"
will be the ratification of legislature granting Diasporans
Armenian citizenship.
At this point, we would like to state that, generally speaking, we
find the objections and arguments put forth by certain quarters
against this issue extraneous and unconvincing. After all, we
needn't remind anyone, that many other peoples who, for various
reasons, have emigrated and established residence abroad, have been
granted citizenship of their country of origin by their respective
national governments.
Moving on to the second issue, in our estimation, it is possible to
improve the coordination of Armenia-Diaspora activities by, first,
guaranteeing the existence and viable economic and political
continuity of established Diasporan communities. To this end, the
planning has to be long range and pan-Armenian in scope.
The Armenian Diaspora -- formed and organized in the crucible of
the dire realities of geographic and political dispersion and the
strained relationship with the Motherland -- must be accepted,
along with its experienced cultural, religious and political
establishments, as a factor of value and permanency. Consisting of
distinctive denominations and communities, its common denominator
has always been its concerted struggle for the reestablishment of
the sovereign national statehood and the prosecution of the
Armenian Case with pan-Armenian goals.
To achieve palpable results, the coordination of Armenia-Diaspora
cooperation must take into consideration the diverse geographic,
political, cultural and economic realities of each and every
community. The temptation to create "unity" through a homogenizing
standardization process must be resisted at all costs.
The third issue presented to the participants of the Conference is
the rationale of the necessity for a coordinating, "umbrella"
directorate. It is understood that future cooperation between
Armenia and the Diaspora, in all its aspects, must take place in a
coordinated manner, but as to under what kind of supervision,
remains unclear. The official, state-run diplomatic missions along
with pan-Armenian international organizations, such as
denominational church structures, active political parties,
humanitarian, cultural and athletic societies must, in a
cooperative spirit, create practical and dependable vehicles to
function under the administrative supervision of a ministerial
department commissioned specifically for that task.
It is also possible to trust this task to the National Assembly-the
Armenian Parliament-which would create a special commission of
Armenia-Diaspora relations, coordinating all-important
activities. Whatever the case, this can be accomplished only with
the consent and voluntary participation of the leadership of
legitimately established pan-Armenian organizations.
We regret that it will be impossible to comment on the fourth issue
within the five minutes allowed to this initial organizational
statement. In any event, it would have been a mere evaluation of
already drawn conclusions; we are certain we shall all be given a
chance to discuss the five important topics analyzed in those
commissioned papers.
It is our fervent wish, that following this conference, we all
apply ourselves to the serious task of solving the many problems
that concern us all today; their solutions will lead to the
prosperity and security of our nation, Homeland and Diaspora alike.
Thank you.
Translated to English by the ARS Central Office.