RIGHTLY SO

Editorial RIGHTLY SO by Jean Ipdjian

During the recent debate regarding the infamous Protocols, which were finally somehow signed on Saturday in one of the halls of the University of Zurich in Zurich, Switzerland and under the supervision and watchful eyes of Mrs. Hilary Clinton fulfilling the role of the almighty overseer, an important point was raised by a number of people as to whether diasporan Armenians had the right to “interfere” in the affairs of the Republic of Armenia, as they are not nationals of that State. Technically, the president of Armenia and the members of the parliament in that country are only responsible to the people of their country who have lawfully or otherwise elected them to their office. The issue here of course is not the manner in which they were elected nor is it whether the elections are fair or any other such considerations. Armenia is one of the countries in the world where there are more ethnic Armenians living outside Armenia, generally referred to as the Diaspora, than there are in Armenia itself. And in difference to other such cases in the world, diasporan Armenians whatever their nationality and wherever they happen to live, have very close spiritual links to that, to their mother country, Armenia. Even during Soviet times this bond, this spiritual and moral bond was considered to be so important that it was carefully nurtured to grow and prosper. The Soviets had even created a special department whose job was the management and administration of this bond. In the last years of the Soviet Union, when Armenia was hit by a devastating earthquake which destroyed hundreds of villages, tens of towns, most of the city of then Leninakan, which had left hundreds of thousands of people homeless, the then authorities had amply harvested the result of their efforts by the unprecedented drive of aid that poured into the country from Armenian communities all over the world and from countries who knew of Armenia and its plight mainly because of their Armenian communities. Later on, during the war of independence of the Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabagh - Artsakh in Armenian - the same kind of assistance was readily available from the Diaspora and happily accepted.Until the last very few months there was not a speech uttered by ant official whether from the Armenian government, or from organisations based in Armenian nor from the Diaspora where the need to further strengthen Armenia-Diaspora ties were not stressed. And rightly so. Rightly so, because the absolute majority of Armenians both in Armenia and the Diaspora had the illusion that their fate and long-term wellbeing hinged on that bond and relationship, since one of the most important characteristics of the majority of Armenians is the preservation of their national identity, the perseverance of their ethnicity as long as possible with the utopian aim of one day seeing the rest of their motherland freed and returned to them where they would eventually end up living. Today this ideal seems utopian. Earlier I used that word consciously, because if a mere twenty years ago someone had suggested that today we were going to debate whether the independent Republic of Armenia should sign a treaty or not, he would have been considered a hopeless dreamer. Rightly so, because a century ago our nation was subjected to the horrors of the Genocide, whose international recognition as Genocide was actively sought for by Armenian organisations in the Diaspora and till the last change of government in Armenia was one of the main objects of her foreign policy. Therefore, the question whether diasporan Armenians have the right to interfere in whether such a momentous agreement is entered into or not goes beyond technicalities. The signing of the Protocols as they stand today do not concern only the Republic of Armenia and her inhabitants, but it concerns the whole of the Armenian nation in its entirety regardless of nationality and residence. Armenians in Diaspora have that right, because they are the result of the occupation of their homeland by Turkey, because they are the result of the persecution and Genocide committed by that country and because Armenia is part of their homeland. And rightly so. London - 2009

Miguel Angel Nalpatian(1942).- Mar del Plata.- Buenos Aires.- Rca Argentina.-