Tweet
BARDAKJIAN AND SUNY UNDERMINE INTERESTS OF ARMENIA AND DIASPORA
By Appo Jabarian
Executive Publisher/Managing Editor
USA Armenian Life Magazine
July 6, 2011
On the Diaspora Front
In an effort to inject confusion about the timely concept of getting
the Armenian Diaspora better organized, Kevork Bardakjian, Professor
of Armenian Studies at the University of Michigan, attempted to throw
the monkey wrench in the visionary process of "Elective Diaspora
Leadership."
In a July 1 interview with Azg.am, referring to the democratic
representation of the Diaspora and Armenians as a whole, Prof. Suny
stated: "It's an eternal problem [as to] who shall speak first,
who last. They're saying, let's hold elections. Harut Sassounian was
proposing, let every 20 thousand Armenians have one representative;
let them form a central council. In my opinion, that is utopia. ... No
such thing is possible. The [political] parties would not allow [it].
If the parties do not have a ruling position, they would oppose
anything."
But Prof. Suny contradicts himself by cheerleading its necessity,
saying: "For example, they're saying, if Turkey acknowledges the
Genocide, we will seek the defense of our rights. Who is going to
present our demands? Who is going to speak on Diaspora's behalf?
Through such questions, answers are created, that we need to unify.
But how?"
On the Home Front
In an interview with Azerbaijan's propaganda mouthpiece az.apa.az,
Professor Ronald Grigor Suny of Michigan University and Director
of Eisenberg Institute of Historical Studies, sounded more like a
political operative than a scholar.
Injecting the Armenian psyche with a sense of self-defeatism, Prof.
Suny said: "The facts that Armenians are the majority and ought to
be able to rule themselves in Karabakh has to be reconciled with the
territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, possibly though a federal status
that is real, gives Karabakh full autonomy but maintains a de jure
association with Azerbaijan."
By propagating "a de jure association with Azerbaijan," Suny shamefully
chooses to ignore the facts of history relating to Stalin-era carving
of Armenian territories of Artsakh (Karabagh) and Nakhitchevan from
then newly Sovietized Armenia; and forcibly ceding them to the then
newly Sovietized Azerbaijan.
Adding insult to injury, Suny added: "How those attitudes will be
overcome is very difficult to say, but it is a first important step
toward integration into the Euro-Atlantic structure, which is based
on forgetting the negative aspects of the past."
A study of Prof. Suny's biography points to the fact that during
the Soviet era, when it was needed to weaken the Soviet Empire,
certain academics amplified the need to recognize the "nationalist
movements of the non-Russian Soviet peoples" such as Armenians,
Azeris and Georgians.
After the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991, several nationalist
movements propelled the soviet republics to independent statehood.
Many of the newly freed states became the "darlings" of some circles
in the West for petroleum considerations, except for Armenia and
others. Georgia and Azerbaijan led the pack of "darling" nations. And
as such, they continue to "benefit" from the support lent by professors
such as Ronald Grigor Suny. In Suny's interview, the beneficiary
continues to be none other than war-mongering Azerbaijan.
Twin "Open-minded" Professors
Suny has no qualms about obstructing justice for freedom-seeking
Armenians in Artsakh (Karabagh) seeking self-determination in a
reversal of unjust and forcible Armenian land giveaway by Stalin. And
Bardakjian does not hesitate to filibuster the right of Diaspora
Armenians seeking to be better organized through democratically-held
elections.
Both are very knowledgeable academics, but they put their expertise to
counter-productive uses, effectively seeking to demoralize Armenians
both in the Homeland and Diaspora; and to undermine the interests of
both Armenia and Diaspora.
From: Baghdasarian
By Appo Jabarian
Executive Publisher/Managing Editor
USA Armenian Life Magazine
July 6, 2011
On the Diaspora Front
In an effort to inject confusion about the timely concept of getting
the Armenian Diaspora better organized, Kevork Bardakjian, Professor
of Armenian Studies at the University of Michigan, attempted to throw
the monkey wrench in the visionary process of "Elective Diaspora
Leadership."
In a July 1 interview with Azg.am, referring to the democratic
representation of the Diaspora and Armenians as a whole, Prof. Suny
stated: "It's an eternal problem [as to] who shall speak first,
who last. They're saying, let's hold elections. Harut Sassounian was
proposing, let every 20 thousand Armenians have one representative;
let them form a central council. In my opinion, that is utopia. ... No
such thing is possible. The [political] parties would not allow [it].
If the parties do not have a ruling position, they would oppose
anything."
But Prof. Suny contradicts himself by cheerleading its necessity,
saying: "For example, they're saying, if Turkey acknowledges the
Genocide, we will seek the defense of our rights. Who is going to
present our demands? Who is going to speak on Diaspora's behalf?
Through such questions, answers are created, that we need to unify.
But how?"
On the Home Front
In an interview with Azerbaijan's propaganda mouthpiece az.apa.az,
Professor Ronald Grigor Suny of Michigan University and Director
of Eisenberg Institute of Historical Studies, sounded more like a
political operative than a scholar.
Injecting the Armenian psyche with a sense of self-defeatism, Prof.
Suny said: "The facts that Armenians are the majority and ought to
be able to rule themselves in Karabakh has to be reconciled with the
territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, possibly though a federal status
that is real, gives Karabakh full autonomy but maintains a de jure
association with Azerbaijan."
By propagating "a de jure association with Azerbaijan," Suny shamefully
chooses to ignore the facts of history relating to Stalin-era carving
of Armenian territories of Artsakh (Karabagh) and Nakhitchevan from
then newly Sovietized Armenia; and forcibly ceding them to the then
newly Sovietized Azerbaijan.
Adding insult to injury, Suny added: "How those attitudes will be
overcome is very difficult to say, but it is a first important step
toward integration into the Euro-Atlantic structure, which is based
on forgetting the negative aspects of the past."
A study of Prof. Suny's biography points to the fact that during
the Soviet era, when it was needed to weaken the Soviet Empire,
certain academics amplified the need to recognize the "nationalist
movements of the non-Russian Soviet peoples" such as Armenians,
Azeris and Georgians.
After the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991, several nationalist
movements propelled the soviet republics to independent statehood.
Many of the newly freed states became the "darlings" of some circles
in the West for petroleum considerations, except for Armenia and
others. Georgia and Azerbaijan led the pack of "darling" nations. And
as such, they continue to "benefit" from the support lent by professors
such as Ronald Grigor Suny. In Suny's interview, the beneficiary
continues to be none other than war-mongering Azerbaijan.
Twin "Open-minded" Professors
Suny has no qualms about obstructing justice for freedom-seeking
Armenians in Artsakh (Karabagh) seeking self-determination in a
reversal of unjust and forcible Armenian land giveaway by Stalin. And
Bardakjian does not hesitate to filibuster the right of Diaspora
Armenians seeking to be better organized through democratically-held
elections.
Both are very knowledgeable academics, but they put their expertise to
counter-productive uses, effectively seeking to demoralize Armenians
both in the Homeland and Diaspora; and to undermine the interests of
both Armenia and Diaspora.
From: Baghdasarian