Tatev
Sorry for the lack of posts, I have been in rural France the past few days. For the next week I will be in Yerevan then Tatev so again, posting will be sparse.
The Armenian vs. Armenian post has certainly been an interesting topic to talk about. If anyone wants to digress onto a different topic then by all means use this as a staryting point. Again, please be nice to each other!
And here’s a point that I made about the irony of talking about attracting Diasporans to Armenians — to compete in a very small and underpaid job market — before we are even at the stage where we can keep the brightest college graduates here.
I think this needs to be tackled first before we can talk of mass repatriation. Life has to be better for the locals first and then, better living standards would attract more Diaspora to make the move although Armenia is still a small country and has limited resources so it will never be a huge influx.
Anyway, Gevorgian, you should be pleased with this. It’s not from an opposition paper, it’s an editorial from your favorite (ARF-D) Yerkir:
—
September 17, 2004
The importance of internal potential
It is no secret that a significant portion of people with higher or professional education in Armenia are poor. This adversely affects the development of the country. The potential of qualified human resources that can contribute to the development of the country is not realized.
A situation has emerged in which the professional and education level of the individual do not guarantee his/her access to income generation or regeneration opportunities. Consequently, the value of professional and higher education for the younger generations is reduced and Armenia will sooner or later be unable to ensure adequate qualitative characteristics of its human resources.
The impossibility of achieving material results based on the individual’s professional abilities and education background has reduced the demand for quality education. This has had a negative impact on the level of professionalism of university professors. Teaching at the university is not considered to be a profitable job and does not attract highly qualified professionals, especially younger scientists.
This results in a drastic deterioration of the quality of university education. The opportunities for getting quality higher education in Armenia are decreased year by year. This causes a brain drain to the educational institutions abroad.
The Armenian students who study abroad mostly do not return to the country. In this situation, administrative methods will not help. The only solution is to undertake measures necessary to ensure the quality standards for the higher education system including creating opportunities for the professional realization of qualified specialists in the sphere.
It should be noted that in Armenia the problem is not the absence of qualified human resources, as some high-ranked officials try to assure. The problem is the lack of opportunities for realization of the qualified professionals’ potential. This is why people leave the country or prefer self-employment or unemployment to the miserable salaries offered in the labor market.
The emergence of a labor market where qualified human resources are in demand should be considered an issue of strategic importance since it can contribute to the reduction of poverty, prevention of emigration and emergence of social demand for raising education standards. This is the only way of attracting highly qualified specialists into the education system.
http://www.yerkir.am
Comment by Onnik Krikorian — 9/21/2004 @ 5:06 am
Onnik,
First off, happy independence day of our great country, Armenia!
Secondly, don’t get me wrong, but I’d like to make sure that the article you posted does exist. If the article was released on September 17, then it would have been in this portion of the Yerkir.am website: http://www.yerkir.am/arm/index.php?sub=news_arm&day=17&month=09&year=2004
, correct? I couldnt find that article, could you please post a link?
Thanks!
Comment by Hakob Gevorgian — 9/21/2004 @ 11:00 am
Hakob,
It’s linked straight from the front page of the english section of the Yerkir web site:
http://www.yerkir.am
or you can just look at:
http://www.yerkir.am/eng/index.php?sub=newspaper_arm&exp=top&month=09&year=2004&number=17&id=4594
Comment by Onnik Krikorian — 9/21/2004 @ 2:16 pm
Oh, and I forgot to return the salutation.
Happy Independence Day to you too.
Cheers,
Comment by Onnik — 9/21/2004 @ 2:18 pm
Onik, it’s a good article and I think ARF makes it clear that input is needed. But I don’t think Dual Citizenship is the issue that holds back capitalist Armenians living abroad. I think they should realise what the Armenians went thru and they should really understand that by having dual citizenship amendment in the constitution, some Armenian-speakers could easily access to unlimited resources of the country and work on the country’s future.
What is your opinion about Zionism (Zionism in general) and the fact that the Armenian-speaking Jewish nationals count is currently rising. I think this question needs to be discussed before taking step forward and discuss about the dual citizenship.
Best regards,
Hakob Gevorgian
Comment by Hakob Gevorgian — 9/22/2004 @ 2:38 pm
I’m not using any argument against the idea of dual citizenship. My point was in the previous discussion, why not? However, I was also saying that a number of things need to be addressed first — but not before dual citizenship can be permitted but rather, before we can expect any significant influx of Diaspora Armenians.
Namely, they issues that Katy pointed out re. possible obstacles to attracting large numbers of Diaspora to Armenia. I think mypoint was simply that only a small number (let’s even say, a handful, of US and European Armenians would come to permanently live in Armenia because, first of all, low salaries and lack of suitable jobs.
In the short-term, it would be mainly CIS and Middle East Armenians because salaries are not going to rise in anything but the very long term to levels that allow a fairly similar life to one that you could live in the west.
Also, my point was that lifting the restriction on dual citizenship does not necessarily solve the problems that prevent most US and European Armenians from moving to Armenia ie. military service, tax issues etc. That can only be changed with other constitutional and legal changes.
As I said, there is an internal argument as to dual citizenship and the idea that it would allow hayastantsi to avoid Armenian military service by taking another citizenship but as I also said, I still don’t understand the basis of those arguments.
Personally, as my son was born in Armenia to an Armenian mother and because I am a natural-born British citizen and therefore, so is he (there is no application necessary — he is considered a British citizen automatically on his birth), dual citizenship actually makes my life easier as well as his.
Anyway, to repeat again, I am not using any socio-economic or political arguments to oppose the introduction of dual citizenship, I’m just saying that there are many, many obstacles to then attracting people to take Armenian citizenship and move here.
But, re. resources, firstly, I think that the main area that the Diaspora could help with is with regards to investment in Armenia to push the country further economically and to try to get to the situation where hayastantsi have easier and more economically-stable lives which in turn would set a more realistic environment for which those Diasporans that want to move to Armenia, can.
Of course, again, there are other issues such as the fight against corruption, the rule of law, the independence (or not) of the judiciary in business disputes and all the rest of it. All the types of things that internal political parties say they are fighting to resolve (including the ARF-D who have tried to spearhead the anti-corruption strategy despite opposition from others in government) and all the sorts of things that are necessary to struggle against to ensure the development of any newly independent state. In fact, the battles still exist in the west — it is a necessary process for every country even for those in a more developed stage.
As for Armenian-speaking Jews, sorry, never heard of them and certainly, have never heard any mention of them with regards to representing an obstacle to dual citizenship. I know there are Armenian-speaking Moslemsn (the Hamshen in Turkey) so maybe there are but I would imagine that they exist only in small numbers.
But, I don’t really know. I think there are other issues that represent more of an obstacle not to the issue of dual citizenship but to the idea of a closer Armenia-Diaspora relationship whether that involves people moving here en masse or not.
Cheers,
Comment by Onnik Krikorian — 9/22/2004 @ 6:11 pm