The government moved on Thursday to set up a new ministry that will be
in charge of Armenia’s relations with its worldwide Diaspora.
Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian and his cabinet members made the
decision during a meeting in the country’s second city of Gyumri, the
first-ever government session held outside Yerevan. It took the form of
a draft law on the structure of Armenia’s government that will be
submitted to parliament this month.
The bill stipulates that the government will consist of 18
ministries, including the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs. A statement
issued by Sarkisian’s office gave no details of the new agency’s
mission, saying only that the government plans to form it by next
October.
According to government estimates, there are some 5.7 million
ethnic Armenians, or almost twice the South Caucasus country’s
population, living all over the world. The largest Armenian communities
are in Russia (2 million), the United States (1.4 million), Georgia
(460,000) and France (450,000). Many of the Diaspora Armenians members
are descendants of the survivors of the 1915 Armenian genocide in
Ottoman Turkey.
Armenia’s relations with the Diaspora have until now been
coordinated by a special department existing within the Foreign
Ministry in Yerevan. Talk of its transformation into a larger and more
powerful government ministry emerged after Serzh Sarkisian’s victory in
last February’s disputed presidential election.
Some observers expected Sarkisian to set up the new ministry
immediately after his April 9 inauguration. Among the individuals
linked with the post of Diaspora minister is Arkady Ghukasian, the
former president of Nagorno-Karabakh.
In another measure aimed at strengthening ties with the Diaspora,
the administration of Sarkisian’s predecessor, Robert Kocharian,
abolished in late 2005 a constitutional ban on dual citizenship.
According to police data, hundreds of foreign nationals of Armenian
descent have obtained Armenian passports since then.
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Very interesting piece of
Vanasb 1 year 38 weeks ago
Very interesting piece of information, that might be a serious indicator of a future. However in this respect it is quite important that a formal state ministry could mean many things, besides the anticipated accusations and counter-accusations of corruption that might disrupt much of the process.
Let's hope that at least this ministry will remain intact from the power play of influential political actors and exhibit a dynamic professional organizational structures that could facilitate a constructive cooperation amongst all Armenians everywhere.
Will it be any different
Shiva 1 year 38 weeks ago
Will it be any different from the Soviet Armenian diaspora ministry headed by Karlen Dallakyan? We'll have to wait and see...
It’s just another
nazarian 1 year 38 weeks ago
It's just another bureaucratic structure to serve as a sanctuary for some former apparatchiks. At this point, it's a sanctuary for a former Gharabaghtsi apparatchik - Arkady Ghukasian.