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UKRAINE: ARMENIAN DIASPORA MEMBERS RELUCTANT TO TAKE SIDES
EurasiaNet.org
Feb 25 2014
February 25, 2014 - 1:47pm, by Jacob Balzani Loov
Photo: Sergey Nigoyan, an ethnic Armenian born in a village about 500
kilometers east of Kyiv, is believed to be the first person killed
during recent protests in the Ukrainian capital. Following his death on
Jan. 22, the 20-year-old became a symbol of the government opposition
movement on Maidan Square. He was remembered by fellow protestors as
"the Armenian." (Photos: Jacob Balzani Loov/TRANSTERRA Media)
Sergei Nigoyan, a 20-year-old ethnic Armenian born in Ukraine, was
the first Euromaidan activist to fall. His death back in late January
created a challenge for leaders of the sizable Armenian community in
Ukraine: as the revolution unfolds, Armenians are generally eager to
be seen as loyal and neutral.
In statements issued over the past month, the Union of Armenians
in Ukraine (UAU), the leading civic organization representing the
Armenian diaspora in the country, has studiously avoided taking sides,
and instead expressed support for the maintenance of constitutional
order. Tacitly, leaders of the civic group would seem to prefer that
ethnic Armenians stay out of the struggle between Euromaidan supporters
and loyalists of ousted president Viktor Yanukovich.
In the immediate aftermath of Nigoyan's death on January 22, the UAU
urged "all citizens not to come under the influence of provocations
and to refrain from illegal actions." Subsequently, a statement issued
following a gathering of Armenian youth in early February noted that
"every Armenian has the right to express a civic position, but not
in violation of the country's constitution."
The caution exhibited by Armenian leaders is understandable considering
that about half of the estimated 100,000 Armenians in Ukraine today
arrived in the country after 1989. Some, including Sergei Nigoyan's
parents, were forced migrants who fled anti-Armenian pogroms in
Azerbaijan and warfare in and around Nagorno-Karabakh during the late
1980s and early 1990s. Having been embroiled in one conflict in recent
memory, these Armenians are not eager to get caught up in another.
Over the past two decades, Armenians have worked hard to find a place
in Ukrainian society. Relatively recent immigrants have tended to
settle in Russian-speaking areas of eastern Ukraine and earn a living
primarily from agriculture. Some have prospered, underscored by the
fact that the head of the UAU, Vilen Shatvoryan, is also a member of
the Ukrainian parliament. Shatvoryan is affiliated with the Party of
Regions, a political force that backed Yanukovich.
UAU leaders are clearly concerned that current uncertainties in
Ukraine could lead to persecution of ethnic minorities. In staking
out a watch-and-wait stance, UAU leaders have stated it is their
duty to work "to preserve harmony and stability within society for
all citizens, regardless of ethnic origin."
Nigoyan is not the only Armenian-Ukrainian supporter of the Euromaidan
movement to have died. Another, identified as Georgii Arutiunian,
a resident of the western Ukrainian of Rivne, was killed amid the
bloodbath in Kyiv on February 20, a development that hastened the
collapse of Yanukovich's administration.
According to those that knew him, Nigoyan was not one inclined to sit
on the sidelines. His parents moved to Bereznuvativka -- a windswept
farming community of 700 roughly 40 miles west of the industrial city
of Dnipropetrovsk -- in 1993, leaving behind a home in Armenia's
northern Tavush Region, near the border with Azerbaijan. Their
home village of Navur at the time was coming under periodic attack
by Azerbaijani forces. Sergei was born shortly after his family's
arrival in Ukraine.
Growing up, Sergei embraced Ukrainian culture. Arsen, his father,
recalled that his son resolved to join in the Euromaidan movement
immediately after watching a televised report of riot police attacking
anti-Yanukovich protesters in late November. He left Bereznuvativka
for the capital Kyiv in early December.
"I don't know where he got all this patriotism," Arsen said of his
son. "In our family, we are not really patriotic. ... Instead, he
[Sergei] was saying that he has to live in this country and this
fight was for its future."
Nigoyan's body now rests in a cemetery situated on a little hill
overlooking Bereznuvativka. In the eyes of Euromaidan activists now
striving to consolidate their authority in Kyiv, Nigoyan is a hero.
But this does little to console his mother, Venera.
"I used to support my only son in all his ideas," she said. "But now
I feel there is no political party or flag that can bring my son back
to life."
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/68084
From: A. Papazian
EurasiaNet.org
Feb 25 2014
February 25, 2014 - 1:47pm, by Jacob Balzani Loov
Photo: Sergey Nigoyan, an ethnic Armenian born in a village about 500
kilometers east of Kyiv, is believed to be the first person killed
during recent protests in the Ukrainian capital. Following his death on
Jan. 22, the 20-year-old became a symbol of the government opposition
movement on Maidan Square. He was remembered by fellow protestors as
"the Armenian." (Photos: Jacob Balzani Loov/TRANSTERRA Media)
Sergei Nigoyan, a 20-year-old ethnic Armenian born in Ukraine, was
the first Euromaidan activist to fall. His death back in late January
created a challenge for leaders of the sizable Armenian community in
Ukraine: as the revolution unfolds, Armenians are generally eager to
be seen as loyal and neutral.
In statements issued over the past month, the Union of Armenians
in Ukraine (UAU), the leading civic organization representing the
Armenian diaspora in the country, has studiously avoided taking sides,
and instead expressed support for the maintenance of constitutional
order. Tacitly, leaders of the civic group would seem to prefer that
ethnic Armenians stay out of the struggle between Euromaidan supporters
and loyalists of ousted president Viktor Yanukovich.
In the immediate aftermath of Nigoyan's death on January 22, the UAU
urged "all citizens not to come under the influence of provocations
and to refrain from illegal actions." Subsequently, a statement issued
following a gathering of Armenian youth in early February noted that
"every Armenian has the right to express a civic position, but not
in violation of the country's constitution."
The caution exhibited by Armenian leaders is understandable considering
that about half of the estimated 100,000 Armenians in Ukraine today
arrived in the country after 1989. Some, including Sergei Nigoyan's
parents, were forced migrants who fled anti-Armenian pogroms in
Azerbaijan and warfare in and around Nagorno-Karabakh during the late
1980s and early 1990s. Having been embroiled in one conflict in recent
memory, these Armenians are not eager to get caught up in another.
Over the past two decades, Armenians have worked hard to find a place
in Ukrainian society. Relatively recent immigrants have tended to
settle in Russian-speaking areas of eastern Ukraine and earn a living
primarily from agriculture. Some have prospered, underscored by the
fact that the head of the UAU, Vilen Shatvoryan, is also a member of
the Ukrainian parliament. Shatvoryan is affiliated with the Party of
Regions, a political force that backed Yanukovich.
UAU leaders are clearly concerned that current uncertainties in
Ukraine could lead to persecution of ethnic minorities. In staking
out a watch-and-wait stance, UAU leaders have stated it is their
duty to work "to preserve harmony and stability within society for
all citizens, regardless of ethnic origin."
Nigoyan is not the only Armenian-Ukrainian supporter of the Euromaidan
movement to have died. Another, identified as Georgii Arutiunian,
a resident of the western Ukrainian of Rivne, was killed amid the
bloodbath in Kyiv on February 20, a development that hastened the
collapse of Yanukovich's administration.
According to those that knew him, Nigoyan was not one inclined to sit
on the sidelines. His parents moved to Bereznuvativka -- a windswept
farming community of 700 roughly 40 miles west of the industrial city
of Dnipropetrovsk -- in 1993, leaving behind a home in Armenia's
northern Tavush Region, near the border with Azerbaijan. Their
home village of Navur at the time was coming under periodic attack
by Azerbaijani forces. Sergei was born shortly after his family's
arrival in Ukraine.
Growing up, Sergei embraced Ukrainian culture. Arsen, his father,
recalled that his son resolved to join in the Euromaidan movement
immediately after watching a televised report of riot police attacking
anti-Yanukovich protesters in late November. He left Bereznuvativka
for the capital Kyiv in early December.
"I don't know where he got all this patriotism," Arsen said of his
son. "In our family, we are not really patriotic. ... Instead, he
[Sergei] was saying that he has to live in this country and this
fight was for its future."
Nigoyan's body now rests in a cemetery situated on a little hill
overlooking Bereznuvativka. In the eyes of Euromaidan activists now
striving to consolidate their authority in Kyiv, Nigoyan is a hero.
But this does little to console his mother, Venera.
"I used to support my only son in all his ideas," she said. "But now
I feel there is no political party or flag that can bring my son back
to life."
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/68084
From: A. Papazian