Following on from news that two basketball games erupted into violence between the teams playing, Lragir has an interesting commentary on what some of us accept and recognize from living in Armenia and various communities worldwide and what others do not. That is, there is considerable friction between communities in the Diaspora as well as between locals and foreign-born Armenians in Armenia itself.

Ironically, however, the paper commends the Yerevan basketball team for attacking its counterpart from Cairo during this week’s Pan-Armenian Games although there’s a twist to the story.

The Pan-Armenian games truly unite the Armenians worldwide with such a force that this unification often causes a clash. For instance, the basketball teams of Yerevan and Cairo united with such a force that some Cairo sportsmen were taken to hospital with injuries. Meanwhile, the team of Yerevan was disqualified for beating the Armenian basketball players of Cairo. It goes without saying that it happened during the game, the Pan-Armenian Games.

The players of Yerevan were disqualified whereas they should be encouraged. Not for the beating, of course. Beating has become part of the routine of Armenians. […] the most outstanding pages of 16 years of our independent history involve beating: reporters are beaten, political figures are beaten, the children of officials beat innocent citizens and foreigners, the government beats peaceful protestors, the bodyguards of oligarchs beat drivers for overtaking, even an officer of national security. So why should the basketball team of Cairo be an exception?

The basketball team of Yerevan should be encouraged for honesty and not the beating. They behaved honestly, and did not surrender to the lyrical digressions of the Pan-Armenian Games, the idea of unity, the tear-jerking pronouncements about their exceptional importance, Armenians are brothers, and other fleshless lyrics. The basketball team of Yerevan displayed an attitude which exists in the real life of Armenians, especially regarding the relation of Armenians of Armenia and the Diaspora. They had the courage and did not try to hide it, even though guns are made silent during the Olympics. First of all, a fist is not a gun. Besides, the Pan-Armenian Games are not Olympics. More especially it is not a theater where one has to demonstrate his love for a Diasporan brother. Officially, the basketball team of Yerevan upset this theater but in reality it did a great favor for both Armenia and the Diaspora. Perhaps this incident will make the apologists of Pan-Armenian ideas reflect on the real life and not the vision. Meanwhile, the real life is the major culture gap between the Armenians of Armenia and the Diaspora, which sometimes mounts to controversies. It is enough to visit any Armenian university where there are Diasporan students and ask them how the other students treat them for their behavior, clothes, hair. Therefore, besides and before holding events which resemble Pan-Armenian manifestations it is necessary to think about real efforts to overcome this problem. The Pan-Armenian events are not helpful to overcoming these controversies, and the evidence to this is that the scandal occurs during the fourth and not the first Pan-Armenian Games.

The organizers might say it shows the games work, and there is real competition. They will say so to shut an eye on the problem because it takes great effort to solve this problem, it takes a lively and practical idea uniting the Armenians of Armenia and the Diaspora which will affect the life and work of every Armenian. Meanwhile, it takes only money to hold the Pan-Armenian Games, which can be raised. After all, this is not a problem for the tiger any more. Besides, all the sides of the Fatherland should be shown to the Diasporans, not only the sights but also the hospitals.

It’s worth pointing out again that this particular incident immediately followed a similar one, albeit not so severe, that occurred between teams from Glendale and Istanbul. The team of Armenians from Turkey still maintain that they were being effectively treated as somehow not being “Armenian” and subjected to occasional taunts regarding their “origin.”

Of course, that’s only one side of the story, but many of us know that there is discrimination from some Armenians in the Diaspora towards those from Turkey, and also prejudice and conflict between local Armenians here and those ethnic Armenians from other countries studying in Yerevan.

[…] youth-student organization Tkhruni of Social-democratic Party Hnchakian issued a statement together [with] youth organization “Nikol Aghbalyan” of Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnakcutiun) saying “difference in mentality of the youth from Armenia and the Diaspora causes difficult relations and conflicts.” In a discussion at Pastark on October 3 the participants urged respective state structures to deal with the problems of Diaspora youth. The appeal was particularly addressed to the department of Diaspora at the ministry of foreign affairs.

Reasons for mockery may be western Armenian language or the appearance of students from the Diaspora like long hair for men or shabby jeans.

As the Lragir article says, this is a reality that anyone with any familiarity with the dynamics of inter-Diaspora and Armenia-Diaspora relations recognizes and understands. It happened, and now the reasons why it happened have to be analyzed and steps taken to resolve the situation. Perhaps that’s actually positive, in fact i.e. the problem can be seen and faced up to.

You just have to live in Armenia to see how locals and various groups from different communities distance themselves from each other, for example. This dynamic was even picked up by the International Crisis Group in a 2004 report although I think that as more Armenians from Iran, Iraq and Syria come to Armenia, the situation has since become more strained.

Even though the political elite — government and opposition — share similar views on Nagorno-Karabakh, divisions within society are visible. Armenia is ethnically the most homogenous post-Soviet state, yet it is divided among groups that identify differently to the very notion of being Armenian. Hayastantsis, Karabakhtsis, refugees from Azerbaijan, and diasporan Armenians are distinct communities.

Many Hayastantsis perceive that Karabakhtsis are foreign to Armenian values and culture and have imposed their politics upon the country, bringing suffering during the war and isolation today. A Hayastantsi told ICG: There is a huge divide in society here: on the one side, you have Karabakhtsis, Asian rural people; on the other side you have Armenian, European urban people, and we are very different. Why do we have to bear those Karabakhtsis here, in Armenia?

[…]

More Armenians live outside than within the country. Usually economically well off and integrated into their countries of residence and citizenship, they initially expected Armenia to correspond to an image they had constructed from family stories and legends. There were great expectations and emotions in 1988, when the Spitak earthquake triggered a generous response in the diaspora, and many discovered a real country for the first time. Since independence, many Armenians have left that country to live in diaspora communities. They brought with them a different culture forged during years in the Soviet Union. Much poorer than their diasporan relatives, some also brought criminality into communities that have been respected for honesty in host countries, thus creating resentment among diasporan Armenians.

[…]

Now both groups have overcome their initial illusions, and relations are somewhat better, but they remain different, culturally, linguistically, and mentally. As a diasporan told ICG, “we are very different from local Armenians. We look, dress, think, act, socialise, work differently and have different lives from local Armenians. There is no hate, but a clear distinction between the two communities”. A Hayastantsi echoed this: “people are divided into diasporans, Armenian, and Karabakhtsis. The diaspora and us have learned from each other, but the rapprochement that was anticipated did not take place, and each community lives very separately from the other one”.

Incidentally, the Armenian Sport blog posted an entry on the Egyptian team in July, and Zarchka at Life Around Me posted photos and an account of what happened during the Yerevan-Cairo match. Some may deny it, but the inescapable fact is that the consensus of opinion is that such divisions and animosity exist. The same was also true after the arrival of Armenians from the Diaspora in Soviet Armenia.

If people can recognize this perhaps steps can be made to finally lessen tensions and everybody can move on. Burying our heads in the sand and refusing to admit it is hardly going to help anyone, and not least Armenia-Diaspora relations. Nobody said it it was going to be easy, but at least let’s be honest about it.