This article by Arshak Mesrobian, ARF Bureau Youth Office Executive Director, first appeared online in Yerkir on December 14. It has been translated by the Weekly’s Lillian Avedian.
It was clear from the start that this war would be fought on multiple fronts, and the ARF Youth of the homeland and the diaspora threw itself with its full potential to the frontline of the struggle for national liberation.
Those fronts were:
- The informational and propaganda war, where we were involved with preventing the dissemination of false news by the enemy and providing the international community with correct information regarding the Azerbaijani-Turkish-terrorist war unleashed on Artsakh
—Painfully, it is necessary to record that currently that war has been transferred from the external field to the domestic domain, since after signing the disgraceful trilateral agreement, Nikol Pashinyan, avoiding responsibility and placing his position above all else with the purpose of maintaining it at all costs, took up his favored destructive method: ruling by creating social divisions. Spreading the same false news and sowing hatred, Nikol Pashinyan has deployed his propaganda machine to overthrow the “Movement for the Salvation of the Homeland,” blaming protesters left and right. - The foreign relations and diplomatic front, where we turned the issue of the recognition of the Republic of Artsakh into a priority, imposing the right of the people of Artsakh to self-determination, as well as presenting the barbarism and war crimes of the enemy to the elites of the international community
—The process of recognizing the Republic of Artsakh remains a priority, whereas amplifying the war crimes across international platforms continues today.
Finally:
The military front in Artsakh, where Armenians fought bravely and with unreserved devotion, in order to finally establish the borders and independence of the Artsakh world.
Unfortunately, it is necessary to record that the elimination of threats to the sovereignty of the homeland, the protection of national security, and the struggle for the restoration of the territorial integrity of our country have been transferred to the domestic domain. When the defeated, failed prime minister at the expense of the homeland clings to his position, and by his idleness disregards the crisis situation, he increasingly harms our statehood day after day.
Current Situation
Today the two Armenian republics face internal and external critical challenges, briefly outlined here:
- Occupied Artsakh and the homeless Armenian population of Artsakh
- Thousands of casualties and hundreds of captured and missing Armenians
- Wounded and disabled army
- Violated national dignity, frayed national nerves, spirit and self-consciousness
- Divided society and social strata hostile to each other
- Domestic political turmoil
- Failed economy
- Collapsed public administration system
- Zero foreign policy and naked diplomacy
- The unprecedented, unrestrained appetite of the enemy
Nikol Pashinyan and his administration are solely responsible for all of this.
Transition Period
In order to resist and overcome the aforementioned challenges and emerge from the current crisis we must immediately remove this defeated, failed regime.
The opposition “Movement for the Salvation of the Homeland,” under which seventeen political parties are united, has presented a roadmap to change the current regime, with the purpose of transferring power to forces guided by national ideology by constitutional means to more experienced and skilled political-social actors, so that we can emerge from this crisis together.
Following the resignation of the “Government of Misunderstanding,” the Armenian National Assembly must elect a temporary prime minister, around whom an interim government of national accord will assemble, before whom three important tasks will be placed:
- Restoring social solidarity and eliminating lines of division drawn between the people
- Strengthening and restoring relations with strategic military allies and thus ending the diplomatic isolation
- Organizing fair, transparent early parliamentary elections
As a result of fair, transparent early parliamentary elections a government must be formed that places national interests and aspirations above all else, which will place all narrow political and personal interests aside and will only work unselfishly for the prosperity of the two Armenian republics.
Finally, we must understand that in countries like Armenia and Artsakh where we are surrounded by enemies and face a variety of extraordinary external and domestic political challenges and dangers, we do not have the right to be guided by inflexible or classical political calculations. Rather we must be guided by a vision founded on national goals and work loyal to Armenians and the land.
Any honest organization dedicated to its work or political party must understand that the people are one collective that must be embraced without being divided, even if one part of that collective will strike it while in its arms.
The actions of the new government:
The construction of the pillars of a strong state
- National education: development and implementation of a national and advanced education strategy
- Powerful army: the allocation of a significant portion of state resources to the military industry and the building of the army
- Competitive economy and healthy tax system: laying the foundation for a socio-economic and tax system that will be shaped taking into account the needs of all social sectors and will secure equal opportunities and conditions for self-expression for those sectors
- Flexible and sensible diplomacy: the smooth process of conducting foreign relations and diplomacy is the sword and shield of any state
The issue of Artsakh
- Signing a strategic Armenia-Artsakh military alliance
- The final clarification of the status of Artsakh in favor of Armenians: making the international recognition of the Republic of Artsakh a priority
The actions of the Armenian youth:
Dear Armenian youth,
The future of any country is its youth, and for that reason all Armenian youth must consider themselves the defenders and honest soldiers of the homeland and nation.
Currently the homeland is in a sick, wounded and dying condition.
We must look beyond the current political turmoil and overcome it together while guided by a vision of the future where the Armenian people rediscover the meaning and worth of the homeland. Only by overcoming prioritization of self-interests will we rally around the nation’s interests. We do not have a right to think or work selfishly while living in this region. We must all understand that the homeland is of paramount importance since it encompasses all of the hopes and dreams of the nation. Thus the victory of the homeland will be our victory, just as the homeland will belong to all of us.
The Armenian youth has a key role in achieving this. In this fateful period the youth must take into its hands the fate of the homeland and take a stand with the commitment to defend its rights and guarantee its longevity. Today, dear youth, is that time, the time when we nationally face the threat of losing our country and the right to create freely.
The Armenian youth must:
- Reject defeatist notions and organize around the collective interests of the nation and homeland.
- Live for Artsakh and support its Armenian citizens. Get involved with the work of the reconstruction of Artsakh.
- Stand by wounded, disabled and martyred soldiers and their families through material, moral and psychological support.
- Devote its professional, intellectual and material capabilities to the work of reconstructing the state and the army.
- Reject and not succumb to divisive attitudes.
- Master the nation-army ideology and serve the Armenian cause as a devoted soldier.
We must illuminate one of the most shameful pages of our history together through a new national awakening.
The ARF youth remains faithful to its commitment to create a strong, friendly, democratic state with national values and to achieve a victory in the struggle for the survival of Artsakh.
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Love this article! A country’s strength lies in the dedication and hard work of its people. This means investing in your youth by broaden access to higher and quality education, creating a lean and transparent government, and eliminating red tape for an ease of business.
Armenians can’t afford to dwell in the past and play the blame game. Its people need to learn from their mistakes and do it quickly. When the next war comes, oh don’t you ever doubt that it will eventually come, it’ll either come out on top or very likely cease to exist as a nation. I assure you, Erdogan and his dog Aliyev will return to “finish the job”. Be prepared my friends!
He doesn’t mention HOW he’s going to achieve these goals. He doesn’t mention the CORRUPT OLIGARCHS that drained Armenia of hope, freedom, and finances and their failure to upgrade the military and update it with modern weapons.
Also, I’m curious to know why do the Armenians living in the homeland dislike the Tashnags so much??? When I was in Armenia a few years ago when a friend told me how the party there is deeply disliked by the locals and thinks they want too much to dictate policy. I am a former AYF-er, I found this unsettling. When I asked my friend to reconcile how Hye Tad in the U.S. and the Diaspora is progressive yet is so deeply reviled in Armenia… he told me “Your ARF is a DIFFERENT ARF than the one here.” This continues to bother me till today. I’d appreciate some contect as long as its done in a respectful way. Thank you.
There are many people who simply do not want to realize that Russia, along with Azerbaijan and Turkey, is one of the initiators of the Autumn War in Artsakh (Karabakh) in 2020.
The Kremlin’s goal was and is to overthrow the legitimately elected, democratic and state-oriented government of the RA (Republic of Armenia). Russian Federation had no other way “to guide Armenia through” the Artsakh catastrophe.
Moscow expected that (under the leadership of the Russian “creature” and useful idiots of the Kremlin) the citizens of Armenia (on the emotions of the shock of military defeat, loss of land and destruction of the security system) would overthrow the government of Prime-Minister Nikol PASHINYAN.
However, on the night of 10 November, at the last minute, thanks to professional actions of the state security Service, the Prime Minister managed to avoid the fate of the Chairman of National Assembly of RA Ararat Mirzoyan and not be mutilated by the conspirators and the crowd.
The Kremlin was forced to implement “plan B” – by mobilizing all its agents, creatures and useful idiots, Russia put together a fifth column of “17 puppets of the Kremlin” (17 so-called opposition political parties). The goal is to stir up protest moods in the Armenian society in order to overthrow the established legitimate government of Armenia.
Russia is providing wide information support, all available media resources are used: the mass disinformation media of Misha Minasyan, the party and private media resources of “17 puppets”, the media personalities with Armenian surnames in Russia (Simonyan, Keosayan, Gabrelyanov, Bagdasarov, Kurginyan, Migranyan, etc.), the armies of fakes and trolls.
The ultimate goal of the Kremlin is to exclude the possibility of stabilizing the situation in Armenia and holding early elections to the National Assembly. Since in this case, Russia has almost no chance of bringing “Putin’s friend” Robert Kocharyan to power.