Kilikia Bus Station, Yerevan/ © Keegam Shamlian
The Atlantic – Most Armenians live outside the “homeland,” but the country is trying to draw back some of the best and brightest to help fix the troubled nation. So far they’ve gotten 12 recruits.
Armenia is known for having a high emigration rate, caused mainly by labor migrants heading to Russia and elsewhere in the former Soviet Union in search of work. Now, a private initiative is striving to mitigate the effects of the steady outflow of human capital by enticing ethnic Armenians living abroad, particularly those living settled lives in the West, to resettle in the “homeland.”
The project, largely an online media campaign started by those who have already made the move, is being framed in Peace Corps-like terms and aims to appeal to idealistic impulses in the diaspora. Its leading advocates — drawing on a deeply held Diaspora concept that Armenia’s survival depends on a strong defensive capability — exhibit a missionary zeal when discussing the allure of repatriation.
“I really believe that this land has some kind of magnetic pull,” commented Los Angeles native Madlene Minassian, who decided with her family to settle in Armenia about a decade ago. “A lot of people are happy to live in a certain place, but I can say that I’m happy and proud to be here, and I think that’s such a different kind of existence.”
Read more at The Atlantic