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Letter home: Diaspora Armenian discovers “home” is in history

With my last two weeks here just around the corner, I am having a hard time with the idea of letting go. Sure, I look forward to all of the familiarities of home, but I cannot deny that I have not been missing them much because I have established my own familiarities here in Yerevan.

Despite my feelings, I cannot help but contemplate how locals here become offended when Diaspora come to this country and call it home. I understand their perspective because I know very well that I am not a native here; I stand out simply because of my natural demeanor, and that is just the way it is.

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20
05.09.2009 17:28
Compliments to the young writer Danielle Hartounian. A very good writing. It reflects the meaning of how we should deal with our past and incorporate it in our idendity and become modern Armenians! I salute you Danielle Hartounian.
19
01.09.2009 20:18
There is not Diaspora without Armenia and no Armenia without the Diaspora.... As armenians we always seem to see things as Abosulte and exclusive. Victory or Defeat.... this is not the case, Both Repatriates and Hayastansi's must accept and welcome eachother...... Diversity gives strength.
18
07.08.2009 22:28
Dearest Dano, I have watched your wings flapping for the past 2 years, and now I see you soaring to different heights; very emotional for me...
17
06.08.2009 23:12
Bravo Dano. this is simply marvelous and beautiful. I am so proud of you! can't wait to hear your stories...
16
05.08.2009 14:00
Dear Armenianow, This comment is about the ad appearing on the right of this article. The ad is about Scientology. I am absolutely shocked to see this ad. The organization has been declared to be an illegal cult in several European countries and their activities are banned. They are truly a cult and a bunch of lunatics. I hope they will never get their sick and dangerous cult into Armenia.
15
04.08.2009 19:00
I'm sorry if this might be off-topic but there are some things that need to be said. The author of that site attacking Jews is dragging the Armenian Genocide through the mud. It is clear in his attacks on the theory of Relativity. The idea that Relativity is proven wrong is bogus. It has been tested over and over and so far has stood up to these tests. This is the scientific consensus based on experimental evidence and not simply opinion. GPS, for example, would not be as accurate as it is without Relativity.
14
04.08.2009 03:32
"Wisdom Speaks", With your comments on the science of Relativity and how science works in general, you've shown that you're holding an uninformed opinion. Have a nice day.
13
03.08.2009 22:14
Random Armenian-- You are entitled to your own opinions and conclusions, and I mine. Diversity of opinions and conclusions enriches mankind. As to Einstein he was a spiritually bankrupt person because he forgot to mention what is beyond relativity which is the absolute one. He misled all mankind, and presently even his mathematic formula of relativity has proven to be wrong by other scientists. You had your say and I mine. Put a period to the debate and happy vacations!
12
03.08.2009 10:49
You're kidding me right "Wisdom-Speaks"? The dude is obsessed with jews. He's attacking Einstein and the theory of Relativity because he's Jewish. The theory of Relativity is a well established and proven scientific theory. Bjerknes is mischaracterizing the use of previous scientific concepts and plagarizm on the part of Einstein. Bjerknes is using the Armenian Genocide (and my family's suffering) as a cover for his racism.
11
03.08.2009 04:58
Hi Random Armenian: Do you mean this site? http://jewishracism.com/ I am not promoting it, just put it in because the owner has written a big book where he gives historical documents attesting to the fact that most of the Young Turks responsible for the 1915 Genocide were Sephardic Jews called Donme. Apparently you are not after documents. The author or owner of that site is not racist, is not anti-Semites or anti-Jew. He is anti-Zionist and does not like the Zionists, when he use the word “Jew” HE MEANS “Zionist” and NOT the Jews in general. A bad habit which he has to kick it off. He loves the Jews and wants to help them and not defame them. Also he loves the Armenians. His grandfather is a Jew from Norway, so there is no reason for him to hate the Jews. He is promoting a political party in USA that is anti-Zionist, he is not using the 1915 Genocide to attack the Jews; possibly to attack (expose is a better word than attack) the Zionists because those Young Turks Donme were fervent Zionists and were used by other Zionists. I hope Random Armenia you are satisfied now and will keep upholding the concept of free journalism and freedom of expression and the right of every person to his/her own thoughts. You are FREE now to say what you think, the Soviet Union is over, it is no more!
10
02.08.2009 19:09
Padoyan, many people do stay in Armenia, people like me. But they can't find the support needed to carry on. Diaspora Armenians aren't aliens to come to Rome and have to behave like locals. There is a complicated past and a devestating history. Also diaporan Armenians have a rich culture, u can't just say drop that and adopt the local culture. I do not see a solution unless locals accept that having diaspora Armenians adds richness to the society, without trying to overwrite their current culture. And diaspora Armenians come with a mind set that we need to adapt to certain customs in order to live here. so both need to meet half way, if you are hoping that diasporans will move to Armenia and drop all their 'luggage' before entering Armenia then u'll have 1-2% of disporans move back, just like what is happening now. People living in Armenia have to be more mature than diasporans in the sense that they accept them in rather then diasporans accept the locals. It is very tough for diasporans to leave what their fathers and themselves worked hard to accomplish and move to a new setting. That takes courage and determination. As a conclusion to what i'm saying, i believe diasporans should respect the locals culture and try to compromise and blend in, and locals should feel like big brothers welcoming them and have respect to what they bring in to the country culturally. many Diasporans don't need compensation to move to Armenia, like Israel does. Many of them just need to feel welcomed that will encourage them further to blend in.
9
02.08.2009 14:52
Dear Spurkahayer the is a saying.. "In Rome you be like Romans", Well, dears, non resident Armenians visiting the motherland cant call it home till they come and settle down in Armenia, with acceptence of the local traditions. Dears, we, the spurkahays are no business in teaching the locals how to be, how to act. We have to accept them the way they are and adjust to them. They are born and lived there and we havent. And if you are really interested in changing their life, then sell your house in LA, Beirut, Aleppo and move to Armenia. Cant call yourself home if you dont live in it. You are always a visitor if you havent settle down. In Armenia you be like the local Armenians.
8
02.08.2009 05:08
The site promoted by "wisdom speaks" is by a racist who has been using the Armenian genocide to attack Jews. Why are such rants allowed on this site?
7
01.08.2009 17:18
Here is an idea which might be interesting: Why don't we 'complete' this section and once every two weeks have a reverse-story section titled: " Letter home: Armenia from Armenia discovers new home in Europe/US ". Let us see the flip side of the coin too and I think things will get a bit clearer. Where I live in Europe, there has been a massive inflow of Armenians from Armenia since ten years and it continues as I type. Which makes me think, Armenia is necessarily emptying!!! Anyway, that’s not the point. Armenians from Armenia get “massive” social aid over here. They get money, housing, fee healthcare, free schooling for their kids etc. European style! I am not saying this is good or bad, besides all immigrants get this type of social advantages. That’s the way it is. What I am saying is: They have more rights and freedoms than they do in their own ‘free’ country. Moreover, if they are subject to discrimination, the courts are there to protect them. Next time an Armenia in Armenia feels like being unwelcoming to anyone from outside let me remind them that without welcoming countries which feed and house their relatives for free there would most certainly be famine in Armenia right now. So let us pull ourselves together, open our eyes and minds and stop this stupid and absolute nonsense about intra-Armenian racism. There are as many ways of being Armenian as Armenians on Earth. Each has his or her way of speaking, thinking and behaving. It is a force and an advantage.
6
01.08.2009 00:41
Armenians still do not realize what they are up against. Here is a comment from a forum: WHAT HAS INQUISITION TO DO WITH THE 1915 GENOCIDE Roy Tov [a former Israeli citizen] writes: "The Spanish Inquisition was a central topic; the tortures were studied in excruciating detail" www.roytov.com. This note from Roy requires clarification and comment: Inquisition was at first instituted in order to torture those Jews who for appearances sake were converted to Catholicism but in reality they kept practicing their Jewish religion in secret. There were some from so-called Marranos who were not sincere in their conversion to Catholisism, the inquisition (the head of Inquisition in Spain was actually a Jew converted to Catholicism) tortured those when they got their hands on them. Recently I watched a movie about the life of the Spanish painter GOYA, there it was shown the sad lamentable role of the Inquisition, indeed a very tragic fate has fallen upon those fake converts. As to us Armenians, this fact concerns us very much. When the Empire of the Khazar Turks in southern Russia fell in 9th century AC, those Turks immigrated and run toward the west, even as far as to Spain. The Ottoman Empire came much later on, the Byzantine Empire, which was an ally of the Russians rejected those Khazar Turks also. The Romans, after destroying Jerusalem in 70 AC did not exile the Israelites, exiling was not the custom of the Romans, as an Israeli historian mentioned those fact recently in a best-seller book published in Israel. Most of those belonging to the Jewish religion in Europe were those Khazar Turks, plus some native non-Turkish population of Europe who took Judaism as a religion. The real Israelites remained in the Middle East and they were voluntary converted to Christianity and to Islam. Now when Spain expelled its Jewish population in 15th century, those Spanish Jews, mostly of Khazar Turkish origins, came to Italy then to Salonika of Greece which was part of the Ottoman Empire. Some of those Spanish Jews of Salonika converted to Islam, after a Jewish prophet Sabatai Zevi from Izmir, Turkey, who was forced to convert to Islam by the Sultan or be beheaded. He converted to Islam along with his followers. Later on, those followers organized the Young Turks movement who were in power in Turkey during the Armenian Genocide. They were Muslims, known by the Turks as Domne, they were not sincere in their conversion, and mostly they were from those expelled from Spain centuries ago being of Khazar Turkish origins, secretly they practiced a kind of religion that was a blend of Judaism-Islam-Sufism-Kabbala. Those Young Turks confessed and prided themselves that they have studied every torture method practiced by the Inquisition, they said so to Henry Morgenthau, the American ambassador, who put that confession in his famous book about our genocide. Those Young Turks were after revenge, revenge, revenge, for all the torture that Christian Catholicism did to their kin. Eye for eye, blood for blood, torture for torture; that was their motto. They found Christian Armenians to take their revenge upon them and they carefully planned it for decades; Sultan Abdul Hamid was their puppet, but the Sultan previous to Hamid was a pro-Armenian and a protector of Armenians. http://jewishracism.com/
5
31.07.2009 21:12
Thats the problem with our people, how are we going to survive and prosper if we cant even accept EACH OTHER, if we cant even get along with other Armenians, if we keep dividing ourselves based on where we come from. Who cares where we come from? Is it not the most important that we are Armenian? All this bickering, and division will never get us anywhere. What kind of stupid attitude is this? A diaspora Armenian not being accepted in his ancestral homeland? Why? Because she was born in a different country? This is the biggest problem our little nation faces, getting along with EACH OTHER. Until we can unite we will get no where.
4
31.07.2009 12:39
You know as a kid I always, in my imagination, used to mix American with Armenian and still do... We have to build our great nation and get back to it, one soul at a time.... Armenians are Armenians are Armenians and will remain Armenians...we just need slidarity now...that's all
3
31.07.2009 03:38
Thanks Danielle. That museum is a forever testimony to the evil in this world. In 1956, J. Edgar Hoover, [5] the then Director of the FBI, himself a 33rd Degree Freemason and therefore no stranger to Luciferian machinations and other deviant behaviour, somewhat paradoxically wrote: "The individual is handicapped by coming face-to-face with a conspiracy so monstrous he cannot believe it exists. The American mind simply has not come to a realization of the evil which has been introduced into our midst. It rejects even the assumption that human creatures could espouse a philosophy which must ultimately destroy all that is good and decent." The Elks Magazine (August 1956) 5] http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/J._Edgar_Hoover
2
31.07.2009 02:21
I really do not think there is any hostility or tension between the Diaspora and locals. I have been to Armenia twice and faced no issues. If you try to understand them and really listen you will see that they are no different from you. You have to let go of all your fake western thoughts and be down to earth and real and they will respect and love you because you have not changed and are able to talk straight with them. If you are able to communicate to them that the only thing that matters is OUR homeland they will accept you as their own. Just don’t act like you’re better or more progressive because that is not the case and you will turn off people like that. Instead compare the differences and present the pros and cons in each.
1
30.07.2009 23:54
i think we should take this to phase 2, and that is to mature up and start thinking how can spurk live in AM. This is all good, self reflection and finding roots but we can't be dreamers all the time. I passed through this phase and i can say now i'm thinking of phase2. So why should we feel that locals get agitated when we feel it is our country as well? Does it have political reasons or is it towards any spurk? Is it the older generation that feels this towards us or the younger generation? What i'm saying is that we need to see what spurk is doing wrong and what locals are doing wrong so we all feel at ease. It is in the best interest for Armenia to have spurks back, thats a fact. Spurks have international experience and contacts, and also the maturity of living in well established countries. Especially at the moment, people who want to return to AM are educated and hard working, its not like they will be a burden on the country. And the way it is looking at the moment, i don't see any peace anytime soon. From what i've been reading lately, AM neighbors are still greedy and they will not compromise. They are just gaining time thats all. Time will come again to defend AM and every help will be crucial. Spurk cannot exist without a land anymore and AM desperately needs support due to its proximity to hostile nations. We should turn this into a win-win situation, only if we are mature enough and grow above silly rhetoric between spurk and locals.
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