The Armenian authorities can be inattentive and arrogant, they can be pathologically greedy, insatiable and rapacious, and they can be psychologically unbalanced and speak uncontrollably. Our authorities cannot be traitors; they have not been and they will not be. The word ‘traitor,’ that is frequently thrown around by politicians, as well as by the political masses, needs to be removed from our vocabulary.
I don’t believe in the latest conspiracy theory that the Velvet Revolution was carried out in support of several Western beliefs, and one of those issues was the anti-Armenian resolution to the Artsakh conflict. That is impossible and it will never happen. It is something else if the adolescents who closed the streets aren’t as interested in the Artsakh issue as our generation. Yes, people their age died defending our borders during the April War. But that does not exclude the fact that the main individuals who carried out the Velvet Revolution were mainly interested in getting rid of the rotting, corrupt former regime. The majority of our citizens joined when Serzh Sargsyan decided to become Prime Minister after completing his two terms as President. The Artsakh issue had nothing to do with any of this. People wanted a normal, democratic, and modern state, free of corruption and permissiveness.
However, we need to explain two things to our youth, if possible. First, yes, a state that has a corrupt ruling elite cannot advance. But it is also correct that not having such a ruling elite does not guarantee development. The most important thing is that, if we lose Artsakh, we will not have ANY state- not a good one, not a bad one, not a developed one, and not a backwards one. This is not the place to talk about that, but I will say that our two neighbors’ strategic target isn’t only Artsakh. Their goal is to get rid of all the Armenian elements in the region.
Our state can be horribly awful, but at least there will be hope in that case that it could get better. But we could not have a state at all, and if that happens, no one can say when we will have the opportunity to have our own state again.
Aram Abrahamyan
