The Republic and the Diaspora: A Future to Build Together

Making Room for Each Other

Trust begins with how we speak to one another.

On September 11, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan called for a relationship organized around development, with neither Armenia nor the Diaspora acting as the other’s mentor. He cited TUMO and COAF among the examples. Yet his blunt dismissal of further second-hand goods risked overshadowing his acknowledgment that earlier assistance had mattered.

The invitation to partnership deserves a hearing. It will travel further when the prime minister speaks with appreciation for the people he hopes to engage. On subjects involving loss, identity and belonging, the government must explain its intentions carefully and listen to concerns. People who helped Armenia through difficult years deserve to feel that their experience still has a place in its future.

Readers have a responsibility too. Before reacting to an alarming claim, we should examine the original statement, its context and the evidence. A headline can turn an awkward remark into an accusation of betrayal. Official explanations deserve the same scrutiny.

Some disagreements concern policy itself and require debate. Diaspora strength, for example, can grow through education, cultural life and effective institutions without another family leaving Armenia. Recognizing that strength helps communities feel valued even when they disagree with the government.

A doctor abroad and colleagues at a hospital in Armenia can improve patient care while disagreeing about the prime minister. A government can welcome an engineer’s expertise while accepting that engineer’s criticism. The country benefits when such cooperation becomes ordinary.

We can ask a shared question of government policy, public commentary and our own contributions: Does this strengthen the Republic of Armenia?

The Strength to Choose

Armenia’s effort to broaden its diplomacy, diversify defense cooperation and develop wider trade connections is a direction worth supporting. Its purpose is to build capability and give the country more room to act. For a small state, strategic autonomy does not mean needing no one; it means never being left with only one choice.

Every compromise must be judged by what it means for Armenia’s sovereignty and security. Some demands must be refused. But a refusal needs a strategy for withstanding the pressure that follows. The government must explain what its decisions secure and what they risk. Critics advocating another course should explain how it could produce a better outcome.

Stronger defenses, a more resilient economy and dependable partnerships give Armenia greater freedom to negotiate, resist coercion and defend its choices. Building that capacity takes sustained work — and deserves support across political differences.

The European Political Community gathering and the first EU–Armenia summit, held in Yerevan in May, show how Armenia is widening its relationships. The EU meetings advanced cooperation in transport, energy and digital connectivity. That engagement is continuing. Yerevan is scheduled to host the first Armenia–UK Business Forum on October 5–6, creating another opportunity to connect Armenian businesses with international investment and expertise.

Defense cooperation offers another example. Armenian personnel trained alongside American, French and Greek forces in Eagle Partner, while cooperation with India includes military education and technical capacity. The value lies in the skills Armenia develops and its wider choice of partners. Armenian servicemen are also studying at Poland’s War Studies University. A British-supported course completed in July helped Armenian personnel qualify as military instructors. Such cooperation strengthens Armenia’s ability to educate its own forces and retain knowledge within its institutions.

Armenia’s partnership with the United States and the TRIPP framework for regional transport, energy and communications links offer further possibilities for investment under Armenian sovereignty. Success should reach Armenian businesses and workers through new customers, useful infrastructure and opportunities to develop their own expertise. The peace process can create time for this work, while lasting security still requires capable defenses and dependable institutions.

The government’s work in widening these options deserves recognition and scrutiny of its results. The capabilities Armenia builds should endure through changes of leadership. A stronger country is an inheritance every future government—and every young person like David — will need.

A Partnership That Lasts

The Diaspora can help turn these openings into lasting relationships. A professional can mentor an Armenian colleague. A university can sustain an exchange. A business owner can help an Armenian producer find customers abroad. These relationships can begin modestly and deepen over time.

Because it exercises public power, the government has a particular responsibility to make participation fair and accessible. An offer of expertise deserves serious consideration and an understandable answer. Useful work should survive a change of minister. People in Armenia must help set priorities; their knowledge is essential to making a partnership succeed. Fair treatment gives people a reason to return with their next idea.

Belonging cannot depend on wealth, relocation or loyalty to a politician. Time, experience, advocacy and steady attention all have a place.

The Republic should also take a lasting interest in Armenian life abroad. Western Armenian education, community schools and cultural institutions have worth beyond their immediate usefulness to a government program. Teacher exchanges, shared research and cultural cooperation can help sustain them while respecting the independence of Diaspora organizations. Reconciliation grows through that respect and through work whose value people can see.

The objective is not to keep any particular government in control of Armenia.

It is to keep Armenia in control of Armenia.

David’s story reminds us of what working together can accomplish. A programming course helped open a path toward work and further study. Our ambition should be to make such opportunities available to many more young Armenians, wherever they grow up.

At 35, the Republic gives us a country in which to help make that happen. We can honor those who brought it this far by helping the next generation inherit a stronger Armenia, with more opportunities to build a life and greater freedom to shape its future.

That is a future worth building together.

(Berge Jololian is an Armenian-American IT and cybersecurity specialist based in Yerevan, Armenia. He writes on Armenian statehood, sovereignty, regional security and the geopolitics of the South Caucasus, with a particular interest in the strategic challenges facing small states in a changing international order.)