The second volume of the “Independence and Liberal Reforms” collection was published.
The collection is dedicated to the steps taken by the first parliament of independent Armenia, the Supreme Council, in the 1990s to establish new state and public institutions.
Babken Ararktsyan wrote the prologue, and the authors were Vahe Stepanyan, Gagik Jhangiryan, Zhirayr Liparityan, Ashot Voskanyan, and other experts. I also wrote a modest article. The names listed above can cause people to feel different things, but just from an expert perspective, I think that I “have a good circle.”
One of the conceptually remarkable articles was written by Zhirayr Liparityan who tries to answer the following question: can we have an independent state? Formulating the author’s thoughts into one sentence, I can say that his answer is yes, but only if it is based on the ideas that led Levon Ter-Petrossian and the Armenian National Movement in the 1990s. Let me say that I agree with that 100%.
Read also
I predict Facebook-level attacks for that from people who remember the terrible things that happened during “Levon’s time.” But this is not in reference to crimes that took place under someone’s leadership, but the ideology formulated by Rafael Ishkhanyan, in particular, that Ter-Petrossian, Vazgen Manukyan, the same Ararktsyan, Vano Siradeghyan, and the other founders of our country agreed with at the time.
But let’s answer another question. Why doesn’t the Pan-Armenian National Movement exist within today’s political arena? Can I guess that this fact is a reflection of the characteristics of Armenian political thought? Even more, there either aren’t or there won’t be several dozens of political parties. For example, Civil Contract doesn’t even exist as a political party now.
How can a political party exist that rejects different -isms? Based on the speeches made by Civil Contract (My Step) members, their ideology is rejecting Serzh; no speeches made go around that topic. But the entire issue is that when we speak about current political events 10-20 years later, teachers and professors will be forced to explain to their students who Serzh was and why he was being rejected, and they won’t even mention My Step. Unlike them, the ARF are will continue to function as a national structure 20 years later.
Armenia may not exist 20 years later as an independent state unit, but the ARF will remain. I will repeat Liparityan’s question: Can Armenia be an independent state? Or, let’s reformulate the question: do the Armenian people want to have an independent state? You will most likely say, “Yes, of course, 95.5 percent of people during the 1991 referendum said ‘yes’ to independence.” But first, it’s impossible for the percentage to be that high now. But the most important thing is the following: experience shows that people don’t know what they are voting for when they vote in favor of something, the efforts that demands from them, and the responsibility place upon them.
Aram Abrahamyan
