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18 The Armenian Reporter | November 22, 2008ArmeniaHranush Hakobyan: “The Diaspora Ministry is thehome of every Armenian”An interview withthe new ministerby Vincent LimaYEREVAN – When I made myfirst trip to Armenia 16 years ago,I stayed at the Erebuni Hotel offRepublic Square for three weeks.It was a well-worn facility, and atthe time it accommodated guestson the fourth and fifth floors only.The other floors were occupied byrefugees from Azerbaijan.On October 21, accompanied bymy colleague Maria Titizian, I returnedto the hotel, now all freshand shiny after a major renovationjob, right back to the fifth floor. Wehad an appointment with HranushHakobyan, the head of thenewly formed Diaspora Ministry ofArmenia. Her large office was filledwith floral arrangements – tokensof affection from her friends on theoccasion of her appointment.As we sat there, sipping bitterArmenian coffee, I thought aboutthe refugees who had lived in thatbuilding. Some of them had becomeintegrated into the local society.Many of them had movedabroad. Even as Maria and I had,each of us, moved to Armenia withour families, hundreds of thousandsof Armenians had movedaway from Armenia. Not only hadArmenia changed over the last twodecades; so too had the diaspora,much expanded by this huge influx.Or perhaps there were multiple Armeniandiasporas, and Armenianemigrants from Armenia and Azerbaijanwere the newest diaspora.Was the Diaspora Ministry an effortto reach out to that new, notyet-organizeddiaspora?“For our ministry, there is no olddiaspora, new diaspora, small diaspora,or big diaspora,” Ms. Hakobyananswered our first question.“For us the guiding principle is theArmenian person living outside ofhis or her homeland – by homelandI mean either Armenia orNagorno-Karabakh. We are readyto work with, discuss, cooperatewith, and make decisions with everysingle Armenian living outsideof the homeland, whether they areindividuals or organizations. Aftermaking decisions, we must worktogether to realize them. This is mygreatest desire.”Ms. Hakobyan acknowledgedthat President Serge Sargsianhad intended to send a powerfulmessage with the creation of theDiaspora Ministry. “He understoodthat he had to deal with issues andmake decisions that impact Armeniansall over the world. And thatwas the reason that in his plansthere were three important principles:“(1) Preservation of Armenianidentity (hayabahbanum) in all itsforms. By preservation of Armenianidentity we mean the Armenianfamily, Armenian culture,faith, and our mother tongue. Ifthese four great pillars remainsteadfast and strong, then we willbe able to resolve the many issuesof our preservation.“(2) Discovering and tappinginto the potential of the diasporato help empower the homelandand bring about progress. Thismeans that in different countriesthroughout the world where wehave powerful, resourceful, establishedspecialists, scientists, businesspeople,and cultural figures,all their energy and focus must beHranush Hakobyan. Photo: Photolure.directed to the empowerment ofthe homeland.“(3) Repatriation. By repatriationwe don’t only mean physical return.We mean the return of the mindand heart, which will then bringthe physical return with it. In repatriation(hayrenatardzutiun) wemust see a return to Armenianness(hayatardzutiun). The more peoplethere are who want to return totheir roots, the more it will help tostrengthen the homeland.”Where the DiasporaMinistry fits inIn the absence of a dedicated ministryover the past 17 years, muchhas been done to draw diasporaArmenians to Armenia and to enhanceand coordinate their contributionsto Armenia’s development.At the very start of Armenia’s independence,President Levon Ter-Petrossian set up the ArmeniaFund, which coordinates charitablework. President Robert Kocharianinitiated the Armenia-Diasporaconferences, of which there havebeen three so far, the Pan-ArmenianGames, a set of Pan-Armeniancultural festivals under the rubric,“One Nation, One Culture,” andother Armenia-diaspora initiatives.There is no shortage of informationfrom Armenia. Armeniansaround the world have access toArmenia’s public television andArmenia TV; there’s the ArmenianReporter out of New Jersey, Yerevan,Los Angeles, and Washington;there’s Yerevan magazine outof Moscow and Yerevan; there arenews agencies, websites, and blogs.And there’s a constant stream ofvisitors in and out of Armenia.Even philanthropic work hasbecome more sophisticated, withinitiatives like the Children ofArmenia Fund – and the Armenian-AmericanWellness Center, aproject led jointly by Rita Balianin Virginia and Ms. Hakobyan inYerevan.Where does the Diaspora Ministryfit into this complex of existingstructures?“After 17 years of independence,ties and partnerships have beenformed, yes. The traditional partiesreturned to the homeland. Manyorganizations set up affiliates. Governingbodies within ministrieshave established ties with diasporacommunities. I think that the creationof this ministry has been 17years late in coming,” Ms. Hakobyansaid.Although the ministry was officiallylaunched on October 1, Ms.Hakobyan had been assemblingher team and setting up for somemonths earlier. “After only severalmonths of working,” she said, “wehave found that there is the needfor coordination. Everything thathas been done, has been done haphazardly,has been done independentof each other, without coordinationor direction. The greatestmission of this ministry is the coordinationall state governing bodiesin their cooperation with diasporastructures and to cooperate withall private and nongovernmentalorganizations that work with thediaspora.”Even though the ministry willtake the lead role in the Armeniangovernment’s relations with thediaspora, it is “not prepared to becomethe ‘government’ of the diaspora,”Ms. Hakobyan was at painsto emphasize.The ministry and theArmenia FundMs. Hakobyan was preparing tomeet with the governors of Armenia’sregions to ask them what theywant from the diaspora in the wayof aid and investments. “At the endof the day I will have on my table50–100 proposals from their particularregions for any diaspora organizationor individual that wouldlike to participate. These proposalswill then have priority.”We wondered: Isn’t this what theArmenia Fund does? To set prioritiesfor charitable funding, it has aboard of trustees, which is headedby the president of Armenia andincludes the president of Karabakh,the prime ministers and other ministersof the two Armenian republics,the catholicoi, and prominentfigures from the diaspora.Ms. Hakobyan replied, “But letus not forget that for the last 15years, the Armenia Fund’s mainemphasis or area of work has beenon the revitalization of Karabakh’sinfrastructure: road work, waterpipes, building schools. But whatare the real needs of Armenia? Idon’t think the Armenia Fund hasworked in this area.”What about the Rural DevelopmentProgram? This is a programto provide for the comprehensivedevelopment of border villages inArmenia and Karabakh.“During the last Armenia-DiasporaConference, this program wasadopted, yes, and it was specificallyfor border towns – and that is onlyone portion of the problem,” Ms.Hakobyan responded.Isn’t the role of the ArmeniaFund to look at the whole rangeof challenges and to select theones that are most important? Ifthe focus for many years was onKarabakh’s infrastructure, was thatnot because the trustees determinedthat programs like the Goris-Lachin-Stepanakert Highway werethe most important program interms of Armenia’s security, defense,and development? Now themost important priority, accordingto the trustees, is the revitalizationof border villages. Beyond that firstpriority, the fund has additionalhigh-priority programs. So isn’tthe Diaspora Ministry repeatingsomething that already exists?“When we say that there is a strategicimportance to revitalizing bordertowns, then yes, let’s do it,” Ms.Hakobyan responded. “When wesay we want to present programson a regional level, that means wehave a more scientific, economic,organized way of presenting proposals.That doesn’t have to opposethe work of the Armenia Fund. Weare not implementing someone’semotional request, but a concreteissue will be resolved.”She added that the border villagestargeted by the Armenia Fundare each in a particular region. “Sittingin Yerevan, I shouldn’t decidewhich village is a priority,” she said.“I need to depend on the reports Iget from the governors. This doesn’tcontradict the work of the ArmeniaFund. The programs of the ArmeniaFund are approved by the board.What I’m saying is that outside ofthe activities of the Armenia Fund,if there is an Armenian organization,individual, a non-Armenianwho wants to carry out projects inArmenia that are not on the agendaof the Armenia Fund, then we haveto assist them.”Repatriation and IraqiArmeniansDoes the ministry plan to implementan organized repatriation effort?Ms. Hakobyan said Armeniamust learn lessons from its pastexperience with repatriation. “Iwould never want repatriationto be like the repatriation of the1940s, when people came withhopes and dreams and ended upstarving. That is why our ministryis initiating a conference on the lessonsof the 1946–48 repatriation inDecember.”For Armenians to want to cometo Armenia and stay in Armenia,the country needs to be able to“boast a true democracy, protecthuman rights, and protect freedomsin general,” the minister said.It also needs to continue its rapideconomic development.Any program, she said, wouldhave to guarantee basic living conditionsfor Armenians who chose toresettle in Armenia and help themovercome obstacles of languageand integration into society.“We have two levels of repatriationissues,” Ms. Hakobyan said.The United Nations DevelopmentProgram in Armenia launchesits first project enhancing knowhowexchange among Armeniansworldwide. Through the “Transferof Knowledge through ExpatriateNationals (TOKTEN)” Program,highly skilled Armenian in the diasporawill have the chance to providetechnical expertise, policy advice,and research services to centraland local government, privateand public sector enterprises, universities,and research centers inThe first level is helping Armeniansliving in Iraq and other zones ofadversity. Armenia must “provideproper shelter to those Armenianswho need it, assist them to come toArmenia, but not to stay here fora few months and then leave foranother country; rather, to createconditions where they would wantto stay here.”The second level is to draw Armenianswho live in “well-developedcountries, who are used to all theconveniences of the places wherethey live, have a higher education,and good jobs. We have to be ableto give them even better conditionshere in Armenia for them tomove here,” she said.The troubleshooter rolePart of Ms. Hakobyan’s role isthat of ombudsperson. As one ofa handful of ministers appointeddirectly by the president, she hasevery expectation that governmentofficials on all levels will be very responsiveto her prodding. As herconstituents – Armenians who liveoutside Armenia or are from outsideArmenia – draw her attentionto problems, she is empowered totake action.Ms. Hakobyan is among the bestknownpeople in Armenia. A dynamicspeaker and administrator,she had a high profile among youthin the last years of the Soviet era.She served as a nonpartisan memberof parliament for many years,until her appointment as minister.She has traveled widely and beeninvolved in many projects. And shehas not slowed down.Her no-nonsense, no-procrastinationattitude was on displayduring our interview. When wewere speaking of repatriation, shelearned that Maria has researchedand written a historical novel onthe repatriation drive of the late1940s. Next thing we knew, thehead of the relevant departmenthad been summoned to the minister’soffice and had been instructedto invite Maria to speak at the Decemberconference on the lessonsof that repatriation drive. We mentionedthat our reporting showedthat officials at the passport andvisa office were routinely rude toArmenians applying for Armeniancitizenship. The minister had herassistant schedule a meeting withthe head of the passport and visaoffice, and his boss, the chief of police.A constant complaint of Armenianswho receive residency permitsin Armenia is the rendering oftheir names in Armenian. “I havewritten to the prime minister abouthow Armenian names are beingdistorted due to mechanical transliterationfrom English or otherContinued on page 19 mThe ministry is recruiting expertsthrough the UNDPfields like environment, education,sciences, health, public administration,enterprises management,and information technology.Several positions are available,including one titled “Expert onAmerican Armenian Communities.”Each is a six-month postingat the Diaspora Ministry. Theextended application deadline isNovember 30.fconnect:http://www.undp.am/?page=Jobs