“I don’t want an entire generation to fall victim to miscalculations and wrong patriotism. It’s the same logic as saying let’s not become Turks,” historian and diplomat Zhirayr Liparityan expressed during the lecture following the presentation of the book “Armenia-Turkey: Statehood, History, Politics.”
During the first years after independence, Zhirayr Liparityan was the chief negotiator of Armenia with Turkey. The volume also substantiates the policy of normalization of relations with Turkey. The approaches to Armenia-Turkey relations are presented from historical, political, and psychological perspectives. At the end of the book, there are materials on the political processes that preceded and immediately followed the 44-day Artsakh war. He considers it wrong that the answer to everything is genocide.
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Zhirayr Liparityan detailed, “Genocide is the answer to everything, to every logic, to every approach. To become Turkish, we became Turkish because we opened the border. I think it should be possible for us to change “death or freedom” into “freedom is death!” I can not justify the death of 4,000 young people, the wounding of 10,000 young people, and especially the overthrow of the victory of the victims from the first war. It all went away because we are ready to die, we are ready to send another child to go and die, we are ready to send young people, because we are patriots and they must die. I can not accept that kind of logic. It does not come from history, nor from the interests of our security or the security of the future.”
According to him, this is a Fidayi mentality, not a state one, and he noted, “When we were Fidayis, it made sense in a way. With their deaths, Fidayis understood the idea of freedom, saying, “I believe in my people so much that I am ready to give my life.” It has nothing to do with statehood. Now we as a state do not have the right to define patriotism by such calculations. We do not have the right to define patriotism in such a way that only death proves that we are patriots.”
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
