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An Open Letter To The Armenian Nation

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  • An Open Letter To The Armenian Nation

    AN OPEN LETTER TO THE ARMENIAN NATION
    By Raffi K. Hovannisian

    http://www.lragir.am/engsrc/politics- lrahos15520.html
    16:46:48 - 12/10/2009

    PROTOCOLS AND PRECONDITIONS

    The history of the Armenian people has been an ordeal of suffering,
    tragedy, and genocide. In this millennial series of misfortunes,
    however, never has the nation invited destruction upon itself.

    But today it stands at the brink, with a small group of improperly
    elected leaders apparently racing toward a forsaking of both identity
    and interest.

    With the stroke of a pen, the Armenian president and his foreign
    minister have crossed the line of danger and dignity; in Zurich,
    Switzerland on October 10, 2009, they resigned from a long-standing
    national quest to preserve the fundamental rights, security, and
    integrity of an ancient land and its native heirs.

    The signing of the two diplomatic "protocols" between Armenia and
    Turkey might indeed constitute the latest entry in the ledger of
    crimes committed, and covered up, against the Armenian nation.

    Core Values are Not Commodities

    As a servant of the Armenian nation, reflecting both prior office
    and present opposition, I am appalled by this latest offense. As an
    Armenian citizen, for many years denied that honor by successive
    authorities, I ache as the soul of our nation is traded away for
    illusory promises of "good will" and "open borders" with Turkey.

    Our vital values, from our collective responsibility as heirs of
    the Genocide to our individual expression of liberty and belonging,
    are not commodities. That unrequited murderous conception of 1915-the
    original plan to drive to extinction the Armenian people, the Armenian
    homeland, and so the Armenian species-is one of the principal sources
    of our modern identity, just as its equitable resolution is the anchor
    of our future national security.

    This is Duplicity, Not Diplomacy

    What will "open borders," a courtesy commonly extended at no cost to
    all civilized nations, cost the Armenians?

    Of course every Armenian seeks peace, prosperity, and good-neighborly
    relations. But what we have in these protocols is only an expensive
    illusion of them.

    The ends, generally stated, are sound: Open borders and normal
    diplomatic relations among neighbors are pure and prudent goals. But
    the means we use must be as pure and prudent as the ends we
    seek. Unfortunately, the secretive diplomatic process launched by the
    Armenian and Turkish administrations is defective at the fundaments,
    sourced as they are in bloody soil, where a pronounced asymmetry of
    power survives to this day.

    First, the protocols stipulate that Armenia relinquish its lawful
    historic rights and extend an unlimited de jure recognition of Turkey's
    de facto borders, which were drawn and defined on the very basis of
    the eradication and violent dispossession of the Armenian people
    from its ancestral heartland. In so doing they demand, and have
    received, the Armenian presidency's endorsement of that fantastic
    crime against humanity which has deprived generations of Armenians
    of its civilization, heritage, and patrimony.

    Second, the protocols entail a joint condemnation of terrorism,
    yet fail to include any corresponding renunciation of the broader
    criminal outrage of genocide.

    Third, the protocols impose a requirement for a "dialogue on the
    historical dimension" of relations. This measure, representing
    a unilateral attempt at imprisoning the Armenian genocide in a
    bilateral echo chamber, not only challenges the untouchable veracity
    of the Genocide, but secures the complicity of the Armenian state in
    absolving Turkey of any responsibility for its genocidal actions.

    Once these terms are brought to life, absolutely little will remain
    of the legitimate expectation to secure Turkey's and the world's
    reaffirmation of and redemption for the Genocide. Turkey will forever
    deflect and delay liabilities for its genocidal acts by leveraging
    the infinite and inconclusive nature of the bilateral "dialogue."

    Normalization or not, these protocols move us not one inch toward
    reconciliation, that pure and total communion based on the truth-a
    brave recognition of all aspects of shared Turkish-Armenian history,
    including the great genocide and national dispossession of the
    Armenian people.

    The Protocols in the Proper Perspective

    In all the pomp and circumstance of diplomatic "breakthroughs,"
    we cannot forget that the burden of "normalization" rests, as it
    always has rested, with the Turkish republic. The decisions to
    close the border with Armenia and to withhold normal diplomatic
    relations-violations, both, of all viable international norms-were
    decisions that Turkey made and realized on its own. Hence, each of
    the Turkish "concessions" reflected in the protocols represents only
    the most basic minimum commitment of a decent and civilized country.

    Turkey's bare and stated readiness to open borders and normalize
    relations-the extent of its responsibilities in the framework of the
    protocols-is, therefore, a non-event. No international initiative
    should have been necessary for those moves. And that Turkey has made
    that determination now-only after accepting the sacrifice of an entire
    nation-deserves not praise but continued skepticism in the substance
    behind its diplomatic flourishes, whether they relate to the European
    Union or broader geopolitical objectives.

    >>From Protocols to Parliaments

    Now that the Armenian and Turkish sides have signed these protocols,
    the second stage, of ratification, is set for the parliaments at
    Yerevan and Ankara.

    Regrettably, dispensing with a parliament's traditional role of
    advice and consent in the foreign policy of state, the executives
    have imposed a prohibition on amending or altering these protocols
    in any way. While this stands in clear contradiction with democratic
    standards and practices, it also denies the public and its members
    in each country the right to exercise or engage their opinions in
    this process. This extraordinary methodology flies in the face of
    customary diplomatic practice, which calls for the establishment of
    official relations through a simple exchange of notes.

    The scheme here is plain, perfectly tailored, and aimed at tying down
    for good history's loose ends. Soon the Armenian National Assembly,
    too, will be called upon to bear complicit responsibility in giving
    legislative validation nearly 90 years after the fact to the illegal
    Bolshevik-Kemalist pacts which crowned the genocidal process and
    sought to seal the fate of the Armenian nation.

    What is more, not content with pursuing this official acceptance
    of Turkey's long-standing occupation of the Armenian homeland,
    its leaders will continue audaciously to abuse every turn of the
    ratification process in order to deflect their own culpability by
    linking implementation of the protocols and lifting of the Turkish
    blockade with what they pitch as the "occupied territories of
    Azerbaijan." Clearly, that would be a disingenuous and inapposite
    reference to the freedom-loving people of Mountainous Karabagh, its
    odds-defying liberation and constitutional decolonization from the
    Turco-Stalinist legacy, and its resultant territorial integrity.

    In the final analysis, Armenian and Turkish citizens have been refused
    both voice and choice in determining the outcome of an immensely
    significant process that will forge the future course of both
    countries. This is especially distressing, because on the judgments
    to be made in the coming weeks and months shall turn the fate of
    generations to come-and their imperative to face history, remember
    collectively, and bridge in earnest the great Turkish-Armenian divide.
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