Pashinyan at the Inter-Armenian Summit: Today, Armenia is rethinking its relations with the Diaspora

ArmInfo. Today, the Republic of Armenia is rethinking its relations with the Diaspora. This was stated by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pshinyan during the official opening of the first working day of the Third Pan-Armenian Summit, which is taking place in Yerevan at the Meridian Exhibition Center.

During the summit, Pashinyan asked what Armenia can offer the Diaspora. "The Republic of Armenia can offer the Diaspora only one thing - itself." Armenia offers the Diaspora itself as a homeland, a state with all its attributes. Today, Armenia is rethinking its relations with the Diaspora, and I am pleased to state that in recent years we have formed and are forming a new institution - the Office of the High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs. And, as you know, we also have more than a dozen Diaspora Affairs Commissioners in the communities, whose function is to act on behalf of the Republic of Armenia in relations with the Diaspora. I am convinced that this is the system that accurately reflects the "homeland-state" relationship, the Armenian Prime Minister emphasized.

Pashinyan also presented the "Real Armenia" ideology to the summit participants. According to him, it rests on the idea that the state is the most important thing that Armenians, as a people, can have. The Armenian Prime Minister noted that within the framework of this ideology, the state must develop and become an instrument of security, prosperity, and freedom for its citizens.

Touching on criticism of the ideology that its goal is to distort Armenian identity, Pashinyan noted that not only do they disagree with this formulation, but they are also convinced that it is precisely about protecting, preserving, and developing this identity. "The ideology of "Real Armenia" "Our state is our identity, and vice versa - our identity is our state," the Armenian Prime Minister noted.

The summit, taking place from November 5 to 8, is attended by 800 representatives, 600 of whom are from the Diaspora and 200 from Armenia. According to its initiators, the summit aims to discuss key issues on the agenda of Armenia-Diaspora relations, expand multilateral cooperation with the Diaspora, engage the Diaspora's potential in the country's development processes, and create new opportunities for interaction in accordance with the Republic's state priorities.

As a reminder, Pashinyan first advanced the idea of a confrontation between "real" and "historical" Armenia on April 10, 2024, in the country's parliament, declaring that "historical" and "real" Armenia are antagonists and pose serious threats to each other.