As part of an ongoing series of interviews examining the potential role of the Diaspora in democracy building in Armenia, an interview I conducted last week with Raffi Hovannisian, Armenia’s U.S. born first Foreign Minister and founder of the Armenian Center for National and International Studies and National Citizens’ Initiative, is now online. Hovannisian is also the Chairman of the Heritage political party in the Republic of Armenia.

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The time has come, and in fact has long passed, for the Armenia Diaspora, or rather the Diasporas that are manifold and diverse throughout the world, to take an active interest in the quality of present-day Armenia. Without the forging a democratic, rule-of-law state that distinguishes national interests from partisan play, and that builds a society based on the absolute liberty of the citizen as well as the valuable role he or she assumes in the homeland, it will be difficult to talk about the realization of national aspirations and ultimately, national security.

As we are about to mark the fourteenth anniversary of Armenia’s independence, we know that we have many failings that cannot be blamed on historical enemies such as the perpetrators of the Genocide or their progeny. Many of the issues that plague Armenia today are internal. The questions, as well as the answers, come from within, and I think that this requires not only civic engagement and a new paradigm of participation for the Republic of Armenia and its citizens, but also from those compatriots of ours who, by force of history or contemporary choice, have found themselves living abroad.

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So far, Armenian leaders have not been duly elected, and citizens have not been able to look to them as examples of law-abiding, tax-paying citizens and therefore as a model for Armenian families, businesses and citizens across the board to follow. This is the key issue that confronts us today, and in that common quest I think the Diaspora has to reinvent itself, reassess its priorities and the way it approaches Armenia. In the Diaspora, as in Armenia, there is plenty of dilettantism and amateurism, personal intrigues and parochial interests, and the use and abuse of Armenian issues for less than national purposes.

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Because this is the case, and we can analyze Armenia from the first Republic through the Soviet period to the Ter Petrosian and current administrations, you can see how different segments of the Diaspora have changed their positions depending on the identity of the government and of the opposition at a given time without referring to the standards, programs and qualities that are necessary for Armenia and its leadership, whoever it might be. Unfortunately we have not had an approach from the Diaspora which is blind to personalities; I think this too begs for fundamental change.

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Armenia must forge, forthwith and forever, a guaranteed system of law, rights and democracy that respects and doesn’t violate the fundamental freedoms of its every citizen at every turn.

Both in terms of a direct connection between Armenia’s domestic track record and its foreign policy aspirations and in favor of a qualitatively new synergy for Armenia-Diaspora relations, the case has been made. The question is whether our generation will be able to meet the challenge and close the deal with courage, creativity, foresight and relevance in our era. On this matter the jury is still out.

The full interview can be read online here. Other interviews conducted so far include Asbed Kotchikian and Jeffrey Tufenkian.