NEWS.am. Last week, the Washington Post, the prestigious American newspaper, published an influential column by the famous American Armenian journalist and bestselling author David Ignatius, in which he called on US President Trump to fulfill his promise to protect persecuted Christians, starting with Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) former state minister Ruben Vardanyan. Armenian News-NEWS.am spoke to Diaspora Armenian writer, publicist, and economist Vahan Zanoyan, who was also referenced in Ignatius’ column, on the topic.
Mr. Zanoyan, New York Times bestselling author and prominent American journalist of Armenian heritage, David Ignatius, recently published a rather influential article about the ongoing sham trials in Baku and about your friend, Ruben Vardanyan. The piece also called on President Trump to honor his campaign promise to defend persecuted Christians, and to start that by helping the release of Ruben Vardanyan. Do you think this will have any impact?
David Ignatius’ columns in the Washington Post are generally widely read and respected within the Washington political circles. His column about Ruben sends important messages. It was essential to remind the new U.S. administration of what happened to the ethnic Armenians of Artsakh and where Ruben Vardanyan and the former leadership of Artsakh are now. This is not just an Armenian issue. A dictatorship violates all kinds of international rights and values, holds people hostage illegally, and the world is silent. This is about universal human rights — the fundamental right to freedom. Impunity opens the door to new crimes.
Ignatius once again drew attention to these facts, highlighting the Christian factor, because that has special significance in the domestic political stage of the United States and because Trump himself had spoken about defending Christians. It is also worth noting here that Ignatius is a good example of how the resources of Armenians outside the “real Armenia” can support causes important to Armenia and Armenians at large.
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In addition to his personal credentials as a respected journalist and novelist, we should also note that his father, a descendant of a Genocide survivor, was the United States Secretary of the Navy. You can learn more about his father’s and his Armenian roots here. And it was commendable that Ignatius, with his and his family’s credibility, stood by and spoke for Ruben. All those who know Ruben and for whom universal human values are important should do the same.
The article in full is available on the original website
