According to former Prime Minister Armen Darbinyan, the situation in Armenia still has the possibility of deteriorating because we still have not understood our priorities as a nation, nor have we realized that our national and societal interests are above all or that this needs to be a political culture for us, not something mandated by the state. He used Israel as an example where citizens have that understanding and they make it a priority. Meanwhile, since we have not understood this yet, we are facing the potential dissolution of our statehood.
Armen Darbinyan also said that we exist as an ethnos probably at the expense of a strong culture as part of the “Let’s Talk About the Future” series initiated by Futures Studio and Mark Grigoryan, a journalist and author. Now, the desire to emigrate suggests that we will continue to exist as an ethnos, but we will likely lose our statehood because no one besides us is interested in its existence. According to the former Prime Minister, we need to have a clear understanding with clear cornerstones in order to build a strong Armenia.
In response to a question about creating a federal state agreement with Russia and Belarus, Armen Darbinyan said, “Sovereign Armenia will be the best ally of Russia and Belarus.” However, in his opinion, Armenia must bring its relations with Russia to a new level. Based on geopolitical developments, he believes that the current situation is extremely complicated and we have no right to play games.
And he sees such intentions. “Russia is no good, so let’s follow the United States… that will simply destroy our country, people, and everything else. On the contrary, we must be able to make the most of federal relations.” Armen Darbinyan thinks that we should even have a joint military force with Russia in the future. In any case, within the context of current geopolitical developments, he considers it to be a necessity and does not think that it will be a concession of sovereignty because it is referring to defense capabilities, not offensive capabilities, and we do not have our own technological capabilities. The former Prime Minister also considers the Diaspora’s role to be essential in Armenia’s development.
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Armen Darbinyan believes that we must be able to position ourselves as a Christian nation in the East. In that case, the importance of our sovereignty will increase for Russia as well. We must also rediscover and use our ties with the countries of the East, something we do not have in the Caucasus region. The former prime minister believes that if we can rediscover our role, which will be equal to the role of Israel for the United States, we will also receive an adequate response from Russia. According to him, our vision should be to become a state from the ethnos of the Christian East.
Nelly Grigoryan
