Due to the Syrian war that has been going on for nearly five years, thousands of Syrian-Armenians have settled in Armenia. Currently, there are nearly 16-17,000 Syrian-Armenians residing in Armenia.

The Government of the Republic of Armenia has expressed its position on the Syrian-Armenians in Armenia, that is, the Syrian-Armenians having moved to Armenia can’t be referred to as refugees, even though they are de facto refugees. Unlike Lebanon, Turkey or Jordan, Armenia has not received any financial assistance from the European Union and the USA to receive refugees. The only organization that helps Armenia is the Office of the UN House in Armenia with its scarce resources. Kuwait, Austria and Russia also help Armenia, and they have also provided humanitarian assistance to Syrian-Armenians.

The government has assumed the commitment to provide Syrian-Armenians with necessary assistance by all possible means and has taken major steps in that direction. The government has allocated funds from the State Budget to take care of the needs of Syrian-Armenians residing in Syria and in Armenia. In addition, Armenia has adopted laws that help organize the provision of support to Syrian-Armenians in a coordinated manner. Armenia has created an inter-agency authority involved with Syrian-Armenians’ issues. During its monthly sessions, the authority discusses the current issues and offers solutions. Most of our compatriots have found their place in the field of education, culture and service and have introduced a new working culture.

In Armenia, there are 300 plus Syrian-Armenian businessmen, more than half of which have taken loans from the government at the lowest interest rate (4%) for a 5-year period. A Syrian-Armenian businessman receives $15-20,000 dollars, which is quite a large amount for starting a business.

Over 500 Syrian-Armenians have been recruited by Syrian-Armenian businessmen who have successful small businesses.

In response to a question from Hayern Aysor, the Small and Medium Enterprises Development National Center of Armenia provided the following information:

“In 2013-15, financial assistance has been provided to 90 Syrian-Armenian (SME entities) businessmen, who have mainly carried out their activities in the car service, food service and jewelry sectors. The total amount of the provided warranty makes up AMD 388.3 mln. Courts have received 22 civil lawsuits from Syrian-Armenian businessmen with the demand for confiscation of sums. The courts have upheld the demand of the SME DNC of Armenia in relation to 10 of them, while the others are still being examined. Attachments have been placed on the properties of 36 rewarrantors in relation to cases sent to courts.

The SME DNC of Armenia is aware of the issues raised by Syrian-Armenians having received financial assistance, organizes regular discussions with Syrian-Armenian businessmen for the solution to those issues and provides mandatory support, if possible.

On 9 February 2016, Syrian-Armenian businessmen discussed with a representative of the RA Ministry of Diaspora the problems that had been stated in their letter addressed to the RA Prime Minister during a meeting hosted at the Central Office of the SME DNC of Armenia. During the meeting, the requests and recommendations of Syrian-Armenian businessmen with expired and unredeemed financial liabilities were individually discussed. They were mainly related to the requests to not appeal to court and sign additional agreements with the purpose of redeeming financial liabilities.

The Syrian-Armenian businessmen also discussed the issue of rewarranting citizens, who face problems caused by beneficiaries not having redeemed their credit liabilities and bear liability with the property that they own. The SME DNC of Armenia has been dealing with this issue for the past two years and has been trying to take all the possible measures to help solve the problems facing Syrian-Armenian businessmen. As a result of the discussions, the SME DNC of Armenia expressed its willingness to pay heed and conclude within the limits of the law additional agreements with the beneficiaries and rewarranting citizens who will bear liability to redeem their financial liabilities every month for one year.”

This is a notice to those who try to cast a shade on the activities that are carried out to support Syrian-Armenians by bringing up their examples of Syrian-Armenians leaving Armenia. Let us not forget that there was a time when the relatives and close ones of many Syrian-Armenians leaving Armenia for European countries or Canada also left for those countries, and they have always been in touch with the Syrian-Armenians having settled in Armenia. Those Syrian-Armenians are leaving Armenia by taking the advice of their relatives having settled and succeeded in those countries and with the hope to live a better life.

In conclusion, let us cite the call that young Syrian-Armenian Shant Danielian made to all those who are preparing to leave Armenia in the interview published by Hayern Aysor. “For decades, our ancestors struggled in Syria to achieve what we had inherited there. Now we also need time to settle in Armenia. We need to start with ourselves and become more law-abiding, but the laws also need to be reformed. There is quite a lot of room for improvement. They shouldn’t rush to leave. They should be certain that their children will live better than them, just like they lived better than their ancestors in Syria. I know about the difficulties well, but one can achieve good results in Armenia by making certain sacrifices.”

We can list and cite many similar examples. After all, each person sees what he wants to see. Let us see the good…