Category: 2022

A portion of the 2022 ANCA summer interns on Capitol Hill with ANCA Programs Director Alex Manoukian

WASHINGTON, DC – Amid ongoing Azerbaijani attacks and Turkish hostility against Artsakh and Armenia, 14 Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) Leo Sarkisian, Maral Melkonian Avetisyan and Hovig Apo Saghdejian Capital Gateway Program interns and fellows spent their summer in Washington, DC – speaking truth to power in the halls of Congress and mobilizing the growing national grassroots movement of Armenian Americans and diverse ethnic, religious and cultural coalition partners committed to the survival of the Armenian people upon their indigenous homeland.

These university students, high schoolers and recent graduates – each bringing their unique backgrounds from states across the US, and interests as diverse as politics and economics, math and sciences – matured personally and professionally as they charted their career paths and maximized their support for the Armenian cause.

Over the course of six weeks in the nation’s capital, ANCA Leo Sarkisian interns Gregory Codilian, Aram Gevorgian, Alex Guldjian, Ani Jamgotchian, Natalia Matossian, Lar Tabakian, Tara Tazian, Victoria Topalian and Christian Yerelekian joined ANCA Maral Melkonian Avetisyan Summer Fellow and Armenian Weekly columnist Melody Seraydarian and Hovig Apo Saghdejian Capital Gateway Program interns Sune Hamparian, Zabelle Hamparian, Aram Hess and Stephen Pidedjian in over 150 Congressional meetings and visited every single Congressional office to advance pro-Artsakh priorities – to zero-out US military aid to Azerbaijan, increase aid to Artsakh and demand decisive US action to secure Azerbaijan’s release of Armenian POWs. They participated in multinational conferences, including the International Religious Freedom Forum – discussing the destruction of Armenian Christian holy sites in Azerbaijan-occupied Artsakh and Turkey-occupied Western Armenia.

ANCA interns at the International Religious Freedom Summit in Washington, DC

Interns and fellows worked closely with ANCA executive director Aram Hamparian and Government Affairs director Tereza Yerimyan to learn the finer points of effective Hai Tahd advocacy. ANCA IT director Nerses Semerjian and the summer team focused on the intricacies of political data collection and the effective use of technology – including the ANCA’s proprietary March to Justice system – to inspire broader community participation in pro-Artsakh and Armenian advocacy and civic discourse.

ANCA interns with Government Affairs Director Tereza Yerimyan, during a break from meetings on Capitol Hill

ANCA Programs director Alex Manoukian designed and ran the program, including a deep dive into Artsakh foreign policy with Artsakh representative to the US Robert Avetisyan and effective ways to combat Turkish and Azerbaijani disinformation with Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Eastern Region chair George Aghjayan. Library of Congress Armenian and Georgian specialist Dr. Khatchig Mouradian shared the historic Armenian books and artifacts in the Library’s 50,000-plus and growing Armenian collection. ANCA chairman emeritus Garo Armenian offered his annual full-day seminar on Armenian geopolitics – once again a favorite of the ANCA fellows. Sam Tatevosyan, director of government affairs of McDonald’s, shared his insights on careers on Capitol Hill and corporate lobbying success, while Prof. Greg Aftandilian discussed foreign policy and careers in both the State Department and Congress. Throughout it all, friendships emerged that are sure to last a lifetime after a memorable summer of activities, during which the 14 ANCA fellows and interns were inseparable.

Library of Congress Armenian and Georgian Specialist Dr. Khatchig Mouradian sharing some of the over 50,000 Armenian items preserved at the Library.

“The ANCA summer internship – inspired by Leo Sarkisian, Maral Melkonian Avetisyan and Hovig Apo Saghdejian – is the cornerstone of our year-round youth empowerment programs – helping generations of Armenian Americans take their rightful place in the ever-expanding world of pro-Artsakh/Armenia advocacy,” said Manoukian. “Their devotion, smarts and can-do attitude, coupled with the ANCA’s targeted legislative agenda and grassroots development program strengthen the second army of the Armenian nation as we battle to ensure security, freedom, and justice for our homeland.”

The 2022 ANCA Summer interns on the last day of the program in a moment of levity and appreciation for Director Alex Manoukian.

ANCA summer interns and fellows shared their impressions of the program and its impetus to expand Hai Tahd advocacy while contributing to their personal and professional growth.

“To say that I had a transformative experience interning at the ANCA in Washington, DC, over these past six weeks is an understatement,” explained Tazian. “The most rewarding moment was when the US House adopted four ANCA-backed pro-Armenian amendments because we had been working on that for weeks calling Congressmen and speaking to staffers at the Capitol.”

Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chair Frank Pallone (D-NJ) with ANCA Exec. Director Aram Hamparian and interns Melody Seraydarian, Natalia Matossian, Tara Tazian, and Lar Tabakian, during one of the many Capitol Hill advocacy days

Yerelekian commented, “My time at LSI has been both eye-opening and inspiring. Throughout the entire process, I have seen my passion for foreign affairs and national defense grow exponentially through the opportunities that the internship offered.”

“I have felt the power and reach of the Hai Tahd on all fronts, through legislative advocacy and beyond,” noted Tabakian. “Thanks to the internship, the Armenian youth have a solid footing because of the work put in, and the rewards we reap.”

“Working at the ANCA has been nothing but productive and insightful given the opportunities made available such as Garo Armenian’s talk on Armenian geopolitics, visiting Sam Tatevosyan at the McDonald’s corporate building, and resume and cover letter resources,” explained Guldjian. “From touring Capitol Hill, presenting Armenian-American priorities in congressional meetings and working alongside such highly-educated and passionate interns, the internship program fostered many ways that we could advocate for the Hai Tahd on all different levels in our communities.”

The ANCA summer interns held over 150 meetings – on Capitol Hill and via Zoom – in support of pro-Artsakh/Armenia amendments to the FY23 National Defense Authorization Act

Jamgotchian explained, “The skills I learned and the friendships I made will serve me well into my future activism and career and for that, I will forever be grateful to the ANCA.”

“What I realized this summer is the importance of our beautiful Armenian community for advancing the Armenian cause. As Armenians we have a beautiful culture that needs to be preserved and I learned that the power of our community is what will help us achieve our goals,” noted Hess.

“It has been such a pleasure working with the ANCA this summer and living with like-minded young Armenians,” noted Gevorgian. “We worked to further Hai Tahd within our own skill sets and received many opportunities to develop ourselves. We received esteemed lecturers, participated in activities in Armenian communities and strengthened our Armenian identity.”

ANCA summer program participants are selected through a highly competitive application process, with acceptance based on academic excellence and demonstrated capacity for community leadership. While in Washington, DC, summer interns stay at the Aramian House — an eight-bedroom former bed and breakfast located in Washington, DC’s historic Dupont Circle neighborhood, just a short walk from the ANCA headquarters.

During the summer program, interns stay at the ANCA Aramian House, seen here as they head to the ANCA offices on the first day of the program.

The next topic of importance is healthcare, given its prominence in human and economic costs and subsequent national implications. Healthcare delivery encompasses access, care process, efficiency, equity and care quality. It is built on an underlying system designed to perform well, along with education, research and societal norms, each worthy of its own in-depth analysis. Armenia spends approximately $408 per capita on health (10.4 percent of its GDP). However, less than 15-percent of its health spending is publicly sourced. In contrast, the United States spends $12,530 per capita, or a whopping 19.7-percent of GDP. The average European expenditure on healthcare is around the 10-percent mark. While funding is an important component of the healthcare system, it does not directly correlate with the quality of the delivered care. This is an extensive topic in and of itself and outside the scope of the current work. However, critical thinking and re-evaluation of the healthcare system in Armenia from the ground up is a daunting task that must be undertaken.

As a major governmental expenditure, the development of a strong and functioning healthcare system is fundamental to any nation with aspirations of becoming a regional or world contributor. A well-informed colleague once made an astute observation that Armenia does not have a healthcare system. It merely has a collection of healthcare providers who happen to practice at the same place, with little developed by way of a systemic approach, conflict of interest, competent training and a functioning health insurance system. Armenia produces too many mediocre physicians employing outdated and obsolete training, creating a saturated marketplace in and around Yerevan with little incentive or infrastructure for caregivers to practice elsewhere. This is dangerous nationally, as a concentrated care delivery in and around one area provides imbalance, lack of access and significantly diminished quality of care. Owing to the zero-sum game mentality that is prevalent in all corners of Armenian life, caregivers establish their own turf (livelihood) and defend it fiercely through unhealthy competition, misguided efforts and little attention to their impact on the nation’s overall healthcare delivery. Most Armenian physicians consider themselves to be the authority and other colleagues lacking any. This environment does not encourage healthy and constructive competition, collaboration and an optimized healthcare delivery system to benefit citizens. The lack of a systemic approach has created a dog-eat-dog environment where every caregiver must carve out his/her space and focus predominantly on his/her financial well-being. 

For a small nation, we may have 50 to 250 specialists per field at most, with some specialties fielding much smaller numbers. Yet, there is a significant lack of communication and collaboration among these colleagues. They reach out to their Diasporan colleagues for consultations, rather than consulting amongst themselves first, which is how a functioning system should operate. If a conference or symposium is held on a topic, the specialists will only join if they are specifically invited to the event (an uncommon practice in the developed world); or they will flatly refuse to participate because a rival colleague from across town might be an organizer or a guest speaker. It is clear that pettiness is not the exclusive domain of the less educated, further highlighting the need for a rethinking of our educational processes at the fundamental level. Teaching academic content and rigor, critical thinking skills, national values and history and societal/personal responsibilities is essential.

Medical education is outdated and in need of a complete overhaul, as evidenced by the number 5,724 ranking of the Yerevan State Medical University (YSMU) in the world. Medical education through residency and fellowship programs is designed to train the next generation of care providers. In Armenia, new medical graduates must pay to do their residency and are not highly regarded, as they can become competition. The US changed this model of pay to play for medical residency in the early 20th century, given the innumerable problems associated with it. Yet, this is the norm in Armenia in the 21st century, just like vote buying, a practice prevalent in England in the 17th century. An anecdotal note from a surgical colleague in the US exemplifies this attitude. He had invited a surgeon from Armenia to visit and observe healthcare delivery in his hospital. The surgeon from Armenia was shocked by my colleague’s absolute dedication to mentoring his residents and fellows. Why was he teaching them so readily? Was he not afraid of them taking his position?

Research, development and innovation are not priorities. Figure 8 highlights peer-reviewed publications linked to YSMU. To date, 743 academic publications have been linked to YSMU, in contrast to the 237,000 linked to Harvard Medical School, as a reference. These 743 publications encompass work originating from YSMU, work conducted elsewhere with collaborators from YSMU, and most recently, inclusion of work by Diasporan scientists and physicians who have been given an affiliated faculty status at YSMU. This is meant to improve the profile of the university by linking high-producing Diasporan faculty with the institution to increase the number of publications linked to YSMU (a metric to assess the quality of an academic institution). This is not an uncommon practice, as countries such as Saudi Arabia have used this model to increase the profiles of their recently established universities. In these cases, foreign faculty are handsomely rewarded financially, whereas in the case of YSMU, Diasporan faculty members work pro bono to support the institution. While an effective means to jump start the profile of the university, this is by no means a substitute for fundamentally changing the curricula, improving teaching standards and didactic training and having quality research (basic, translational and clinical) supported by and conducted at the institution.

Figure 8 (Created by the author)

Communication and collaboration are of little value to clinical practitioners at the moment. Fundamentally, the Ministry of Health and the medical school are at odds with one another. Technology is limited to a few centers in and around Yerevan, and the existing technology is not used well. For instance, it took years for the Armenian Center of Excellence in Oncology to open in Yerevan, given efforts by successive government entities to privatize the facility for their own gains, going so far as the previous health minister, who declared that Armenia did not need nuclear medicine. For a nation with high rates of breast, colorectal and cervical cancer among females and lung, bladder and colorectal cancer among males, and a 20-percent risk of cancer for the citizens before the age of 75, having access to such a state-of-the-art cancer center is invaluable. The Radioisotope Production Center with the only PET scanner in the country remains largely unutilized. Completed in 2015, it was made operational by the nuclear physicists of A. Alikhanyan National Science Laboratory in June of 2019 and started accepting new patients the following spring. The isotope production from each of the cyclotron runs is enough for hundreds of patients, but the facility can only scan a maximum of 15 patients per day. The remainder of the isotopes are available for sale, but they cannot be utilized in the absence of PET scanners. Such a center with scanners and genotyping capabilities would be essential in diagnosing people at risk for specific types of cancer, both for Armenia and for the region. Yet, it took years, significant delays and crony politics to introduce the beamline and open the center to the public. 

There is a lack of understanding of the latest developments and breakthroughs in medicine. There are no established clinical care guidelines and best practices in different specialties. Diasporan experts have tried to make inroads in establishing care guidelines in Armenia with varying degrees of success and opposition. There is no culture of morbidity and mortality rounds, where physicians evaluate and discuss their challenging and difficult cases with their colleagues, to learn from one another and to help prevent similar mistakes in future.

We must outline a functioning health insurance system that will readily and adequately address the healthcare needs of the population. Qualified people in Armenia have looked into this and have outlined plans, but there has been no real incentive to do anything about it.

Smoking is a top public health concern in Armenia. The prevalence of smoking in men is at almost 51 percent and 3.2 percent among women (as if there was a need for yet another point to establish how outclassed Armenian men are compared to Armenian women). This translates into approximately 300,000 premature deaths. Levying a 100-percent to 200-percent tax on cigarettes is an attractive option to help reduce smoking and allocate the proceeds toward healthcare expenditures. This will raise the ire of the tobacco industry, but that is one ire that is worth raising for the long-term good of the nation.

The 2020 Artsakh War also made the lack of preparedness and infrastructure in the country painfully clear. Significant efforts were made by the Diaspora to support the wounded and the COVID-19 patient population simultaneously, which experienced a higher casualty rate than the war at times (directly resulting from the lack of employing preventative measures by the population). However, so much of this effort was wasted, with significant resources never being utilized, and those that did get utilized were done so with much delay, all in a chaotic and unprepared environment, imbued with incompetence. The nation, landlocked with hostile neighbors, lacks a basic civic aviation system with two planes for short/medium and long hauls, respectively, for supplies to be brought in. The Diaspora had to charter planes for hundreds of thousands of dollars to get supplies to Georgia, as charter planes did not fly into a “war zone” (Yerevan hardly resembled a city in war at the time). That necessitated landing in Georgia and being subjected to its hostile customs practices, delaying the release of key medical supplies to Armenia, yet simultaneously giving Turkish planes open air access to send weapons to Azerbaijan. A native civic aviation system would have bypassed this major hurdle. Furthermore, the medical warehouses did not have an electronic system in place to keep track of the inventory and/or asset tag them properly for prompt identification and deployment. The exception to this chaotic mess was Artsakh’s Ministry of Health, which was diligent in clearing items destined for Artsakh immediately and taking them to their facilities for use. This disaster also requires in-depth evaluation for future preparedness, if we ever choose to behave as a serious nation.

A few shiny hospitals have been set up by oligarchs or other well-connected individuals with varying degrees of public funding to build and furnish them, yet they function in a private setting (the perfect extractive economic model of publicly funding the expenditure and privately collecting the profits). We have a gluttony of Diasporan medical professionals with excellent education and experience. Some of these experts are engaged in decentralized, one-off efforts to contribute in any way they can. The medical education system in the country must undergo a major overhaul to bring it up to the best international standards and leverage the extensive Diasporan network for training and guidance on a systematic, non-voluntary basis. Serious work cannot be conducted voluntarily. A plan must be put in place to use Diasporan resources and compensate them for their professional contributions. Medical conferences that are little more than vacations for Diasporan healthcare professionals (the author has participated in these efforts himself) are not the answer to improve healthcare in Armenia. Diasporan professionals have responsibilities in their residing countries. If a proper rotation system is put in place to invite them to Armenia to teach at the medical school and offer their expertise at hospitals and clinics, they can make a very meaningful contribution to the medical system. They can teach medical students, residents and fellows and introduce state-of-the-art treatments to physicians.

The government is mandating Continuing Medical Education (CME) for physicians for the coming year. Again, while an important step, the implementation is anything but in the spirit of the creation of the CME process. Caregivers are supposed to participate in CME courses throughout the year to stay abreast of the latest trends and developments in the field to continue to become better practitioners. In Armenia, everyone is waiting for the last minute to pay a sum and receive their certificate, all facilitated by businesses predominantly interested in making money, and not moving the needle with respect to the quality of care provided. Caregivers are also happy to oblige to pay and check the box, as opposed to engaging in a real CME learning process.

A system must be put in place to engage Diasporan expertise and their non-Armenian colleagues to translate and adapt clinical guidelines for all specialties for use in Armenia in accordance with local needs and culture. This cannot be done voluntarily and has to be approached professionally. Armenia’s hospitable nature and low costs make the country a perfect destination for medical tourism. Diasporan physicians can bring western training to these settings to work, train local doctors and set up a burgeoning medical tourism industry to offer western world-class care to the region and beyond. Once the industry has taken hold, the well-trained and experienced local expertise will be in place to move this forward. 

Biomedical research must be a serious investment to address unmet medical needs of developing nations, an area of significant potential for growth. Again, appropriate leveraging of Diasporan expertise and connections must be used to put a system in place to develop solutions for these needs for local and external markets. There is no shortage of Armenian expertise in biotech, device, pharma, CRO, regulatory and financing domains. None of these resources yield any fruits for Armenia, because there are no plans to leverage them. The innovation presented in the previous article of this series outlines the vision for this. Regulatory, intellectual property and innovative processes in Armenia must be brought up to western standards to encourage and promote this work; so do rules and regulations regarding conflicts of interest in the medical setting, which resemble more of a western cowboy setting than a system designed to protect patients and caregivers. In other words, Armenia needs a ground-up approach to make an actual, cohesive system out of its existing patchwork, where each entity/person is looking out for his/her/its own benefit.

Fundamentally, the authorities in the country are risk averse and do not and cannot make big decisions. The reasoning most likely lies somewhere along a combination of the following options: they don’t care enough; they won’t be there to claim the success; they have no vision; they are too corrupt or lazy to do something meaningful other than biding their time, lining their pockets and moving on to their private enterprises afterwards; or they are too afraid to do something. As a result, we don’t have proper health insurance or a healthcare delivery system. Look no further than high-ranking officials of the country traveling to other nations for their own and their loved ones’ healthcare needs.

Celebrations on the streets of Yerevan after the declaration of independence (Sept. 21, 1991)

The Way Forward

We have dedicated the first five articles to some of the constraints and challenges facing the Armenian nation today. While not a comprehensive treatise, they have aimed to highlight key areas that require special attention for any immediate, medium and long-term plans to lift the nation out of its current predicament. This article will attempt to summarize these issues and offer non-exhaustive suggestions to initiate discussion.

Definition of the Armenian Nation

A mortal sin of the first post-independence leadership of the country was its inability and unwillingness to define the Armenian nation. At the time, it sufficed their needs to define the nation within the borders of the newly-independent Armenia, going so far as vilifying Artsakh and establishing the us versus them mentality, a fire that smoldered for 20 something years, never addressed and never put out, which finally burned the house down. It also served their shortsighted needs to maintain a barrier between the Diaspora and Armenia. In their minds, the Diaspora represented competition, not convergence. If we are to ever stand on our own feet, we must embrace and actively seek the totality of the Armenian nation, one that includes Armenia, Artsakh and all people of Armenian heritage throughout the world. It is this single misunderstood, undervalued and underutilized resource that can propel the nation forward. The relationship thus far has appealed to the lowest common denominator of both entities. The Diaspora has been kept at bay, limiting its role to primarily feel good, philanthropic endeavors and infusion of cash into Armenia which has rewarded the Diaspora with photo-ops and galas without making them a responsible party. This has worked out for successive Armenian governments, who in their all-knowing wisdom, have given lip service to the Diaspora, taken their money and actively prevented them from participating in building a nation. This mindset is detrimental, and its ramifications are on full display today. Diasporan organizations want to hedge their bets and see who comes out on top in Armenia to cozy up to. They are unwilling to take stands that might not curry favors for them in the immediate future but will be beneficial for Armenia in the long run. Case in point: the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) and its family of organizations on the east coast including the Armenian Relief Society (ARS), Armenian Youth Federation (AYF), Hamazkayin and Homenetmen issued a statement of solidarity in May, stating that Artsakh can never be a part of Azerbaijan for well-known reasons. With the exception of the Armenian Prelacy (east coast), the Armenian Cultural and Educational Center (ACEC) and St. Stephen’s Armenian Elementary School, no other east coast Diasporan organization wanted to cosign that statement (Figure X). The Diaspora’s failure to stand with their brethren in Artsakh certainly emboldened the current government to give up Lachin, Aghavno, Sus and Berdzor, as they saw no opposition coming from the outside, given that Armenia’s citizens have mostly given up on pursuing matters that will shape their future. There were no stipulations in the November 9 agreement to do so, but this treacherous government did so, seeing no resistance from anywhere, including the Diaspora. Defining the Armenian nation must be the first fundamental step, as this will delineate responsibilities and expectations from all parties with respect to one another.

Figure X: Eastern USA statement of solidarity issued on May 5, 2022

State vs. the Government (Իշխանութիւն vs. Պետականութիւն)

One of the fundamental issues to understand is the difference between a state and a government. We seem to think of the terms interchangeably in Armenia, without truly appreciating the vastness that separates the two. Since independence in 1991, little effort has been made in establishing a state with institutions that stand the test of time, and the efforts that were made in establishing certain institutions, e.g. the military, are actively being destroyed. The only institution that has functioned with a degree of independence, normalcy and planning has been the Central Bank. The state is permanent. It needs to be built on solid footing and must be protected at all costs. The government comes and goes. The state must be strong enough to withstand damage from impotent, incapable and/or treacherous governments, such as the one currently in power. Building state institutions whose interests are aligned with those of the citizenry and whose fundamental roles are to protect and serve the citizenry will address this issue. The state cannot be built to satisfy the personal interests of government members.

Primary Education

This single item is the salvation or doom of the Armenian nation. Our fundamental issues lie in our people, who do not understand personal and societal responsibility; who do not appreciate the importance of establishing inclusive economic and political institutions; who do not appreciate the value of the state and the reverence with which the institutions of the state must be held; and who do not understand that the buck stops with them. They ARE the nation. There are many examples of fine primary education systems in the world that produce well-informed and responsible citizens. We have previously discussed Estonia, Finland and other nations. We must embark on a collective effort with Diasporan and Armenian experts to closely evaluate the top three primary education systems in the world and how they can be used to formulate an Armenian education system based on strong academic rigor, infusion of reasoning and critical thinking skills from early on, a de-emphasis on memorization, and importantly, the teaching of national values, history and civics to raise generations who are keenly aware of their history and their place in the world and are actively taught what it means to be a responsible citizen. The next generation and those coming after them will be the key to resetting the nation’s mindset and working toward nation building with common values, a strong education system and a sense of community with a clear vision for a better future. The existing generations will be forced to adhere to the nation’s new value system through encouragement and shaming by their progeny, financial pressure in the form of significant punitive measures for those in non-compliance and incentives for those opting to embrace national values.

Higher Education and Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math (STEAM)

We have spent significant time discussing the limitations of Armenian higher education. If we are to do well, we need to have institutions of higher learning that can compete internationally. Only such institutions can develop talent that can produce and compete internationally. We have a plethora of mediocre academic institutions that must be rethought from the ground up, where a few strong institutions will be entrusted with training our future thinkers and doers. We must evaluate different educational systems worldwide (e.g. Switzerland) and implement a system that takes into consideration our local flavors and is built on established and known successful norms. Again, the Diaspora will be key to this process, given its massive resources. However, they must be brought into a well-designed system to do their part within a unified approach and not as individual islands. While a daunting task, the only missing components are will, vision and effort, all of which can be summoned with the right environment and incentives.

Military

The fundamental function of the state is to provide safety and security for its nation, a notion that the current treacherous government has abdicated completely. They have embarked on a campaign to systematically dismantle the constructs of the Armed Forces, as clearly stated by the current holder of the office of the PM (there will be peace, when we have no army). The fact that the Armenian citizenry has not revolted against this is telling of how far the citizenry has fallen and how sophisticated an effort has been undertaken over the past 20 years to dismantle whatever state institutions we have built, namely the Armed Forces. The military needs to revamp itself and realize that it is the backbone of the nation, assume that role and move forward to rebuild not simply by hardware, but also with modern training of the forces and indoctrination of the sacredness of their mission. The leadership must be chosen based on merit and extensive training and be removed from any corrupt practices, much more so than any civilian. This goes to the core of leading by example of a dedicated leadership, whose sole focus is the defense of our people, lands, culture and way of life. Establishing partnerships with Greek, Indian, French, Chinese, Russian, Iranian and other military counterparts is key in mastering different military doctrines to help develop up-to-date and effective defensive and offensive military doctrines. A strong offensive doctrine is a significant defensive asset in and of itself. With respect to hardware, we must think strategically about our defensive and offensive needs, given our geography and the enemy nations around us, plan accordingly and make the right procurements that will serve the nation. This is a first priority for the nation and one that warrants a multi-billion dollar loan to rebuild the military now. Without a strong military, the nation’s survival prospects are significantly diminished, as evidenced by the realities of today. A professional military backed by a well-trained militia may be the way forward for the nation. All men and women must receive military training and serve as militia until a certain age, as a backup for the professional Armed Forces who will be tasked with protecting our sovereignty. A fortress nation mentality needs to sink into the mindset of the Armenians; they are not Danes or Swedes who can live unencumbered by existential threats. They must realize that they are surrounded by enemies, and while they must live their lives to the fullest, they must always be vigilant and prepared to defend their nation.

Social and Healthcare System

A functioning nation cannot be built on wages and retirement payments that do not support the basic needs of life. Fundamentally, this must be addressed through proper taxation, judicious use of state resources, diminishing corruption and establishment of justice and equity for the citizenry. Again, our institutions must reflect our values. So, we need to clearly state our values from the top down to bring up the next generation or two that can then project and enforce our values from the bottom up. We need to establish functioning healthcare and insurance systems that will serve the nation, and not just Yerevan. We have to fundamentally change our medical education, given the abundance of Diasporan resources available to us in this domain. Again, we need to develop the right system and engage our Diasporan resources to participate professionally. Our medical school, residency and specialty fellowship training must undergo a radical change in curricula, implementation and incentives. Our physicians must also be incentivized to work outside Yerevan and care for the population. 

Economy/Monetary Policy

The Central Bank has been the lone beacon of professionalism in the nation. It has set monetary policies diligently and introduced and supported innovative ideas and concepts that will propel Armenia forward. However, its reach is constrained by the unprofessional and corrupt government structures that lack the vision and the will to do anything of value (the Yerevan mayor’s 7:30 a.m. city-wide wake-up call comes to mind). There are significant resources in the Diaspora that can provide sound economic advice and/or introduce expert world thought leaders to provide advice and counsel. A concerted effort, in close collaboration with plans for the nation’s STEAM future, social and military needs must be crafted for the Armenian nation of the future. Keeping in mind that the Diaspora’s purchasing power is three times that of Armenia, based on a conservative estimate, again this resource is sorely underutilized. The Armenian Diaspora must be taxed at a level to be evaluated by experts, to contribute toward the future rebuilding of Armenia in a systematic manner; be held responsible differently than volunteer/philanthropic efforts; and also be given a fraction of a vote per person, given the level of contribution, and whether they will sign up their progeny to serve in the nation’s Armed Forces. This puts the Diaspora on notice, makes her accountable and offers her a tangible asset for the future of her nation. It also forces the Armenian citizenry to up their game and be accountable to the millions of Armenians who live outside Armenia. There is no more room for comments such as “You don’t live here, so you don’t have a say.” Armenia and Artsakh belong to ALL Armenians. ALL must be responsible towards them, and ALL must do so together. 

Foreign Policy

Much like every other institution in the nation, our foreign policy apparatus is entrenched in mediocracy. Though the complimentary foreign policy adopted by the nation became obsolete sometime in 2014 or so, it kept being pursued, and the existing treacherous neophytes thought that they could play both sides of the complimentary policy to their own advantage. The unfolding disaster over the past four years has demonstrated their “prowess.” The Armenian thinking works in binary terms of cooperating with Russians or Americans as policy and lamenting the absence of both entities in defending Armenia or betraying Armenia. Again, this allows us to chalk up our failures to our “partners,” who did not back us up or our nation being cannon fodder in geopolitical games, as opposed to assuming responsibility for our failures in this domain.

A serious foreign policy operation will identify mutual interests and reciprocal alliances with different nations and cultivate them jointly, all based on mutual interests and gains and/or neutralization of gains for enemies. It will not put all its eggs in one basket and will establish relationships with key nations such as the US, Russia, China, Iran, India, Georgia, Saudi Arabia, France, Brazil, Japan based on strategic thinking, identification and exploitation of mutual needs. This takes time, significant effort and vision. It also takes a well-prepared diplomatic corps that must be developed from all corners of the world. Armenia’s citizenry is limited in its thoughts and philosophies and their place in the world, given the Soviet legacy and their fundamentally lacking education system. Again, this is where the Diaspora can be a significant resource, with Armenians who have lived and experienced a variety of systems, have been educated in diverse settings and have life experiences that cannot be easily duplicated. The Diaspora’s immigrant mentality has been its key to success and one that Armenia can use a fair amount of today.

Nobody will “defend” you if you don’t defend yourself. Nobody will negotiate for you if you fail to be present at the negotiating table. As cliché as it is, if you are not at the table, you are on the menu. We cannot abdicate our responsibility and expect others to do the heavy lifting for us, when we have failed to do the hard work to establish the mutual relationships and alliances that will come in handy in our hour of need.

State Models to Think Through

Building a nation requires two main components: 1) competent and effective leadership with a clear vision; and 2) active, aware and engaged citizenry. At the moment, we have neither. So, while an active, aware and engaged citizenry is being cultivated, a strong, effective and visionary leadership must step in to guarantee the nation’s survival and development of the citizenry.

The nation has failed to develop a principled and committed political elite, simply reflecting in its leadership its own worst traits. Our political parties have by and large revolved around cults of personality with clan, բարեկամ, խնամի fealties, loyalties and deal-making at their core, much as the population has functioned since independence and even before that. This environment has not bred higher-minded individuals, since that is anathema to the skill sets needed to survive and thrive in the existing environment. 

Every person who has held a position of power (at any level) has instinctively known his/her limited window of opportunity to extract as much from the system in preparation for moving to greener pastures with their publicly sourced nest egg. This is certainly understandable to the extent that there has been no system in place to guide the nation and the individual, thereby fulfilling the vicious cycle of surviving in a dog-eat-dog environment. 

The traditional Armenian political parties have been woefully ineffective for a variety of reasons: dealing with decades-long Soviet propaganda against them; depleted local rank and file and intelligentsia resultant from Soviet purges; complete lack of preparedness to deal with the rough-and-tumble petty politics of Armenia with no room for idealism; inability to disseminate a coherent message on their well-developed political platform; and unreasonable expectations that will only set one up for failure among others. So, here we are in the middle of a significant national crisis, having failed to develop a cadre of dedicated, intelligent and principled public servants to take the reins of power. 

We have demonstrated little appreciation or understanding of due process, separation of powers, unbiased judiciary or simple justice for that matter. Our political structure must undergo a radical change to embrace a more open and inclusive political environment with meaningful participation and contribution from the Diaspora. The Yerevan “elite” must understand its limitations through its Soviet survivalist mentality and pseudo intelligentsia legacy and do away with its uncalled-for disdain for the դրսեցի and գեղցի and stop with its language superiority complex (their only tool to mask their limited educational experiences and exposure to the wider world). We must realize that we only get one shot at this, one shot where all of us pull the wagon in the same direction with red lines that none of us will dare to cross. We have learned and mastered all the ills of western politics: how to stack the judiciary; how to buy votes and rig elections; how to place cronies in high places with no backgrounds to serve; and how to extract from the system for personal gain.  

Now it’s time to adopt a more representative approach, something along the lines of the Swiss form of government. We need to develop a more representative parliamentary system with Diasporan inclusion, through proper vetting mechanisms in place. We may adopt direct democracy, where citizens over the age of 18 may vote on how the country is run, where much like the Swiss system, mandatory, popular initiatives and optional referenda will be held to pass laws, amend laws, amend the Constitution…based on the will of the citizenry. Draconian rules designed to maintain hold on power and suppress public opinion must be eliminated. 

A portion of the National Assembly can be elected through general elections and representing different political parties, and the rest can be selected from the eligible population pool through a random computerized process and Diasporan representation. This way, the National Assembly will represent the people through political parties and direct citizen inclusion. These citizens will draw salaries to reduce corruption and will have strict disclosures in place to avoid any conflict of interest. They will serve one term and will be guaranteed employment post-service at the same or equivalent position prior to service. The ratio of political party elected versus citizen-selected representatives must be thought through carefully and optimized over time. 

Another variant will be to have a National Assembly with deputies from all political parties and Diaspora representation who are not career politicians. They will hold their regular jobs and their part-time legislative duties. The Assembly will convene a few times a year for a number of weeks to discuss issues and pass legislation. In between sessions, the deputies will read proposals and attend meetings. This will enact a more grassroots notion of “citizen legislature,” to maintain a closer relationship with their constituency and the issues affecting them. Again, these legislators will be paid well and be held to strict financial and conflict of interest disclosures to avoid even the slightest appearance of conflict. Any conflicts must be kept in check with well-regulated lobbying rules. There will be a clear understanding of all deputies’ outside dealings for absolute accountability and transparency. 

We can establish a National Council, as the executive power, where a number of National Councilors from different political parties and Diasporan representation will be elected by the National Assembly for a number of years and share the duties of a head of state. The Federal Councilors will rotate, and every year one will take on the role of president. 

We can create a judicial system with staggered terms for the judges to be appointed by the president of the Federal Council, to be eligible to serve only one or two terms with transparency for all personal assets before and after assuming judicial roles. This practice must be applied to all branches of the government. There will be no lifetime appointments, and the staggered terms along with the appointment of the judges by the rotating president of the Federal Council will further reduce the chance of crony installments and skewing of the legislation toward one faction or another.

These examples are not exhaustive and are only meant to engage us all in fruitful discussions on how best to work toward a bright and secure future for the Armenian nation. Our limitations are only in our imagination, commitment, willingness to sacrifice and personal and financial investment into the future of Armenia and Artsakh. None of the leaders of the past 30 years will be remembered kindly in our long history, nor will we, as the generations that gained it all and lost it all, if we don’t come to our collective senses soon.