A shift in priorities?

[nairi]

I hope to God Armenia will never be as pathetic and low as Turkey to want to join a Empire of Bandits (aka EU). Our only hope is on ourselves. Sure foreign affairs plays an important role, but more important perhaps are internal affairs. Let's just make sure Armenia is run by honest people, rather than the corrupt maffia that is running it now, and we'll already be 50 steps ahead of any country. Who needs the EU anyway? A bunch of arrogant dogs who think everyone wants to join them. I'd say, make everyone want to join The Republic of Armenia! And not the other way around!

[IAmMadAtAC]

Who needs the EU anyway? A bunch of arrogant dogs who think everyone wants to join them. I'd say, make everyone want to join The Republic of Armenia! And not the other way around!

Haha, you sound like one of those kids on the playground rejected from the cool group, so you make your own club to make yourself feel better and tell yourself that yours is so much better.
There's a reason people are clamoring to join the EU and not Armenia.

[Hayq]

Yes, bash on the Turk, but they are the one with a large land with a powerful military, while the Armenian who never forgets the past is on is isolated in its tiny mountain land.

Let's say, the genocide is accepted by Turkey. Then what? Armenia becomes a prospering country? No. You are going to rely on Turks, British, French, and Americans (the ones you want to admit the genocide) on forcing Justice? tell me, who do you think you are? Armenians are nobodies. The same people who have screwed us over in the past and now you want them to admit their faults and bring justice to Turkey. That is bull sh*t.

What do we do? we concentrate on our Armenia...build that landlocked island of rocks and lost souls into a haven for Armenians. We build its industry, infastructure, and revive it. We gain political power in the Caucasus and we backstabd the French, British, Jews, and Americans by threatening to Blow the hell out of the pipeline if they do not comply with us.

Majority of Armenians are idiots anyway, what do you understand about world affairs? NOTHING! BECAUSE YOUARE TALKING ABOUT JUSTICE! HAHA. There is no Justice, just blackmail after blackmail.

[Che_Ka]

I'm a big advocate of keeping Genocide Recognition at the top of the list of what we need to do.

One of the reasons is that, yes, this is an issue that unites all Armenians. On this issue, we can all work together and make our voice heard. Quite frankly, without the Genocide issue, Armenians would be even less known than we are today. This is quite a depressing and convoluted way of looking at things, but it's true.

But, this begs the question. The day that Turkey and the US recognize the Genocide seems to be nearing us. For me, it is a foregone conclusion, ESPECIALLY FOLLOWING WHAT AN AMERICAN STATESMAN said a couple of days ago regarding the Genocide. (US State Dept spokesman, Richard Boucher: "Our position on the Armenia question is pretty well known. We've acknowledged the terrible tragedy that befell the Armenian community in Anatolia in the final years of the Ottoman Empire.") But after they recognize it.....then what? What do we do?

The Genocide issue has been one of the reasons we have been able to slow the assimilation process. Once it is recognized, will this change things? I think Hayq has a valid point in perhaps changing policy. We need another issue to help unite Armenians worldwide. I guess the Telethon(s) showed that Armenians can rally around something other than the Genocide.

I honestly think there should be a real effort to promote Armenia as the Diasporans' homeland. That it is the "azkayin doork" of every Armenian to return to Armenia. Of course, RA has to make some efforts (dual citizenship; more incentives in the laws for 'dzakoomov hay' foreign nationals, etc). The Armenian organizations worldwide need to start reminding people that the Diaspora is a temporary institution -- the end result is either assimilation or a return to Armenia, take your pick.

[IAmMadAtAC]

What do we do? we concentrate on our Armenia...build that landlocked island of rocks and lost souls into a haven for Armenians. We build its industry, infastructure, and revive it. We gain political power in the Caucasus and we backstabd the French, British, Jews, and Americans by threatening to Blow the hell out of the pipeline if they do not comply with us.

Ughh enough with the idealistic crap! That is pure crap! Fighting for genocide recognition is about the only tangible thing we can do for Armenia. You say all this stuff, build it up, make it a haven for Armenians, destroy the pipeline, you know all of that is folly! You can say whatever you want, but like I said, how do you do that?! How do you build up such a place to a haven from what it is now?? I would not say it's impossible, but it's a terribly slow process that certainly will not speed up in any way by forgetting the genocide. Especially now, when the EU, who is reluctant to accept Turkey, and actually wants to recognize the genocide because they know Turkey will not and therefor it can be used as a way to keep them out, this is not the time to give up! And thinking we are holding Armenia back from some immediate prosperous future because we want to do justice for our ancestors it's just plain wrong and stupid to think.

[IAmMadAtAC]

We gain political power in the Caucasus and we backstabd the French, British, Jews, and Americans by threatening to Blow the hell out of the pipeline if they do not comply with us.

Majority of Armenians are idiots anyway, what do you understand about world affairs? NOTHING! BECAUSE YOUARE TALKING ABOUT JUSTICE! HAHA. There is no Justice, just blackmail after blackmail.

Also what the HELL are you talking about here? You say something about Armenians are stupid because all they rely on is no justice but blackmail after blackmail, and yet look what you said right before it!
You want Armenia to blackmail the French, British, Jews, and Americans by BLACKMAILING THEM with us blowing up the pipeline (which is not on our land anyway so it'd be hard to do) if they don't do what we want. Yeah that's going to get us a lot of sympathy from those that control the world. If we do not play nice with the Americans, British, etc., we will never get what we want done! It appears it is you who understands nothing about world affairs... imagine our government of Armenia officially advocating the illegal destruction of an international oil pipeline, way to give the Turks and Azeris actual basis for calling us the evil people that they do!

[IAmMadAtAC]

I honestly think there should be a real effort to promote Armenia as the Diasporans' homeland. That it is the "azkayin doork" of every Armenian to return to Armenia.

I also support this. I'll tell you who it needs to targetted at, the Armenians who have come here in the past 30 years, the sooner the better. Armenians like me have roots in America for 100 years now, and my ancestors didn't even come from the land that is RA. For people like me, we know no one back there, our ways of life are totally different, and overall we have settled into the American life for years now. While ones like me and many others are not assimilated, we are firmly American-Armenians and living in Armenia is nearly impossible for us now. Everyone we know lives here. For the people living in Glendale though, especially if the or their family has come in the past few decades, they live a life much more similar to that of Armenia, might still know some people there, or even if they don't at least know a lot more about that type of life. Those are the ones who are more prone to return and we must encourage them. I hope RA makes some efforts to make them feel more welcome, and who would want to move there if it's going to be full of corruption? Things must change before more people start moving back.

[CatWoman]

Hayq, even though I agree with you on concentrating on Armenia and building its economy and stuff, I don't think the genocide case should be forgotten!! I mean that's what they want right, for us to forget about it... Well it ain't gonna happen. Just because we want the genocide to get recognized doesn't mean we have abandoned our country. Who said we can't do them both?

Seriously, don't you care about the one million people tortured, raped, starved, and killed? Don't you want justice? I mean they killed close to 1.5 million of your ancestors and half the world doesn't even know about it, and the people responsible for it are denying it.... that's ok with you? All you want is strong economy and industrialized Armenia?

[Che_Ka]

IAmMad: I agree. Although my family isn't from the lands of today's RA either, we've only been in the US for less than 25 years. I have absolutely no family in Armenia, but I would - honest to God - consider moving to Armenia if the conditions were more inviting. It's interesting, my family back in Syria have roots in Syria nearing 100 years, and they say the same thing: They are Syrian-Armenians, and don't feel like they would want to live in Armenia. It's those of us that have moved from one Diasporan community to the next that have an endless yearning for 'home.'

[IAmMadAtAC]

It's those of us that have moved from one Diasporan community to the next that have an endless yearning for 'home.'

Very well put, I really liked your post Che_Ka. Seriously, I've never been there and maybe it'd change if I went, but I don't think of RA as home in anyway. I feel much more akin to the historical Armenian towns in Turkey that my ancestors came from, but at the same time those places without their Armenian population would not be familliar anymore and of course not someone I'd want to live now. None of my ancestors lived in RA, a great-grandfather did for a short time during 1915 when he was fighting the Turks but other than that they really never lived there. Some more distant relatives also lived there but it's not like I knew them or anything. Nowhere feels more like home to me then the Philadelphia area where I live, and I wouldn't really want to move anywhere else, let alone halfway around the world. But at the same time I hope others don't feel like me and would go back to Armenia, because the Diaspora can only eventually lead to assimilation. I'm not saying that everyone in the Diaspora automatically assimilates, but just by moving there some assimilation is involved which seeps through the generations, and after 3 or 4 people are less and likely to even feel Armenianess. Only by going back to Armenia can this be avoided completely.