Armenia has a very large Diaspora, estimated at seven million — more than double Armenia\u2019s population. Successive Armenian governments have attracted only a negligible portion of this valuable asset for the homeland’s benefit. The Diaspora is Armenia’s most valuable backer, yet it is ignored. This is akin to a starving man neglecting the bag of diamonds in his possession. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Regrettably, rather than attracting Diaspora\u2019s support, the Republic of Armenia has done the exact opposite by erecting obstacles for the Diaspora\u2019s participation in Armenia\u2019s development. Diaspora Armenians are deprived of the right to vote in Armenia\u2019s elections and are banned from holding high office. Even those who possess Armenian citizenship but live overseas are not allowed to cast their votes at Armenia\u2019s embassies or consulates in foreign countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The current Armenian government has gone out of its way to destroy the only bridge that existed between the homeland and its large Diaspora by closing down the Ministry of Diaspora. Instead, Prime Minister Nilol Pashinyan unwisely appointed Zareh Sinanyan, a useless Diasporan, as the \u201cHigh Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs.\u201d Sinanyan travels around the world, at Armenia’s taxpayers\u2019 expense, to carry out propaganda for the Pashinyan regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, the powerful Turkish government, recognizing the benefits of having close relations with its Diaspora, has embarked on a major campaign to strengthen its ties with Turks around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Turkish investigative reporter Abdullah Bozkurt posted on the Nordic Monitor website an article titled: \u201cTurkey is expanding its diaspora engagement to promote political goals abroad.\u201d He provides important details about Turkey\u2019s outreach to its Diaspora.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Turkish government plans to enhance its support for diaspora groups abroad, both financially and through other means, with the aim of fostering stronger allegiance to Turkey, navigating legal and administrative challenges in host countries, encouraging active political engagement and forging connections with non-Turkish religious communities,\u201d Bozkurt wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Turkish government\u2019s Diaspora agency, \u201cthe Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities\u201d (YTB in Turkish), has prepared a 71-page official report titled: \u201cStrategic Plan for 2024-2028,\u201d which provides in great detail the specific goals of the agency, its vision, mission, and \u201cstrategy to mobilize approximately seven million members of the diaspora community to advance Turkish government policies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
YTB\u2019s goal is \u201cto contribute to Turkey\u2019s ambition of becoming one of the world\u2019s leading powers — a vision articulated by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as the \u2018Century of Turkey.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
YTB \u201crecommended several policy actions to the Erdogan government. It urged the use of its diplomatic influence and public diplomacy tools to exert pressure on foreign countries to lift restrictions on Turkish diaspora groups. Cooperating with other Muslim religious groups in foreign countries is another recommendation put forward by the YTB to overcome restrictions on the Turkish diaspora.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
YTB provides funding, logistical and technical support for the activities of Turkish Diaspora groups around the world. \u201cYTB recently participated in a program organized by the Union of International Democrats (UID), an organization acting as a foreign interest group representing Erdogan\u2019s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) abroad in Ankara.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The YTB report identifies groups who oppose the Turkish government\u2019s policies, labeling them as \u2018terrorists.\u2019 \u201cYTB said these opposition groups undermine the Turkish government\u2019s public diplomacy efforts, sow division within the diaspora and pose political and security risks to groups aligned with the Erdogan government.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
YTB stated that Turkish Diaspora students who receive scholarships from the Turkish government to study in Turkey will \u201cbecome voluntary Turkish ambassadors.\u201d YTB also suggested that these students be connected \u201cwith Turkish companies engaged in foreign trade\u201d so they can \u201cbecome economic actors\u201d in the countries they reside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More ominously, \u201cYTB actively collaborates with other Turkish government institutions, particularly Turkish intelligence agency MIT (Milli \u0130stihbarat Te\u015fkilat\u0131), and also serves as a recruitment source for the spy agency within diaspora communities abroad. This includes exchange students who have studied in Turkey on government scholarships. Turkish embassies are also instructed to help with the work of the YTB in foreign countries with every available means.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
YTB also collaborates with \u201cnon-Turkish groups referred to as \u2018related communities,\u2019 which include global Islamist networks such as the Muslim Brotherhood and Hizb ut-Tahrir networks, among others.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Turkish government provided the YTB a total budget of $544.2 million for the years 2024-28, starting with $61.5 million for 2024, increasing to $83.5 million in 2025, $103.3 million in 2026, $133.5 million in 2027, and $162.4 million in 2028.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
YTB closely monitors the activities of the 15,000 foreign exchange students on government scholarships from 170 countries. In his speech on May 6, Pres. Erdogan disclosed that there are also 340,000 foreign students from 198 countries. \u201cFurthermore, the agency [YTB] coordinates outreach efforts with over 150,000 graduates who have completed their education in Turkey. The Erdogan government also funds and supports nongovernmental organizations to complement the activities of the YTB with a $92.5 million budget. One of the main beneficiaries of this program is the UID, President Erdogan\u2019s long arm abroad.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are valuable lessons for Armenia\u2019s leaders to learn from the Turkish government\u2019s outreach to its Diaspora. But, is anyone in Armenia listening or cares?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Armenia has a very large Diaspora, estimated at seven million — more than double Armenia\u2019s population. Successive Armenian governments have attracted only a negligible portion of this valuable asset for the homeland’s benefit. The Diaspora is Armenia’s most valuable backer, yet it is ignored. This is akin to a starving man neglecting the bag of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4101,"featured_media":26515,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3488],"tags":[2609],"class_list":["post-823953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-harut-sassounian","tag-armenian-diaspora"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4101"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=823953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=823953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=823953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=823953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}