Channeling Talents, Securing Armenia’s Future

By Raffi Kassarjian and Avetik Chalabyan

Special for the Armenian Weekly

In early 2009, when a group of like-minded Armenian professionals got together in Yerevan to discuss our priorities for Armenia amidst the unfolding global economic crisis, we asked ourselves a question: What does modern Armenia need the most, and where should we focus our efforts and scarce resources? Although no single answer emerged (we identified roughly five highly critical broad areas to work on), we realized that in order to develop and overcome the burdens of our multi-layered and tragic past, our country needs a continuous and steady infusion of fresh human talent in the years to come. Coincidentally, many of us, living and working abroad, simultaneously came to a conclusion that rather than watching ourselves and our children succumb to assimilation and loss of identity elsewhere, it was time to take a proactive approach, come back home, immerse ourselves in the life here, and start working each on our part in the development of our own country.

In 2012, we took a step further and established the Repat Armenia Foundation (www.repatarmenia.org), whose over-arching objective is to promote and facilitate the repatriation of Armenians from around the world to Armenia. Our actions stem from our firm belief that today’s Armenia, as a sovereign nation, is the surviving piece of our broader historic homeland, and should serve as the national homeland for all Armenians. We also believe that Armenia’s future as a growing, vibrant and viable homeland for all Armenians in turn requires the collective efforts of those same Armenians from around the world. This means that while working hard to build prosperous, self-sustaining communities and contributing to the development of their host countries, Armenians must first and foremost care for and continuously invest in building a thriving homeland on the territories that comprise today’s Republics of Armenia and Artsakh. And this should be spearheaded through a process of conscious, well-managed repatriation.

We do not take the mission of promoting repatriation lightly. For most people, especially those whose families struggled to escape from genocide, persecution, poverty, war, and revolution throughout the past century, or the economic chaos following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the call to go back in the other direction, to leave hard-earned and comfortable lives in established economies, and return to a struggling country surrounded by enemies seems less than an obvious choice. Yet, once we started our work at Repat Armenia, we discovered that many individuals have already returned, while many more are seriously considering repatriation. Since our launch, we have witnessed increasing repatriation flows, with 2013 seeing more than 11,000 Armenians of foreign nationality moving back to Armenia for permanent residence.

In fact, the reality of repatriation turned out to be far more nuanced than the broad generalizations and stereotypes of the recent past would suggest. First, Armenia has in many ways already become a modern society, offering increasingly better professional opportunities and quality of life. During the last decade, against all odds, Armenia has experienced rapid economic growth, albeit from a low base, and has seen the rise of a modern consumer economy: Mobile phone and internet, retail and personal services’ quality and penetration now compete with those of highly developed countries. In parallel, Armenia has been regaining its edge in education; there are now world-class institutions covering all age levels in the country (for example, the AYB School, Dilijan International School, TUMO Center for Creative Technologies, and American University of Armenia), supported by diasporan funds and capitalizing on the strong tradition in math, physics, chess, and computer science. The tech start-up scene in Yerevan is growing month to month, and there are many U.S.-based start-ups that have moved operations and development to Armenia. The tourist flows into the country have been steadily rising since the celebration of the 1700th anniversary of Armenia’s conversion to Christianity, and the cultural scene is increasingly vibrant. Recovering from the deep crisis of 2009, Armenia has seen further diversification and growth of its industrial base, and renewed interest of major diasporan funds supporting various development projects; these developments have collectively created professional opportunities in Armenia that are starting to match those available abroad.

These developments also point to one critical premise that did not exist just a few short years ago: While Armenia is not yet a fully developed economy, moving to Armenia is no longer about personal sacrifice or hardship. Ask most recent repatriates, and you will get a similar answer: The level of personal gratification and fulfillment far outweighs their initial expectations, especially for those who planned their projects, and consciously made the move. And this is now creating a virtuous circle, when the improved conditions attract more talent to the country, pushing it one notch further ahead and creating positive communication waves, which in turn compels more people to come.

Second, the world around us has entered a phase of increased turbulence. The countries in which Armenian communities enjoyed relative stability and prosperous rebirth after the calamity of genocide (Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, and Ukraine, to mention the most obvious ones) have recently witnessed the horrors of civil strife, inter-ethnic and religious violence, and economic instability. But the malaise is much broader. It seems now that the long-held premise that there is a more secure life somewhere else from our homeland is coming under strain as well. Stability and safety cannot be easily bought; it should be earned and cemented through the development of healthy institutions of society. And here it turns out that the fledgling state and society of Armenia have collectively demonstrated more durability and stress-resistance than many of its neighboring countries. Personal safety in Armenia is on par or better than in most Western societies, especially in terms of serious crime and terrorism. Social discontent, while quite serious, is no longer taking violent forms. The army, which is defending a long and thorny border with Azerbaijan, is suffering fewer casualties than in the past, and its military prowess is growing every year.

All this points to the second premise: Moving to Armenia may be a wise choice to secure a more predictable future for your family, and defend it alongside your fellow compatriots, even if in the recent past you believed in the contrary.

Having said the above, we are still far from having built the country of our dreams, and parting with the Soviet past is not easy. Despite many recent encouraging developments, the overall economic situation in the country is still mixed, especially in rural areas and beyond the central districts of main cities. There is much work to be done to build modern, effective, and transparent institutions of state, and achieve a real democracy and rule of law. The lasting peace with neighbors is still to be achieved, too, and strengthening the military is a hard prerequisite to win equitable terms in the upcoming peace deal. Overcoming these challenges creates a tremendous need for injection of world-class experience, modern thinking, and dedicated personal and professional investment in Armenia, to drive the country along its path of transformation in the coming years and decades. There are great individual examples of such investment by many benevolent individuals, but it’s now time to scale these efforts to a nation-wide, global movement. This is the time when our accumulated talents, capital, connections, and passion can be channeled to serve the country and secure its future, rather than dissipate in places that will bear no trace of our existence in a few generations. And this is the time when we finally have the chance to secure our legacy at home, by linking it to the modernization of our national homeland.

There were many efforts to support the country in the past, and as they often failed, they created bitterness and fatigue. Fortunately, there is an emerging formula, increasingly proving to be effective, that many of us can also apply. In the recent decade Armenia has finally grown its first “generation of independence,” and those young Armenians are now eagerly looking to apply their energy in advancing their country and their own fortunes. Too often, however, they simply don’t know how to channel their efforts, and may waste them uselessly or, worse yet, may consider emigration. That’s where repatriates can step in—the successful Armenian professionals living in Paris, Moscow, Buenos Aires, San Francisco, or Toronto, who can invest in widening the net of modern education and build competitive enterprises in Armenia; the accomplished medical doctors who can train the next generation of surgeons or cardiologists; the ambitious tech entrepreneurs whose next venture will skyrocket leveraging a high-performing local team; the skilled military officers who can inject modern thinking and advanced warfare skills into the Armenian army. In short, repatriates can be and already are the catalysts that unleash the tremendous potential that exists in the country. It’s hard work, and repatriates must often create opportunities, rather than take advantage of ready-made, low-hanging fruit. However, those who tried recently and persevered through the initial difficulties discovered that those efforts have finally been bringing the desired impact, and collectively are turning the tide in the country. Furthermore, many of these individual efforts are converging now to lay down the foundations of a democratic, lawful, and culturally vibrant society, as repatriates increasingly start exercising their civic duties and activism in Armenia, and become vocal stakeholders in domestic affairs.

Circling back to the beginning, Armenia’s unfolding transformation will require increasing effort and resources from all Armenians, whether of recent émigrés from the country, or fourth-generation descendants of genocide survivors. Unlike the past, however, it’s no longer about the annual contribution to the All-Armenia Fund, fighting the injustices of the past, or donating used clothes to the border villages; although each of these have played (and will continue to play) an important role, they will not create long-term sustainability and growth for the country. It is about modernizing and integrating today’s Armenia into the global economy, politics and society, where you and eventually your children are the real link. Whether that means physically moving here, or hiring a team of programmers, shifting manufacturing or R&D center work here, or investing your time to train the next generation of doctors, artists, cinematographers, entrepreneurs, politicians, soldiers, marketing specialists, wine-makers, or production engineers, it really is up to you.

Raffi Kassarjian is advisor to the Board of Converse Bank in Yerevan. He is a founder and chairman of Repat Armenia Foundation (www.repatarmenia.org).

Avetik Chalabyan is the director of McKinsey & Co. in Moscow. He is a founder and a Board member of Repat Armenia Foundation.

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