Negotiate for self-interest and prepare for the worst

In the endless journey for peace in the region of our homeland, it was another week of hope and concern. It has been our bittersweet fortune to live in the shadow of biblical Ararat, yet forced to endure the barbarity of the Turkic oppressors. From the era of the Ittihad pashas to the ruthless Kemal and now the racist opportunistic President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey has been a thorn in the side of a peaceful Christian people. The Turks were the last to arrive in the ancient lands of Anatolia and Asia Minor, invading the Armenian Highlands in the 11th century. After expanding their domain through a militaristic culture, they authorized institutionalized discrimination through the policies of the Ottoman Empire. While the veneer of the millet system was hailed by some historians as “benevolent” and “unprecedented,” it created the foundation for centuries of minority bigotry that degenerated into genocide as the empire deteriorated. The Turks left a trail of ethnic kin along the path from Central Asia to Asia Minor. The presence of this Turkic population became the core of the dream of uniting all Turkish peoples into one nation. It was this illusion held by the Ittihads that made the Armenians expendable victims of the lowest form of human aggression…genocide. 

This same racist obsession has been resurrected by the despot Erdogan, as he seeks to return Turkey to the status of a regional power via ethnic unification. His partner and subordinate, Azerbaijan, has been the nemesis of Armenia since its shallow national founding in 1918. Prior to 1918, the Azeris were generally known as Tartars and had been the antagonists of ethnic clashes with the Armenians for the previous 20 years in eastern Armenia. While subjugated to Turkish rulers and their Kurdish mercenaries in the west, the eastern portions of historical Armenia were attacked by the forerunners of the Azerbaijanis. The independence of Armenia in 1918 along with the newly created Azerbaijan did little to bring stability and peace. Historic areas of Armenia such as Artsakh, Syunik and Nakhichevan were threatened by the Azeris throughout the duration of the First Republic. Artsakh and Nakhichevan were awarded by Stalin as “autonomous oblasts” to Azerbaijan. This was done to pacify the resurgent Turks under Kemal and to dilute Armenian nationalism with territorial transfers. A similar strategy was employed in the Baltic states of Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia. For the Azeri Turks, it was a green light to purge Nakhichevan of its indigenous Armenian population. Turkey was a co-conspirator in the Nakhichevan oppression when it later agreed to territorial transfers with Iran to create a small common border with Nakhichevan. The brave people of Artsakh remained steadfast, refused to assimilate and waited for a legal opportunity, which emerged when the Soviet Union crumbled from 1989-91.