Armenia: a classic Gap state that is failing on all fronts
Tuesday, July 20, 2004 at 10:59AM "Armenian Protests Falter Under Authoritarian Rule: President' Hold on Power Contrasts Sharply With 'Rose Revolution' in Neighboring Georgia," by Susan B. Glasser, Washington Post 11 July, p. A16.
"Exodus Is New Chapter of Loss in Armenia's Sad Story," by Susan B. Glasser, WP, 12 July, p. A1.
Armenia is a sad story. Unlike its neighbor Georgia, where the "rose revolution" swept reformers into power peacefully, there seems no way the masses can drive their dictatorial president Robert Kocharian out of power, even after his highly disputed election last year.
So while Kocharian moves Armenia ever closer to a police state, people are simply voting with their feetóand leaving the country for good. It is estimated that as many as one million have left since Armenia became independent from Soviet rule in the early 1990s, leaving as few as 2-3 million still inside the country. That means maybe as many as one-out-of-every-three people have left in the last decade or so. Imagine if 100 million people left the U.S. over the course of a decadeóthat's how bad it has become for this classic Gap state.
Armenians are so desperate to connect to a better life that they are leaving their homeland in droves, many to Russia proper. It is estimated by the Russians that Armenians working inside Russia send back to Armenia in remittances a sum more than double the government's entire budget for the nation, proving yet again what a huge pressure valve release is the ability of economic refugees to flow from the Gap to the Core.
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