Few people, Many resources!

Armenian community of Iran faces the issue of population reduction. The number of people who have leaved the country either to the US or Armenia has increased over past years while it 'seems' that fertility rate has been decreased! 

The population decline has caused a big problem: there are schools, sports and cultural complexes that once used to serve the needs of the community but now are too big and costly to be maintained for a community that is getting smaller. For instance, one of the boys' high schools that used to have around 20-25 students per class ended up having only 7-8 students in each class who were spending an enormous amount of time in traffic to travel to the neighborhood of the school which once used to be populated by Armenians!

The problem of a "Small Community, Big Resources" has become the major concern for community's policy makers, including Armenian Prelacy which serves as the governing body of it. As a result, a new project of OPTIMIZING community's resources has been introduced! Through this project some community properties (schools, cultural centers, etc.) that are costly to maintain would be sold while the money would be used to upgrade the older complexes, combine some schools (elementary, high school, etc.),  and increase the budget of the community's organizations, etc.

Although this project seems fairly reasonable, doable, and necessary, it has caused major controversy within the community. There are rumors about Armenian Prelacy members being thieves or there are sharp criticisms of personal lives of some active individuals in community! Although some criticizers  go crazy in expressing their discontent, it seems that underlying logic of all is one major concern as following:

The community can be saved! The policy makers just have no idea what they are doing. By working correctly, the community would continue to survive as it was before. Instead of selling the properties, it would have been better if the Prelacy could CREATE jobs for the youth so they wouldn't immigrate! Optimization project only leaves Armenians hopeless and the community feels how it's losing its power and influence! In order to keep the community hopeful and happy we need to keep properties so people would feel they are still strong and powerful!

And from all that is being said by discontent critics some questions come to mind:

1- How do you expect a prelacy create jobs? is it a government or what? Maybe it is governing Armenian community but unemployment is an issue in Iranian society and can be resolved through Iranian government's policies. The prelacy cannot fix it to stop immigration of Armenians! Hey Armenians, wake UP! you are citizen's of a county named Iran and you are influenced by it's economic policies like everybody else!

2- Seriously! how can you stop immigration? it is a result of Iranian government policies; lack of social and economic security; lack of civil and political liberties, and so on. Don't tell me "they are selling the properties and not giving me any money and that's why I am leaving!" This would be a lie! whatever happens within the Armenian prelacy does not have causal relation with immigration! (emphasizing the causal relation!).

3-Yes! the community is losing its influence and power! that is the fact people need to face and swallow! I am sorry to say this to some "intellectuals" in our community! but actually, you know what? people would understand the situation unless you guys don't become populists using the rhetoric of "decision makers are bunch of idiot thieves" to gain public support for your next community elections!

4- isn't it just over romanticizing the glory of the community in the past? why isn't it OK to manage the resources in the best possible way? circumstances change; so does the community!

5- And finally a general question: why do some people feel the need to always disagree?

it was a long post. I am just tired of reading the same stuff over and over again on blogs and websites, and hear the same conversations constatntly!