There are not less than 10 million Armenians living in the world. Among them, there are followers of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Catholics, Protestants and even Muslims. There are also atheists. Why do people identify themselves with the nation? For various reasons, due to language, religion, environment, traditions, respect for parents, and many other reasons. Which is advantageous to us? To maintain their feelings, or dismiss them, saying that since you do not belong to our faith, you are not an Armenian. I think the answer to that question is simple.
In general, the formulation that if you do not do this-or-that thing, you are not an Armenian, seems absurd to me. The man claims that he is an Armenian, and you say ‘no’ since you do not share the said religion or political theory, or you do not want to repair my apartment, or you do not want to shave with “Gillette” razor, you’re not an Armenian. The importance of these issues, of course, is different, but to propose them as a “precondition” for being an Armenian is equally absurd. None of us has the right to put forward such “preconditions” to each other.
Religion can not have such precondition despite the opinion of one of our clergymen voiced recently as to who is not a follower of the Armenian Apostolic Church, is not an Armenian. 50 years ago, the majority of residents of Armenia were atheists. My grandfather was an atheist (due to which, to the point, he deleted the “religious” particle from the last name Ter-Abrahamyan), my father does not belong to any religious community, do we deny them the right to be an Armenian? There were much more atheists in Artsakh, unfortunately, there is no church in Stepanakert until now (ad notam, to swaggerers who are ready to build the 20th church in Yerevan). So, what, do people who were atheists, but were fighting and died for liberation of Artsakh, were not Armenians?
“So, do you deny the role of the Armenian Apostolic Church in preservation of the Armenian identity?”, usually such a counter-argument is brought by our “fundamentalists.” No, I do not deny, glory and honor to our Mother See of Holy Church. We just have to ascend to the real situation that exists in the state of Armenia and in the Diaspora, and to find such ideas that unite us, and not divide. The only thing that I would ask (not demand, not put precondition forward) all those who consider themselves Armenians, not to forget our wonderful language and the alphabet of Mesrop Mashtots.
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… In the first half of 90s, when my Dashnak friends were more prone to extremes, they were saying, “who is not a Dashnak, is not an Armenian.” Later, fortunately, they reviewed this thesis.
Aram Abrahamyan
