Letter: I Also Have A Dream…For Armenia(-Ns)

LETTER: I ALSO HAVE A DREAM…FOR ARMENIA(-NS)

By Contributor // January 31, 2014 in Opinion

Dear Editor:

Once again this week, the United States commemorated Martin Luther
King Day.

Once again we all remembered Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous
“I have a dream” speech, which changed the course of history in the
country and established a new era for black Americans to be regarded
as equal despite the color of their skin.

The speech has been a beacon for many pondering their own people’s
current and future situations; I find myself among them, pondering
about Armenia and my Armenian compatriots, whether in the motherland
or the diaspora.

So, I started dreaming along the same lines that Dr. King did about
his own people, and I concluded that I also have a dream…

– that Armenia will become a truly democratic country with a government
of true patriots and not self-centered politicians at the mercy of
the few;

– that there will be no oligarchs running Armenia and using the
country as their own money-laundering operation through casinos and
other such means;

– that there will be a stop to the more than 40,000 Armenians leaving
their country every year in search of employment outside;

– that there will be an end negotiated with Turkey to lift the economic
embargo on our mutual border;

– that there will be a negotiated solution with Azerbaijan, and
Armenia will benefit from the on-going oil and gas exploration boom
in that country;

– that the recently uncovered, appalling conditions of mismanagement
and lack of leadership at the highest echelons in Etchmiadzin will
be cleaned up and we will have a much more inspired leader at the
helm of the Armenian Church;

– that the current government will, finally, understand that economic
development and job creation through investment (and not a small group
of individuals controlling the country’s economy) is the longer-term
solution to the country’s prosperity;

– that Diaspora Armenians will decide to help their motherland in
earnest–not for self-aggrandizement but to help our native compatriots
in Armenia have a better life;

– that Armenia will not build yet another church or extension to the
Madenataran, but instead develop industrial or high-tech projects
for the global marketplace;

– that Armenia will not be the battlefield for ego wars between
well-heeled Diaspora Armenians trying to outdo each other with private
projects, albeit welcome and necessary, here and there;

– that the Armenian Diaspora in North America will see its own
Genocide Museum not subject to turf wars and court-appointed referees
in savage legal battles between rich and “entitled” Armenian families
vying for recognition and legacy building; and finally,

– that the current total leadership vacuum in the Armenian world
should come to an end by having some brave and competent souls come
forward, without political aspirations or self-centered interests,
and form a group to organize and lead the forthcoming commemoration
of the Genocide Centennial and set the course for the future.

I have this dream with all of the above and much more.

And then I wake up!

Sincerely, Miran P. Sarkissian