During the interview with president of the Armenian community of the French city of Nancy, Artur Avetyan, who was hosted at the RA Ministry of Diaspora, it became clear once again that Armenians around the world become self-organized, adapt, create new homes, find jobs, become successful, start families and grow very quickly and create a little ��?pearl’ called Armenia, which becomes an ��?arch of triumph’ and the reflection of the Homeland for all Armenians.

Established in 2011 by Artur Avetyan, the Armenian community of Nancy is growing every year and carrying out new and pro-national events and initiatives. Talking about these events and initiatives, the young president of the community considers the efforts a standard and doesn’t take pride in the efforts that he has made. He especially made efforts to help the families of deceased and fighting soldiers of Artsakh, but asks not to write about that because it is every Armenian’s duty since those soldiers are defending the borders of our Homeland and making sure Armenian children spend their childhood in peace.

Artur Avetyan: I am charmed by the extraordinary endeavors and their unwavering position of those boys. We all need to learn lessons of patriotism from them. When I return to Nancy, I will remember their smiles and their self-confidence, not fear, retreat or concession. On my Facebook page, I posted a comment, stating that no Armenian should tell those boys that he or she has come to help them and stand with them…We receive strength and help from them and learn lessons of patriotism. The Armenians of our community were ready to leave for Artsakh and stand with the Homeland. The best attribute of the Armenians is standing united as one at difficult moments, and that is the path to victory. The community hasn’t been around for a long time, but it has managed to grow and carry out beautiful programs. Of course, for us, the Armenian community of 2,000 people is not the Homeland, but for the Armenians living there, it is a warm corner that needs to be protected through good human contacts and relations. The community has an Armenian radio hour and an Armenian Sunday school. We have placed a cross-stone. We have a choir and dance group, and Hamazkayin opened its chapter here four years ago…

On April 7, under my sponsorship, 25 Armenian children of the community were baptized during a grand ceremony, and this will be ongoing. We have almost everything. The only thing we lack is literature. Being a philologist by profession, I praise the value of literature, which is one of the preconditions for not forgetting the native language. My goal is to help the community grow in the region. There are small cities near Nancy where the number of Armenians is not very large, meaning they can’t create their own communities. We engage them in our community, and my goal is to establish Armenian Sunday schools in those cities. I talked about this during my meeting with the Minister of Diaspora of the Republic of Armenia. We established ties with the Ministry of Diaspora 3-4 years ago when we met Mrs. Hakobyan in Marseille. I was introduced to the Ministry’s programs and activities, which I highly appreciate. I visited Armenia about ten years ago, and I miss it a lot…

When I come to Armenia, sometimes I ask my friends to leave me alone. I love walking on the streets of Yerevan that I used to walk when I was younger. I tell my friends not to worry about me being alone, I am with Yerevan. I don’t say Homeland. I say the state, and want our state to become strong and for us to bear the idea of the state.

Armenia is our state. I really want us to not only talk about the growth and empowerment of Armenian organizations abroad, but also be the happy witnesses of the empowerment of the state and be the citizens of a strong and developed state.”

Karine Avagyan