On the advice of one of my friends, I read Shahan Natalie’s article “The Turks and Us”, and those who have not done it, I will also recommend reading it.
I, especially, liked the following idea: “Take any newspaper. We will find brilliant editors there who own the destiny of the political world. And, neither the editor, nor the reader will once ask a question: ultimately, who reads these articles. Would we like to lead Poincaré, Mussolini, or Lloyd George with our political wisdom?”
It was written in 1928, but, agree that it is very topical. I, particularly, recalled a commentator, who, let’s assume, after voicing strong accusations against Erdoğan, completes his judgments with the following rhetorical question: “How come, Mr. Erdoğan?” Probably, it seemed to the commentator that the Turkish Prime Minister is anxiously sitting in front of the TV and waiting to see what assessment the Armenian publicist is going to give to his activities.
It seems to me that Natalie had presented one of the most important defects of our political thought: it seems to us that we need to explain the world, its elders, and the leaders of the countries how good and fair we are, and how insidious and beast our enemies are, and if the elders and leaders understand this, they will definitely begin supporting us. This erroneous view was also criticized in 1997 by Levon Ter-Petrosyan. “Indeed, they (Russian authorities – A.A. ) do not realize the strategic interests of their country. Is it Armenia that should make them understand? Aren’t those giving lessons to Russia put themselves into a ridiculous situation by discrediting the image of the Armenian?… And, finally, still how long the fanaticism of becoming a toy of Russia or any other country, by self-deception, should be the lifestyle of an Armenian?”
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Indeed, there is no need to admonish, and persuade somebody, to demonstrate your perfection and advantages; every country, friendly or hostile, moreover, every superpower will pay you the price that you deserve. Repeating this indisputable truth becomes important during today’s “Customs-European” debate. The problem, therefore, is raising own price. Shahan Natalie was offering tools for it, which in today’s world are applicable in this historical phase. The tools that we need to apply regardless of the independent state, reached the goal in one case, Artsakh liberation. In the domestic political, economic and cultural life, in this sense, we have nothing to be proud of. We have depreciated our price with our actions.
… And supplicating justice from the world is simply ridiculous. As Shahan Natalie wrote, “the law is dominant in the political life, and forget the justice. Because, ultimately, the justice is relatively one word: what is not fair for us is just for the other.”
Aram Abrahamyan
