Pashinyan is wrong: Only two Armenian Republics of 1918 and 1991, no 4th or 3rd republic
Last month, during a speech at the general assembly of his Civil Contract party, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced a new ploy: the creation of a Fourth Republic of Armenia next year.
Not satisfied with his repeated attempts to damage Armenia’s several-millennia-old history and mislead the people into thinking that the country began to exist when he came to power in 2018, Pashinyan now wants to cover up his disastrous seven-year rule and start all over again in 2026.
Whether Pashinyan likes it or not, it is impossible to forget Armenia’s long existence, beginning with successive ancient kingdoms, the founding of the Kingdom of Cilicia in 1078, the first independent Republic of Armenia (1918-1920) and the second independent Republic of Armenia in 1991.
You will notice that I left out Soviet Armenia. Even though Armenians had many cultural accomplishments during that period, Soviet Armenia was not a sovereign, independent country, since it was part of the Soviet Union. As a result, Soviet Armenia cannot be the second Republic of Armenia. There were only two truly independent Armenian Republics: the first in 1918 and the second in 1991. Pashinyan’s plan to create a Fourth Republic is doubly wrong because there was no third republic; therefore, there cannot be a fourth.
No matter what tactics Pashinyan uses to conceal his misdeeds, Armenians cannot forget that:
- He is responsible for losing Artsakh, for the deaths of thousands of Armenian soldiers and territorial losses suffered by the Republic of Armenia.
- He has asked irresponsible questions about the Armenian Genocide and about the liberation of Artsakh.
- He has made critical comments about Armenia’s sacred patriotic symbols, including the coat of arms, the national anthem and Mount Ararat.
- He acquiesced to Azerbaijan’s demands and made several concessions to Azerbaijani President Aliyev, including agreeing to drop Armenia’s lawsuits against Azerbaijan in international courts, disbanding the OSCE Minsk Group of mediators, accepting the suspension of the ban on U.S. aid to Azerbaijan and giving Azerbaijan an “unobstructed” road to cross Armenia.
Pashinyan has done all these dreadful things in the name of creating a fake “Real Armenia” in line with the demands of Armenia’s enemies. He is trying to accomplish what neither Turkey nor Azerbaijan succeeded in doing — to eliminate from the hearts and minds of Armenians the dream of restoring historic Armenia, which includes Western Armenia and Artsakh.
Azerbaijan and Turkey have taken our lands, but they can never erase our memories. Only by not forgetting our lost territories and by committing to regain them when the right opportunity arises can we realize our dreams.
All those who say it is impossible to realize our dream because powerful enemies are occupying our lands do not understand that I am not talking about restoring our territories tomorrow morning but at a future date when realities on the ground change. No country remains powerful forever.
If Armenians give up hope of ever recovering their lands, they would be doing exactly what our enemies want. When you give up your dream and do not pass it to the next generation, you will not be able to take advantage of the opportunity when it comes. Do not blame the Azeris or the Turks; you are the one giving up what belongs to you.
Pashinyan cunningly harps on the word “peace” to fool the people into re-electing his parliamentary majority in next year’s elections, thereby remaining Prime Minister for another five years.
To save Armenia from the edge of the abyss, the citizens of Armenia need to do two things:
- Elect a competent and patriotic leader who can gradually correct Pashinyan’s errors.
- Concentrate Armenia’s resources on building a militarily strong country that can defend itself from hostile neighbors. A well-armed Armenia can inflict sufficient damage to deter enemy attacks. Unless we protect our borders, our enemies will be able to enter and occupy Armenia without firing a shot.
Armenia’s next patriotic government should cancel and reverse all illegal agreements and concessions made by Pashinyan. Whatever he is signing and giving away now is a meaningless piece of paper.
All opposition groups and parties should unite and form a powerful coalition to defeat Pashinyan’s party in the 2026 parliamentary elections.
In next year’s referendum, the citizens of Armenia should reject Pashinyan’s new constitution, imposed by President Aliyev. This will derail Pashinyan’s and Aliyev’s plans, since Aliyev has said he will not sign the so-called peace treaty unless Armenia changes its constitution.
Even though Armenia has lost much under Pashinyan’s rule, all is not lost. There is still an opportunity to rescue the country from its enemies, both domestic and foreign.
Arabs keep prattling on about the Muslim Ummah liberating and Jerusalem and restoring Palestine but the joke is on themselves. Deal with the current reality. Sadly attempts to go for greater in 1988 have after initial success led to being worse off than before for Armenia. Why not tear up the eregegrious agreements and go to war again for honour and historical rights, one which given Azerbaijan clear advantage for the foreseeable future will almost certainly lose even if one can have the cold comfort of the fact they wouldn’t get much international support legally for taking control of parts of internationally recognised Armenia . Attempts to restore ancient Armenia will only end in tears!
Ridiculous for the author to conviently leave out the Republic of Soviet Armenia – seventy years of modern Armenian political existence. He mentions that some cultural achievments were made during the Soviet -era. How nice of him. In fact, it was the basis of what exists today. The majority of today’s Armenia’s housing, utility, etc infrastructure was built during those Soviet years. Soviet rule, like it or not, consolidated the remnants of the Armenian people following the cataclysmic upheavals of WWI on a piece of historic Armenia and took it into the 20th century. And just how independent was the First Republic, or today’s Armenia for that matter.
I do not agree with your assessment of what could happen if we as you say “tear up the eregegrious [egregious] agreements and go to war again for honour and historical rights”. It is quite evident from your comments that you don’t want Armenia to show strength but to capitulate and resign to its fate under traitor Pashinyan. But the reality is that Azerbaijan does not pose a real threat to Armenia on its own and that is a fact. We can contain and handle Azerbaijan quite easily. They are not the problem. The problem is dysfunctional and incompetent Pashinyan with his loser mentality and cunning Turkey whichpokes its nose where it does not belong and only knows how to flex its muscles against much weaker adversary while avoiding conflict at all costs seeking reconciliation and mutual coexistence with much stronger adversary. As proven many times in the past, militarily incompetent Azerbaijan can not start and conduct a large-scale war against Armenia and that is why they sought direct military help from Turkey. I know you will argue that they made changes in their military structure over the years by giving up on the Russian model for the NATO model and so on. But in reality, no matter what changes they made, they have no chance against Armenia in absence of Turkey and they know it too. The presence of Turkey in Armenia’s backyard is what motivates Azerbaijan.
It is like a boxing match in which the supposed stronger fighter, i.e. Azerbaijan with its massive petrodollars and human resources, is favored to win but contrary to all favorable odds he gets knocked out by an underdog, i.e. Armenia with limited resources but with pure willpower and tenacity. A rematch takes place and the former winner, under new corrupt management and unscrupulous coach, throws in the towel without much resistance because the match is fixed. On a third grudge-match the “winner” of the fixed match displays false confidence but in the back of his mind he is constantly reminded of his knockout loss from the first fight with every effective and connecting punch he receives from the underdog now under new management with no-nonsense and in-your-face coach. His past devastating loss catches up with him and he quits on the stool! When Armenians, united as one, are underestimated and their determination passed off as “fool’s errands” is when Armenians actually win!
Well those who desire round three better be there and bearing the risks of combat if it happens and willing to realise that it might not go as desired otherwise it’s rhetoric and incitement. It’s great to see Armenia recieving weapons from various nations allowing it to be more dynamic and making use of its own people’s connections with various nations around the world and not being so beholden to a former colonial master and abusive monopolist and general hypocrite , a country who sold more weapons to Azerbaijan while having a strategic partnership with Armenia and then admonished Armenia for occupation of parts of internationally recognised Azerbaijan and when war erupted mocking it’s conduct and then little over a year later goes on to invade Ukraine causing far greater devastation and expects no one to notice the irony and hypocrisy.