Special for the Armenian Weekly
On Jan. 19, 2014, a coffee hour commemoration was held in St. James Armenian Church by the Friends of Hrant Dink organization to commemorate the 7th anniversary of the assassination of the journalist and human rights activist, Hrant Dink. A group of Turkish students and activists—expatriate supporters of last year’s anti-government protests in Gezi Park—were also present; the majority of the crowd greeted them with “hoşgeldiniz,” meaning “welcome” in Turkish. With such a resounding echo, I must have been the only one in the room to have not known that word. A stirring speech was read by Armenian Weekly Assistant Editor Nanore Barsoumian. Then, Gonca Sonmez-Poole, who leads the Turkish Armenian Women’s Alliance shared her reflections.
I then went to the Watertown library to participate in the second portion of the commemoration. There, the crowd watched two documentaries. The first outlined a timeline of Dink’s assassination and the court proceedings. The second was an interview with Fethiye Çetin, the lawyer for the Dink family, reflecting on the assassination, the trial and its shortcomings, in particular how the upper echelons of the police and gendarmerie were able to evade justice even after the revelation of evidence exposing cooperation between the state and the suspects.
Eric Ozcan, a longtime friend of Hrant Dink, spoke of his courage and dedication to human rights and the truth. He went on to say that Dink would defend a person’s right to speak regardless if that person was a Greek, a Kurd, a Turk, or an Armenian; and, if their statements had some substance to them, he would support them against anyone. Once, Dink was asked a playful question by his friends in the form of, “If you knew you would die tomorrow, what is one dream you would like to come true?” His answer was, “The recognition of human rights of all people in Anatolia.” Sadly, this would be a dream he would not see realized. Even when his dear friend urged him to come live in America, he refused. He said that instead of living on our ancestral lands, we Armenians in America live in (relatively) big, (again, relatively) luxurious houses, and that we have erected “false paradises.” Istanbul was his home and no matter how difficult it became, he refused to live in a false paradise. He would stay and continue to fight for the rights of all humans until his last day.
During her speech, a member of Bostonbullular spoke of parrhesia, the ancient Greek word meaning to speak openly and truthfully. And now, I must partake in this parrhesia.
Many Armenians have been living in the diaspora for more than 100 years. Fortunately, and unfortunately, this has caused our Armenian culture to change and adapt to its surroundings. One example would be the use of Arabic, Turkish, and English words in our vocabulary. Another might be the food we eat—absorbing the cuisine of the various cultures we have surrounded ourselves with for over three centuries. All of these adaptations are simply a natural evolution of a people’s culture. But our experience in the diaspora does not stop there. What also occurs is a slow decay or loss of our culture, an immediate example being the language.
One way to compensate for the decay of culture—and it has by far been the easiest—is to desire to reconnect with the Armenian homeland. This typically comes in the form of visits during summer vacation and sightseeing tours of all the unused churches and monasteries in the sweltering sun. One has a spiritual epiphany in Khor Virap, the pit where St. Gregory the Illuminator, the patron saint of the nation, was sent to starve to death by then-Zoroastrian King Drtad more than 1,700 years ago. (St. Gregory was later rehabilitated after he helped bring back King Drtad’s sanity; the latter then declared Christianity to be the official state religion of the Kingdom of Armenia, making it the first nation to declare Christianity as its state religion—a source of great pride to Armenians, even while the rest of the democratic republics of the world have elected to follow the views of the Enlightenment and become secular.) Hotel rooms are reserved with the best view of the great snow-capped peaks of Mt. Ararat that seem just out of reach, and days are spent on the gravel of Lake Sevan (and not a night is spent sober).
The first time I went to Armenia, my taxi driver told me he had never been to Lake Sevan. He simply couldn’t take time away from his 12-hour work days to go. The desire to reconnect with the homeland has formed a mental image of the Armenian state in our minds, one that envisions a strong Armenia and an ingenious population, and ignores the frailties of a third-world country that is experiencing a population drain and a deteriorating social fabric, a state that ignores rape victims and the needs of its citizenship. All states have enemies; the enemy of the Armenians being, of course, the Turk—who destroyed the Kingdom of Cilicia and implemented the genocide and our cultural destruction—also plays a role in the diasporan psyche. This ignores the fact that Turkish society is not monolithic and is constituted by a diverse set of groups of people and ideas. It also ignores the great strides taken by Turkish revolutionaries in the 1960’s to 1980’s in the struggle against Turkish nationalism. What great changes we are witnessing even today in Turkey in the form of the Gezi park protests. The commemoration of the genocide has become an annual day of mourning.
With the end of the Red Genocide in 1923, the White Genocide began. This is the non-physical aspect of the genocide—the denial of the genocide and subsequent slow destruction of the culture of the victims. The Armenian names of cities and villages were changed to Turkish, and any evidence of an Armenian existence was erased through the destruction of churches, homes, cemeteries, etc. In 1998, the Azeri government was filmed destroying the khatchkars (cross-stones) of the cemetery in Julfa, Nakhichevan. Clearly the Turkish and Azeri states are responsible for this crime. But do we not also play a role in this? Here in America, free from the persecution by Turkish fascism, have we been able to revive our culture? Do we contribute enough to saving our fragmented identity? How many of us have read an Armenian book? And if you haven’t, are the Turks to blame for this?
My maternal grandfather raised his three daughters and two sons in a patriotic Armenian home. He is one of the reasons I can still read, write, and speak Armenian. One day, my great uncle (my grandfather’s brother) sent a letter to my grandfather expressing a desire to reconnect and to meet his nephews and nieces. My great uncle’s letter was written in Turkish, the only language he knew. My grandfather refused to answer this letter. He was not going to have any business with his brother. He was as good as dead to him. I only heard about this story after my grandfather’s passing, and despite the love I have for my grandfather, I do bemoan his decision. Is this not White Genocide perpetrated by and against Armenians? The great William Saroyan said that whenever two Armenians meet, they will create a new Armenia. I will have to respectfully disagree.
Turkish society is no more monolithic than Armenian society. Altough there were many Turks who perpetrated the genocide, there were also many who hid Armenians in their homes, risking their lives to protect their neighbors. As of today, the efforts of these Turkish guardians have not been recognized in any substantial form, a thought that makes me wallow in shame. Neither have the efforts of journalists, human rights activists, or students in Turkey who have fought for genocide recognition, minority rights, or democratizing Turkey, and against nationalism and fascism, been recognized. Sitting in my false paradise I can only hope I might have half the courage they do. We all stand to benefit by emulating them.
Without a democratic Turkey, the recognition of the genocide is completely out of the question. Moreover, the Turks that are alive today did not perpetrate the genocide. I sometimes wonder if we realize this. It is for these reasons that we as Armenians must engage Turks and open dialogue. Recognition and reconciliation will not come in any other form. It will not come in the form of a military victory. It will not come in the form of a piece of paper by western politicians appeasing their constituency. It will not come with economic sanctions or boycotts. It must first come on a basis of working class Armenians making connections with working class Turks.
But even before that, we Armenians need an individual epiphany: that we live in false paradises, that we have a duty to help Turks in their fight for democracy, and that we must bring down the walls of the false images we have of our homeland and fight for an Armenia with a bright future. Hrant Dink was a son of two nations and an inhabitant of this world that he gave so much to. I hope he found his paradise, and I hope we all can see his dream realized.
I am reminded of the final words of the great Turkish revolutionary Deniz Gezmis as he awaited his death at the gallows: “Long live the Turkish and Kurdish peoples’ fight for independence. Damned be imperialism. Long live the workers and the villagers.”
I hope that one day, revolutionaries will call for the unity of all peoples of Anatolia.
And I hope to one day meet my great uncle.
Hoşgeldiniz.
Garen Chiloyan
Latest posts by Garen Chiloyan (see all)
- Letter to the Editor: Let’s Stop Appealing to the Morality of Bourgeois States - April 24, 2018
- The International Community Cannot Turn Its Back on the People of Afrin - February 2, 2018
- Op-Ed: Let Us Be That Generation - February 9, 2017
Dear Mr. Chiloyan,
Thank you so much for your insightful article. I especially appreciate your mention of the fact that there is no official recognition system for the Turks who risked their lives to save Armenians. Such a system would be a great step toward reconciliation.
Kind Regards,
Nektaria Petrou
What an excellent piece by a young and intelligent mind! The story of the unanswered letter encapsulates what’s been sorely missing within the Turkish and Armenian communities for nearly a decade. It is only through the thoughts and feelings of others like Garen that these two “unwell” (Hrant Dink’s own words) communities may one day find a common ground: the kind of world where there is respect for the human rights of all people—not only because they are Armenian, or Turkish, or Kurdish or any other race or religion—and when those rights are not sought out at the expense of the other. Thank you for mentioning my modest efforts in dreaming for such a world Garen! I’ve been dreaming this way for most of my adult life and I’m thrilled you started so young. Parev and sirov…
very nice piece Garen.
Hitler turned to the Jewish bankers for support while he planned for war, and we know what followed,
Tallat,Enver and Jemal turned to the Armenians for the same reason and we all know the rest of the story.
Germans paid back, Turks are still denying ,
Yes. The non Armenians who responded to suffering and humanity should be highlighted in 2015 and their descendants singled out, just as recently Yad Vashed recognized a brave Armenian physician who shielded Jews.
But I disagree that Turkish human rights are our concern. Azeris desiring to slit our brothers and sisters’ throats are our concern: charity begins at home.
What has all this talk of “reconciliation” bought us? Tell me.
What’s the alternative brought you? Tell me.
This article correctly points out the false paradise diaspora Armenians live in, but neglects the false hope we are being fooled with. Sorry to say, but the only time Armenians can sit down with Turks and discuss on a constructive basis, is when the backbone of Turkish nationalism is broken. Until then let us not waste our time with false hope. To me it seems the Gezi park incidents were not about right vs wrong, it was about two wrongs fighting for the title of chief wrongdoer: Kemalist Turanism vs Islamist Turanism. Am I wrong? I hope I am.
Today’s Turks may not be the perpetrators of the Genocide, but they are definitely the beneficiaries of it. And they are not in a hurry, nor of the opinion that they need to do anything to address their past crime.
Of course, good Turks exist, and always have, but they are not the ones who are currently guiding Turkey and Turkish society, nor have they for the past 100 years. The author calls for helping Turks for their fight for democracy. Just look at the Turks/Azeris who have “joined modern society” in the west, ‘celebrating’ Genocide, and who have the audacity to do so on April 24 in the capital city of the USA… with such an asinine, vile mentality, ‘Turks’ are not on my agenda of engaging with or ‘helping’ anytime soon. In fact it is the opposite.
You know when the schoolyard bully with an over-inflated ego comes down to reality? When someone comes along and gives him a bloody nose when he least expects it. Turkey has not gotten that bloody nose yet.
Was Dink murdered for some Armenians to turkify themselves, seek “common” purpose with “good” Turks and pursue fake “reconciliation”?
Dink himself wasn’t perfect. He was known for publicly humiliating diaspora Armenians in Western forums.
Also, Armenians are busy democratizing and strengthening their own homeland.
Turks will have to repair their divided, genocidal country on their own.
Dink’s criticized the diaspora for being up in the clouds. Which they were and still are. Finally the diaspora is finding ways to interact with Armenia and understand Turkey a bit better due to his martyrdom and Turkey’s EU accession reforms.
Armenians are not busy democratizing Armenia but rather feeding money to the corrupt who are centralizing power even more making it more difficult to democratize.
The Armenian cause “justice for the Genocide” will only come with a democratic Turkey. Bolsahyes are finally getting lands back. 3 days ago Surp Prgic Hospital received the biggest land restitution in Turkish history.
Learn about the single party system in Turkey and its effects on minorities and understand what Turkish-Armenians went through. Learn modern Turkish history and don’t insult the Armenians that lived or still live on those lands. My parents were born in Turkey and were raised in the re-Armenification period of Patriarch Shnork Kaloustian (50’s- 70’s). Many Armenians were taken from Turkish and Kurdish villages and given “hayetsi” education due to the Armenian activism of the Bolsahye community. Hrant was from that generation of children.
Turkey is a politically and ethnically pluralistic society and “good” Turks are more pro-Armenian than many Armenians. I’ve met them!
{“Altough (although) there were many Turks who perpetrated the genocide, there were also many who hid Armenians in their homes, risking their lives to protect their neighbors.”}
Mr. Chiloyan: you are a mathematician, the most precise of hard sciences invented/discovered by the human mind.
So there is no doubt you know the difference between ‘many’, ‘most’, ‘majority’, etc.
It is a false statement to assert that ‘many’ Turks perpetrated the Genocide: it was the super-majority of Turks and their helpers, Kurds, who perpetrated and enthusiastically took part in the Armenian Genocide. Not just ‘many’.
The proof is the undeniable fact that about 2 million Armenians (1894-1923) were exterminated.
Something like 70%-80% of Armenians then living in Ottoman Turkey.
Without the enthusiastic support and overwhelming participation of the Turkish masses, that scale of mass murder would not be possible.
Reductio ad absurdum
How many good Turks or Kurds helped Armenians escape certain death ? 100, 1000, 10,000 ?
How many Armenians did they actually save ?
How many Turks or Kurds enthusiastically participates in
the slaughter ? 100s of thousands ? millions ?
How many millions of Turks and Kurds enthusiastically looted the properties of those they or their kin had murdered ?
How many millions of Turks and Kurds took the houses of Armenians with no qualms.
Give me a break.
How many Turks – today – fight against AG Denialism ?
What percentage ?
How many Kurds ?
In fact it is so rare, that when a brave Kurd or Turk publicly denounces the Denialists or acks the AG, we Armenians treat them as heroes.
Germans overwhelmingly shout down and jail JH denialists: the vile AG denialist PM Erdogan advises Chancellor Merkel, just a few days ago in Germany (!), to be ‘careful’ regarding 100th anniversary of 1915 ‘events’.
Do you know how many Turkish-American organizations are actively involved in AG Denial ?
Have you heard of Ergun Kirlikovali ?
How about Institute of Turkish Studies ? ANCA’s Kate Nahapetian was threatened in a public forum by the ITS treasurer at Georgetown University a couple of days ago for bringing up AG Denial by ITS.
Do you know how many Turkish-American organizations are actively involved in fighting AG Denialists ? Zero.
Give me a break.
During the NKR war, when Turkbeijani invaders were attempting to wipe our 150,000 Armenians of Artsakh, how many ethnic Turks or Kurds from the State of Turkey volunteered to fight on the side of Armenians, do you know ? (infinitesimally small, approaching zero).
Do you know how many Grey Wolf ‘volunteers’ from Turkey actually fought against Armenians in NKR ? Hundreds.
btw: Kurds/Yezidis living in Armenia volunteered and fought bravely with their Armenian countrymen against the invaders.
{“As of today, the efforts of these Turkish guardians have not been recognized in any substantial form, a thought that makes me wallow in shame.”}
What you should wallow in shame for is that to this day writers such as you and others in Diaspora have not recognized the Armenian guardians who risk their lives _today_ guarding RoA and NKR from invasion by the same Turkic peoples that committed the Armenian Genocide and countless other massacres.
Guardians who at the price of their own 18,19, 20 year old lives are saving the lives of 3+ million Armenians in RoA and NKR.
Do you know how many Armenian young men have been killed by Turks (Turkbaijanis) since the 1994 ceasefire ?
1000s of Armenian guardians who fought and willingly gave their lives during the NKR war: any articles about their sacrifice you can point to ?
Diaspora Armenians should wallow in shame instead, for not recognizing those men and women, who provably saved NKR from certain destruction.
No NKR, No RoA.
No RoA, No Armenian Diaspora anywhere within a couple of generations; No Armenians.
Lights out.
As to recognizing righteous Turks and Kurds who saved Armenians during AG: fine. No problem. Let’s do it. Someday.
But we are kinda busy right now: all our spare time, energy, funds, efforts are concentrated fighting the massive AG denial campaign machine of the Turkish State, backed by unlimited funds, and enthusiastically supported by multitudes of Turkish-American organizations.
The whole denialist apparatus has gone into overdrive to derail the significance of 2015.
Jews never had to _struggle_ to have the Jewish Holocaust universally recognized.
With all due respect to those who seek common ground with Turks: I think that the liberalism of the Western nations in which you and I reside has scrambled your minds, and that you live in some sort of dreamworld where you think that all people are equal, and that you have forgotten the lessons of history. Turkey cannot be tamed. So be prepared.
If it is as usual to praise -especially- a young man for his beautifully written essay, then I am all for it.Bravo! nice writing!!!
But hold it there as Saroyan would have said.
There are many errors and/or completely misrepresented issues he,Garen raises and should be addressed.
1.-Ger,mans that are alive today did not realzie/effect the Holocaust either,but they ACCEPTED TO PAY FOR IT.The heirs of those who did it…
2.Concilliation may not come in the form of a military victory my young man ,but if uncle sam(later9 right now, rather thse days the 3rd or 4th world power La France officially condemns those who deny the Armenian genocide ,to prison and Fine paying , followwed up by the Brits and then USA,great Turkey has no other road to follow ,but that of Germany!!!!! oh yes, it is drected to that end.it is coming don´t give up hope.it is the Govt. of great Turkey that has lost its head and having thrown its weight around 8litterally in Egypt,Syria and then Iran) is now realizing that coming to some sort of ¨understanding¨with soft Paremid Armenians and entrapping them, can gain points.No my dear .
We are adamant in our quest <FOR JUSTICE!!!!
2.As to those nice -recent -latter day pacifists,historians and sons,grandsons of the Evil Genocide State,great Turkey,they ought to be respected,which we do indeed.I do too.But……there is an important but there…
I,personally am ready to beseech/request them to go preach their nice and really kind and just ideas to brethren and sisters in great Turkey ,lIKE HRANT DID and was sacrificed!!!!now that would be good brotherly help to us,to get more Turks to become like them.
3.in short their fight for a Democratic Turkey should be waged in their homeland ,not in Boston ,B-Aires and Brazil.
Concilliation,not reconcilliation would follow next to their coughing up monies/cash for BLOOD MONEY.Like the Germans paid to Jews. I earnestly request all armenians to understand Land issue should be there kept in abeyance.Land is not going to pull the disappearing act. Moreover the ex-mountain turks(now finally accepted as Kurds9 will guard them for us.We can ,aftr great Turkey has submitted to come to justice , solve that issue vis. land issue togetherwith the KURDS there.
Bravo again for you essay writing techinque, well learned and keep at it.Also learn from people 3/4 times your age with plenty of experience and contact with many others.
Armenians are organizing for your info all over the world to not just adequately commemorate the 100th Anniversary of our Golgotha,but bring to a JUST END our demand for JUSTICE.If some, are in a hurry to run ahead and make up with genocide state, Please go ahead and will be cursed by all Armenians who lost…..dear ones in the G e n o c i d e and Eviction!!!!
For the World owes Armenians JUSTICE!!! we waited enough.
Best hasgcoghin
So called fake reconciliation like the TARC agenda will never lead us to any where.
The Turkish government of any colour will do its utmost to deny the genocide and deploy all the dirty tricks in the book along with their western allies in order to stop any momentum on the issue.
WAKE UP AND LEARN THE LESSONS OF HISTORY,and don’t worry or get carried away in trying to secure grants from western sources in order to peddle their bankrupt agenda.
I hate to say this but I agree with the pessimists on many accounts. Having been to Turkey several times on lengthy trips (my wife is Bolsahye and her family is still there…barely clinging on I should say).
The current political turmoil is between the Kemalists (right wing nationalist, so-called “White Turks”) and Islamists (Islamist and only slightly less nationalistic, so-called “Black Turks) and neither group is remotely interested in human rights and consider religious and ethnic minorities with mistrust in the very least or unfettered hatred at the worst. Armenians in Turkey need to stay out of that fight as either way it leads to disaster for what’s left of the community. Like 1908, it will only lead to disaster Turks of both political persuasions (about +90% of the population) hate us; always have and always will. Armenians are the other and have always been, even when our ancestors have been there for thousands of years (one of the very things Turks hate us for as we already know).
Here is the reality of Turkey:
There are indeed handful of liberals, human rights activists, intellectuals, etc in Turkey. Again, they are small in number and generally reside in Istanbul. Some might be Alevi, Kurdish, and/or Sufi and usually left-wing politically. They are often outspoken, hospitable, and also some of the best people I have ever met in my life. Again, they are few and often live in some degree of peril from the state apparatus.
Some cities such as Izmir, Bursa, Ankara, Adana, parts of Istanbul, and pockets of Erzerum, Kars, Trabzon are controlled by White Turks. They are usually the descendent of “Mujahirs”, islamisized Bulgarians, Albanians, Slavs, Greeks, etc. They control most of the banks, large corporations, the military command, MIT (Turkish CIA), Diplomatic Corps, etc. They hate the AKP and support the CHP or the Nazi-like MHP to a lesser degree.
Other parts of Turkey have a more Islamist bent split between Turks and Kurds. Many support the AKP (the Kurds were once very pro-AKP but have since started to leave the party in droves as they’ve grown to despise Erdogan and his continued anti-Kurdish policies which are really just more of the same) are considered backward provincials and thus called “Black Turks”.
A smaller portion of Kurds support the BDP. The BDP, from the standpoint of the Armenian community, is very out-spoken and liberal. They are probably the party Armenians should support but they are constantly harassed by the Turkish military and police establishment and like I said, Armenians should be apolitical if only to survive. Turks seem to think they are an offshoot of the PKK or something. Frankly, I hope they grow in numbers; more power to them.
Also, Deniz Gezmis may have challenged the Kemalists but he was anti-Armenian.
Suren – Nice try with all the red herrings.
1. Dink never criticized “the diaspora for being up in the clouds. Which they were and still are.” Dink was quite nasty towards any Armenian pushing symbolic genocide recognition resolutions in Western parliaments. He often flip-flopped in the use of the “G” word and “1915 events” in public discussions and sought to “balance” the genocide of Armenians with “killings by Armenians”! He wasn’t an angel. Get your facts straight.
2. According to your warped logic, more Turkish-Armenians should be “martyred” for worldwide Armenians to find ways to “understand Turkey a bit better”? Ridiculous!
3. “Turkey’s EU accession reforms” do not in any way include ending and properly redressing our genocided nation. It is not and will not be a formal precondition for entry into the EU – sadly.
4. More diaspora Armenians are dedicated to democratizing and developing Armenia than ever before. Only a few diaspora partisans and businessmen are “feeding money to the corrupt who are centralizing power even more making it more difficult to democratize.” All-Armenia Fund “raised” only $3M in pledges from North American Armenians this year – lowest total ever.
5. The Turkish-Armenian community has every right to fight bit-by-bit for their property and educational rights, but this shouldn’t be (and can’t be) the main mission of all diaspora communities, who are busy maintaining their own local, shoe-string institutions and democratizing and developing their independent homelands: Armenia and Artsakh.
6. Every single diasporan knows full well the essentials of modern Turkish history, considering they themselves are a product of a Turkey that is still genociding them! And, who “insult[ed] the Armenians that lived or still live on those lands” when almost all Armenians trace their origins to “those lands”???
7. Name me one “good” Turk that “is more pro-Armenian than many Armenians.” First and last name. He or she must be beyond just indirectly apologizing for the Genocide and vocally for ending the illegal blockade on Armenia, paying massive financial compensation to our nation, and returning Turkish-occupied Western Armenia in full. Good luck with that!
Remember 1908 when Turks, Armenians, Greeks, Kurds, Jews, and others were dancing in the streets due to the Young Turk revolution and its European reformers? What happened then? The Adana massacres of 1909 and then that little thing called the Genocide. So much for liberal reformism by Turks. That is the dreamworld in which reconciliationists spend their waking hours.
A nice event for 2015 would be a huge demonstration by Armenians in Armenian on the border with Turkey. At the same time, Armenians in Turkey could be on the opposite side if possible.
Yes, a Democratic Turkey is in Armenians’ interests broadly put and in the long run. In the meantime, realize that a fifth of the Turkish electorate votes for the MHP — a party endorsing the Genocide. You are a mathematician, what is 20 percent of 90 million people? How many Armenians are in the world today? How many are left in Turkey? Stop day dreaming, Dink lies dead and buried, betrayed by the country he loved — Turkey.
Firstly to Joseph,
Very impartially and clearly described present great Turkey political spectrum-scene…
You are right that Armenians there should keep away from all of those….
May I add that if Armenians are to do anything as rgds our own stance ,no,not in great Turkey, but in Diaspora. IS TO BE IN TOUCH WITH THE KURDISH PARLIAMENT IN EXILE AND/OR IMPORTANT PERSONALITIES THAT -in fact- approach us…rather than we to them.
let us wait and see when things look better for our CAUSE/CASE….
Thanks Garen for your well written article on the legacy of Hrant Dink which no Armenian should forget on his writings and recognition of our Armenian Genocide. In regards to the 100th Anniversary coming up in 2015, as much as the diasporan Armenians are working towards recognition, it bothers me that our Armenian Government is not helping in this endeavor to work with the diaspora. This must change as unity is the only way to achieve the rights of what our people have through.