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SO THAT THE FATHERLAND DOES NOT BECOME HISTORICAL
March 19 2013
I received a letter from a village in Armenia yesterday. Letters sent
in an old-fashioned way, on paper, are usually related to some social
problem or an argument with a neighbor. However, this citizen writes
10 pages by hand about the events of 1916-17, which are connected
with the Armenian Question this way or another. The writer of the
letter also asks whether he understood those events correctly or not.
Probably, the writer thinks the world of me. However, I thought about
something else; we, Armenians, are very concerned about our history,
and it is not a bad thing in itself. However, for some reason, we
are more interested in the pages of history concerning our losses,
sufferings, and miseries. For example, no one would write me a letter
about the liberation of Shushi, but there are as many letters as you
please about the fact that we had so much territory, could have so
much, if the roguish Bolsheviks and Turks didn~Rt prevent us. Perhaps
the comparison is inappropriate, but when our soccer team loses,
we necessarily blame the referee for ~Sselling out.~T In such cases,
a question arises where we, Armenians, were among those cunning and
guileful Turks, Russians, Byzantines, Arabs, and Persians. Did we
just heroically struggle, were we a bit naïve, and did the others
always deceive us? And when we really struggled heroically won, it
is not attached too much importance to either, it is subordinated
to other problems; for example, that heroic period is presented as
~Sthe years of cold and darkness.~T While judging about historic
and contemporary events, we seem to be overwhelmed by emotions. The
conversation of the President of the Republic of Armenia with us,
journalists, made me think of all this. I don~Rt agree with many
ideas expressed by Serzh Sargsyan, but ~V certainly, realizing that
the commenters will lash out at me ~V let me talk about one idea, with
which I agree. I am talking about the recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh,
from which neither Armenia, nor the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic will
gain any political, economic, or moral benefits at this moment,
but it will just poison our relations with the Minsk Group co-chair
countries, i.e. the most important countries for us. ~SPerhaps,
there will be an Armenian in Toronto who will be proud that Armenia
has recognized the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic,~T Serzh Sargsyan said
yesterday. But we don~Rt live in Toronto, do we? What I want to say
is that we should not always remember about our losses, but rather,
demonstrating certain pragmatism, maintain what we have. So that it
doesn~Rt also become the historical fatherland, which, as we know,
is easier to love than the real one. ARAM ABRAHAMYAN
Read more at: http://en.aravot.am/2013/03/19/153037/
© 1998 - 2013 Aravot ~V News from Armenia
March 19 2013
I received a letter from a village in Armenia yesterday. Letters sent
in an old-fashioned way, on paper, are usually related to some social
problem or an argument with a neighbor. However, this citizen writes
10 pages by hand about the events of 1916-17, which are connected
with the Armenian Question this way or another. The writer of the
letter also asks whether he understood those events correctly or not.
Probably, the writer thinks the world of me. However, I thought about
something else; we, Armenians, are very concerned about our history,
and it is not a bad thing in itself. However, for some reason, we
are more interested in the pages of history concerning our losses,
sufferings, and miseries. For example, no one would write me a letter
about the liberation of Shushi, but there are as many letters as you
please about the fact that we had so much territory, could have so
much, if the roguish Bolsheviks and Turks didn~Rt prevent us. Perhaps
the comparison is inappropriate, but when our soccer team loses,
we necessarily blame the referee for ~Sselling out.~T In such cases,
a question arises where we, Armenians, were among those cunning and
guileful Turks, Russians, Byzantines, Arabs, and Persians. Did we
just heroically struggle, were we a bit naïve, and did the others
always deceive us? And when we really struggled heroically won, it
is not attached too much importance to either, it is subordinated
to other problems; for example, that heroic period is presented as
~Sthe years of cold and darkness.~T While judging about historic
and contemporary events, we seem to be overwhelmed by emotions. The
conversation of the President of the Republic of Armenia with us,
journalists, made me think of all this. I don~Rt agree with many
ideas expressed by Serzh Sargsyan, but ~V certainly, realizing that
the commenters will lash out at me ~V let me talk about one idea, with
which I agree. I am talking about the recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh,
from which neither Armenia, nor the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic will
gain any political, economic, or moral benefits at this moment,
but it will just poison our relations with the Minsk Group co-chair
countries, i.e. the most important countries for us. ~SPerhaps,
there will be an Armenian in Toronto who will be proud that Armenia
has recognized the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic,~T Serzh Sargsyan said
yesterday. But we don~Rt live in Toronto, do we? What I want to say
is that we should not always remember about our losses, but rather,
demonstrating certain pragmatism, maintain what we have. So that it
doesn~Rt also become the historical fatherland, which, as we know,
is easier to love than the real one. ARAM ABRAHAMYAN
Read more at: http://en.aravot.am/2013/03/19/153037/
© 1998 - 2013 Aravot ~V News from Armenia