ArmInfo.For Armenia, which is experiencing a severe demographic crisis, the first step in achieving high rates of population growth should be the development of a modern immigration policy. A similar opinion was expressed on his Facebook page by social investor, initiator of the public movement The FUTURE ARMENIAN Ruben Vardanyan.
He determined his point of view by the need to make significant changes in the environment that has developed in Armenia, which, in his opinion, is possible only if about 50,000 families (over 150,000 people) move to the country.
In this context, he stressed that it is necessary to develop immigration policy based on the experience of previous waves of repatriation. In particular, Vardanyan said that in the 1920s and 1930s, more than 16 thousand Armenians arrived in the Armenian SSR, mainly from Europe and Russia. Despite ideological differences, part of the world Armenian elite also decided to move to Soviet Armenia at the invitation of the Soviet government and the Armenian Apostolic Church. At the end of the 40s, as a result of the purposeful Stalinist policy of repatriation, about 150 thousand Armenians from Greece, Syria, Egypt, Iran, France and the United States moved to the Armenian SSR. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, a wave of refugees came from Azerbaijan. In the 2000s, about 30,000 Syrian Armenians arrived in independent Armenia, and about the same number of refugees from Artsakh since the end of last year. However, he stressed that mass resettlement does not always go smoothly, as returnees find themselves in a different social and cultural context, which inevitably creates friction between them and local residents. Rejection was noticed from both sides. Some repatriates, unable to adapt and experiencing disappointment, left back, for someone Armenia became a transit point on the way to other countries, "Vardanyan stressed. At the same time, he pointed to wonderful examples of mutual enrichment: "Thus, in the first half of the twentieth century, the scientific and cultural elite of Soviet Armenia largely emerged from the repatriates. They have enriched and diversified social and cultural life, bringing with them the knowledge of foreign languages, jazz, the comfort of street cafes, the national cuisine of other countries and much more>.
In this regard, the investor emphasized the need to carefully study each of the waves of repatriation, work on mistakes, analyze all the pros and cons in order to avoid repeating previous mistakes and massive outflows of disappointed repatriates. In addition, according to Vardanyan, it is necessary to study the experience of repatriation that other countries have, which will require serious efforts. <What mechanisms need to be created to make it easier for people to immigrate and adapt? Should it be simplified processes for obtaining a residence permit and citizenship, at least two languages of international communication as workers, special educational programs for children, public-private agencies in charge of these issues instead of ineffective ministries and departments? What else?>, Vardanyan asked. At the same time, he pointed out that not only the state should act as the initiator of the transformations, but society also needs to make efforts to integrate its new members. <All this is important to discuss right now, if we want to take advantage of the unique potential of the Diaspora, which is really capable of transforming our society in a fairly short time and thereby helping Armenia achieve explosive economic development, "the entrepreneur emphasized.