The second World Armenian Summit was recently held in Yerevan. However, the two past summits, as well as numerous Armenia-Diaspora forums of the previous period, did not develop the conceptual foundations of relations between Armenia and the Diaspora.
The Republic of Armenia still does not have a state concept of working with the diaspora. We offer an article by the chairman of the public organization DIALOG Yuri Navoyan, which puts forward the idea of an Armenian “clear power” with a definition of the functions of the Armenian diaspora in the conditions of the existence of the Armenian state and the foundations of relations between the Republic of Armenia and the diaspora.
Yuri Navoyan is a graduate of the Faculty of History of Yerevan State University and the Faculty of International Relations of the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. He also graduated from political science courses of the Council of Europe (Strasbourg), interned at Harvard Law School (Boston), in Sweden and Denmark. He has been working on issues of international relations, Russian-Armenian cooperation and the Armenian diaspora for a long time. He headed the newly created diaspora department of the Ministry of Education and Science of Armenia , the organization “Russian-Armenian Commonwealth”, and in April 2017? Together with like-minded political scientists, he founded the public organization DIALOGUE.
Work with the diaspora has a wide range and is a long-lasting process, therefore, from the first day of its existence, the Republic of Armenia has been in search of various forms of establishing effective relations with the Armenians scattered around the world. At the same time, the qualitative transformation of the organizational structures of the diaspora during the existence of the Republic of Armenia is extremely important, as well as their improvement under the influence of rapid changes occurring in the world.
Of course, with its historically formed structures and modern associations, the Armenian diaspora represents wealth and great strength. I believe that in the case of the Armenian diaspora it is appropriate to apply the following formulation:
“The key to a viable diaspora is its organizational diversity in conditions of meaningful unity.” And in promoting this meaningful unity of the Armenian statehood, a key role is assigned, which at the conceptual level can offer a value system. The need for the Armenian state concept of relations with the diasporaThe Armenia-Diaspora relationship comes into contact with the topic of international cooperation and the “soft power” factor in it. It should be mentioned that the idea of "soft power" is a political science concept by the American scientist Joseph Nye for promoting America's image in foreign policy. Nye establishes three main points for soft power:
1) values, 2) political structure of society, 3) foreign policy of the country.
Today they are a universal model for the international image of any country. If we look at Armenia from the point of view of these three points, we will notice that in the modern history of the country there have been great problems in formulating its values for an external audience. Armenian state and national priorities, as well as the peculiarities of the Armenian reality, require that the Armenian state formulate its concept values, the Armenian model in relation to the diaspora. As a basis for this, I propose the idea of an Armenian “clear power”.
According to this idea, at the present stage the basis of the diaspora’s activities and areas of Armenia-Diaspora cooperation can be:
1) strengthening of Armenian statehood and assistance on the part of each Armenian community to the progress of the country of their residence;
2) preservation and development of the Armenian historical, cultural and generally civilizational heritage;
3) assistance on the part of each of the diaspora communities to the strengthening and development of interstate relations of the Republic of Armenia with the country of their residence. Firstly, it should be noted that if we turn to the first of our proposed provisions, then we must state that the construction of Armenian statehood occurs in the conditions of the presence historically inherited and unresolved national issues that are of vital importance to the entire Armenian people.
Unfortunately, Armenian political thought has not yet found the optimal formula that could become the basis for consensus between the Armenian state and the diaspora with an appropriate distribution of roles. And this often becomes the cause of turbulence and the emergence of dividing lines between Armenia and the diaspora, as well as in the internal political life of the Armenian state. Today we have just such an obvious situation. Secondly, the Diaspora has undoubtedly fulfilled and continues to perform through various means the role of preserving and developing the Armenian historical and cultural heritage. Cooperation with the Armenian state can give new content to this work, also ensuring the viability of diaspora structures.
Thirdly, it is obvious that after Armenia gained independence, the diaspora acquired a new function - the role of an additional link in the interstate relations of the Republic of Armenia with the countries of residence of the Armenian communities. This direction has not received due attention either at the state level or on the part of many diaspora structures, which, acting according to the old inertia, are often, to put it mildly, confused in issues relating to the Armenian state and interstate relations.
I believe that the moment has come when, in order to stimulate the consolidation of the potential of the Armenian people in programs to strengthen Armenian statehood, preserve the Armenian civilizational heritage and develop bilateral interstate relations, the Republic of Armenia should partner with the diaspora on a strategic basis - within the framework of the state concept of Armenia-Diaspora cooperation. The adoption of such a state document, as well as the Foreign Policy Concept and Military Doctrine, should be based on the National Security Concept of the Republic of Armenia.
I am confident that these four fundamental documents that complement each other and meet modern criteria, adopted on the basis of more than thirty years of experience in statehood of the new period, will become a new incentive for systemic state building. At the same time, they will predetermine the place and future of Armenia and the Armenian people in the modern world and in international relations. Russian-Armenian public diplomacy Since I indicated the role of the diaspora or public diplomacy in the development of interstate relations, perhaps it would be appropriate to mention recent programs using the example of our organization in Russian-Armenian relations, carried out through public diplomacy.
It is known that 2022 marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Armenia. Of course, Russian-Armenian relations have a long history, but it was in April 1992 that these relations were placed on the basis of equal relations between subjects of international law. It is noteworthy that a series of events in Moscow dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Armenia, was opened precisely by the public diplomacy initiative:
On April 8, 2022, under the joint organization of the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) and DIALOGUE, a political science round table was held in Moscow on bilateral relations and the regional situation, with welcoming messages from the foreign ministers of the two countries, Sergei Lavrov and Ararat Mirzoyan. The tradition of political science discussions with the participation of representatives of leading Russian and Armenian think tanks, scientific and educational institutions and the RIAC media and The DIALOGUE continued with a round table “Mutual perception of the images of Russia and Armenia” in May 2023.
This became our third joint public event with a Russian partner analytical organization over the past four years. During the round table, we identified as three significant problems negatively affecting relations between Armenia and Russia such factors as the primitivization of interstate relations, mutual negative perception each other and insufficient mutual understanding, lack of strong consistency and personalization of political processes. By the way, our organization periodically speaks on political, political science and information platforms with public comments that the formation of a vacuum in Russian-Armenian relations is unacceptable, since this affects the fundamentals of life of the Armenian people and the Armenian state: security, economics and humanitarian ties. This also harms Russia’s foreign policy positions. A striking example of the interaction between official and public diplomacy was the bilingual three-volume book “The Russian Federation and the Republic of Armenia: 30 Years of Allied Cooperation,” which was compiled in collaboration with the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Armenia and published with the assistance of the “House of Russian books in Yerevan."
It should be noted that a collection of documents on the legal framework of bilateral relations between Russia and Armenia has been published for the first time. DIALOGUE set about this work, taking into account that the nature of relations between the two countries is determined precisely by the legal framework that exists in the form of more than two hundred agreements. At the same time, in our assessment, the opportunities provided by a solid legal framework are not being fully realized and it is necessary to formulate a more viable interstate agenda that is convincing to the public of the two countries and corresponds to the real calling and nature of Russian-Armenian relations. Publication of the bilingual three-volume book “Russian Federation” and the Republic of Armenia:
30 years of allied interaction” also launched our organization’s “Book Diplomacy” program, an important component of which is the “Dialogue” book series. It aims to promote the preservation and development of traditional scientific and cultural Russian-Armenian ties, as well as the mutual acquaintance of the public of Armenia and Russia with each other’s historical and cultural values. The publishing house “Book World” has already published the first six issues of the “Dialogue” series: collection “The Armenian World of Alexander Yerkanyan”, monograph by Alexander Krylov “States of the South Caucasus in the context of international politics”, collections of works by Artsakh prose writers Ashot Beglaryan's "Orange of the Lost Sun" and Albert Voskanyan's "Fates on the Edge of War: Life, Trials and Love", the first book of the young poet Konstantin Shakaryan - a collection of poems "New Day" and a collection of poems and stories "Ararat Time" by Elena Shuvaeva-Petrosyan.
By the end of the year, academician Ruben Safrastyan’s research “The Ottoman Empire: Programs of Genocide”, Vahram Balayan’s monograph “History of Artsakh from Ancient Times to the Present Day”, a collection of works by Viktor Konoplev “Armenian Sky” and the book-album “Maestro Kochar in the Mirror of Memories” will be published. , dedicated to the 125th anniversary of the famous sculptor Ervand Kochar.In In Russian-Armenian humanitarian cooperation, a truly significant event in the near future will be the compilation and publication, together with the Arno Babajanyan International Foundation, of a 25-volume volume of works by the outstanding Soviet Armenian composer. Arno Babajanyan's multi-genre collection will be a scholarly publication and will summarize his instrumental, orchestral and vocal works. It will also include previously unpublished works that are in the author’s handwritten archive. The “Book Diplomacy” program has been given particular importance by the activities of the Russian-Armenian Club at the “Biblio-Globus” book house since February last year.
Our joint project with the main book house of Moscow has become another public institution that helps to increase public awareness about the development of political, economic, cultural, scientific and educational processes in Armenia and Russia. Within the framework of the club, meetings with Armenian and Russian authors are periodically held, presentations, exhibitions and discussions are organized that contribute to the development of Russian-Armenian humanitarian ties. Cooperation with the only Russian-language literary and socio-political magazine “Literary Armenia” published in Armenia and patronage of it with on our part became a kind of step complementing the Book Diplomacy program.
The agreement signed in January of this year marked the beginning of our cooperation with this magazine, published since 1958, in the fields of cultural, educational and publishing activities. The magazine “Literary Armenia” is a living monument that best symbolizes the common history and destiny of our peoples. Our team and partners are interested in preserving those qualities of the magazine, together with which it becomes a meaningful center of interaction and mutual understanding between peoples. An important area of activity of the Armenian community of Russia or public diplomacy is Russian-Armenian interregional cooperation, where there are still numerous unrealized opportunities.
It is no secret that the economic potential and population of many republics, territories and regions that are part of the Russian Federation are comparable to the capabilities of the Republic of Armenia and even higher. And most importantly, in many regions of Russia there are Armenian communities with their historical or newly formed traditions, established economic and humanitarian structures, which play an additional connecting role in Russian-Armenian relations.
With all this, it is worth noting that over the past six years there has been a gap in terms of mutual business visits at the level of regional leaders in Armenia and Russia. To fill this gap, in January 2022, on the initiative and with the assistance of the DIALOG organization, a visit of a delegation from the Gegharkunik region of Armenia, headed by the governor of this largest Armenian region, to the Omsk region of the Russian Federation, where over sixty thousand Armenians live, took place.
And in August of the same year, we initiated a visit to Armenia by a delegation from the Omsk region, headed by the governor of this Siberian region. During the visit, through meetings-discussions with the head of government, four ministries and a business program signed with the Gegharkunik region, an exemplary model of an interregional cooperation program was created. To establish relations between other regions of Armenia and Russia, government departments of the two countries can take into account this positive fact created through the efforts of public diplomacy. These and other examples create a new dimension of interaction between the diaspora and government bodies of Russia and Armenia, and contribute to the development of effective projects to improve the content of the existing agenda of interstate cooperation.
Yuri Navoyan
