HYUNG SOO Kim

By Lily Raff
News Editor

Professor of English Khachig Tololyan delivered a speech in Armenia last month, and was unexpectedly invited to the presidential palace.

His personal interaction with the government occurred just a few weeks before five armed nationalists stormed Parliament last Wednesday, killing eight top officials, including the prime minister and speaker of Parliament.

"I think above all, I was very sad for Armenia because it has been a very poor country, but it has been a stable country, and this poses a danger to stability. I immediately realized that the killings of two of the three most important people in Armenia create a vacuum of power, and the question of who will fill that vacuum... keeps me up at night," Tololyan said.

In addition to the late prime minister, who he had met during his visit, Tololyan said he knew three of the members of Parliament who were held hostage by the gunmen, but were eventually released.

"I was just asleep when [the assassinations] happened. I came in and turned on my email, and there was a message from my friend in the south of France..." Tololyan said.

Tololyan, who was born in Syria, said his ancestors left Armenia in 1598. When he first visited Armenia in 1994, he was the first of his family members to return, he said.

He made his second trip to Armenia last month, to attend the first-ever pan-Armenian homeland diaspora conference.

Tololyan defined diasporans as "people who are forced to leave their native land, who kept their identity and maintain a connection with land and tradition in some way."

Tololyan speaks and writes Armenian. He has written one book and hundreds of articles in Armenian.

"I know a lot of political figures in Armenia in part because some political figures also write... there is less of a gap between writing and leading than there is in a country like the United States," he said.

The foreign minister of Armenia organized the conference, which included Armenian government officials and over 800 Armenian diasporans from 52 countries.

During the conference, Tololyan presented a brief oral report on homeland diaspora relations. Tololyan said his speech briefly addressed the issue of dual citizenship, which many diasporans think Armenia should extend them.

"I criticized the idea, saying, first, that identity and citizenship are distinct," he explained. "Yezidis born in Armenia are citizens, have fought in the Armenian army against Azerbaijan, and what kind of message does it send them to say someone from overseas gets that citizenship as a reward for having an Armenian identity?"

"I also argued that military service, taxes and voting rights are all citizenship issues that diasporans have problems with meeting adequately..." he continued.

Tololyan said the president of Armenia, who watched his presentation, disagreed with his speech and requested to meet with Tololyan in person.

"He sent a car, I went that same evening to the presidential palace, and we had 45 minutes face-to-face," he recalled.

Tololyan said the president advocated the idea of extending dual citizenship in order to secure diasporans’ support.

"Americans of Armenian descent become a very important source of all kinds of assistance," he explained. "It’s not that I’m important, it’s that the Armenian-American population is very important."

Tololyan, who is also the editor of a journal called "Diaspora," said he has no current plans to write about the assassinations.

"This is an assassination in-country, it’s not something I’d write about," he said. "I might eventually write about its implications, but there’s no rush. There’s no rush to interpret this event."

"Diaspora" is a journal for all diasporans, Tololyan said, not just Armenians. It is published in English and circulates in the United States mainly among academics.