Opinion: Let’s Review Our Declarations…

With years of accumulated experience and, especially, being quite familiar with the feelings and just demands of our people both in the diaspora and the homeland, they shall cultivate Armeno-Turkish relations with utmost wisdom.
We don’t at all have the right to judge and evaluate the patriotism of our respected president and foreign minister. We don’t have the right to put the patriotism of any national public servant on the balance scales and weigh it, least of all that of Mr. Serge Sargisian, who was the capable defense minister of the Republic of Armenia for many years. He has fought in the trenches during war, experienced life on the front and demonstrated the everyday patriotism of the Armenian soldier. He has secured not only the borders of our homeland but also the security zones of Artsakh and vicinity.

Uproar over Armeno-Turkish relations and negotiations has been made in the diaspora largely by the ARF. This is so, despite the fact that the ARF of Armenia was a party to President Serge Sargisian’s government during and after his election campaign. When the ARF wholeheartedly fought against Levon Ter-Petrosian’s opposition movement in the past presidential elections, its intention was to secure a few ministerial posts in the administration.

With the prospect of reinsuring its reputation, which it had slowly begun to lose, the ARF adopted this orientation. It did so to become the standard bearer of the Armenian Case, having already lost all hope of coming to power in the homeland and having given way to other political assemblies in the diaspora. Yes, the ARF came forth, considering this new development the best opportunity to achieve its goal. As it makes a new attempt at cheap demagoguery by rekindling the natural hidden feelings of the Armenian people, it once again is presenting itself as the competent party to the rights of the Armenian people and the enemy of the Turk. In the 21st century too, Ruben Pasha would have said, “Simply poetic politics!”

On the contrary, the current leaders of such an organization enriched with years of experience should have adopted a different policy. These days, a greater level of seriousness was to be expected from an organization having experienced the extremes of Armenian life, having participated in the revolutionary movement, having gained a fair amount of political maturity during the years of the first Republic of Armenia, and having often been involved in the international political sphere.

The street was not to be the venue of such a reaction to this new development in Armeno-Turkish relations. Solutions to the present situation will not be found in the streets of Yerevan, New York or Toronto, with a few hundred rank-and-file members hoisting protest banners. On the contrary, one would think that new sober-minded political figures, who have now joined the ARF bureau, should have sat down on a higher level with Armenian government leaders. Certainly every reasonable individual knows that there are other diplomatic ways to reach the president and discuss Armeno-Turkish relations.

Fortunately, the ARF’s effort to also hitch our other traditional political parties to its wagon failed, except for Toronto, where only a handful of misguided Ramgavars participated in the rally organized by it. It should be said that the silent majority of the Armenian Democratic Liberal Party’s (Ramgavar) membership stays true to its orientation, maintaining its loyalty to and trust in Armenia’s authorities on a permanent basis. This has always been our traditional direction. Furthermore, if certain Ramgavar circles are not expressing their protest against the ARF in public, they are simply following internal party discipline and stating their anger only in narrow circles. The same is the case with the Hunchaks too, who, despite the declaration of their supreme body, have not totally severed their ties with the Armenian authorities, whether in Armenia or the diaspora.

However, apart from our three traditional political parties, it must be noted that today the Armenian Church carries an important weight and represents public opinion, at least in the diaspora. As it is, its Diocesan Primates don’t share the ARF’s opposition to the Protocols. The same goes for the Armenian General Benevolent Union, the Armenian Assembly and other new political groups, which support Armenia’s president and government insofar as Armeno-Turkish relations are concerned, albeit with cautious optimism.

Thus, it is not realistic to say that the Armenian Diaspora is totally opposed to the restart of Armeno-Turkish relations. There is no such thing. Today’s new generation is reading world public opinion with regard to Armeno-Turkish dialogue, evaluating it and giving their opinion, one way or the other. We are dealing with a new generation that has emerged from Armenian ghettoes, is familiar with the world and possesses powerful reason and logic. Moreover, every leader in charge of this or that organization must be aware of this.

In light of all this, it is expected, particularly at this historic time, that the leaders of our traditional political parties will rally around the Armenian government, flank our president and, with their political experience, engage in harmonious work with President Sargisian. The new situation is of concern to every Armenian, whether diasporan or native, whether in position of power, aspiring to power, or in the opposition. All programs presented to us should be confronted with our collective forces.

To the credit of Armenia’s president, he will very shortly visit the important centers of the diaspora and give extensive explanations to those with positions of responsibility in our community, as well as the general public. He is aware that it is the right of the Western Armenian segment of our people, which is scattered all over the world, to know the motive for negotiations by the current Armenian authorities and, particularly, if there are pre-conditions connected with the Armenian Genocide and/or other issues. In the final analysis, it is the president of the homeland of all Armenians who is coming to visit our communities and, as such, he deserves a respectful reception.

As a nation, we should equally share the responsibility for each success or failure, because we are living through difficult days in an unnatural environment.

Also, our political parties should have the prudence to review their hastily released declarations, and soon they should present themselves to the Armenian people as more prudent, sober-minded and far-sighted traditional organizations.
“If it should be in the interest of the Armenian people to shake the hand of the Turk one day, you must forget that that hand has been dipped in the blood of your father.”

(Translated by Aris G. Sevag)