The exodus of Syria’s ethnic Armenian community to Armenia was seen, at least in part, as a temporary phenomenon. But it appears that the thousands of Syrian war migrants have come to Armenia to stay, Armenian officials say.
“If . . . last year, some 80-90 percent of Syrian Armenians were saying that they planned on going back to Syria, now they are thinking of making their home here,” Firdus Zakaryan, a representative of the Diaspora ministry told the Panorama news site.
Extending a helping hand to ethnic Armenian communities in trouble is a matter of national honor for the Armenian state, which maintains close ties with the far-flung Armenian Diaspora. Over the past few years, Yerevan has been carrying in and making room for thousands of ethnic Armenians caught in the crossfire between the Syrian government and rebels.
Yerevan says it is happy to have Armenia's Syrian relatives over for as long as they want. But the extended hospitality is a major humanitarian burden. The Armenian government needs to find housing, jobs and schools for the endless stream of arrivals, who have spent generations apart from Armenia, and speak Arabic and/or Western Armenian, not the official Eastern Armenian of the motherland.
But with the country still struggling to cope with massive labor migration -- disputed government data claims 49,660 citizens emigrated for good in 2012, EurasiaNet.org's Marianna Grigoryan has reported -- dealing with an influx of newcomers is a task Armenia is more than willing to take on, however.
The Yerevan authorities plan to offer instruction in Arabic in one of the capital city’s schools and are supporting plans to build an all-Syrian-Armenian residential high-rise. Outside the capital city, several residential projects are planned to house the arrivals.
Will it be enough to attract still more Syrian-Armenians? With one eye on Armenia's allegedly shrinking population -- estimated at just under or over 3 million people -- officials may well be hoping that it will.
Giorgi Lomsadze is a journalist based in Tbilisi, and author of Tamada Tales.
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