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WHERE HAVE ALL THE ARMENIANS GONE?
Giorgi Lomsadze
EurasiaNet
July 22 2011
NY
Gone to the West, everyone with brains; gone to Russia, everyone with
brawn, believes one prominent Armenian intellectual. (Apologies to
Peter, Paul and Mary.)
But many others are not going anywhere at all, rejoined President Serzh
Sargsyan at a July 20 cabinet meeting. While expressing concern about
migration rates, Sargsyan also called for a cautious interpretation
of the data. Predictions of a mass exodus only provide grit for the
enemy's (read, Azerbaijan's) mill, he said.
"[S]ome say 45,000 people have left Armenia [this year], but had
someone taken the trouble to look at this rate on a monthly or
quarterly basis, he would clearly see that in October-November
period of this year... 40,000 of those who left will come back,"
the president said.
Where international data is concerned, though, the numbers don't look
pretty. The Central Intelligence Agency's 2011 migration ranking puts
Armenia in 186th place out of 202 countries with a net migration rate
of - 3.76 per 1,000 people. That's far worse than Azerbaijan (-1.14),
but a tad better than Georgia (-4.06).
The United Nations gives a similarly stark long-term view; an estimated
700,000 to 1.3 million people emigrated from Armenia between 1991
and 2009, it says.
For a country with a population of just 3.2 million, those numbers
spell trouble. To keep the population in place, some critics advise
that the government put reforms in place for a stronger rule of law
and a healthier economy.
The president himself, though, advises keeping an eye on the effect
such debates about migration will have on Azerbaijan. "[The Azerbaijani
authorities] keep saying publicly that they will wait for Armenia's
depopulation and then they will solve their problems [dispute over
Nagorno-Karabakh enclave] with us," said Sargsyan. He called the notion
"interesting" and "a little funny."
For her part, Diaspora Minister Granush Akopian offered this simple
hope -- that one day, Armenia's migrants to Russia, the bulk of the
outflow, "absolutely" will come home again.
Giorgi Lomsadze
EurasiaNet
July 22 2011
NY
Gone to the West, everyone with brains; gone to Russia, everyone with
brawn, believes one prominent Armenian intellectual. (Apologies to
Peter, Paul and Mary.)
But many others are not going anywhere at all, rejoined President Serzh
Sargsyan at a July 20 cabinet meeting. While expressing concern about
migration rates, Sargsyan also called for a cautious interpretation
of the data. Predictions of a mass exodus only provide grit for the
enemy's (read, Azerbaijan's) mill, he said.
"[S]ome say 45,000 people have left Armenia [this year], but had
someone taken the trouble to look at this rate on a monthly or
quarterly basis, he would clearly see that in October-November
period of this year... 40,000 of those who left will come back,"
the president said.
Where international data is concerned, though, the numbers don't look
pretty. The Central Intelligence Agency's 2011 migration ranking puts
Armenia in 186th place out of 202 countries with a net migration rate
of - 3.76 per 1,000 people. That's far worse than Azerbaijan (-1.14),
but a tad better than Georgia (-4.06).
The United Nations gives a similarly stark long-term view; an estimated
700,000 to 1.3 million people emigrated from Armenia between 1991
and 2009, it says.
For a country with a population of just 3.2 million, those numbers
spell trouble. To keep the population in place, some critics advise
that the government put reforms in place for a stronger rule of law
and a healthier economy.
The president himself, though, advises keeping an eye on the effect
such debates about migration will have on Azerbaijan. "[The Azerbaijani
authorities] keep saying publicly that they will wait for Armenia's
depopulation and then they will solve their problems [dispute over
Nagorno-Karabakh enclave] with us," said Sargsyan. He called the notion
"interesting" and "a little funny."
For her part, Diaspora Minister Granush Akopian offered this simple
hope -- that one day, Armenia's migrants to Russia, the bulk of the
outflow, "absolutely" will come home again.