In the dark of the night they gathered, masked like common thieves and bank robbers. A bunch of crooks, corrupt and dishonest politicians, using their illegitimate authority gained by rigged election, sold the Armenian nation down the pike. They signed the ill-fated protocols of surrender with Turkey, paving the way for concessions to Azerbaijan over Karabagh, and bolstered the Turkish strategy of denying the genocide.
Spearheaded by Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and President Serge Sarkisian, the government of Armenia and Turkey had covertly negotiated the protocols for months, and then surfaced, to everyone’s surprise, in Switzerland for the official signing in front of the cameras. It was a festival of robbers and crooks!
The world faced a fait accomplit. Secrecy was necessary when the protocols were in the fetal stage because its architects knew that it is easier to abort a fetus than kill a newborn.
The ceremony made an impressive picture with both sides surrounded by our Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov, and Javier Solana of the EU. They were present to lend their unconditional support to the agreement. They were there to protect their own interests, rather than pursue a fair and balanced agreement. Their presence magnified the geopolitical and strategic importance of the region.
The festival looked disingenuous. Tensions were high except for Ahmet Davutoglu, the foreign minister of Turkey, who sported a wide grin and looked like a cat that had just swallowed a canary. Tensions were high because in their heart of hearts, they knew that the agreement was lopsided, and that Turkey had a hidden agenda to pursue.
Nalbandian and his team knew, or should have known, that oil and water don’t mix.
They should have known that signing such a deceptive document was unacceptable by the Armenian nation, especially by the diaspora, who is still suffering from collective Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD), or by the Karabaghtsis, who are still under siege.
They should have known that neither the genocide nor Karabagh are negotiable.
They should have known that Turkey and the Super Powers have the upper hand in this deal, and that Armenians were negotiating from a position of weakness, rather than strength.
They should have known that opening the door to Turkey would create a storm that could not be harnessed by Armenians, who had grown accustomed to serfdom under Soviet rule.
They should have known that opening the border, which is already porous, would legitimize the existing border, forever affirming the ill-fated Kars Treaty of 1921, in which the Bolsheviks traded Armenian Kars for Georgian Batumi.
Finally, they had a trump card in their hand, but they did not use it: the Armenian Diaspora.
They did not listen to the voices of the people, and neglected the will of the people, compromising the long-term interests of Armenia and the diaspora.
They were inebriated by the international attention given to their festival, the festival of robbers and crooks.
I maintain that the negotiating sides were not naïve. The Armenians knew all of this, but they did it for personal gain, and for the interests of the gangsters and the oligarchs who control the economy, and therefore the political agenda of Armenia.
I can say this because I know about one of the major players, Nalbandian. He was Armenia’s ambassador to Egypt when I was visiting Cairo in 1998. I learned, through a high Egyptian official, that “We [the Egyptian government] have had it with this guy [Nalbandian]. We are about to declare him ‘persona non-grata’ and ask the Armenian government to replace him.”
The leaders of the Armenian community of Cairo couldn’t stop complaining about his indifference to the issues that concerned them. At a dinner in a posh restaurant in Cairo hosted by a prominent Armenian community leader, a high American Embassy official approached me and said, “I hear Nalbandian has invited you to meet with him, Doc. I don’t want you to meet with him, he is no good. Don’t visit him.” To which I replied, “I am an American, I am free to meet whomever I want, but for your information, I have already rejected his invitation.” He was pleased.
Shortly thereafter Nalbandian assumed the ambassadorship of France.
He is the kind of man who spearheaded, enthusiastically, the negotiations with Turkey, which resulted in the protocols. I must say that I don’t know much about his partner President Sarkisian, but I know one thing: “Birds of a feather, flock together.”
Some birds of the same feather are here in the United States. They are the gang who started and supported the ill-fated Turkish Armenian Reconciliation Committee (TARC) in the 90’s, the most prominent of which is the Armenian Assembly. I’ll leave it at that for now.
While the festival continued, the robbers and crooks on the other side of the border took their next planned step to institutionalize genocide denial. Thankfully, they exposed their hand early in the game by imposing conditions (which were veiled in the protocols) but now became central: They declared that unless Armenia and Azerbaijan made progress over the issue of Karabagh, Turkey would not submit the protocols to parliament for ratification.
For all intents and purposes, the protocols in their present form are dead. The Turks have a thousand-year-wait to submit their protocols to parliament.
The final nail in the coffin of the protocols came from Armenia’s Supreme (Constitutional) Court, which ruled—and I am paraphrasing—that the Armenian Genocide and Karabagh are untouchable, constitutionally.
The Supreme Court deserves a bouquet of flowers for their ruling, compliments of the Armenian Diaspora.
With this festival, the crooks on both sides robbed their people of the right for peaceful co-existence, and good neighborliness, and the big powers lost a good chance for reshaping the geopolitical landscape of the region. They must try again!
Dr. Henry Astarjian
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Henry Astarjians powerful article is a true expression of all brave Armenians that believe in our just Cause . And his articulation is so accurate. Hope this will reach to its true target.
Serzh: Our Armenian President*,
How Can You Sell Our Precious Blood?
Can you sell your ancestors blood?
Tell me how you can sell.
How can you collect and sell.
From which sand you can collect.
For whom to sell. To our enemy—
Who slaughtered our unbirthed sons
and pulled our hair from crushed skulls
Till today smashing out trustful harts.
Think and tell.
Open names in international dictionaries.
In Who is Who Books
From past century—
Who left their souls in their land.
Without beloveds, how can they breathe?
Without loving cloths and motherly hands.
Remember their agonized faces
Emaciated, anemic,
Huge skins piercing the bones
Dehydrated, asking to seed.
Their tears bleeding, yet not dried
Dripping at night on pillows wet
Dreaming horrible scene of genocide
How can you abolish their horrible dreams?
Who authorized you to do such bet?
If you do so our cohorts will never forget.
Put you self in grave
And remember your genes of populate
Who are still waiting to be graved
In Anatolian sands watching the skies
Our laments wouldn’t see end.
Each soul had an Art
Could not be found
Each kind gene went
Cannot be replaced.
Drawback your
Unrealistic thoughts
Before infinite regrets
October 9, 2009
Thank You, Dr. Astarjian, for Your brilliant analysis of the spiritual situation in today’s Armenia. I am very sad with Mr. Nalbandyan who projects his masochistic characteristics onto our great Armenian nation, being himself a mere bastard, and with Mr. Sarksyan, the illegal Armenian President, in fact, a mere terrorist, a person who is the source of 03/01/08 killings in the Yerevan Streets, who directly tortures hundreds and hundreds Armenian Families and indirectly robs the dreams and the future of the great generations of Armenia. At the same time, I have recovery — I am proud with Dr. Henry D. Astarjian, a brilliant Armenian, the great Armenians – fifteen in number — who are still in medieval Armenian prisons (human rights leaders do not see them?) as well as the great leaders of the Armenian National Movement — Levon Ter Petrosyan, Stepan Demirjian, Aram Sargsyan, Davit Shahnazarian, Levon Zurabyan.
To: Samvel Jeshmaridian, PhD — When and how have anti-Armenian people like Levon Ter Petrosyan and his ANM become great leaders? By betraying people’s aspirations after the Karabakh movement? By allienating themselves from the people and enriching themselves on people’s account? By imposing artifical blockade and miery that led to the death of thousands of people? By wiping off all the opponents, critics, or former Soviet Armenian officials who knew what foreign forces these ‘great leaders’ represented as their agents? By selling out everything valuable that the country had? By rigging elections in 1996? Or by rapproaching Turkey with no regard for the genocide recognition? Or by an attempt to sell out Karabakh in 1998? What are you smoking, my ‘friend’?
People living in the diaspora should go to “barahanteses”, sing patriotic songs, build churches (preferably at opposing corners of the same street), eat shish kabob and pretend that they are helping Armenia.
If you want to be taken seriously and want to make a real difference for Armenia then you have no choice but to get up and go live in your country where you can try to make an iota of a difference. Who cares if you write nice articles or have something meaningful to say. No one gives a damn.
11 Individuals from the diaspora showed up to take part in the last Artsakh war, the 12 individual did not exist and could not be found. Selectively patriotism is true hypocrisy.
Go ahead, write another nice article, see if anybody gives a damn.
Saten, you oversimplify the situation, perhaps because you judge by what you see in hay kedrons or churches. I’m formerly from Armenia, and I came to know as a result of my job nature there, that diasporans have made enormous contributions both during the Artsakh war and afterwards. Of course Armenians from Armenia and Artsakh fought the war and it is true that few of diasporans (Monte Melkonian and others) showed up to take part in it, but you just don’t know, and I wouldn’t disclose it here, as to what significant aid has been offered to Armenia by diasporans in many fields. I also think that the time will come that more diasporans will move to Armenia. Please, PLEASE refrain from artificially widening the gap between the two parts of one nation. This is exactly what our enemies attempt to achieve.
Dr. Astarjian’s article though very emotional and probably coming from patriotic feelings, is the worst example of diasporians’ understanding of Armenia and Armenians who live there. During the 4 year war we saw just a few brave diasporians who left their New York and Paris comfortable life to fight for the motherland. The war was gained by Armenians who live here, some of them have high positions today. Serzh Sargissyan was in the front line when you, Doctor Astarjian, were enjoying your dinners and coffee breaks. Our president knows the value of that victory, because he fought for that. If you ever follow how the situation develops, you would of known that official Yerevan NEVER negotiated on Karabag or Genocide, by much preferring to stay in blockade.
When writing about the whole country that you have no idea about and its president on the public website, remember that its not your personal diary.
To Mr. Norair Mkrtchyan — Dear compatriot, I wonder why You didn’t utter anything about the Political Prisoners of the 21st century on the Saint Land of Armenia and the killed, tortured, frightened, and wounded Persons on the Saint Land of Yerevan. I know why, You don’t need to answer! I believe that heavenly powers are at work.