Epress.am News from Armenia
In a very short period of time, we created a force which helps in preserving our language and culture and to participate in the development of Russia, said Union of Armenians in Russia (UAR) President Ara Abrahamyan, speaking on the occasion of the organization’s 10 year anniversary.
He discussed UAR’s activities in detail, noting “We have gained quite a good experience. I can say, Russian authorities and other state bodies highly praised the Union of Armenians in Russia because whenever any issue is being discussed, we’re there, we talk about our organization.”
According to him, during elections in Russia, “there is no political party that [didn’t] make a speech to our organization.”
Abrahamyan also spoke about problems in Russia, saying that UAR was able to “make obligations to the public.”
“Today there are no such problems; there are individual cases,” said Abrahamyan.
UAR, according to Abrahamyan, “differentiates from other Diasporan NGOs in that we work directly with the government, [and] the authorities.”
Responding to certain opinions that Abrahamyan has done nothing for Armenia, the UAR president, speaking in third person, said:
“Ara Abrahamyan is not obligated to do anything. Ara Abrahamyan is one of those 10 million Armenians. Ara Abrahamyan has taken a responsibility and together with his supporters created an organization that is Russia’s NGO and is under no obligation. We are patriotic people,” he said.
He also noted that he and his supporters don’t want money from anyone to do work. According to Abrahamyan, it would take 5 hours to list the work that they’ve done, but he’ll only list a few examples here.
“I myself am a businessman. I really love Russia; I am a citizen of Russia and Armenia. I love my homeland, my village, I love my people,” he said, apparently diverging from naming some of the organization’s activities.
Furthermore, according to Abrahamyan, he doesn’t compete with anyone and would be happy if everyone did more than he did. Among omissions, he noted that Armenian entrepreneurs “guard themselves from coming together as a united force.”
Concluding his list of activities, Abrahamyan said that if it is “nothing,” then he will work to do more so that it won’t be “nothing.”