Engaging Diaspora Armenians is crucial for Armenia’s future, says Lebanese Parliamentarian Paula Yacoubian

YEREVAN (ARMENPRESS) — The involvement of Diaspora-Armenians from all across the world in Armenia is crucial for the country’s future, Lebanese Member of Parliament Paula Yacoubian told Armenpress at the Global Armenian Summit in Yerevan.

She attached importance to the summit, stressing that the Diaspora is Armenia’s Ambassador in the world.

Yacoubian spoke with Armenpress about the Armenia-Lebanon relationship, the Armenia-Diaspora relations and the importance of developing it.

In your opinion, what importance does the summit have for contacts and relations between Armenia and the Diaspora?

It’s very important to bring the Armenian diaspora and Armenians from around the world to know more about Armenia and what’s happening here. Engaging these Armenians is crucial for the future of Armenia. This country’s borders are much, much bigger than the 30,000 kilometers. It’s not a landlocked country it’s a country that has wings. And the diaspora is really the ambassador of Armenia everywhere. So I think there should be lots of work with the diaspora, engaging the diaspora, especially the new generation more and more. And we have something that unifies us all, it’s the Armenian cause. This cause unifies the Armenian everywhere in the world. And today we are still paying the price for being Armenians, for being in this complex region. So we have to stand with Armenia and we have to believe that the government will do the right thing. And I think the diaspora should have a say in that, should have also an opinion. Because you cannot only ask for help, you ask for help and also you have to listen to this diaspora and what they think.

What do you think, what can the diaspora do for advancing the Armenian interests in the world and what can Armenia do for advancing the Armenian diaspora’s interest in the world?

Today the diaspora can do so much for the young state of Armenia, much more than Armenia can do for the diaspora. Armenians are successful in many countries, they have lots of power and they can give back to this country. I come from a land that is still occupied till today. My father comes from Zeytun. But I feel attached to Yerevan, I feel attached to Armenia, even if we speak different dialects. So we have the same blood and we have the same cause. And being here in this summit, for me it’s very emotional and I can’t stop thinking how we can really use the ties with Lebanon, with the Armenian community in Lebanon which is very vibrant and very involved in the Lebanese life․ These two countries have lots of similarities, lots of things in common and we need to capitalize on that.

In your opinion, what are the most important topics of the Global Armenia Summit? 

These meetings are crucial to bond the ties with Armenians everywhere and to remind them that you don’t only live and work and breathe for yourself, sometimes you have to give back, sometimes you have to think about where you come from. People should be engaged, it gives you a purpose for life. Being at the right side of history is being with human rights and our cause is about human rights. So I’m the daughter of a genocide survivor, it’s not my grandfather, it’s my father who was born in 1911 and he was four years old when he had to flee his house, when he saw all his family being slaughtered in front of his eyes and he found refuge in Lebanon and it became his country of choice and he was a great Lebanese citizen. The first map of Lebanon was done by my father who was a topographer, yes. So I’m telling you, I’m a very proud daughter of a genocide survivor who became an amazing Lebanese citizen, he never forgot where he came from, he never forgot his roots, his blood and his history and he used to tell us all the time about his mother․ Having these atrocities even if you are very young, you will not forget it, it will stay in your mind and he taught us all of that, he taught us what it means to have a purpose․

The Summit is something that will bring more Armenians to think about this young state and how to help Armenia and how to stand with Armenia. I’m sure they’re very good citizens in their countries, they’re engaged citizens but it doesn’t mean that you don’t have enough time and enough stamina or potential to think also outside your border and to think how and when can I help. So when it comes to my own blood, my own history, my own heritage, I should be like, not the same, I should do even more, that’s the least we can do.

So I don’t understand how can an Armenian or an Armenian descendant not be engaged. Just the same way Lebanese everywhere, they think how to help Lebanon even if they had to flee the country, even if they had nightmares in Lebanon. Whatever they are, they try to help Lebanon and support what’s right in the country. We have to do the same everywhere.

As a member of Lebanon’s Parliament, how would you assess the current inter-parliamentary relations between Armenia and Lebanon? 

Unfortunately, since I’m in the opposition, they don’t put me in any committees that are, yes, with Armenia, because this is a decision that the speaker takes. And I’m against him, against his party, against his politics. And unfortunately, Armenian parties are in alliance with the ruling class in Lebanon all the time with no question asked. So we in the opposition, we don’t have the chance, you know, to be more officially working. But it doesn’t mean I cannot come here and help and being part of this distinguished summit. That was a real pleasure for me and I hope we can do much more in the future.

Do you have any updates about the situation in Lebanon following the latest pager explosions across the country? 

Unfortunately, we don’t have… What’s the situation now… The situation in Lebanon is disastrous right now and I think Israel committed a war crime. It is a war crime and it’s a crime against humanity. Using the technology in that way, it will open the eyes of any terrorist organization to think, ‘Oh, we can do that.’ This is a war against research, against technology, against science, against AI. It’s very, very dangerous. I’m against Hezbollah in Lebanon. I’m a fierce fighter to Hezbollah and what they stand for and for the sectarianism that is entrenched in their ideology. However, I cannot approve of anything like that. Israel today is a terrorist state. Nothing else can be said. It was mass murder, even if the death toll is not big. But what happened is a very dangerous precedent in history.