11 - Welcoming Refugees?: The Armenian Apostolic Church and Forced Displacement

Summary

Abstract

The reception of approximately 22,000 refugees from Syria by Armenia has been widely reported both in the Armenian and foreign press. This has been internationally lauded, and, as such, has also boosted national pride and self-confidence. There is, however, an essential difference from the reception of Syrian refugees in neighbouring Syrian states or Europe: the displaced Syrians in Armenia are in fact ethnic Armenians. The focus of this study is the refugee response of the Armenian Apostolic Church, particularly from the point of view of its traditional role as the ‘preserver of Armenianness and the Armenian people’, which has been anchored in the constitution of the present Republic of Armenia. The refugee aid of the Armenian Apostolic Church will be analysed by reference to research published in both the international and Armenian scientific literature and public media. The analysis will take into account responses to the historical refugee waves during the Armenian Genocide and the Karabakh conflict, and will thus also consider the changing sociopolitical conditions and the ethical challenges facing the Armenian Apostolic Church in today's Republic of Armenia.

Keywords: Armenia, migration, refugees, religion

Introduction

The Republic of Armenia (RA) is generally regarded as a traditional emigration country. The figures for the last 30 years indicate a continuing trend. The high level of emigration was initially a consequence of the 1988 earthquake, the armed conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh (NK) in the 1990s, and economic factors ongoing since independence, and only to a limited extent due to discrimination or persecution based on political, religious or sexual orientation. Although the Republic of Armenia is not considered a typical host country for refugees, asylum seekers or migrant workers, it has nevertheless become a popular destination for many displaced persons of Armenian origin in recent decades.

The displaced population in the RA consists largely of ethnic Armenians, and is composed only of a relatively small proportion of non-Armenian refugees and asylum seekers. In the early 1990s, the young republic was overwhelmed by the mass influx of 360,000 ethnic Armenian refugees from Azerbaijan as a consequence of the NK conflict between 1988 and 1992. Since 2004, Armenia has welcomed hundreds of ethnic Armenian refugees from Iraq, as well as small numbers of alien asylum seekers and refugees from the Middle East and Asia.