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Michael Mensoian
Michael Mensoian, J.D./Ph.D, is professor emeritus in Middle East and political geography at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and a retired major in the U.S. army. He writes regularly for the Armenian Weekly.
Latest posts by Michael Mensoian (see all)
- Facing the Reality that is Artsakh - August 6, 2020
- Tourism: An Economic Tide That Can Lift All “Boats” - January 29, 2020
- The Legacy of the Hairenik and the Armenian Weekly - January 7, 2020
“If we cannot save Artsakh, the first of our historic lands to be liberated, how do we propose to reclaim Nakhitchevan, Kars-Ardahan, or Wilsonian Armenia?”
It strikes me how passages of sane analysis can end with such nationalist non-sense! The author confesses Dashnaks couldn’t care less about the well-being of Armenian people, what turns them on is the wild dreams of giant statues to be erected in their “reclaimed” Greater Armenia. Oh and how “hypocritical” it is for the whole world not to support this! May God protect Armenians from you lot, for any such war-mongering will end up harming RoA and its citizens. It seems Turks are not the only ones who ought to face their history, this article reflects Dashnaks’ failure to recognize their responsibility in providing CUP the pretext for Genocide…
Memik please don’t blame the victim.
Also, the CUP made its decision in 1912, and the first deportation orders were given orally in March 1915, before any alleged Dashnak rebellion took place in Van. Point is: CUP would have found any pretext, regardless of Armenian actions. Notice how it waited for the outbreak of war to give itself a cover. Dashnaks did not start WWI.
Memik or whatever,
First of all you know so very little about armenia ,Armenians our plight-even before the Genocide- how we were attacked by neighbours small or large and then under Ottoman Yolk for over 6 centuries.
If you claim to be an Armenian American , you should also study American history a bit….
This nation´s forefathers gave their lives for L I BV E R T Y ..
So did many other nations.
ESPAÑA, spain for over 6 centuries was also under North African Khaliphates rule…..(very much -time wise-like the Armenians (see above)..
But then a pricnes united the Spanish princes they got well armed and DROVE THE CONQUERERS O U T !!!!!!
So Armenians had all the God given right to get Armed and fight FOR FREEDOM.WHICH IS NOT FREE.You fight for it!!!!!
But we could not do-as Antranik has said¨¨ my work was left unaccomplished¨¨.Indeed many factors were at stake.The British gave all the arms at Karts to their (just recent enemy the Ottoman turkls, -polirtics change, fearing RRRRRusians would flow over again to that area, latter had abandoned their milittary post heading for home durin g the 1917/18 Revolution..We had bad luck,.
Another when antranik was in Zangezur(near nagornyi karabagh with hios forces and about to enter and liberate it Gen Thompson ,the Brit, assured him it was not necessary the allies in Paris would take care of that… etc.,e tg.c, etgc.,m
So go learn history a bit `please…………………………
Tashangs were not the enmey of the armenian people. nor any armenian ñpolioticdla party they all were good to the people.Yes even the Communist ones(somehow they covertly tried to help their country , during that Nut Stalin´s reigh,pretty much like Hitler….a nut but a wierd wild animal like person that killed murdered 20 million of the ex soviet people…
Like this like that.Learn.
Turks,Oh yea they ahve always thought like Hitler they could go on with their plunders and Imperial airs.Even the Brits got blown down from Empire to Great Briatin ,now U.K.,next just England????
tnhings change to the better,people LOVE LIBERTY LIKE IN U.S-.
so long now
Professor Mensoian (in his 10th paragraph) states the following:
“We have a dangerous tendency to overlook or belittle the cunning and political astuteness of our adversaries. It would not be beyond Erdogan to upstage our efforts in 2015 by offering a conciliatory message to Armenians based on a revisionist view of events that took place in 1915. How would he frame the premeditated murder of some 1.5 million innocent Armenian men, women, and children in a way that would be palatable to the Turkish citizen, his political ambitions, and Turkish history, all while preventing a political backlash to his administration?”
I would suggest that in his first sentence Professor Mensoian has already given Erdogan all he needs on which to base his conciliatory revisionist view of 1915 in 2015: a revisionist language that changes crime into catastrophe. That is undoubtedly the formula Erdogan will follow. How could he not with such a prestigious recommendation? A first-rate gift to our cunning and politically astute adversaries!
Obama has every right to use the word Meds Yeghern and insult Armenians by not using the word Genocide, since we keep using it and publishing it in our articles…….how about we call it what it is, Genocide.
For too long I have heard about the geopolitical importance of Turkey and how this affects her relationship with the rest of the world. People who hold this view look at the world through the lens of a camera and take a snapshot of it forgetting that dynamic forces are constantly at work and are in motion. Twenty five years ago NO ONE believed that the Soviet Union could implode one day ( yes, I know some people may this possible!!!) . Turkey is vulnerable because of the anomaly of its structural constitution and its centrifugal forces. Some western powers support Turkey and encourage its meddling beyond its borders as a regional super power. But that is one side of the equation only and represents a traditionalist view.The day Turkey becomes a real democracy, respects civil rights , recognizes the rights of its minorities, and permits them the status of equal citizenship that MAY BE it can become a reliable partner. The smart thing to do is to have,as Armenians, a stragetic view and alternatives to deal with such possibilities, and not be caught by surprise.Perhaps Prof. Mensoian can help by departing from the traditionalist view and start writing, lecturing , advising how to deal with a dynamic world in a transformative way and how to integrate our wishes and objectives as Armenians in a global plan that makes our organizational outreach and effect greater.
Well said.
Human rights, blah blah blah. Let’s look at 2 booming powers in Asia: China and India. The international community always attacks China on human rights issue now and then. India is hailed worldwide for being a democracy. But let’s look at both countries: China’s income for each citizen is 5000 dollars USD vs India’s income of each citizen of 1000 dollars USD. China has a very stable internal foreign policy with no seperatism and no division whatsoever. India cannot control it’s seperate ethnic groups and seperatism almost becomes anarchic in India. China has more billionaires then India. China’s strategic importance out triumphs India’s.
My point is Turkey does not need anyone to lecture them about “democracy” and Turkish leaders should tell all those other leaders to stop lecturing them. Also, people try so hard to say, ohh Turkey will never join the EU. First of all, the EU is ready to implode. It is another version of the Soviet Union, because it is an empire which enslaves all it’s member nations by crippling it’s economic growth with High Taxes, Regulations and an expansion of big government. Socialism will fail. That is why Turkey will never join the EU and the EU is on a brink to collapsing because if you think about it, many people in EU countries want their country to LEAVE the EU.
So Turkey does not need to prove itself to anyone, democracy is just bologne and vague, and keep on hating Dashnaks, because the more hate and demands you guys have, the more Turkey becomes stronger!
A well articulated and thought provoking article. In the past few weeks, there have been numerous articles, columns and opinions expressed on the Genocide.
All of them have been right. There is no argument about the historical facts and the sad reality that justice has not been served.
What is frustrating to me is that we fail, or we do not want to accept the geo-strategic and geo-political realities of the current situation.
It is also somewhat amazing that none of the organizations deeply involved in the
” Hai Thad” have not focused and brought to light the crux of the problem that has become a huge obstacle for us to achieve what we rightly and morally deserve.
The problem is flagrantly obvious and yet we do not recognize it. It is called NATO.
Turkey joined NATO on February 18, 1952. Since then Turkey has become
NATO’s Eastern Anchor. There are 24 NATO bases in Turkey. Turkey has accepted to station NATO’s controversial defense system in Turkey.
These are all facts, which can be verified on the websites of NATO, and NATO Military bases.
In my opinion, it is inconveivable and unrealistic to expect that NATO and its members will do anything that is morally right to upset their socalled “security” and “military balance” in the region.
Turkey knows that well. They are shrewd and manipulative. They hold a strong card and use it to blackmail any attempt to presssure them.
We need a different approach and a new strategy.
Vart Adjemian
Mr. Mensoian,
Very valuable analysis. Thank you.
Do you think we can pre-empt Erdogan’s optimal strategy? How should we do this? Maybe by clearly articulating the enormity of the crime, as you said, but also by making it clear that there is ZERO moral equivalency between the pain of those who died as casualties of war and those who were killed intentionally by their own government because of their ethnic group. Any apology centered on “sharing of pain” is morally repugnant.
If we lay these cards out now, would we still look intransigent in 2015 when the self-serving apology comes?
MR. Mensoian,
You are right on the the money with your analisis.The parts that make up the whole must be strenghtened first before they can come together and acomplish a common goal !