“You can turn to a Greek deputy with a request and he will say not to offend Armenians” (video)
Police officers, prosecutors, advocates dine in the family shop-café of Andranik Ayanyan from Salonika. Greeks like this place. Before doing their shopping, they engage in conversation.
After walking for 10 minutes in one of the central streets of Salonika, which is the second largest city in Greece according to its population, we met three shops with Armenian names. The forth shop doesn’t have an Armenian name, but the atmosphere was strongly Armenia. Here people call Andranik Ayanyan Andrea, and more often just an Armenian- Armenus.
They came to Greece in 1993, they didn’t live bad in Armenia, but there was no electricity, there was money, but they weren’t able to buy bread.
There is no problem with Greeks in the issue of integration, when they learnt that we were Armenians, they gave even a stronger handshake, says Andranik. He thinks that Armenians and Greeks have many common characteristics, “They are similar both in appearance and in mindset.”
Of course, there were difficulties, but it was easier to overcome the longing, “Like Armenians, Greeks also like documentation, they demanded so many documents that we got tired.”
Greeks are free people- they don’t hinder someone from developing. The children of Ayanyan have always performed under the Armenian flag, and no one has had any objections, on the contrary, Greeks like when Armenians maintain their identity.
In the same way they pay tribute to the victims of the Armenian Genocide: on that day the Ayanyans always organize reception, “On Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day I organized a reception, they came and paid tribute, they drank to our victims, together with me prosecutors and advocates attended the remembrance event.”
Greeks accept Armenians with their traditions, posture and history, says Ayanyan, “You can turn to a deputy with a request and he will say not to offend Armenians, there is respect. There are old Armenians here, who were able to solve issues together with the Greek leadership.”
Can the current crisis in Greece become a reason to leave the country? They say, if they leave, they will return only to Armenia.
