Shaking up the post-коммунизм - European Youth of Armenia

Հայաստանի Եվրոպական Երկխոսության Երիտասարդներ - Stronger together! Armenian-German youth exchange

04:55 24 August 2025 – An airplane arrives in Yerevan and marks the beginning of an intriguing and exchanging trip through Armenia and Germany. The participants do not know what they will go through during the next two months: It will be sunny, rainy, full of energy, sometimes energy draining, full of personal anecdotes and sleepless hours as well as a civic political agenda.

The associations AGBU (Armenian General Benevolent Union), Ludwig Wolker e.V. and the Armenian Agency of Germany cooperated to strengthen the cultural bonds between the countries and highlight the bonds which already existed. Until today, Germany is a one of the main actors in the south Caucasus Region concerning cultural, educational and economic relations. What is the current state of bilateral educational relations?

The second half of the 20th century was dominantly shaped by the cultural and political division between western Europe and the communist East meaning that everything behind the inner-German border was under soviet-Russian control which led once again to the suppression and colonialisation of several nations from Central Europe to the Caucasus – clearly highlighting the continuity of Russian imperialism.

In the past 35 years, the geopolitical and cultural frame in the south Caucasus region has dramatically changed – especially since Russia's unwillingness and inability to support Armenia in the conflict with Azerbaijan leading into Armenia’s new agenda of diversification – strengthening economic and political cooperation not only with Europe, but with the Global South as well to enforce thoughtful decoupling from Russia’s influence. Armenia’s youth has a strong desire to be part of the European sphere which is also shown by the strong willingness of establishing higher-education partnerships.

In 1992, the Federal Republic of Germany renewed its bilateral relations with Armenia. Today, the centre of this partnership constitutes cultural, educational, civic and economic cooperation within the Federal Foreign Office’s Eastern Partnership Programme. Against this backdrop, AGBU and the recently founded Armenian Agency of Germany initiated the youth program “Stronger together – Civic engagement, media, and the power to create impact” bringing together 10 German and 10 Armenian young talents and future leaders to ignite bilateral civic and political participation based on a deep mutual understanding. 

The shared Christian identity and interest in deepening ties with the European Union created a common ground for discussion as well as commemorating genocide in the 21st century and historical relations between the countries which can be found in the Lepsius house and the historical figure Johannes Lepsius, who was the first to report on the genocide of Armenians. His legacy is to be found in Yerevan and Berlin. In Armenia, visits to the EU representation, the German embassy, and he Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs were on the program to evaluate current struggles and directions of the future. In the second part, visits to equivalent institutions in Germany, like the Federal Foreign Office and the Armenian embassy were pursued to find new potential funding for the creation of a stable annual exchange program. 

Next to the more political background, it was not forgotten to exchange cultural, culinary goods and habits. Between Berliner Currywurst, Paklava, and Schnitzel, dumplings were one source of mutual background. It is called Khinkali in Yerevan and Teigtaschen in Berlin. Sometimes these tiny details reveal more than one can think. Exactly this marks the rich cultural background of both countries as well as the shared history of the post communism world, these types of dumplings both originate from central European countries. All these discussions and sharing of experiences were done in Armenian, German, English, and Russian which ones again highlights the common intercultural and multilingual background of all participants deriving from a shared past. 

As time never stops, we find ourselves in a new world order and new possibilities to change current political schemes. Based on the EU Armenia Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement in 2021, Armenia is getting closer and closer to the European Union as economic and cultural partner as part of the European Neighbourhood Policy and its eastern regional dimension, the Eastern Partnership. This was embodied in both the German and Armenian participants pursuing careers in foreign affairs and international organisations and already gained experience and knowledge at Goethe Institutes, EU-Representations, during DAAD and Erasmus projects which were regular topics during the breaks. 

While Georgia – south Caucasian neighbour and EU accession candidate - is showing increasingly autocratic tendencies, Armenia is striving for closer relations with the European Union. The following section focuses primarily on cooperation with the EU, and Germany in particular, in the areas of foreign cultural and educational policy. 

Historically, education and science have been highly valued in Armenian society. 80% of school leavers seek a university degree. Armenia currently has over 60 state-recognised higher education institutions, almost all of which are located in Yerevan and can be categorised as universities, institutes, academies and conservatories. The major ones are the American University of Armenia, the French University of Armenia, Yerevan State University and Russian-Armenian University. While the first three mentioned ones are western-orientated institutions and significantly supported by AGBU, the Russian-Armenian University is operating under supervision of the Russian Ministry of Education.

Although there is no official governmental internationalisation strategy in the field of higher education, the country participates in international programmes such as Erasmus+ and Erasmus Mundus, the DAAD and the British Council. The most important destination countries for Armenian students are the Russian Federation – for historical reasons, but with declining popularity – Germany, the USA and France. The interest in Germany shows the relevance of German-Armenian higher-education cooperation. Between 2015 and 2020, 3,129 Armenians participated in the Erasmus+ programme. The number of international students in Armenia also increased significantly, reaching 6,735 in 2022 – around 7% – which is in line with the average for the Eastern Partnership countries. The DAAD maintains a lecturer position at Yerevan State University and another at Bryusov State University. The DAAD regional office in Tbilisi is responsible for Armenia. In 2023, the DAAD supported 327 people, including 207 Armenians and 120 Germans. In addition, three Germans studied in Armenia through Erasmus+. The long-established and highly regarded Goethe Centre was converted into a full-fledged Goethe Institute at the beginning of this year. 

Although there is a clear will to expand student mobility with the EU and Germany, the number of programme participants is still quite modest. Furthermore, ending educational cooperation with Russia would be essential for closer integration within the EU. The high reputation of the Goethe-Institute and German institutions in the field of political education and engagement like the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung is encouraging for representing German political and cultural engagement. The relation between Armenia and Germany depends on future decisions of politicians as well as young professionals strengthening economic, cultural, academic and political ties between the south Caucasus and the European Union. 

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THOST, Kilian; WECKE, Tom (2025): Shaking up the post-коммунизм. European Youth of Armenia - Հայաստանի Եվրոպական Երկխոսության Երիտասարդներ. Stronger together! - German-Armenian student exchange 

Weitere Informationen: Stronger Together - Armenisch-deutsche Jugendbegegnung 2025