President Sarkissian received members of the Board of the Center on coordination of Syrian-Armenians’ issues: our Fatherland must be strong, stable and ready to accept its children at any time

President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian received the Board members of the Center for Coordination of Syrian-Armenians’ Issues NGO led by the Chairman of the Board George Parseghian.

Speaking about the activities of the Center for Coordination of Syrian-Armenians’ Issues NGO, George Parseghian said that since its creation in 2012, the Center has been working to solve issues of the Syrian-Armenians established in Armenia, coordination of the existing issues and organization of assistance. Noting that currently the Center is operating under the auspices of the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU), George Parseghian said that in the last eight years they have been cooperating with state structures, humanitarian and benevolent organizations and today they see it as their duty to express gratitude to all these organizations and structures.

He expressed gratitude to the President of Armenia and presidential institute for the attention toward the problems and assistance provided to the Syrian-Armenians, who fled the crisis in Syria and settled in Armenia, and on behalf of the Center handed to the President a letter of gratitude and a souvenir. “The President and presidential institute have always been assisting the Armenians of Syria,” the representatives of the Center noted.

President Sarkissian thanked for the attention and said in particular that he views all this not only as a token of appreciation toward him, as a person, but the attitude toward the presidential institute, government, state structures in general and the people of Armenia.

Noting that repatriation is both desirable and joyful but also is a result of painful historical, political, and military events, President Sarkissian said, “Even during the history of the short-lived First Republic repatriation took place from different countries, repatriation of the Armenian intellectuals, who came back to the Fatherland to build a state. Repatriation took place also in the first years of the Soviet Armenia. And certainly the largest repatriation took place after 1946 which also a result of the disaster of the WWII.”

The President of Armenia noted that even though in 1946 the USSR was in an extremely difficult situation, nevertheless Armenians from the Middle East, Europe, other countries returned to the Fatherland. Our nation lost hundreds of thousands people in the war, and in a sense they returned to heal the wounds. “But even in those days, repatriation was not just a physical relocation,” President Sarkissian said. “People came and brought with them culture, skills, future prominent figures of culture and science.

Why am I telling all this? In different segments of our Diaspora, when times are hard, they look toward Armenia. The events in Syria and the war had claimed human lives, broke families and homes, broke peoples’ stable future. It is the painful part. The good part is that Armenians of Diaspora, including Syrian-Armenians today have a fatherland and if a country, which became their second fatherland, is going through difficult times, they always have the place to come to as any child who is coming back to the parents in difficult times. They come back to the Fatherland to reinvent their identity. This is the ultimate harbor in every sense.

It was not easy for you either, but you are Armenians. I have multiple example of the Syrian Armenians, who had lost everything, came to the Fatherland and started from scratch, and built a family, a future, and today they are part of the Fatherland. Most probably there will be other waves of repatriation, and many will come back to the Fatherland. Our task is very clear: our Fatherland must be strong, stable and ready to accept its children at any time. This is your home. This is our common home.”

At the same time, the President noted that Syria’s attitude toward our people, especially after the Genocide, should never be forgotten. “Culture and spiritual values, churches, centers created by you should not be forgotten as well as the attitude of the people of Syria should not be forgotten. The Armenians of Syria will continue to serve as a bridge between Armenia and Syria,” President Armen Sarkissian said.

The Chairman of the Board of the Center for Coordination of Syrian-Armenians’ Issues NGO George Parseghian noted with gratitude that during the coronavirus pandemic “Yerevan, My Love” Foundation, whose President of the Board is President Armen Sarkissian, provided social assistance to 400 Syrian Armenian families.