Category: 2018

BY VAN DER-MEGERDICHIAN

Upon returning from our journey to Artsakh, news of another soldier falling in defense of our country reached us.

With initial sentiments of sorrow, we continued to traverse down Mt. Mrav thinking of the sacrifices made by our fallen heroes, the likes of Garod Megerdichian, Garo Kahkejian, and many others. While the efforts of yesterday’s martyrs in their painstaking efforts and ultimate devotion to our cause should never be understated or trivialized, we must not overlook those in the front lines today whose relentless efforts serve a constant notice that the struggle for our lands is incessant and unfortunately bourgeoning the ranks of those losing their lives for our homeland.

Day after day, week after week, month after month, the news of a new soldier dying at the front lines in Artsakh has made headlines. And day after day, week after week, month after month, our reaction has been the same – virtually non-existent as we have become desensitized to the fact that Armenians are dying while life goes on for the rest of us.

However, once again, it is the Armenian Revolutionary Federation that continues to reaffirm its pledge to stay true to its goals. It prioritizes and spearheads the long battle that we, as Armenians, must continue to undertake and the ARF Eastern Region’s initiative in Arajamugh is a testament to that and ensures that lives are not being lost in vain. The project aims to repopulate the village of Arajamugh, which lies on the border of Artsakh, Azerbaijan, and Iran. While the village is small, the magnitude of such an initiative is anything but.

Arajamugh reaffirms the ARF’s determination to remain committed to its ideals. War crimes and human rights violations continue to go unnoticed in the area, in fact are state-sponsored and encouraged by the family-run oil-dictatorship. The international community does not care, the OSCE Minsk group does not care, the corrupt dictatorship of Azerbaijan does not care.

Therefore, it is up to us to care. If we do not fend for ourselves, no one will. Representing a tiny country located in the South Caucasus, with more people living outside the state than in it, it is our duty to care. We must rely on our strengths and only our strengths since it is evident that the same ideals that the international community champions are not acknowledged in Talish or in Mataghis. Arajamugh shows not only Azerbaijan, but the international community that we are here to stay and that Artsakh is a country, and not a conflict. By investing in the land itself and its people, we will prove to the world that Artsakh is a long-term investment and that Artsakh is Armenian.

Our goal, aside from our irredentist ideals includes establishing a prosperous Armenia. Arajamugh and the efforts surrounding it teaches the world that justice will prevail. It is to teach Azerbaijan that retaliation, retribution, and redemption is not only best served by recouping Shahumian and Fizuli, but also by developing and reinforcing our interior. Arajamugh is one small taste of material and tangible revenge. It is revenge for the soldiers that struggled to liberate our lands. It is to avenge our fallen, those who have fought and died and continue to fight and die for every centimeter of soil that we will toil upon and use to cultivate our state, the state we call Artsakh.

There is work to be done and Arajamugh is a start. It is a reaction we can be proud of. By using this initiative as the cornerstone, new Arajamughs can be built, cultivated, and reinforced so that we can continue to prove to the world that Artsakh is not a land of rich history, but a rich future. Such efforts, under the leadership of the ARF, revisit and revitalize the visions of Njdeh and Andranik before us. It is only through our effort, our victory, and our triumph that Artsakh will see peace, prominence, and prosperity.

Ahead of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s visit to Azerbaijan this week, official Baku has threatened to arrest a member of the German leader’s delegation, Albert Weiler, whose visa application was rejected because he has been place on Baku’s notorious blacklist for having visited Artsakh.

Weiler, who is a member of Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union and the deputy chairman of the parliament’s commission on South Caucasus relations and the chair of the German-Armenian Forum, was scheduled to accompany Merkel on her visits to Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia.

Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry spokesperson Hikmat Hajiyev said that because of Weiler’s 2014 and 2016 visits to Artsakh, which he called “an occupied territories of Azerbaijan” he would not be granted an entry visa, and, furthermore, he might be arrested if he attempts to enter the country with the chancellor’s delegation.

The German government has been in negotiations with the Azerbaijani Embassy in Berlin to no avail. Nevertheless, the Chancellor’s spokesperson indicated that Merkel would travel to Baku as scheduled.

A spokesperson for the Germen government, Steffen Seibert said on Tuesday that Merkel would address the issue during her visit to Baku and meetings with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and expressed Berlin’s regrets for Baku’s decision to ban Weiler’s entry into the country.

“From the German government’s point of view, the Azerbaijani government’s position causes regret and is not on par with the level of the dialogue on the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. The chancellor is willing to discuss this with President Aliyev,” Seibert told reporters.

Seibert added that the Azerbaijani government refused to change its decision, even though “a series of talks” had been held.

“The chancellor has talked to parliament member Weiler; she appreciates his work in the South Caucasus region … She agreed that … it was important and it made sense to visit Azerbaijan, including for the purpose of discussing this, as well as other conflicts and problems in the region, with the Azerbaijani government,” Seibert said.

According to Seibert, Weiler will accompany Merkel during her trips to Georgia and Armenia.

Merkel’s trip to the Caucasus will kick off on Thursday with a stop in Tbilisi. She will then visit Armenia on Friday. She is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to discuss furthering European Union-Armenia relations. The peaceful resolution of the Karabakh conflict will also be on the agenda of visit, which will conclude Saturday with her visit to Baku, where she is expected to discuss the Weiler issue as well as explore energy imports to Germany and the EU.

YEREVAN—A delegation representing the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Central Committee of Lebanon on Wednesday met with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and discussed cooperation between Lebanon and Armenia, as well as the role the Lebanese Armenian community has played and will continue to play in the development of Armenia.

The delegation, headed by the Central Committee’s chairman and Lebanese parliament member Hagop Pakradouni, included Lebanon’s tourism minister Avedis Gidanian and CC member Raffi Ashkarian, met with the prime minister for more than an hour.

The sides discussed the positive elements of the Velvet Revolution and the people’s expectations to that end, including the imperative to advance those by the Diaspora, especially the Lebanese Armenian community.

As part of the large ARF family, the Lebanon Central Committee members emphasized to Pashinyan the importance for the revolution to succeed and conveyed the ARF’s willingness and readiness in strengthening that process. It was also stressed that to tackle obstacles and difficulties in is imperative to preserve the people’s unity and spirit of cooperation, to counter any dubious effort to disrupt the success of the revolution.

The ARF delegation also conveyed to Pashinyan the Lebanese Armenians’ willingness and resolve—as has been proven in the past—to positively advance efforts to strengthen Artsakh and Armenia, but also to express its concern over lapses and trepidations.

The ARF representatives also expressed their willingness to help advance economic, social, political cultural and tourism relations between Armenia and Lebanon.

Pashinyan said that for him Lebanon, the Lebanese Armenian community and its youth have a special significance for him, especially the support and solidarity they demonstrated during the revolution, expressing his gratitude for the meeting.

The prime minister also stressed the imperative to continue the cooperation and dialogue for the success of the revolution by bringing together robust political forces.

ARA KHACHATOURIAN

“The tragedy of the Armenian nation has never been questioned. There is a historical question of what to call it, but what has happened is a fact that everyone accepts. It’s not a matter of political discussion. Let historians decide what to call the tragedy.” This is what Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Ben-Zvi said on Tuesday when visiting the Dzidzernagapert Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex.

Upon reading this I thought what would happen if one of Armenia’s deputy foreign ministers visited Yad Vashem, The World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem, and paid tribute to the victims of Nazi Germany’s systematic annihilation of Jews and pussyfooted around using the word Holocaust.

Most likely, all hell would break loose.

I envision Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decreeing the immediate expulsion of the said diplomat from Israel and freezing the already cool diplomatic ties with Yerevan. World leaders would then chime in with their condemnation of Armenia’s insensitive and tone deaf approach to the Holocaust, while Jewish organizations, some of which just recently decided to call the events of 1915 “Genocide,” would be in an uproar renewing their lobbying to discredit efforts to pass a Genocide recognition bill in Congress. More important, the Israeli press would quickly pick up on the diplomatic gaffe and would mold Israeli public opinion against Armenia and Armenians. Not to mention the Israeli academicians, such as Israel Charny and Yair Auron to name a few,

Instead, according to the foreign ministry’s press office Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan “presented Armenia’s ongoing initiatives directed at prevention of genocides and crimes against humanity, noting that the third Global Counterterrorism Forum will be held in Yerevan on December 9 [and will be] dedicated to the role of education in the prevention of genocides. Referring to the process of international recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide, the Foreign Minister mentioned that it is a moral responsibility and a tribute to the memory of innocent victims, while at the same time it is an important contribution to international efforts to prevent genocide and crimes against humanity.”

Yet Ben-Zvi stands on the grounds of the Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex and spits on the memory of the 1.5 million victims of the Genocide with no recourse or admonishment and walks away with the continued pledges of improving ties between Armenia and Israel.

And let’s look at those so-called “improving” ties.

Netanyahu, once again, halted the debate of a bill to recognize the Genocide in the Knesset in June, after the Israeli political apparatus, once again, decided to play the Genocide card when Turkey threated Tel Aviv after Israel attacked a Palestinian settlement in Gaza in May. The fact that the Genocide issue comes into play in Israeli politics only during spats with Turkey is proof enough that Israel does not necessarily want to become “a partner” with Armenia.

Then there’s that pesky issue of the estimated $5 billion in arms sales to Azerbaijan, whose army commanders urged a military contractor to “live test” an armed suicide drone directed at Artsakh military targets. While that military contract was allegedly suspended, again there has been no firm posturing from Armenia. Mnatsakanyan told Ben-Zvi that “our partners should abstain from all actions that could potentially result in arms race, as well as provoke instability in the region.”

Mnatsakanyan’s statements signal a more resolute tone toward Israel in comparison to his predecessor, Edward Nalbandian, who met with Netanyahu last fall with nary a mention of these thorny and contentious issues blocking normal ties with the Jewish State.

I am not suggesting that Mnatsakanyan should have started a diplomatic row with Israel, but he and other officials should consider what Israel would do if the situation were reversed and say Armenia were supplying arms to the Palestinians and disrespecting the Holocaust all at the same time.