The Armenian Survey and Diaspora Affairs

Vahe H. Apelian

 Two very important developments happened in the Armenian world recently. They are the publication of the results of the Armenian Diaspora Survey (ADS) (Սփիւռքի Հետխոզութեան Ծրագիր) and the appointment of the Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs. These two developments are bound to coalesce in addressing what the very first survey of the state of the Armenian Diaspora, at least in the current century, revealed. 

First the Survey

The ADS was initiated and manned by the Armenian Institute (Հայ Հիմնարկ). It was funded by the Armenian Department of the Gulbenkian Foundation whose executive director is Dr. Razmig Panossian. The purpose of the survey is self-evident but the manner is not necessarily so. The ADS, as its website claims, is a public opinion RESEARCH in the Armenian Diaspora communities to have an EVIDENCE-BASE understanding of the Armenian Diaspora life: its issues, attitudes, and the trends that are shaping the Armenian Diaspora in the 21st century. The survey was conducted in Marseille, Cairo, Pasadena, and Boston and will be repeating every four years in different Armenian communiities.

A team of academics, researchers and experts conducted The Armenian Diaspora Survey. They are Hratch Tchilingirian (Director), Susan Paul Pattie (Senior Advisor), Hayk Gyuzalyan (Survey Method Advisor), Leon Aslanov (Researcher and Analyst), Gagik Stepan-Sarkissian (Executive Administrator). The members of the Advisory Committee were: Armine Ishkanian, Sossie Kasbarian, Joanne Randa Nucho, Vahe Sahakyan, Khachig Tölölyan. 

Those interested may read the biographies of the principals who conducted the survey, about the survey itself and its results in its official website: https://www.armeniandiasporasurvey.com

The Commissioner of Diaspora Affairs

The PM Nikol Pashinyan has appointed Zareh Sinanyan as the Commissioner of Diaspora Affairs. We all know by now that the Pashinyan Government abolished the Ministry of the Diaspora. 

Zareh Sinanyan was born in Yerevan in Yerevan in 1973 and is a naturalized American citizen. He resigned his post as the Mayor of City of Glendale in California and moved to Armenia. In his first interviews  Zareh Sinanyan claimed his position as the commissioner relieves him from the bureaucratic burden of a minister in the government and will give him much more time to attend to meet the demands of the Diaspora Affairs, a division that reports directly to the PM. The commissioner has already laid down his priorities to start with the Armenian Diaspora in Russia (he is fluent in Russian) where a sizeable Armenians live and referred to as the inner diaspora, in contrast to the long-established post-genocide diaspora consisting of the Western Armenians and the newly-established diaspora consisting of the Armenians who left Armenia after the breakdown of the Soviet Union.

It is apparent that Sinanyan enjoys the full trust of the Prime Minister Pashinyan and surely is delegated to implement the grand vision of the Prime Minister. Recently Raffi Doudaklian, the Executive Director of the Tufenkjian Foundation, who resides in Armenia, noted on his Facebook page that the President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian and the Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan have a different vision of the All Armenia Fund, which was Armenia centric fund. Their vision is to have the fund's mission include both Diaspora and Armenia. Simply said, addressing the needs of Armenians wherever that may be, be in Armenia or in Diaspora. A similar vision was embraced by Diaspora community leaders such as Dr. Yervant Kassouny.

How are the Survey and the creation of the Diaspora Affairs related?

The ADS reveals interesting statistics on a variety of issues that pertain the Armenians in the Diaspora, such 59% believe in the importance of retaining the Armenian language at home, 78% of the Armenians think that the continuation of the Diaspora is important.  My impression is that the overall results of the Survey scientifically give credence to the President's and PM's grand vision and direct the Diaspora Affairs in addressing the needs of the Diaspora.