There are no Armenian lobbyists in this remote Russian town, but when it comes to the community's image, it does not lack the activists who could make things happen.
Saribeg Antranigovitch Sofouyan is not a lobbyist, and neither is his friend Krikor Khourdayan. But they both have an excellent feel of what is public relations. Sofouyan is a master builder who emigrated to Rotsov on Don from Georgia decades ago. Khourdayan is a music professor whose ancestors were among the early Armenians who settled along the Eton River more than 200 years ago.
Despite their diverse backgrounds, they have developed a sophisticated sense of understanding regarding what it takes to deal with the changing attitudes and sentiments of their environment. "We are Armenian Russians as much a part of this soil as anyone else. We have to fight ignorance to avoid friction with our neighbors," Sofouyan said during a sightseeing tour of this Armenian town.
Sofouyan had his chance to do exactly that two years ago when a local newspaper published a pamphlet and alleged it was being distributed by the Armenians demanding autonomy for Nor Nakhichevan. "This was very dangerous. The pamphlets were not the work of Armenians, but rather people who were determined to drive a wedge between us and the Russians. This had to be stopped, and the damage corrected."
There were no lobbyists in Rotsov- on-Don. The local newspapers and television station are Russian. The overall population is more than 1.5 million, and the Armenians are a minority.
But Sofouyan and his music professor friend had other ideas. They turned to Moscow for the answers, and specifically to the main Russian television channel which is still seen in most of the republics of the former Soviet Union.
"What we needed was something which the population could understand — and accept. Our story had to be told to the public, and it had to be done in a simple, effective and professional way," he said. With their combined contacts, Sofouyan and Khourdayan were able to convince Russian television to send a production crew to Nor Nakhichevan and put together a 30 minute documentary tracing the roots of the Armenians. The final product was an in depth report on who the Armenians are, who brought them to the shores of the Don river, how Nor Nakhichevan was built, and the privileges the Armenians enjoyed.
To complete the documentary, local Cossack and Russian community leaders were interviewed along with the religious leader of the Russian Orthodox Church. But preparing the documentary was only a first step. It had to be seen by as many people as possible.
Several more trips to Moscow and numerous meetings with television directors took care of that problem, and the documentary finally went on the air not just once, but twice. "You will be surprised how things changed almost overnight. The documentary was the talk of the town. We were able to show the common folks that we are not strangers, but an integral part of this society. Months of efforts paid off," Sofouyan said.
Encouraged by the success, Sofouyan and a group of Armenians from Nor Nakhichevan took on an even bolder project. "We as Armenians of Nor Nakhichevan owed a lot to Catherine the Great, and we wanted to restore her long-ignored stature," he said.
As a first step, Sofouyan commissioned a young Armenian artist to prepare a replica of Empress Catherine the Great's statue which was replaced by that of Karl Marx after the communist revolution in Rotsov-on-Don's main square. Then he approached the local authorities for permission to "get Marx down from his pedestal and put Catherine the Great back where she belongs." Today, the bronze replica stands in Sofouyan's suburban home waiting for the green light from city authorities.
As Sofouyan concentrates on the visible aspects of the undeclared Armenian public relations campaign, Khourdayan is busy consolidating Armenian-Russian cultural ties through the arts. He devotes a great deal of time on Nor Nakhichevan's Ani music and dance groups which are one of the best in the city and in constant demand to perform in other parts of Russia. "Interaction with your environment is essential, and art is one of the most important ways to project your culture and history," Khourdayan said.
With an active cultural life, a fledgling newspaper, a hardnosed amateur lobbyist and solid roots, the Armenian community of Nor Nakhichevan is on the right track.
