Day: April 2, 2024
We’ve been around for 8 years now, starting with the 2016 April clashes in Nagorno Karabakh. Want to thank all of our followers for sticking with us. pic.twitter.com/zfLDSNslAj
— Nagorno Karabakh Observer (@NKobserver) April 2, 2024
Now 8 years ago today… A lot has changed since then, but the threat of war continues to loom, with Nagorno Karabakh now captured, direct war between Armenia and Azerbaijan ever more possible. https://t.co/m85IVFphFN
— Nagorno Karabakh Observer (@NKobserver) April 2, 2024
We all know the disasters that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has brought upon Armenia, in addition to losing Artsakh due to his incompetence.
We can cite Pashinyan’s many misguided actions and contradictory statements. Following his complete mismanagement of the military as commander-in-chief during the 2020 war in Artsakh, Pashinyan is now making sure that Armenians forget about the loss of Artsakh by wiping out its name from people’s memory.
Pashinyan took no action to protect Artsakh Armenians’ right to live peacefully in their millennia-old homeland. He also made no advance preparations to house the over 100,000 refugees from Artsakh, even though he knew that after the 2020 war Artsakh Armenians would eventually flee to Armenia.
To make matters worse, knowing that in future elections Artsakh Armenians will not vote for his political party, Pashinyan declared that they are not citizens of Armenia. These people for decades have had passports of the Republic of Armenia, which were recognized not only by Armenia but also by foreign countries when they traveled overseas. Regrettably, thousands of Artsakh Armenians have since left Armenia for Russia to find shelter and work to be able to feed their families.
Furthermore, Pashinyan refuses to meet with any Artsakh official and opposes Artsakh Armenians holding protests in Yerevan to complain about their dire conditions in Armenia.
Here is the latest example of Pashinyan’s anti-Artsakh actions. Last week, the President of Artsakh Samvel Shahramanyan gave an interview to the French Le Figaro newspaper in which he said that the Republic of Artsakh continues to exist despite its occupation by Azerbaijan. He also stated that there is an Artsakh government-in-exile in Yerevan, where his offices are located.
Shahramanyan’s words angered Pashinyan, who immediately lashed out and warned that legal action will be taken against all those who talk about an Artsakh government-in-exile. Without any evidence, Pashinyan accused the Artsakh leaders of threatening Armenia’s national security. Not understanding the meaning of the term “government-in-exile,” Pashinyan said that there is only one government in Armenia, and there cannot be a second government, even though nobody was talking about creating a second government. If Pashinyan had any knowledgeable advisers, they would have informed him that there are, in many countries, dozens of governments-in-exile that are universally accepted under international law.
PM Nikol Pashinyan during the March 28 cabinet meeting: “In Armenia, apart from the Government of the Republic of Armenia, no other government can exist.” (Office of the Prime Minister of Armenia)
In reality, the only person in Armenia who is threatening the security of Armenia is Pashinyan himself. Not only has he not defended the rights of Artsakh Armenians who are citizens of Armenia, but he has also allowed Azerbaijan’s military to cross Armenia’s borders in 2021 and 2022. In addition, when President Aliyev demanded that Armenia hand over four Armenian villages to Azerbaijan, Pashinyan warned their inhabitants that otherwise Azerbaijan would start a new war.
In his harsh reply to Shahramanyan, Pashinyan also threatened to take appropriate measures so that “foreign forces do not use certain [Artsakh] circles as a threat to the security of Armenia.” It is regrettable that Pashinyan is falsely accusing Artsakh Armenians of being manipulated by foreigners.
Pashinyan’s real problem is not Artsakh’s government-in-exile, but the fact that Artsakh Armenians are taking steps to keep the memory of Artsakh alive, which is highly embarrassing for him, since he is the one who gave it away. We have lost Artsakh to the enemy, but we should not erase it from our memory. We have an obligation not only to remember Artsakh, but transmit the dream of returning to Artsakh to the next generation. This is critical, because if future generations do not know that Artsakh is Armenian land, when the opportunity presents itself for its liberation, they will not take advantage of it, thus losing Artsakh forever, not because of what the enemy has done but because of our own inaction.
In the meantime, we can only regret that Armenia’s prime minister, wittingly or unwittingly, is doing Aliyev’s bidding by trying to suppress even the memory and dream of Artsakh. Furthermore, it would be shameful if Pashinyan, acting on his threats, ordered the arrest of Artsakh leaders in Armenia, thus joining Baku in holding Artsakh leaders as captives.
With each passing day, Pashinyan is intensifying his anti-Armenian actions. How long will Armenians in Armenia and the Diaspora remain silent in the face of such self-defeating actions? When will Armenians wake up from their slumber, say “enough is enough” and find a new competent leader to lead the nation out of this quagmire? Contrary to Pashinyan’s contention, Artsakh is not a closed issue. Armenians should not continue to sit with their arms folded and watch Armenia gradually disappear because of the misdeeds of one man!
Finally, it would be shameful if Shahramanyan and other Artsakh officials were to be forced by Pashinyan to leave Armenia and relocate their government-in-exile to a foreign country.
Author information
Harut Sassounian
California Courier Editor
Harut Sassounian is the publisher of The California Courier, a weekly newspaper based in Glendale, Calif. He is the president of the Armenia Artsakh Fund, a non-profit organization that has donated to Armenia and Artsakh one billion dollars of humanitarian aid, mostly medicines, since 1989 (including its predecessor, the United Armenian Fund). He has been decorated by the presidents of Armenia and Artsakh and the heads of the Armenian Apostolic and Catholic churches. He is also the recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.
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WATERTOWN, Mass.—Project Save’s “Conversations on Photography” series resumes on Tuesday, April 9 at 7 p.m. with an online presentation of Suren Oganessian’s unique memoir, Under Stalin’s Sun, which recounts his intense experience from Meghri to his brutal years in the gulags, and his harrowing escape and journey to the United States. Registration is required at projectsave.org.
From the 1930s-1950s Stalin’s gulag labor camps imprisoned over 18 million people, including at least 40,000 Armenians. Under Stalin’s Sun is a rare firsthand account by one of the Armenian survivors of the gulag. It is possibly the only such memoir available in English (available now on Amazon and other online shops).
Ogannesian’s memoir was recently retranslated and republished by Raffi Meneshian, who is the founder of Pomegranate Music, an educator and publisher. He is also Ogannessian’s grandson. Meneshian will present the book, along with photos of his grandfather, followed by a discussion moderated by Arto Vaun, executive director of Project Save.
According to Vaun, “The Armenian world has understandably been very focused on the tumultuous events of the past 30 years in Armenia. But we cannot fully understand post-Soviet Armenia without a deeper assessment and discussion of the Stalinist years, which continue to haunt both Armenia and parts of the diaspora.”
Launched in 2021, “Conversations on Photography” is an ongoing series by Project Save that promotes discussions about photography, social history, culture and preservation. Past talks are available to watch on the Project Save website.
This is an online event and registration is required at projectsave.org. For more info: archives@projectsave.org.
Author information
Project SAVE Armenian Photograph Archives collects, documents, preserves, and promotes Armenian Heritage through the photograph.
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Tehran vows response after strike blamed on Israel destroyed Iran’s Consulate in Syria and killed 12 The Bakersfield Californian