Settle Iraqi Armenians in Shushi?
While I spent almost a week in Shushi last month, and reading the Monte Melkonian biography, one thought I kept having was how cool it would be if all the Iraqi Armenians were offered homes in Shushi. The settlement of the town has gone rather slowly (since most of the homes were destroyed and there is no job base), but the infusion of a Western Armenian population would create both an investment base and a new sub-culture there. It would also create a somewhat humorous situation as US mediators discuss the fate of a city now full or refugees from a country that has become war-torn and unfriendly to Christians since the US invasion. The Iraqi Armenian community could stay together in one place, with their neighbors and friends and family. The trick would be to see if Iraqi Armenians are at all receptive, and what incentives would make this sort of thing actually happen...
posted by Raffi K. at 10:14 AM
6 Comments:
Raffi, the Iraqi Armenians love their country with all its bad and good sides. Most of them are grateful of the government of Armenia, in spite of the difficulties that they face in Armenia.
Many would want to return to their homeland as soon as the situation gets better.
My relatives who are here have mixed feelings about being in Armenia. Although they love the fact that they are in hayrenik, and the streets are safe for their kids... it is also EXTREMELY difficult to deal with their "status" as refugees (OVIR being a big enemy). Anddddd, unfortunately none of the above helps put bread on the table. We have to remember that they weren't able to SELL their homes/assets to come here with money. They literally filled a car with their bare necessities and drove to Haleb.
They struggle to find work, just like the average Armenian.
So, unless a few well-off people will open job opportunities for them in Shushi, I don't see them going there just for the free housing.
very probable, good thinking.
Comment 1 Raffi seems very upbeat on the prognosis for Iraq. So he only sees the current problems, as the US-propped government is on the verge of collapse and sectarian fighting at high levels, as a temporary problem which is bound to dry up in the near future allowing them to return to Iraq?
I really don't see that as likely, at least not for 15, 20, 30 years. I'd certainly hope the violence cools down long before those periods, but the rebuilding process and time it'll take to make Iraq liveable again is anybody's guess. They're waiting for Iraq to get better again so they can go back sounds kind of like what a lot of those LA Armenians they, they will go back as soon as Armenia gets better. Armenia, Yerevan at least, IS better now and they still haven't though and probably never will. the analogy of waiting in US to waiting in Armenia is problematic, however not as problematic as the idea that these Iraqi-Armenians will be able to go home anytime soon, so they might as well start planning for their long-term future abroad.
While I don't know how possible Raffi K's idea is, I love the thought of it.
With all the due respect, isn't the situation of Nagorno-Karabakh already complicated enough to mess it up with the resettlement of refugees from Iraq?
I don't see how this would be very complicated. They come, they settle!
What with Azerbaijan sponsoring a new railroad to bypass Armenia to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars, it does not appear to me they are the least bit serious about a peace settlement anytime in the foreseeable future.
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