Mõis a-là Caucasienne. Armenians-2

The Armenians in TallinOn that day I was coming down (in my imagination) from the ancient mountain of Ararat through Vabaduse väljak (Liberty square in Tallinn) to meet a person who would speak to me about the life of Armenians in modern Estonia.

 This as Artyom Davidyants, the president of the national union of Armenians of Estonia. He was one of the people who founded the Armenian Cultural Society in 1987. Recently I have also found out that he is also a holder of White Star order of Estonia. A| talk with an interesting person always seems to be very short and I want to share it with everyone who would be glad to learn something about the life of Armenians on Estonia.

'It is known that the first Armenian to come to live in Estonia was the great Armenian writer and thinker Khachatur Abovyan who graduated from the university in 1836. After him, a generation of Armenians studied at the university of Tartu, which was then called Derpt.
 
Among them there were some outstanding cultural figures, for example, the poet and writer Raphael Patkanyan, the Oriental specialist and essay writer Stepanos Nazaryan, and others. The university of Tartu was very popular after World War Two. For example, the famous scholar, writer and poet, dissident, and current Armenian politician Raphael Papyan did his post-graduate studies on the chair headed by Yuri Lotman.

As a stable community, Armenians appeared in Estonia after World war Two. Different reasons led them here - someone got married, someone was sent here for work by their universities, someone thought that his or her skills were easier to apply in Estonia and not elsewhere. And so, by the 1980s, there already was a stable Armenian community in Estonia.

After the Spitak earthquake, some refugees appeared in Estonia, but their number was not too great and they did not seriously influence the number of Armenians of the community. According to estimates, there are about 2,000 Armenians in Estonia now. Some of them are Estonian citizens, Some are Armenian citizens and some don't have any citizenship. Though we are all united by the love of our native culture.

At the same time an intensive process of integration of Armenian young people in the Estonian life is taking place. Young people, unlike their parents, can speak Estonian and have prestigious jobs, which is very important for stabilization and self-assertion of the community. It can be said that the youth fits with the Estonian context. They feel at home here.

Most of my compatriots have understood that they themselves must create their own success. If you want to be successful, come on - study, work. That's why there are a large amount of Armenian students. There are lawyers, doctors, information technologists, mathematicians,
managers, journalists, musicians and artists among our young people.

During the Perestroika era, when the pressure of the secret services became weaker, the Armenians started to play their role again and the biggest Armenian communities started to unite. The main motivation was the wish to teach the children some basic things of Armenian culture, like the language. For example, the first reunion of Tallinn Armenians took place in a music school in old town. Children were taught their language, singing, dances, and culture. The next year Armenian communities were already registered in Tallinn and in Tartu.

In 1993, the Armenian church community was registered. The church building was supplied for 99 years free of rent, with the right of prolonging the term by the Luther Evangelic church. It is one of the oldest churches in Estonia, built in the early Middle Ages. The church was reconstructed with money from the Armenian community. Armenians regularly get together in this church. There is a cultural center of Armenia in the very center of Tallinn, 100 meters from the town hall of the city.

To be continued.