From 'Gerdastan' to the Individual: Rebuilding Armenia's Fractured Society and Human Capital
27-04-2026 16:20:29 | Armenia | Interviews
In a recent broadcast by the Noyan Tapan media network, host Gayane Arakelyan led a profound discussion with Hayk Trunyan, Candidate of Sociological Sciences, uncovering the deep-rooted sociological crises and political disconnects facing modern Armenia. The conversation explored how political entities interact with the public, revealing a stark gap between political messaging and the actual evolutionary state of the Armenian identity.
The Evolution and Fragmentation of the Armenian Family
Trunyan argued that contemporary political forces fail to fundamentally understand the society they are trying to lead, opting instead for superficial manipulation aimed at short-term emotional responses rather than genuine social engineering. A primary example of this disconnect is the failure to recognize that the concept of the Armenian family has radically transformed four times over the last 150 years.
The Era of the Gerdastan: Before the Genocide, the societal foundation was the Gerdastan—a massive, multi-generational extended family that naturally fostered collective action and unity.
The Soviet Nuclear Model: Following the Genocide and the subsequent Sovietization, the family unit condensed into three generations: grandparents, parents, and children. The Soviet ideology shifted individual responsibility away from the family and toward the broader collective society, a mindset that contributed to the nationalist victories of the first Artsakh war.
The Survival Generation: The generation of the 1980s and 1990s grew up amid severe economic deprivation, lacking electricity and food, while simultaneously witnessing comfortable lives depicted on foreign television. In response, they rejected collective societal responsibility, focusing their efforts entirely on the survival of their immediate, narrowed family unit.
The "Khopan" Generation: The subsequent era of labor migration left many families fragmented, with fathers working abroad and mothers working full-time at home. This resulted in a generation that grew up without witnessing a complete family model or traditional male and female dynamics.
Today, this historical progression has resulted in an almost individualized society, where citizens live increasingly separated lives.
A Crisis of Role Models and the "Mentoring" Solution
The fragmentation of the family has triggered a severe deficit in positive role models. Trunyan highlighted that with fathers frequently absent and schools being staffed up to 90-95% by female teachers, young boys lack male archetypes. Consequently, they often turn to the streets, where they are influenced by criminal elements.
To rectify this, Trunyan suggests the state must utilize positive social engineering to forge strong, respectable archetypes—such as the educated teacher, the scientist, the athlete, or the capable military officer. The method to instill these values is "mentoring". Because modern youth have access to the same vast pools of information as their elders, traditional top-down lecturing is no longer effective.
"You do not give orders saying 'I am older, you must listen to me,'" Trunyan explained. If elders rely on outdated authority, the youth will simply push back, asking why the older generation left them with such a flawed and "dirty" environment. Instead, elders must share their lived experiences and guide the youth side-by-side.
Political Apathy and the Illusion of Choice
Addressing the current political climate, Arakelyan noted the aggressive nature of pre-election campaigns and the friction they cause. Trunyan explained that the public’s apathy and confusion stem from a lack of genuine alternatives.
Voters constantly ask, "Who should we elect?" because political forces do not offer a distinct, long-term dream or vision for the society.
Political parties that are formed merely months before an election are incapable of developing and communicating a deeply rooted ideology.
The Armenian public intuitively senses this superficiality, leading to the realization that they are trapped in a cycle with no real choice.
The Diaspora Duality and Cognitive Warfare
The dialogue also scrutinized the complex dynamic between the Republic of Armenia and its massive Diaspora, which frequently attempts to influence domestic elections through digital media.
Trunyan contrasted Armenia's approach with that of China. While a Chinese passport represents holistic belonging to the Chinese state regardless of geography, Armenia has created a damaging dualism by rigidly separating "Diaspora" from the "Republic of Armenia". Armenia relies on the Diaspora during times of war or when financial funds are needed, yet excludes them from internal economic and managerial decisions. This ideological division shrinks a powerful 18-20 million-strong global nation into an isolated population of just 3 million.
Furthermore, this lack of a unified national ideology leaves Armenia highly vulnerable. The country is an active testing ground for cognitive and hybrid warfare from nations like Turkey and Azerbaijan, whose narratives actively attempt to dismantle the Armenian family structure.
Retaining Human Capital: The Ultimate Solution
The culmination of these societal, political, and ideological failures is the ongoing threat of emigration. Trunyan drew a compelling comparison to a recent revolution in Nepal, where highly educated youth overthrew the establishment because they lacked social mobility and had absolutely nowhere else to go.
Armenian youth, however, have a built-in alternative: the Diaspora. When highly educated and skilled Armenian specialists face roadblocks at home, they simply leave to build their careers abroad, resulting in a devastating "quality" brain drain.
To reverse this, the state must learn to manage complex systems and embrace the fact that its greatest, and perhaps only, unique asset is the Armenian person. Trunyan, who himself repatriated to Armenia after the age of 40 to invest and build, insists that creating a human-centric society is the only way forward.
As Arakelyan beautifully concluded, comparing an Armenian to an artist who can only capture true emotion and color when creating on their native soil: the capital must remain grounded in its homeland. True Armenian ideology and prosperity, they agreed, can only be cultivated when centered around Ararat and the Republic of Armenia
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