Bitter lessons for the sake of light… An appeal by Arbak Khachatryan, representative of the initiative group of the Pan-Armenian Association of Intellectuals

“As harsh as it was instructive.”

This is how Gagik Manasyan, president of Armenia’s Intellectual Property Association, described the outgoing year, 2020, during a conversation before the New Year.

Discussing the lessons of 2020 and the tasks for the coming year, Manasyan considered it more appropriate to share with our readers the appeal of his colleague Arbak Khachatryan, representative of the initiative group of the Pan-Armenian Association of Intellectuals, which we present below.

Compatriots,

The reason for addressing you is the vacuum that has emerged in Armenia’s domestic political life and the feeling of hopelessness that has besieged our people alongside defeat in the Second Artsakh War. What we expect from you is sober awareness on the part of a substantial segment of society, and a final rejection of the unrealistic longing for a rapid “recovery” and the now-classic delusion of relying on yet another “savior.”

After the well-known developments, our country once again faces the danger of losing its homeland—a danger more real than ever. In the literal sense, the continued existence of the state of Armenia is in question.

Armenia, struggling against the Covid-19 pandemic that afflicted the world, found itself in a brutal war unleashed by Azerbaijan with Turkey’s direct support, which took the lives of thousands of Armenians. The war served as litmus paper and exposed several ailments characteristic of Armenians and persistently accompanying them. Foremost among them are perhaps unjustified “self-confidence” and the flawed practice of relying on others, panic-inducing disorganization, and the centuries-old obsession with seeking a savior instead of being able to save ourselves.

Much has been said about the undeniability of cause and effect, the hyenas that ravaged the country over the past thirty years, and “velvet” amateurism. The flawed practice of looking for a scapegoat continues now. It is also very apparent that the labels of black and white, former and current, deepen the growing atmosphere of mutual hatred in society even further.

The war we lost called things by their names and showed that the country is literally without governance, that it has been paralyzed, and that the people have been left leaderless and without a prime minister, while the once all-powerful “kings” stand “naked.” If we add the gravest geopolitical developments, the beginning of the collapse of the former financial and economic system, and the clear danger of military developments resulting from it, the seriousness of the moment becomes more tangible.

Armenia’s Intellectual Property Association rejects any disguised manifestation of revanchism and the unpromising path of replacing an “inexperienced priest” with a familiar “devil,” considering that the electoral institution has fundamentally discredited and exhausted itself. The association’s members are convinced that a Council of Justice composed of 11–12 Armenians from around the world must be established in Armenia, whose rulings will be indisputable and binding on everyone.

The council to be created by Armenians worldwide will be guided by God’s commandments, anchored in justice, unlike the Constitution and laws, whose arbitrary application has become a true scourge for humanity. “There is no evil without some good,” says popular wisdom. Armenia has found itself in a situation where defining, reassessing, and reconsidering the system of values acquire paramount importance, even more than modernizing the military arsenal and having a combat-ready army. Through the thinking segment of Armenian society, the public must find the answer to the puzzle: “Why have Armenians still not managed to create a state over the last two thousand years?”

What causes the endless search for culprits and enemies at home and abroad instead of normal development? Ultimately, what is the key to becoming a universally acceptable country and an example to follow? On every suitable and unsuitable occasion, we have spoken and continue to speak of our special status and of the hidden dream of having a state worthy of our “merits,” without ever answering: “Can we, within the logic of cosmic tolerance, create a country that people of other nationalities will equally consider their own? A country whose existence will be attested by the principle of coexistence.”

Understanding this may spare us Armenians the many trials that carry threats of destruction—trials that become real amid the severing of spiritual and cultural ties, the worldwide retreat of the former financial and banking system, and an increasingly tangible economic collapse.

May God protect us all.