ARARAT and ZION

Fidelio"K" · August 5, 2004

Jerusalem Post (subscription), Israel

Aug 4 2004

Snap judgement: Between Ararat and Zion

By CALEV BEN-DAVID

For centuries, a people with its own unique culture, language and

religion lived in exile from its ancestral homeland as it lay under

foreign rule.

Scattered in diaspora communities across the globe, these people

suffered ostracism, persecution and even genocide, while dreaming of

the day their nation would regain its independence. Finally, through

an almost miraculous set of geopolitical circumstances, that dream

was fulfilled against all odds.

It's not the Jews I'm talking about - it's the Armenians, whose

homeland achieved long-awaited independence with the breakup of the

Soviet Union in 1991.

At that time, Armenia's resident population was thought to be

comparable with that of the Armenian diaspora, numbering in the

three-to-four million range. No longer. Armenians are now free to go

home; however, they are also free to leave, and apparently, many are

doing just that.

According to a recent report in The Washington Post, there has a been

a mass exodus of Armenians out of their country in the past decade.

Although an Armenian census in 2001 listed the official population as

3.2 million, most Armenians believe the actual figure is now at least

a million, if not two million, lower than that. Most of the emigrants

have gone to Russia, with others joining the large ethnic Armenian

communities in France, North America and elsewhere.

"It's the economy," a member of the Armenian community in Jerusalem

told me. "It's gotten so bad people can barely get bread to eat

there."

Gevorg Pogosyan, a sociologist in the Armenian capital, Yerevan, told

The Washington Post: "I call it depopulation. It calls into question

whether Armenia is a country with a future. We are a weak society,

weakened both politically and economically by this migration."

Why are things so bad in Armenia? Well, it's a small country with few

natural resources that must share its borders with hostile Muslim

countries (Turkey and Azerbaijan)... you get the idea.

Reading of Armenia's plight, I couldn't help thinking of the

similarities with Israel, as well as the differences. Comparisons

between Armenians and Jews have been noted fairly often in the past,

and Armenian activists have admitted taking inspiration from their

Jewish counterparts in trying to get the world to acknowledge what

they see as the Turkish genocide perpetrated against their people

during World War I.

The Armenian diaspora, just like the Jewish one, is also pumping

billions of dollars back home to alleviate the situation there. "If

not for these billions, we would have had riots and revolutions

here," Pogosyan told The Washington Post.

Although things aren't quite as dire in Israel, the parallels between

the Armenian and Jewish diasporas in the relationship to their

"national homelands" are striking. Both even express their

nationalistic yearnings through the symbolism of holy mountains,

Ararat and Zion.

Is there anything useful for Israel and the Jewish people to learn

from Armenia's current migration plight? One lesson almost too

obvious is that the deepest feelings of yearning for a beloved

motherland, even those inculcated from birth, are not enough to

attract (or even hold) a population there if that nation cannot offer

its people adequate material conditions.

All the money invested in such worthy programs as birthright israel

won't help bring aliya from the Western world if foreign capital

isn't also being invested in Israeli businesses. Promoting Israel to

the Jewish world primarily as a charity case also doesn't help

matters, which is why Jewish Agency Chairman Sallai Meridor was right

this week to take exception to the new government plan to use funds

raised abroad to directly underwrite the providing of hot lunches for

Israeli schoolchildren.

Maybe, though, we should be cautious about taking this comparison too

far. After all, Israel has gone through bad patches comparable to

Armenia's, perhaps even worse in terms of the security situation. And

although an estimated hundreds of thousands of Israelis have voted

with their feet to seek a better life elsewhere, this country's

population has risen steadily, often dramatically, since its birth,

sometimes during its most difficult periods.

The difference, of course, lies not with the situations of the

nations of Israel and Armenia, but of their respective diasporas. A

series of historical circumstances since Theodor Herzl first called

for the re-establishment of a Jewish commonwealth more than a century

ago has propelled much of the Jewish world back to its ancestral

homeland, often not out of ancient yearnings, but as a last refuge.

Looking back over just the past quarter-century, it's remarkable how

a confluence of events in most of the remaining major centers of the

Jewish diaspora - the former Soviet Union, Argentina, and now France

- has seemingly contrived to nudge a significant number of Jews in

the direction of Israel. As bad as things have gotten here at times,

it seems there is always someplace else in the world where it's even

worse for the local Jewish population.

This isn't cause for complacency, though, and Israel should take note

of Armenia's current woes as a cautionary example. It's in this

context, perhaps, that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's recent call for

the Jews of France to make aliya should be understood - and not as

French President Jacques Chirac interpreted it, as a rebuke to France

for failing to prevent the rise of Muslim anti-Semitism. If Jews

aren't coming to Israel, from France and elsewhere, then they're

probably leaving it, and "depopulation" is a phenomenon this nation

can't afford.

Gagik Yeganyan, the government official in charge of dealing with the

Armenian migration crisis, told The Washington Post: "We have a

national idea - 'One country, one nation, one culture, one religion.'

It means that Armenia is considered the motherland for all Armenians

living around the world, even though only 30 percent of Armenians

live on the territory of the motherland. Armenians who leave always

think they are not leaving forever."

Right. Now where have I heard that one before?

Vigen · August 5, 2004

а про че тут? можете кратко обьяснить?

Fidelio"K" · August 5, 2004

а про че тут? можете кратко обьяснить?

автор статьи пытaется ответить на вопрос массового исхода армян из Армении за последнюю декаду. Он анализирует ситуацию ссылаясь на высказывания армянских экономистов, социологов и представителей миграционной службы Армении и приходит к выводу, что основной и единственной причиной является экономически-бедственное состояние страны.

по ходу он проводит многочисленные паралели судеб евреев и армян, приводя исторические факты, схожие модели взаимодействия диаспор и родины, национальной психики , менталитета и даже символики (Арарат и Сион как два основных символа возраждения этих двух наций).

Автор с тревогой указывает на факт того, что для многих хлеб насущный выше идеи нации и земли, и что сам Израиль не застраховaн от того же развития событий, случись там экономический крах.

Edited August 5, 2004 by Fidelio"K"

Gayane · August 12, 2004

Недавно слышала что 3000 евреев уедут из Франции, причина - боязнь за свою безопасность Хлеб насущный отходит на второй план когда речь заходит о безопасности жизни.

Остается выяснить, где армянам угрожает опасность и наши власти могут последовать примеру Шарона

Fidelio"K" · August 12, 2004

Недавно слышала что 3000 евреев уедут из Франции, причина - боязнь за свою безопасность Хлеб насущный отходит на второй план когда речь заходит о безопасности жизни.
Остается выяснить, где армянам угрожает опасность и наши власти могут последовать примеру Шарона

вы наверное не прочитали статью, которую я запостил

вот, что там говорится о Шароне и импортируемых французких евреях