Announcement

**Hovik** · 08-16-2005, 08:50 AM

I will start with my feelings:

My body may have been born in the United States - in exile (although I didn't know it until years later when I finally understood). However, my heart - which led me to my motherland - Hayastan, was born somewhere between the Western windswept hills of Kharpert and the Eastern mountain streams of Artsakh, between the Northern apricot trees of Javakh, and the Southern ruins of Nahijevan. This land ran through my blood and has led my body back to it from my childhood innocence and ignorance. Since, I have taken a beautiful wife from Yerevan, I have been married at Khor Virab, and baptized at Etchmiadzin - all with pennies that I saved from my own hard work - because it meant something very important to me. Someday my heart will no longer beat, but it will be buried - accompanied by my body - in the land of it's own birth - Haystan. This was decided at the age of 25, so it is never too early to consider these things.

Between now and my death, it would be nothing short of my dream to live, and raise a family in Hayastan. I have an education to finish in my host country, after which I shall put all my energies towards finding some way to live in my motherland. Wether it is getting a job in an international firm, or a non-goverment organization, or even if it means buying a piece of land and starting to build - that is what I will try to do. There is no job to poor for me - when I have the happyness and satisfaction of living in my motherland. Remaining in my host country will be only my last option, in which case, my children will spend summers with Grandma, Aunts and Uncles in Armenia, they will grow there - hearts needing not be separated from bodies. This is important for me. This is how my children will develop that important tie to their land - a tie they would've never gotten wondering what is Haystan from the isolationist societies of our host country.

This is my dream - becoming my reality...

**Hovik** · 09-02-2005, 03:35 PM

Nobody???!!!

Well, I must say, I am floored! It's going on three weeks since I posted this thread and NOBODY has responded? Whats going on people (Armenians)?

A lot of Armenians come here and express their patriotism, their dedication to our nation, but nobody has expressed their interest in solidifying our cause by considering leaving exile and returning to Armenia. This is troubling... Surely, I didn't expect that EVERYONE would jump in and share their dreams or ideas, but NOBODY? WOW!

Without the Diaspora (or a large part of it) making it a point to dedicate themselves to returning to the land, the cause is lost.

I am hoping the 43 people who have read the article at this point just haven't had time to write ALL of their thoughts down, but I doubt it.

I'll reiterate: Even if you have no intention to come out of exile, please talk about the reasons for why, and what if any circumstances would make you think this way, or make you change your mind. I think these things are important to know...

otherwise your silence will surely say more than you think...

**Tongue** · 09-15-2005, 09:04 AM

Hovik... BEAUTIFUL thread! I got here from the link you posted in "Armenian boy killed in Tehran" thread. I apologize for not replying sooner. I wholeheartedly agree with everything you said in this thread. I don't know, Armenia has been getting better and better by the day. It's not too unrealistic to expect Armenians from diaspora to eventually move back. Specially Armenians from Muslim third world countries such as Iran, Iraq, etc. And believe me, they have. There are only 60,000 Armenians left in Iran today! I've told me parents, once I graduate I'm opening a business or doing something positive in Armenia and I'm gonna spend at least 4 months every year over there. I understand it's gonna be hard once you have a husband and a kid, but it's something I always wanted to do and I will.

**Hovik** · 12-01-2005, 12:05 PM

Dual-Citizenship at last!

Well, haven't been to this thread in a while, but given the fact that the Referendum on the Armenian Constitution has passed allowing for Dual-Citizenship, there just may be some renewed discussion here.

What does it mean for me? Well, naturally I will pursue Armenian Citizenship! However, the details and guidelines of elgibility for dual citizenship are quite vague to me. I believe there will be issues with my current inability to complete military service (though I would be happy to in the future), and restrictions on residency, since while I have a home in Yerevan, I am not on the house title as a occupant.

As a citizen of the United States this is the most ideal situation that could have come out of the referendum. I feel that by gaining membership in the citizenry of my motherland I can make a greater contribution to it's future. In short, dual-citizenship offers a comfortable stepping-stone towards Armenia, for someone like me who would have had a difficult time making the LEAP from US Citizenship and nothing else to Armenian Citizenship and nothing else.

Am I willing to pay state taxes?
Am I willing to pay a military exemption tax?
Am I willing to forfiet voting rights while residing outside Armenia?

YES YES YES!

One of the major benefits of Armenia accepting the diaspora and others as citizens is their ability to levy a tax on us. One could only imagine how much money the government could raise for a fiscal budget if they charged every new dual-citizen say $50/year! Imagine what that additional funding could be used for in the sphere of infrastucture and development projects. New Roads, Water and sewer systems, Infotech! The possibilities are endless.

As for a military exemption tax, if that is how they choose to justify allowing non-serving, non-resident citizens the priveledge of being citizens all the power to 'em! Having two brothers that served in the Armenian Armed Forces, and reading numerous books written about the Liberation of Artsakh, I have a very good understanding how bad the military needs funding. Armenia's military is already regarded as the most war-ready, toughest force in all former soviet countries. But with Azerbaijan warmongering about how they plan to spend the amount of Armenia's entire fiscal budget on their military alone by 2007, I am ready to do my part to help Armenia step it up as well. If that means sending money to my brother and having him deliver new RPG's and Kalashnikov's or cases of ammunition to the military I'll do that too - I will. It would be my honor to pay a tax, especially if part of it was to go to the pay raise of the average soldier, or buy new uniforms, etc. It must be done.

And there isn't much to say about voting. I can read the news from my comfy chair in the states every single day, but if I'm not on the ground in Hayastan how could I possibly make an informed voting decision. I think a dual-citizen should have to reside in the country for at least 1 year before voting is permissable, and must maintain residency at least 50% of the time after that in order to be elgible to vote. That is perfectly simple and acceptable to me - it's only fair that those that live the life on the land decide who represent them.

So, now I want to know about y'all. Who else has plans to apply for citizenship?

**1.5 million** · 12-01-2005, 02:48 PM

I am not sufficiently informed on some of these matters to really comment - though I will be interested in developments (of this dual citizenship issue in particular) - not for myself - it is a non-issue for me (and I will be happy to elaborate on this at some point) - but I do think how this and related issues of Diaporan inclusion into what is considered to be the "nation" of Armenia are critical to its future, its survival and its potential....

**phantom** · 12-01-2005, 03:10 PM

Nice thread Hovik. I think there is some amount of truth in what you argue about Armenians living in "host countries" unless they live in Armenia. Sometimes I daydream about living in Armenia, even though I have never been there, and I have a rather comfortable life here in America. But it is one of my goals to do something in Armenia that would require me to live there at least half of the year.

It's a strange thing too, because I didn't grow up in a nationalistic family. My roots are in Turkey, and my family is as much Turkish as Armenian in many ways. We speak Turkish together and listen to Turkish music and call foods by their Turkish names. But at the same time, everyone in my parents' generation of my family is fluent and can read and write in Armenian, and everyone in my generation can understand Armenian, but cannot converse fluently, yet those in my generation are much more interested in developments in Armenia and developments regarding recognition of the Armenian Genocide than those in my parents' generation.

I think that most countries in the world can be considered "host" countries for Armenians, except Turkey and the United States. To me "host" country connotes an identity division between the host and the guest. If the United States is a "host" country, then it is a host country to almost everyone who lives here, because almost everyone who lives here is originally from somewhere else. Personally, I don't feel like a "guest" living here in the U.S. I feel like a full-fledged owner and integral and respected member of this society. As for Turkey, I don't think of it as a "host" either, because our people are originally from that land. How can you be a guest of a land from which your people originated? The Armenians who still live in Turkey are those who's families have always lived and never left, even during and after the Genocide, they are the ones who managed to stay, survive and thrive. So even if the Turks sometimes try to make us feel like we are guests, we are not, we are, in fact, the hosts.

**Kharpert** · 12-01-2005, 03:27 PM

I have sworn allegiance to both the United States and Armenia, and I cannot consider either allegiance to be more important. Even so, the decision to take residence in a nation transcends allegiance; immigration takes place only when one is promised a better life.