By now, most informed Armenians have digested the results of the emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council on the closure of the Berdzor (Lachin) Corridor and the dire situation in our beloved Artsakh—the humanitarian disaster that is unfolding before our eyes. The result is the same that Armenians have grown accustomed to over the last 100 years. The powers of the world don’t want to challenge Armenia’s enemies, who they see as important partners for trade and natural resources or are NATO members, so they appeased Azerbaijan and Turkey.
Did we truly expect anything different? Do we collectively love Artsakh and honestly care to save our brothers and sisters? We need to face reality. Are we ready to accept not only losing Artsakh, but the 120,000 men, women and children of that sacred land? The sad truth is that many Armenians only talk about caring, are willfully uninformed, don’t want to get involved in politics or are financially motivated to remain silent.
I am referring to the elephant in the room. Various diaspora organizations and NGOs publicly stand for Artsakh and ask the world to care, but they don’t want to rock the boat. I keep hearing the call for unity–but not unity in removing the cancer from within, the traitorous leadership in power.
I believe we are all complicit in the past 30 years of inaction, poor leadership, outright plundering of the Armenian treasury for personal gain, total chaos and corruption. The diaspora chose to vacation in Yerevan instead of spending or donating to the betterment of our entire country and protecting our borders. We are all guilty.
Yet nothing compares to the elephant in the room, the boat that needs to be rocked and removed: Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. This individual and his followers have been anti-Artsakh since before he became prime minister. He has written about giving away Artsakh in his prior writings.
We all may curse past leadership, but none ever publicly or outrightly stated that Artsakh is Azerbaijani land or simply walked away from the responsibility of caring for the Armenians of Artsakh.
Yet Pashinyan has done exactly that. He is ready to sign treaties and documents recognizing Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan. We expect the world to step up, to open the border, to feed our brothers and sisters. Yet the leader of the Armenian republic publicly stated Artsakh is no longer Armenian territory. If I was a world leader, I would ask: if the Armenian government does not care, then why expect us to care?
There are deeper geopolitical reasons for the world’s involvement in the South Caucasus. Artsakh and Armenia are simply pawns in the greater goals of the world powers. But that should not excuse our own leader from betraying his people and country.
If we expect a positive outcome, or to at the very least open the corridor to food and medical supplies, reopen schools and restore gas and electricity, then all of us need to unite and remove Pashinyan from power. Who replaces him is inconsequential at this point, as long as that person is a true patriot for our homeland and our people.
History is repeating itself, and we have not learned from the past. We are not being honest with ourselves when we chant, “never again.” If we mean those words, then the time to act is now. It will be difficult, but the alternative is our own death as a nation.
“We are alone and must rely only on our own strength, to protect the frontlines and to establish order inside the country.” Aram Manoukian, Founder of the First Republic
“Nations that are unwilling to defend their own interest condemn themselves to death.” General Karekin Njdeh
Greg Minasian
Andover, Mass.
Originally published as a letter to The Armenian Weekly
