04/02/2019 16:50
Experiments with national symbols not a good idea: ethnographer
The Armenian state hymn has passed the exam of time and it is not the issue to be discussed now, ethnographer Svetlana Poghosyan said, speaking to Aysor.am.
Acting Diaspora Minister Babken Ter-Grigoryan wrote in Facebook that the ministry will try to gather the opinions of the Armenian communities regarding the change of the hymn.
“We have so many urgent issues now, and the change of hymn is not among them. What will it give? Will it change the mentality? It is not an urgent issue. We have more serious challenges,” she said, adding that there is no need to discuss the issue now and make experiments with our symbols.
Svetlana Poghosyan expressed conviction that if the Armenian state hymn was rejected in the soviet times for 70 years and then again adopted by the people it is senseless to discuss the issue now.
“You may think of changing the hymn after solving all the essential issues. As to me, our hymn is not a bad one,” she said.
Poghosyan hailed the initiative of the Diaspora Ministry to learn the opinion of world spread Armenian communities.
“Indeed, it is a good step. All Armenians must refer to it. But the thing is that it is not an urgent issue. As to our flag and emblem, we must not forget that thousands of people died for these symbols,” Poghosyan said.
The initiative belongs to the vice speaker of the parliament Alen Simonyan who offered to restore the hymn of the Soviet Armenia authored by great composer Aram Khachaturyan.