President Khachaturyan disparages diaspora’s support for Armenia
After Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs Zareh Sinanyan have burned almost all bridges between Armenia and the diaspora, now the President, Vahagn Khachaturyan, is completing the damage.
In late May, during an interview with foreign journalists attending the government forum, “The Yerevan Dialogue,” Khachaturyan made disparaging remarks about the diaspora. Santiago A. Farrell, international editor of Argentina’s daily newspaper Perfil, published the President’s comments on June 22, 2025:
The Republic of Armenia seeks to gain prominence in Latin America, convinced that, despite the presence of significant [Armenian] communities in some of its countries, its position on the Turkish genocide and the centuries-old conflict with its neighbor Azerbaijan have not been understood in the region, which has in the past turned its back on it in international forums.
Khachaturyan continued, “Perhaps the [Armenian government’s] mistake was leaving the management of diplomatic relations, in countries with a significant Armenian presence [Argentina and Uruguay], in the hands of the diaspora.
“Turkey and Azerbaijan have gone down a different path, the other way around, establishing diplomatic relations and gaining a presence in Latin American countries. We feel we don’t receive support from Latin American countries on many international platforms. The problem was that we paid too much attention to countries with Armenian communities and less attention to those without.
“Turkey and Azerbaijan are very well represented [in Latin America], and therefore have the opportunity to make their views known on the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh.”
Here are Khachaturyan’s errors:
1) He wrongly claims that Armenia’s position on the Armenian Genocide and its conflict with Azerbaijan are the reasons for Armenia’s poor relations with South American countries. In reality, several South American countries maintain strong ties with Armenia, thanks to their local Armenian communities. None have turned their back on Armenia, and many have formally recognized the Armenian Genocide. Moreover, it is incorrect to describe the conflict with Azerbaijan as “centuries old,” since that country has only existed for just over a century.
2) He wrongly views Armenia’s ties with the diaspora as a liability rather than an asset. Most countries fortunate enough to have influential diasporas actively leverage them to open doors and facilitate high-level introductions to government officials.
3) If some of Armenia’s ambassadors are too incompetent to carry out their diplomatic duties, it is not the fault of the local Armenian communities. Armenia’s leaders are the ones who often appoint their unqualified friends or political supporters for important diplomatic posts. What little some of Armenia’s ambassadors accomplish is mostly due to the contacts established by the local Armenian communities.
4) In several countries, Armenian communities are the primary reason governments maintain friendly relations with Yerevan. Without their activism and lobbying, many foreign capitals would lack both incentive and awareness to support Armenia. The Armenian communities in the United States, Canada, France, Argentina, Uruguay, the United Kingdom, Greece, Lebanon, Iran, Russia and Australia have encouraged their host government’s positive policies toward Armenia.
5) While it is true that Azerbaijan and Turkey maintain more embassies in South America than Armenia, the influence of local Armenian communities far outweighs that of Ankara’s or Baku’s envoys, lacking comparable grassroots support.
When Khachaturyan visited Adana, Turkey, in 2011, he caused an uproar by declaring, “We are ready to ask for Turkey’s forgiveness for the bloody clashes in the region, particularly for ASALA. In the name of Armenia, we ask for Turkey’s forgiveness.” The Republic of Armenia has no reason to apologize for ASALA’s actions, which had taken place prior to Armenia’s independence.
Khachaturyan’s disparagement of the diaspora aligns with Prime Minister Pashinyan’s controversial remarks on June 20, 2025, in Istanbul, when he downplayed his own 2019 declaration — “Artsakh is Armenia. Period” — by claiming: “I used those words in 2019 because I was patriotic. I was responsible for all Armenians. I was being told that I am the Prime Minister of all Armenians. Such concepts of patriotism gave us all the disasters.”
He continued: “We are not the author of the patriotism that we carry in our heads.” He said: “The Prime Minister is not responsible for all Armenians. Do not put your trust in me. You solve your own problems in your communities.” Such rhetoric follows his earlier public denouncements of Mt. Ararat, the national anthem and emblem, the Armenian Church, Armenia’s past and Artsakh.
Furthermore, Pashinyan’s appointee Zareh Sinanyan, as High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs, has systematically undermined Armenia’s relations with the diaspora, instead of strengthening them.
Armenia’s officials have an obligation to cultivate positive, productive ties with the diaspora: invite them to visit, invest and relocate to Armenia, tap their expertise and welcome their contributions to nation-building. The diaspora remains one of Armenia’s greatest strategic assets and deserves to be embraced with open arms, not disparaged.
The most dangerous enemies of a nation, also come from within.
When a country is lead by traitors, cowards and opportunists rolled into one, that country will start to rot, will be run into the ground and will be sabotaged by them, to the point of civil strife, civil war and collapse, thus paving the way for exploitation and easy pickings for external enemies.
History is full of examples like that.
We went from General Antony Ozanian to Secretary Antony Blinkin in one generation.
I’m not surprised in the least bit to hear these spineless and incompetent losers, disguised as president and prime minister, make such disparaging remarks about the Armenian Diaspora to cover their own failures. They might as well move to Ankara because their statements are no different from what Turkey’s notorious genocide denier and terrorist-in-chief Erdogan has been spewing about the Diaspora Armenians whom he most recently referred to as the “remnants of the sword” among other insulting labels. It wasn’t so long ago when Erdogan in one of his statements divided and placed Armenians in three categories: The good, the indifferent and the worst referring to Istanbul Armenians (Bolsa-Hays), Homeland Armenians (Hayastana-Hays) and Diaspora Armenians (Spyurka-Hays) respectively. To Erdogan, the Diaspora Armenians, many of whom are the descendants of the 1915 Armenian Genocide, are trouble makers and a source of tension between the two nations primarily because they are the ones who arguably are the most nationalistic and constantly and actively remind Turkey, and the whole world for that matter, of the Armenian Genocide and many other issues critical to Armenia and the Armenians Turkey loves to sweep under the rug. Our current unpatriotic and unscrupulous leaders are, in essence, doing the same by pointing fingers at the Armenian Diaspora communities for their own lack of leadership and failures. To them, the Diaspora Armenians are nothing but a “cash cow” who should have no say in Armenia’s politics. With pacifist and defeatist Pashinyan in office, our enemies have found a golden opportunity, using blackmail and all sorts of con games, to extort concessions from our dysfunctional government for which nothing is sacred and everything is dispensable and transactional in order to remain in power to move forward their disastrous agenda to reshape Armenia, i.e. real or tangible vs intangible Armenia, practically by erasing our history and by giving up on all our legitimate demands from our enemies which is quite in-line with our enemy agenda. They will not succeed and sooner or later they will be made to answer for all their treasonous policies.
Ironically Pashinyan who is less enamoured with Russia than previous prime ministers and is less enthusiastic to keep links with the diaspora, who for the most part aren’t noted for enthusiasm for Russia especially those who fled the genocide to Europe, the Americas and the Levant.
Kith and kin citizens of other countries aren’t subject to the authority and responsibility of the nation and there can be a confusion in this regard sometimes although an interest in their welfare is reasonable and correct.
There’s also the issue of being taken for. Donations financial and material can lead to expectations of reward and disappointment when such doesn’t occur.
The Diaspora Armenians do not make financial contributions to the homeland in return for or in exception of any kind of reward. It is their sense of duty and kinship that compels them to do so. Their contributions are, in essence, an investment in the future of the Armenian nation as a whole. There are no preconditions and contributions are made irrespective of who is ruling the country. The problem is that many of them in position of power think they are the only ones who know what is best for the nation when they don’t and we see prime examples of those today and in the last seven years in particular.
@Ararat
It is good that you pointed this out. A festering problem, which is not sufficiently addressed, is that officialdom in Armenia often meddles with the donations and financial contributions from the Armenian Diaspora, puts bureaucratic red tapes, decides where donations should be directed to and how they should be spend, or even thwart them outright. This naturally causes concerns and even hesitancy about donating and contributing to projects in Armenia, especially if it involves giving money, if there is no transparency and accountability, and when the state meddles and puts obstacles. People want to know and have the right to know, if the money or donations they send, actually ends up where they are supposed to go. This “I know what’s best” mentality among politicians and bureaucrats, is indeed one of the reasons why Armenia is in this mess. People have good reasons not to trust politicians and bureaucrats, especially this incompetent lot running Armenia.