It's quite improbable that this article will ever be read by any member of System Of a Down rock group, but at least to our readers today we’d like to tell about a story of how one single song of ethnic Armenian musicians changed the whole life of one girl, living back then in Moscow.

 

It happened that I heard a song by System Of a Down, and there was something so familiar in it. It was probably the “Aerials” song where there’s a polyphony vocal part. I knew that I must’ve heard that somewhere before and decided to search on the web to find out about the band. Turned out that its members were ethnic Armenians and true patriots of their motherland. Since that day I began to really open my ethnic identity in a new way, learn about the Armenian culture and deepen my knowledge in that area. I watched a lot of movies, even modern ones, to understand the life in Armenia today, and read books about our rich history. It was an eye-opening experience out of nowhere”, – emphasizes Marina Sarkisian who this article will be about.

 

Marina was born in Moscow, and now it’s a year since she moved to live in her motherland, Armenia.

 

Until the age of fifteen she had almost no awakening of ethnic identity. Though the family spoke solely Armenian at home (thanks to which she has a brilliant knowledge of the language), in such a big city as Moscow, there were no such questions as ethnic identity.

After finding out the System Of a Down song and deepening the connection with Armenia, Marina began to think about moving to Armenia one day.

“I had thoughts on moving to Armenia since 2020 and the only obstacle to overcome was the search of work, to be honest. I visited Armenia quite often, up to 4-5 times a year and each time left with such pain. I had to force myself to buy a ticket and live in some kind of anabiosis again. I lived in Moscow like a bird in the cage, waiting to be released to come back to life. I finally decided to repatriate when I received a work offer from the iGorts program. I suppose, I’d move anyway, but not sure if I could’ve managed to get by, because the issue with finding a job was not easy to solve,” continues Marina.

 

 

 

“iGorts” is a government program allowing diaspora Armenian professionals to serve in the public sector and in the Government of Armenia. Each year it brings 50 specialists from different parts of the world to work for one year. You need to prove your professional background in a certain area, sign the contract and work in accordance with your skills and expertise.

At the Repatriation and Integration Center of the Office of the High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs we help Armenians with any questions in regards to repatriation, which begins yet in diaspora. The questions mainly touch on Armenian Citizenship, registrations for passport and visa department, moving of personal belongings, driver’s license, military service. I was responsible for public relationships: for one year I established new partnerships for the Repatriation Center, led its social media pages, organized educational courses and of course provided consultations for the repatriates,” – mentions Marina.

Marina has a Bachelor’s degree in Finance, and now she studies for a Master's degree in Psychology at RAU University and is going to write a master's thesis on ethnopsychology of Armenian youth in diaspora.

 

“I plan to conduct interviews with Armenian youth from different countries. Why such a topic? Because I’ve always been interested in what’s happening in the diaspora. Each diaspora has its differences which I’d like to learn more about to engage more, because diaspora Armenians are potentially repatriates. I’d like to have a “key” to their hearts,” – Marina says.

She believes that for many people repatriation is something frightening which they need to prepare for for many years. Her own experience became an example for many people from her circle to apply for “iGorts”. And gives a lot of recommendations, and one of them is: come at least for a few months, live and then decide on your life-changing further moves.

 

Speaking of what changes Armenia brought to her life, Marina shares that she uses “the coffee rule”. Being a person who doesn’t drink it, she not only became a coffee lover, but now also often offers it when in an Armean collective. Because, as he knows, many important issues can be solved while having a cup of coffee. After cold Moscow days Marina is glad to be in a warm Armenian team, which was unusual for her at first.

Speaking of the most emotional part of our speech on why our compatriots should return to their homeland and what message to translate to them, Marina suggested rather a rational thought – “In case of repatriation there shouldn’t be a “must” word, it should be a choice of each person. I usually tell people that if they are not ready to move, they should continue to stay in the diaspora and develop the Armenian communities which is important as well. Diaspora is important for repats as well. No matter how many people we bring back to Armenia, the diaspora will always exist anyways. You should really be honest with yourself while making the decision and check up with your feelings,” – sums up Marina.

Living in Armenia, she yet continues to be active on her Telegram-channel, which she created back in 2018 while living in Moscow. In the “Armenian Diaspora Calendar” she shared information about interesting cultural and educational events, happening both in diaspora and Armenia.

By Nare Bejanyan