Sincerely forgiving is a wonderful national feature
Today’s Russia leadership policy, to put it mildly, opposes to the civilized world, but it nowise changes my attitude towards the Russian people and its culture. These people have a wonderful, in my opinion, displays: they are kind, generous, compassionate to others’ pain, and most importantly, is endowed with a feature to sincerely forgiving, and forgetting the pain caused. During the Great Patriotic War, the Germans invaded their (our) country territory, occupied the land, burned the towns and villages, and allowed horrific barbarities. But hardly the majority of today’s Russians have hostile attitude towards the Germans. The same can be said about other nations, the French and the Turks, ever levied war with Russia. There is no hostility among modern Russians against these nations. Therefore, in fact, I think that the today’s hostility between Russians and Ukrainians will disappear over decades.
For the sake of just, let’s say that the elements of this hostility in the last decades were instilled in the Western (the so-called “Habsburg”) Ukraine, but it also, I think, is an overcoming emotion in the event of right policies between the two states. Russian-Ukrainian relations will never be like that of the Arab-Israel, Armenian-Turkish or Armenian-Azerbaijani. Not to go far, I would say on behalf of me. I am for regular, restrained and correct relationships with these nations, but even if the next Turkish government recognizes the Armenian Genocide, apologizes every year and pays compensation, anyway, I would still feel the resentment, and it is the case when none of my relatives was directly affected by the Genocide. We, Armenians, and the Turks, Arabs, and Jews are not Russians to forgive each other sincerely. We need to switch on our consciousness and intelligence to move ahead.
However, the Azeris, in particular, are going in the direction of “switching off the consciousness”, they are telling the kindergarten children about us, Armenians, approximately what we tell our children about the Turks. Of course, it is clear for any unprejudiced person that there is no symmetry here, and to compare the vast Ottoman Empire deeds against the Armenians with 29 thousand square kilometers of independent Armenia’s liberation fight is just ridiculous. In addition, in both cases, the Turks, and then Azeri attacked the peaceful Armenians, in the first case, we could not resist, in the second case, we were able to. Nevertheless, I think that we were able to develop an optimal behavior in the relationship with our neighbors, and direct the next generations correctly. In other words, on the one hand, what the tree presidents said, the public should be prepared for peace and not for war, on the other hand, for active resistance, if the opponent dares to attack us.
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There is, of course, the reverse, though unique display of switching off the brain, when an armed Azeri intruded into our territory, who are suspected of murdering a 17-year-old boy and a military man, and wounding a woman by a firearm, are considered “innocent tourists” and apologize to their relatives. It is already a pathology.
ARAM ABRAHAMYAN
