Failed State?

Two weeks ago I was at a meeting when a top US Government official mentioned that a poll had been taken in Armenia and that 37% of the respondents said that if they had a place to go, if they could, they would leave Armenia. She talked about the definition of a “failed state.” She suggested that when 37% of your population wants to leave, maybe the nation has “failed”, meaning social, economic, and political failure. Later that afternoon I was in a meeting with a young Armenian man who works for the Millennium Challenge Corporation, an organization trying to help improve irrigation and join farmers together in co-operatives for their economic benefit. He said that none of his friends were working on anything other than getting out of the country, hopefully to America. He mentioned that he loved Armenia and wanted to stay to help his country. He has traveled, playing tennis and representing Armenia at the Davis Cup.

Two days ago I was helping a professor with a focus group of Armenian college students. He wanted to find out their perceptions of Turkey. Only one student, out of twenty, had ever met a Turkish person. None of the students had ever traveled outside Armenia. Their sources of information were their grandparents, parents, television (controlled by the government), friends, and teachers. They specifically mentioned that teachers had told them that Turkey was “bad.” The genocide threaded through most comments. Interesting comments were that the Turks are bad people who don’t like other people, they don’t want to accept their mistakes, they don’t like people who have other religions, they are Nationalists who don’t like other nations, and they treat the Kurds poorly. When asked what images come to mind when they think of Turkish culture, they mentioned that the Turkish culture was not old or rich, they have “stolen” Armenian culture, they didn’t know much about its culture, Armenia has 1,000 years of culture and the Turkish culture is much younger. They did admit that Turkey is more developed than Armenia, that it has a sea that gives them access to other countries. They seemed to have mixed feelings about whether the border should be opened; many feeling that more time is needed to do so. (Time for what?) Since this was a focus group, I could not comment. Needless to say I felt disheartened.

We will be working together on a project to develop tourism between Gyumri and Turkey. If/When the border opens; the Gyumri border crossing will be the main route between the two countries. The grant to fund the project comes from the US Embassy in Turkey and involves cooperation between the university here, a Turkish university in Izmir, and the University of Florida. Students who do well (especially in English) will be able to travel to the US and Turkey. This is a tremendous opportunity for these students who cannot afford to travel otherwise.

I am convinced that the only way Armenia can develop is if the young are exposed to other cultures and the world. This is a very small country, the size of Maryland. Their misinformation and misperceptions about the world are daunting.

A major issue in Armenia is emigration for work to other countries, most often Russia. A young Armenian woman I know is working on a project to measure the numbers involved, funded by the World Bank, for the purpose of addressing the issue. Population statistics in Armenia are very unreliable because often families include members who are working in Russia, for as long as twenty years. In addition the government does not want to admit to the huge emigration issue. It is currently dealing with the issue of what to do about returned Armenians who have been kicked out of European countries and who have come back from Russia with no resources. A family I am close to is about to emigrate to far Eastern Russia where they have no friends or family. They would like to stay five years, save money, and come back to Armenia. But the reality is that Armenian workers are heavily discriminated against in Russia. Because they are illegal, employers often take advantage of them, hold their passports and pay less than a living wage. But the Armenians are so desperate for work that they will still take a chance that things will work out for them.