I could not disagree more. Unfortunately. Sadly...
In what concerns Armenia, several hayastantsis have told me ( so i heard this with my own ears!) that they have no problem with karabagh ( they don’t even use the real Armenian name for it!!!) going back and being taken back by the turks, i was told that ‘karabaghtsis screw goats’ and that ‘turks should come and take karabagh back. that is what those dirty karabaghtsis deserve. look what serjik and kocharyan, the two karabaghtsis did to our beautiful country they destroyed it. how beautiful it was before and now it is all destroyed!!” and i was also told that “who loves karabagh and karabaghtsis is my enemy. i really don’t like them!”. All of this by differents Armenians!!! Hayastantsis!!!
On the other hand, some Artsakhtsis prefer to leave and search for a greener pasture elsewhere, or prefer to sit and do nothing but received different kinds of humanitarian aid or social aid from the State…
I myself am a Diasporan, i know how the majority of Diasporans feels and react when it comes to Artsakh. I am one of them. “Artsakh the Holy Land” , Artsakh, the land of heroes”, “we won’t surrender not even an inch of the liberated lands” and so on. this is the kinds of slogans you hear, and read. But how many of the 7millions Diasporan Armenians would actually move to these ‘liberated lands’ and start a new life there and contribute to making sure they won’t be lost to the enemy again..? How many…? In the south of Artsakh, there are hundreds of hectars of unoccupied, uninhabited lad. The same goes for farmland. How many of spyurkahays would move there and invest in the agriculture or practise it just for their families…? Where is the Miasnutyun here…???
Situaţia politică din România s-a schimbat radical după declaraţia rostită de Traian Băsescu la teve în urmă cu două săptămâni. Preşedintele şi ai lui au pierdut mult din popularitate şi, ca efect, au intrat în defensivă. Atmosfera s-a schimbat complet.
Bucureştiul părea până acum 15 zile o insulă ruptă de realitate. Aflam despre ce se întâmpla-n jur fără să avem aerul că suntem cumva atinşi de criză. Băsescu chiar a negat că ar fi una. Acordul de anul trecut cu FMI ar fi trebuit să pună în gardă măcar pe cei care ne conduc, să îi alarmeze şi să facă ceva. Tăierea cozii mâţei ca să nu intre frigul în casă trebuia făcută odată cu primirea primei tranşe. Lucrul nu s-a întâmplat şi nu e un secret de ce. Familiarizaţi cu prăpastia spre care ne îndreptam, câteva capete pătrate din spatele uşilor închise au hotărât să ascundă adevărul. Motivul: ne găseam în an de alegeri şi electoratul trebuia anesteziat. Îşi imaginează cineva că ar mai fi fost ales Băsescu, dacă pensiile şi salariile ar fi fost micşorate în 2009? Au fost complicităţi mari atunci la vârful partidelor implicate în cursa pentru Cotroceni. Stafurile de campanie au considerat că Geoană şi Băsescu - principalii candidaţi (PSD şi PDL erau partenere în guvern) - au şanse mai mari să câştige inima şi votul capului de locuitor, dacă plasează banii FMI în salarii şi pensii, dacă măresc cheltuielile publice şi angajează mii de persoane în aparatul birocratic. Aşa s-a amânat rezolvarea problemei pentru după alegerile prezidenţiale. Prostul trebuia mituit. Candidaţii şi partidele lor au câştigat timp, dar s-a pierdut o oportunitate mare de a plăti un preţ mult mai mic. Măsurile de austeritate erau inevitabile, dar luate anul trecut - populaţia ar fi făcut mai puţine sacrificii.
Nu guvernanţii, îmbogăţiţii de război, parveniţii peste noapte, elita politică, profitorii ireductibili ai tuturor situaţiilor tulburi plătesc preţul enorm al ieşirii din criză, ci amărâţii dintotdeauna, fraierii, pălmaşii, sărăntocii vor achita factura după tot acest „dezmăţ".
La începutul anilor '80, premierul polonez Mieczysław Rakowski - după lovitura de stat de la 13 decembrie 1981 a generalulului Jaruzelski -, într-o negociere cu occidentalii care impuseseră embargo, a declarat cinic: „Nu noi (cei de la putere) suferim. Noi găsim întotdeauna un colţ de pâine albă de mâncat, ci poporul! Pe el îl pedepsiţi". Cam la atât se reduce morala celor care ne guvernează în aceste zile. Regula e: scapă cine poate ! Situaţia politică net schimbată se reflectă în esenţă în aceasta. Confruntaţi cu situaţia extrem de grea în care o mână de politicieni au aruncat ţara prin lipsa lor de prevedere sau din calcul idiot şi meschin anul trecut, victorioşii trebuie acum să facă ce au refuzat o vreme, când au sperat într-o minune. Adică, economiile occidentale să îşi revină şi să angreneze şi biata Românie în siajul lor. Aşa ar fi ieşit din criză fără să plătească preţul politic, spunea acest calcul fantezist. Minunea, din nefericire pentru cei mulţi, nu s-a produs, şi acum, vor/nu vor, guvernanţii trebuie să iasă din „încurcătura" produsă chiar de comportamentul lor iresponsabil. Caraghios e că nici acum, în al 12-lea ceas, nu s-au trezit. Fiecare încearcă să îşi micşoreze costurile proprii şi să paseze povara pe umerii celorlalţi. Te apucă râsul-plânsul când vezi preocuparea obsesivă de a se dezvinovăţi, de a se ascunde de presă, pentru a-şi micşora costurile - ca şi cum ei ar plăti ceva. Sunt deja cu gândul la alegerile din 2012, speriaţi doar să nu fie goniţi din ministere de presiunea străzii. În rest, sunt bine mersi, ceea ce vă dorim şi dvs.
Artur Mkrtchyan, primul preşedinte al Karabaghului, este ales pe 6ianuarie 1992, pe timp de război, şi îşi exersează funcţia timp de 97 zile. Despre relaţia dintre Armenia şi Karabagh, Mkrtchyan spunea că "este acelaşi spirit în două corpuri". Având în vedere "trecutul comunist" al celor două state, nici că se putea formula mai apropiat de adevăr! Cine vrea să intre în Karabagh, trebuie să aibă permisiunea organelor competente ale guvernului acestuia, permisiune concretizată printr-o viză. Viza este acordată pe doar două căi - fie de reprezentanţa (nu ambasada, că doar Karabaghul este un stat nerecunoscut pe plan internaţional!) din Erevan, fie direct de Ministerul de Externe din Stepanakert. Deşi Karabaghul nu este recunoscut ca stat independent, are "reprezentanţă" nu doar în Erevan, ci şi în Statele Unite, în Franţa, în Rusia şi în Liban, care în mod normal ar trebui să acorde viză de intrare în Karabagh doritorilor, aşa cum o fac ambasadele Armeniei pretutindeni în lume, în condiţiile stabilite de lege şi de acordurile dintre Armenia şi ţările respective. O altă posibilitate de a obţine viza de intrare în Armenia este în aeroportul internaţional Zvartnoţ, la intrarea în ţară. Deşi Karabaghul nu are aeroport internaţional, graniţe are, ca orice alt stat – la nord şi la est cu Azerbaijanul, la sud cu Iranul şi la vest cu Armenia. Singura graniţă funcţională este cea cu Armenia, iar punctul de frontieră se află în coridorul montan îngust din districtul Lacin, pe numele său armenesc Kaşatah. În mod normal, şi aici ar trebui să existe posibilitatea de a obţine viza de intrare. În acelaşi mod normal am intrat şi eu...fără ca cineva să mă întrebe de sănătate timp de 6 ore şi jumătate, cât a durat drumul de la Erevan la Stepanakert. Am obţinut apoi viza de la Ministerul de Externe, fără nici un fel de problemă. Acolo mi se reaminteşte că viza mea de Armenia va expira şi că va trebui să mă ocup şi de această problemă. Dar când se pune problema de a intermedia prelungirea acesteia sau obţinerea unei vize pe termen lung, răspunsul pe care îl primesc este fără drept de apel - "Nu vă putem ajuta. Nu putem face acest lucru. Suntem un stat separat". Peste câteva zile, particip la lansarea publică a website-ului dedicat lui Artur Mkrtchyan, în cadrul Parlamentului. Website-ul este realizat de organizaţia "Ahavni" (porumbel, în lb. armeană), iar prezentarea are loc cu ocazia aniversării a 18 de ani la moartea lui Mkrtchyan. Mă prezint la Parlament mai repede decât ora de începere, astfel am posibilitatea să vizitez biblioteca Parlamentului. Spre surprinderea mea, în proporţie de 95%, fondul bibliotecii este compus din publicaţiile periodice ale instituţiilor statului (atât din Karabagh cât şi din Armenia) – cum ar fi, de exemplu, echivalentul Monitorului Oficial din România – , din Codul Civil din Armenia, din Codul Penal din Armenia şi alte legi din Armenia, iar restul de 5 la sută cuprinde fie cărţi referitoare la conflict, fie cărţi ce tratează Chestiunea Armeană, în general. Şi aproape un sfert din acest fond este în limba rusă (dacă nu mai mult). Atmosfera se poate caracteriza cel mai bine parafrazându-l pe Eminescu: "Cum nu vii tu, Artur, doamne, Ca punând mâna pe ei, Să-i împarţi în două cete, În smintiţi şi în mişei"...
Adică acasă calculăm într-un fel, ne imaginăm într-un anume fel, şi când ajungem la faţa locului, totul se schimbă, ne dăm seama că cel puţin o parte din percepţiile şi calculele “de acasă” erau complet greşite, că ceea ce aveam în gând când am făcut acele calcule nu era tocmai adevărat.Pentru că informaţia pe care o aveam când am făcut acele calcule fie nu am primit-o de unde trebuia, fie nu am primit-o când trebuia, fie nu am primit-o cum trebuia. La fel şi cu “vigeac”-ul (starea/situaţia generală) din Karabagh. Sunt în Erevan, a doua zi după marşul comemorativ cu torţe spre Ţiţernakaberd , de pe 23 seara. În vizită la o veche prietenă, pe care nu o mai văzusem de multă vreme, stăm la o cafea, la un moment dat, mi se pune o întrebare care mă surprinde - “Şi spune, cum este situaţia pe acolo prin Karabagh? ”. “Cum adică situaţia? Ce situaţie?”, întreb eu oarecum contrariată. “Păi situaţia, în general. Ştii, am auzit la televizor că se pregătesc de război, că soldaţii mărşăluiesc tot timpul pe stradă”. Eu, ca “spyurkahay” (armean din diaspora), înainte să vin aici, îmi imaginam că înafară de diferenţele lingvistice, nu are cum să fie prea multă diferenţă între hayastanţi (armeni din Armenia) şi karabaghţi (armeni din Karabagh), “că doar trăiesc aproape în acelaşi loc, respiră acelaşi aer şi beau aceeaşi apă”. Mai mult, credeam că cineva care locuieşte în Erevan, trebuie să fie mult mai bine informat decât mine în ceea ce priveşte Karabagh-ul, deoarece e mai aproape de Erevan decât de România. Această întrebare, ce mi s-a pus după o lună de trăit în Karabagh, mă face să îmi dau seama de un lucru – dintre conaţionalii noştri, fie din diaspora, fie din Armenia, cei care au acces şi la alte informaţii decât cele oficiale, cele vizibile, ştiute de toată lumea, sunt destul de puţini. Iar cei care cred că nu toate aceste informaţii sunt adevărate sau suficiente sau relevante, cei care vor să vadă că şi dacă ţara arde, baba nu se (mai) piaptănă, sunt şi mai puţini. Dacă în mass media marea majoritate a articolelor referitoare la Karabagh tratează doar negocierile şi starea în care se află acestea sau comemorarea diferitelor evenimente legate de război (masacrele din Sumgait, din Baku, eliberarea Şuşiului ş.a.m.d.), înseamnă că nu există altceva ce merită să fie menţionat, înseamnă că înafară de faptul de a fi subiectul unui conflict cândva sângeros, dar acum îngheţat, Karabaghul nu are nimic altceva care să prezinte interes...? Dacă se vorbeşte doar despre negocieri şi despre atitudinea belicoasă a Baku-ului, înseamnă că oamenii din Karabagh în loc să ducă o viaţă normală, trăiesc cu frica în sân? Da, într-adevăr, negocierile sunt în curs. Da, într-adevăr, lobby-ul ambelor părţi este puternic. Da, într-adevăr, Azerbaijanul dă dovadă de tot mai puţină răbdare (cel puţin aşa spune). Dar mâine, oamenii îşi vor relua viaţa. Mâine, Slavik îşi va deschide din nou cele două magazine. Mâine la ora 8 dimineaţa, pantofarul Armen îşi va deschide din nou atelierul, va mai confecţiona încă x perechi de pantofi şi seara la ora 11 îl va închide, cum a făcut şi ieri. Mâine în brutăria lui Armine şi a lui Norik se vor coace din nou zeci de gata delicioase, care apoi vor lua drumul magazinelor. Mâine, Mişa va urca din nou pe şantier, pentru ca apoi seara să se întoarcă acasă rupt de oboseală. Mâine, la ora 7 dimineaţa, şoferul Oleg va conduce prima marşutka spre Stepanakert, pentru a fi apoi urmat de Mihail, celălalt şofer. Mâine, la ora 8 dimineaţa, Suzi, Narek, Lilit, Lusine, Garik, Anna şi Anuş se vor duce din nou la şcoală. Şi vor fi la fel de zburdalnici, de neastâmpăraţi, vor fi aceeaşi ştrengari care au fost şi ieri. Mâine, Şuşan o va invita din nou pe Nune la cafea. Şi viaţa va merge înainte.
Everyone is always measuring our worth with units of money.
Our employers tell us we are worth this much. We tell our clients we want that much for our time. And some random illogical and unstable marketplace algorithm puts a price tag on the cost of our health care.
We’re not just the victims in this scheme but also the victimizers. We’re always trying to guess how much people are bringing in annually. We’re blurting out the square-footage of our homes and offices, guesstimating the price of other people’s rides, assessing their couture and bling, and readily announcing our children’s tuition.
We’re always doing the math like TV channels that count wealth all day long. We’re like conglomerates tallying totals at the box office. We’re gauging the successes of our community by the number of attendees at events rather than the experiences of those attendees or the work accomplished through our fundraisers.
Armenian life in the modern century has become a telethon of quantity over quality, material over substance.
We seem obsessed, like Western Civilization, with things, material, and having more and having better. We are fixated on our material and financial wealth.
And in a community where the children of have-nots from the Genocide and have-nots from Soviet Armenia suddenly have a lot, most of us think our things are more impressive than our soul and our mind.
So where there is money, we pay our respects. Where there is wealth, we listen. Where there is gaudy abundance, we gawk.
Not just that, but we make our rich into our gods. We make our big donors into our community’s wisest elders. We let our benefactors, by default, set our community agenda and values.
Those with money can be Armenian broadcasters, beam into our living rooms, and set our moral and cultural compass. Those with money get to speak on our behalf to Sec. of State Hillary Clinton about our community’s collective concerns regarding the Homeland.
Those with money can buy popularity for themselves, the artists they sponsor, and some rich Armenians even try rewrite our history like the Turks.
Not that our rich aren’t wise and experienced in our materialist society, but they may or may not be in touch with the masses like me and you, our concerns, issues, and struggles.
Remember, businesses and corporations have no souls, and we shouldn’t follow soulless models of operation to deal with our community and our issues. Businesses are created to make money, but communities are created to protect individual.
Can the affluent truly and successfully advise or dictate my tastes, thoughts, and opinions about all things Armenian? And why is every Armenian organization lusting after Kim Kardashian as its mascot? She’s a pleasant girl but does not represent me.
This is the kind of healthy dialogue that is missing in our community. We seem to have little ‘internal communication,’ and everyone seems satisfied with other people’s decisions, morality, and measurements of success as a community and as Armenians.
Not only is there little dialogue between our elders – the generous donors – and the masses down here where I live, but we seem to have no culture for allowing individual members of our community to have a voice.
Witness all the comments after these columns that confuse these commentaries for news articles and journalistic reporting. Witness when I recently reviewed a television show in this column and was called impish and a narcissist.
Not only do some in our community confuse commentary with reporting, but they have the audacity to sit at home and decide that these columns are worthless and should not be printed.
Obviously, some of us still live in Soviet China where there’s only one way to see the world, where people don’t have a voice, and where only a selected few have the authority to represent us.
Grassroots organizations and grassroots news media with activists and contributors from all walks of our community is a better way of life.
The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) comes to mind. This organization is the closet thing we have to a democratic approach to managing our existence. This organization is the best way we can collectively set our agendas and define our priorities as a people, as a Diaspora, and as a community.
If you truly care about who we are as a collective, then get involved with your local ANC chapter, speak up about your local, regional, and national priorities, agendas, needs, and yes, dreams. Make sure your community is informed, influence your local organizations to do the right thing, educate others, and set our collective agenda with your peers.
Another way to create what corporations call ‘internal communications’ is what this column is about. This column is about how our culture, which has a centuries-old tradition of telling stories, isn’t doing a lot of organic story-telling.
The street stories and our ‘people’ stories are not getting recorded in this age of 140-character Tweets or Facebook updates. We have hundreds of friends and lots of contacts, but what good are they if they only accept our glam shots from parties and weddings or ‘like’ our PR on how great we are doing with all of luxury cars and our bling?
Who are we beyond the poses and postures and all the kudos and happy, smiley faces? Who are we beyond the ’sold out’ community events and the weddings and banquet halls that go one above another week after week?
Is there anyone who is not successful or anything we do as a group that fails? Do we ever organize events that weren’t better than last year or bigger than ever before? Has anyone had a low turnout for their Armenian festival or cruise?
If something is sold out or if I’m not being invited to your party or wedding, then why are you telling me about it? Are you rubbing it in my face because I know I can’t go to your event? Can anyone be real anymore? Does anyone remember being human versus being a soulless corporation where how much money we earn at the end of the day or after the fundraiser is all that matters?
Where is the real, the organic dialogue of about the stories of modern Armenians? Where are the cares and concerns of a 21st century Armenian layman written? Who is chronicling the hardships of noble hard-working men and women who are earning living wages and raising children while struggling to keep their culture alive?
We may know each other’s projected stories, but do we know our collective story? Should we not know various facets of our individual and collective struggles so that we can respond to our collective needs?
A psychology professor once told my class that when two people — say Adam and Eve — sit face-to-face at a table, there are actually six players at that table. The first and second characters at the table are the real Adam and Eve. The third and fourth characters at the table are the two individuals the real Adam and the real Eve are projecting. The fifth and sixth characters at the table are the Adam that Eve is perceiving and the Eve that Adam is perceiving.
If that’s the dynamic of modern man, how can we not be estranged from our own community? How can we, you, and me not be confused about who and what our community is? Are we the people we think we are, are we the people we are projecting, or are we the people we’re being perceived as?
The only way we will ever know who we are as a community or as a people is by sharing our real stories with one another. The only way is through organic storytelling.
Last Sunday, in a random, empty warehouse in Atwater Village, on the wrong side of the railroad tracks, the vision of two sisters, Adrineh and Karineh, brought together a small group of us, and we told our stories.
There were no ads in the papers. There were no commercials on our local digital cable channels. There was no budget.
A dozen of us got up one by one and read our ten-minute-long stories under the title, “I went all the way to Armenia, and all I got was a lousy T-shirt.” The title was meant to be humorous, perhaps alluring, but the theme was genius.
We had to tell stories of our experiences of Armenia, of our Homeland. And the range of stories that rang from the microphone that night were nothing but the truth about who we are as a people.
Nazo spoke of reciting the Lord’s Prayer when his turn came to make a toast at a wedding a cab driver he met that day invited him to attend. Lory recalled liking Soviet Armenia only after getting to swim in one of Yerevan’s fountains as a child.
Sam talked about his dream of ancient gods sending him geometric formulas of ancient knowledge that float in our DNA’s. Allen talked about Diasporans running a summer camp for kids in Gyumri.
Some of these stories were funny, others were touching, and some inspiring. But more importantly they were our people’s stories. They were stories that may have not fit anywhere in our newspapers, in a Facebook entry, at a lecture, or around the banquet table at a wedding. Yet, there were truths that needed to be heard in each of these stories, patterns unveiled that allowed the readers and those in the audience to relate to one another and to our collective experience as Armenians.
We told stories that night, and we built a community like in the old days. We told stories like they used to around camp fires, around fireplaces or Pagan hearths. We told stories like we did before the Internet, before television.
In the great Armenian tradition of story-telling, the Gregorian sisters executed another installment of their Siroon Storytellers. They succeeded in bringing Armenians from various walks of life face-to-face. They succeeded by creating dialogue, breaking barriers, and providing a night of entertainment that beat any mega-block buster [fill in a title here].
Stories are what communities are about, after all. Stories are what unite us and make us one. We go to the movies, to church, or sports arenas to worship together, to laugh together, to mourn together, and to feel connected. And our individual stories spoken to our neighbors and to our friends end up defining us in the here and now.
So where are your stories – your real stories? Where are you writing them, sharing them? Who is validating and acknowledging them? And why aren’t you contributing to our collective consciousness of what it means to be an Armenian in 2010, in our corner of the Diaspora? Why aren’t you providing your two cents to who we are as a people, who we should be, and what we should aspire for?
And where this all started was when I ordered a pizza the other day, and the worn and torn, gray-haired Armenian man who showed up at my door said, ‘Do stegh es aproum (You live here)?’
It took me a second to understand what was happening, that he was Armenian and I was Armenian, and that he knew I was Armenian.
I was his last stop after a 12-hour day, and this stranger had been wanting to tell his story — a story of migrating from Yerevan, saving up enough money to buy his own Domino’s franchise, baking and delivering seven-days-a-week, and barely being able to care for his family and pay his property taxes.
His story had been bottled up perhaps. Maybe he’d been driving around with his story for hours, maybe days, maybe years. And he had to tell it to the first friendly face (or familiar face?) he had seen that day. And tell, he did.
I stood there holding my box of pizza, listening with great interest to a member of my own community exhaling his soul out to me, saying no one had told him it would be this difficult in America.
Did he have regrets? Did he have hope–perhaps. But he indeed had a need to talk, to tell, to share with another Armenian soul in this vast global wasteland of impersonal addresses that were consuming his pizzas without validating his soul, his substance.
Perhaps stories like my pizza man’s don’t get into the newspapers of our day and don’t get communicated to those who need to hear them in the Homeland. Maybe they are heard through the word-of-mouth media and taken for granted by Yerevani families watching us on yachts, in lavish banquet halls and in mansions on their TV screens and dreaming of leaving the Homeland for greener pastures.
That’s another column.
But for now, this question. What if we all allowed ourselves to take a chance once-in-a-while and told our story like my pizza delivery man? What if you were that emigrant delivering a pizza past ten o’clock one night and took a chance, stood outside another Armenian’s door and told your story?
Wouldn’t that just make us closer, our community tighter, and our world smaller, less hostile? Wouldn’t that help us help each other?
… And seven million apples fell from heaven: one for the storyteller, one for him who made him tell it, one for you the reader, and one for each individual Armenian in the our world today.
When I stated that the guys who fought in the war feared talking about the matter I understood that I had crossed the line. Garik opened up and talked without taking a breath.
“I don’t care who it is, we, the people of Karabakh, will strike out at them. No one can ever sign such a document. At least you can imagine what giving back those lands would mean. Who will take such a risk, at the cost of their lives? Is Serzh ready to place himself in harm’s way? Do you know what such a move will mean? Karabakh will once again be surrounded on four sides and nobody will remain here. No, let me rephrase that. A group of suicide commandos will remain and another such group will be dispatched to Yerevan. Don’t for a minute think that it will all go down so easily. There’s a lot to do here. Those riches that they have accumulated have come at the expense of the blood shed by me, Norik, Armen, Samo, Monte, Peto, Ardj and a thousand others. And now they want to hand those lands back? Have they asked me what I want, have they asked my comrades or those who gave their lives? If you want to give back land let them give Yerevan back. Why are you keeping that city, what good is it to you? You’ll leave for Los Angeles, Russia, Sochi. Go there to live; what are you doing in Yerevan? Don’t you need a place to eat, drink and make merry? There are countless places scattered throughout the world that will satisfy these needs of yours. Go! That’s where you’ll find the ‘real’ Armenians because you know what? An Armenian cannot live in his own country. An Armenian must flee, constantly flee…But there is no escape from this world. An Armenian can only escape from his homeland.”
“I knew that I’d be having this conversation one day. And now here you are engaged in such a discussion with me. They never asked me, all these years they never asked me and now you’ve come along and are asking me. However, I knew the day would come when they’d get around to asking me. So listen up closely! Once upon a time it was Levon saying such things and now it’s Serzh. Will they be guarding the borders of Armenia or their boys? Were they the ones protecting the borders back in the day? What do they care? They never had a care in the world but today we don’t even know where our next daily meal will come from. Are they the ones that have shouldered this torment so that they can now turn around and strip us of those lands? No, we are the ones who have born the brunt of the suffering. What connection do Serzh, Robert or Levon have with us that affords them the right to speak on our behalf?”
“These nights I wake from my sleep shouting, drenched in sweat. A night doesn’t pass without me ranting so. Why has my family named me ‘the cat’? Why, because my kids don’t know the pain I have born, and I don’t want them to know. And that’s the reason why we spent months surviving through the winter snows; so that the children would never experience those feelings. Have you ever heard stories about the partisans who lived in the forests for years, deprived of everything? And know you want to give back those lands? We’ll blow all of you guys up; you, who write those lies, and those others, with their fat hands on their bellies who have reduced us all to this pitiful state. Do you know what conditions those guys who fought are living in today?” “No one understands their plight. It’s as if they are no longer a part of this country. They have no connection with you people. They have taken to drinking binges for days on end. They drink to forget and that others steer clear of them. They drink so as not to be taken seriously. Yeah, that’s what I want; to be left alone. That’s why I drink. My friends and I aren’t capable of working. It’s not because there isn’t work to be had, it’s because we can’t work.”
“Now try to explain why what’s bottled up in your head prevents you from doing anything. Can you understand what such a thing means; when what’s in your head prevents you from living a normal life, when it cripples you and leaves you in a state of emptiness? But who understands us and who wants to? Now you come along and ask me what I think about giving lands back. Here, you’ll only find keepers of the land; go look for land givers elsewhere. Go look for them in Yerevan and tell them it will end badly for them. We couldn’t care else; it’s bad for us now. Go write that it will end badly for them!”
At first I also thought about directing similar questions to the Parliamentary Deputies and officials seated in the Stepanakert. But after my discussion with Garik I realized that, regardless of what they said, it wouldn’t make much of a difference anyway.
On Friday, 06 March 2009 the Hay Tad Committee in Kuwait organized its first public event in Salmiya, Kuwait. Boghos Mardirossian delivered a lecture - presentation on the political situation in the Caucasus and its implications on Armenia.
In the first part of the lecture, Mardirossian made a brief introduction about the geographical location of the Caucasus and the different ethnicities residing there. He pointed out that many languages are spoken there. Caucasus is not mono- ethnic or single religion place. In The northern Caucasus, which is the southern part of Russian Federation there are many ethnic groups and mainly five autonomous republics within the Russian Federation.
In the past, the Caucasus struggle was between three Empires: Persian, Russian and Ottoman, but in the present time after, the collapse of the Soviet Union new players came into the Caucasus such as USA, EU and NATO. The presence of the new players in this region gave to it a specific international political and economical importance.
According to Mardirossian, NATO is directly involved in the Caucasus affairs through its new candidate Georgia, which has closed its Russian military bases and is eager now to join NATO, a move that will ensure to keep Western presence in the region.
The presence of foreign major forces in the region creates possibility of direct clash with Russian and Iranian forces. This new political situation in the Caucasus has attracted many political analysts.
The Caucasus is in no short of political, economical, ethnical and religious problems. According to Mardirossian, it is a highly volatile region and ready to explode at any time. This instable region has already experienced many wars and the major has to come yet.
Due to its extremely important geo-strategic location between three major powers, namely Russia, Iran and Turkey and because of its rich energy resources and strategic location as major energy transport route, the risk of war has always been high in the region.
The second part of Mardirossian’s lecture was about the importance of the Caucasus region in international politics and economics. He mentioned two main reasons in this context. The first is economic, which is the hidden force behind the political wars in the region. We all know that the Caspian Sea is rich in oil energy and gas resources. Azerbaijan has significant wealth in this regard. The southern Caucasian region is located on the new energy routes.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Western World wanted to establish alternative energy routes, ignoring Russian and Iranian territories. The West needs the Caspian Sea energy recourses, but does not want Russia or Iran to control the energy pipeline routes. The Baku-Jehan pipeline route is a clear example of Western intentions. The West has its allies in the region such as Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. These three countries are accomplishing the Western interests in the region. This appears in conflict with the Russian, Iranian and Armenian interests.
NABUCO is an upcoming energy project for transferring the Caspian gas to Europe, ignoring Russian territories. Russia is not happy for that and is not willing to lose its economic interests in the region, commented Mardirossian. The Russian politics is effectively fighting any Western presence in the Caucasus. For Russia, Armenia is a geo-strategic castle in the Caucasus frontline. Mardirossian resembled Armenia as the king in chess game. If it falls the whole game is over. Especially for the West, Armenia is the main strategic country, which is needed to take under control in order to reduce the power and influence of the two temporary allies Russia and Iran in the region. Russia and Iran, old time enemies are now cooperating militarily to face a united threat: the NATO.
Mardirossian gave an account about the strategic importance associated with each country in the Caucasus and the three wars fought in the region since 1988: Nagorno Karabagh, South Ossetia and Abkhazia. These wars were the result of the above-mentioned geo-strategic and economic reasons but local ethnic reasons were widely utilized. These three wars publicly are known as wars of self-determination, but in reality they had economic and geo-strategic reasons. After analyzing the importance of the Caucasus, Mardirossian went into the fourth and last part of his lecture, in which he discussed national security issues facing Armenia as a country in the middle of a major power struggle in the region. This was the most interesting part of the lecture.
Mardirossian first defined the meaning of Armenia’s national security. The economic security and the security of Diaspora Armenians were important elements that form the final picture of the entire Armenian national security structure. Armenia’s economic security is in danger since Armenia has been deprived from major regional economic energy routes, railroad and other projects. Armenia does not have rich natural resources or access to sea. Georgia can be a possible access to the sea, but the Georgian authorities are practicing anti-Armenians policies in the Javakhk region, where Armenians live. The ongoing unstable situation in and around Georgia has affected Armenia’s economic security. Armenia, as natural ally to Russia, makes Georgia unhappy. The Russian military bases in Armenia keep Georgia’s security in danger. Iran becomes thus the only remaining natural geographic route that secures Armenia’s interests. What could happen to Armenia’s security and economy if the West decides to attack Iran?
Approaching Turkey with good neighborhood relations may open the borders for direct trade, but can we believe that this will not cause certain national security problem in Armenia?, Commented Mardirossian, adding that Turkey has occupied 80% of the historic Armenian lands and is openly siding with Azerbaijan as advocate of the “two countries but one people” slogan. Both Turkey and Azerbaijan do not like to see strong and stable Armenia. The pan-Turkic dream is still live in their political strategic thought. Azerbaijan’s politically motivated historians even consider the capital of Armenia (Yerevan) and the southern part of Armenia (Zankezour) as part of old Azerbaijan! We should be aware what this implies, said Mardirossian. This means even a smaller Armenia than the 29 thousands square kilometers left to us from the historical 400 thousands square kilometers.
Azerbaijan is preparing itself militarily to attack Armenia at any moment in the future and its aggressive intentions are not hidden. President of Azerbaijan said many times that Azerbaijani army is ready to act. We all know that Artsakh (Karabagh) is our historic land and even the additional liberated territories are part of historic Armenia and form altogether in the Caucasus, with the present-day Armenia, a 42 thousands square kilometers of de facto Armenian controlled area, necessary to Armenia’s economic security.
Artsakh has an economic value to Armenia. It has major strategic security importance to Armenia and to all the Armenian civilization. We have lost many territories in the past and cannot afford to loose more.
Mardirossian talked also about the security of Diaspora Armenians and underlined its importance for Armenia, since Diaspora Armenians represent 70% of the entire Armenia population in the world. Diaspora Armenians are essential part of the Armenian civilization. Therefore, keeping Diaspora Armenian relations strong with the present-day Armenia is a national security task. Our enemies do not want Diaspora Armenians to come back and repopulate Armenia, because that will create demographic threat to them and additional strength to Armenia. Having economically weak Armenia will not let Diaspora Armenians to return back to Armenia. Weak Armenia will not attract Diaspora Armenians to come back and resettle there. War threats by Azerbaijan keeps Diaspora away from Artsakh and Armenia. Let us remember the Israeli example. Russian, Ethiopian and Yemeni Jewish migration increased to Israel after they learned about the possibility of better economic life in Israel, but when the Palestinian rockets threatened their security, they began to leave Israel to USA, Canada and Australia. Our enemies do not want to see Diaspora Armenian near the borders. The more Armenians emigrate to the West the more happy they would be.
The most important security problem could come to Armenia from its ally Russia. Let us assume that Russia loses its military influence in Caucasus. A possible new pro-West Russian government may come to power in Russia and create strong relations with the West and with their allies in the Caucasus: Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. What will happen if Russia itself finally joins NATO? What kind of future will await Armenia in front of its aggressive historic enemies? What if the circumstantial relations between Russia and Iran are loosened? This will affect Armenia in the middle of the two old allies. The stability of present-day Iran and Russia is in the interests of Armenia, but if unstable elements come to power in these countries, this could affect Armenia’s national security. Let us assume that Israel tries to hit the Iranian nuclear capabilities and the later declares war on Israel. What can happen if Israel starts supporting the local Iranian-Azeri population and encourage them to separate from Iran and join the independent Azerbaijan in the north. In that case, how will Armenia survive if it is geographically blocked on three sides.
If USA-Iran war occurs then Armenia will be affected and will receive pressure from Iran, Russia and USA. Armenia’s national security now depends on Iran’s territorial integrity. If Azeris gain power in Iran, this will threaten both Iran’s and Armenia’s national security. Iran will be blocked on three sides by USA or NATO forces (in Iraq, GCC countries and Afghanistan) and will remain free only on Armenia’s side. If Armenia falls in the hand of pro-American forces, through internal elections for example, like the orange revolution in some ex-Soviet republics, then this will be a major concern for Iran and Russia. Russian influence is strong in Armenia and any surprise fall of pro-Russian government in Armenia will create almost civil war situation in Armenia.
At the end of the presentation, Mardirossian reminded the attendants that Armenia throughout its history has been always threatened by its neighbors. There are hardly times when the Armenian civilization was not in danger from these outsiders. Our civilization needs stable, strong, progressive and secure lands to prosper.
Mardirossian emphasized the importance of Hay Tad and said that Hay Tad is our everyday life and is the Armenian civilization security issue. Hay Tad is not April 24 only. Our ancestors had Hay Tad since the formation of our people on our historic lands and still we in Diaspora continue to have Hay Tad, which does not mean only working for passing on Armenian genocide resolutions in the world. Hay Tad is the security problem, which the Armenian civilization had since its formation. If this small Armenia goes from our hands, then our civilization will survive only in history textbooks, warned Mardirossian.
