I felt like clarifiying a few points regarding Armenian diasporas as they are often neglected by Armenians in Armenia.
Armenian diasporas has been widely spreading after the collapose of the Soviet Union (USSR) in 1991. Due to the facts that, if you remember, the country was almost collapsing. There was no electricity, no warm water, no food on the market, no jobs for young work-able men. Families were starving, freezing and many dying. It was the total chaos.
Due to that fact, and i would be remissed if i did not mention that it's indeed a fact, many familes been fleeing the country.
I was one of them, i was 6 years old when my father traveled to Minsk, Belorusse to work as an engineer. 3 months later we joined him, my mother and my older brother, who was 10 at the time. We lived on a salary of 80$ a month. But at least my father could provide us food, shelter and warm water.
We then moved to Moscow to join my moyrcuyr and her family (my uncle and two cousins). After which we went to Swizerland, Lausanne, then back to Moscow, then back to Yerevan and then to Canada, Montreal. It was 1997 and I was 8 years old.
We established here since then and my father and mother (both engineers) put their education to use and slowly we started to finally live after all these hard years.
But we were not alone, at least 30 000 Armenians live in Montreal. We're a diaspora, refugees from our country's difficult times.
The way we percieve Armenia from our point of view, is we love it, we have the most patriotic feelings towards our motherland, for an Armenian living in Armenia, it's a concept slightly hard to understand. Because you're surrounded by your own people, not us, and when you see at least one Armenian in a cword here, you go and talk to him, you're the same, we are the same. The bonds we have here could not have been this strong if we lived in our country. It's a natural instinct to find your equal among those who differ.
In Montreal, as i'm sure is the same in every other country that has a big Armenian diaspora, have our own church, our own community, our own Armenian society. We are all christians and extremely patriotic. We organize annually at least 5 conferences concering the Armenian genocide, and believe me we fight for that cause more than an Armenian living in Armenia.
But in the eyes of the general population living in Armenia, we are very often percieved as traitors, infidels, unloyal Armenians who escaped the country.
Let us not forget, that more than 400 million dollars are invested by the Armenian diasporas from all around the world, in particular from America, Russia and Canada, to more than 30% of the Armenian infrastructures, social services and for the promotion of human rights.
The Armenian diasporas are what gives Armenia it's good image all around the world, no matter where I proudly say, I am an Armenian, i'll only hear positive comments towards my ethnicity and my nationality.
That is my point of view and of course my dear friends everyone is welcome to reply and discuss this subject that I find essential.
A little information for those who might be curious,
Armenians were among the first Europeans to come to America. A man called `Martin ye Armenian' was among those who lived in the British colony at Jamestown (founded in 1607), arriving either 1618 or 1619. Later, to help with the raising of silkworms, two more Armenians were invited to the colony. One of them, `George ye Armenian', according to the records, was offered an inducement of 4,000 pounds of tobacco to persuade him to remain and continue his work. Nothing, apparently, came of these efforts to raise silkworms in America.
Please, read the rest :http://www.umd.umich.edu/dept/armenian/papazian/america.html
and be proud of what you are, in my eyes my country and my people are the best thing in this world
