It's high time we abandon that ambiguous, trivialized legal term genocide.

 Vahe H Apelian

April 24, the Armenian Genocide commemoration day, is a few days away. It is high time that we abandon, the trivialized, ambiguous legal term genocide that is structured to legally hold a party responsible for INTENDING to commit just that, genocide. Instead, we should have the world adopt our own term the survivors coined, MEDS YEGHERN, for what happened to the Armenian race in that time frame.  

In a few days, on April 24, 2024, president Joe Biden, will issue a proclamation or a statement and that will say, more or less, what he said on April 24, 2021, that, “Each year on this day, we remember the lives of all those who died in the Ottoman-era ARMENIAN GENOCIDE and recommit ourselves to preventing such an atrocity from ever again occurring. Beginning on April 24, 1915, with the arrest of Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Constantinople by Ottoman authorities, one and a half million Armenians were deported, massacred, or marched to their deaths in a campaign of extermination. We honor the victims of the MEDS YEGHERN so that the horrors of what happened are never lost to history. And we remember so that we remain ever-vigilant against the corrosive influence of hate in all its forms.” (capitalization is mine).

Joe Biden is not the first president to use the G word. President Reagan, had used the word genocide before. But president Joe Biden’s use of the G word had altogether different contextual meaning. He also was not the first to use our term, Meds Yeghern. It was president George W. Bush who used it first. President Joe Biden was the first president who used Armenian Genocide and Meds Yeghern in the same context. He did the same last year, during his April 24, 2023 Armenian Remembrance Day.

Raffi K. Hovannisian, the American born and raised Armenia's first foreign minister, summed what happened in that period as follows: “ (It was) the premeditated deprivation of a people of its ancestral heartland.  And that's precisely what happened. In what amounted to the GREAT ARMENIAN DISPOSSESSION, a nation living for more than three millennia upon its historic patrimony-- at times amid its own sovereign Kingdoms and more frequently as a subject of occupying empires-- was in a matter of months brutally, literally, and completely eradicated from its land.  Unprecedented in human history, this expropriation of homes and lands, churches and monasteries, schools and colleges, libraries and hospitals, properties and infrastructures constitute to this day a murder, not only of a people but also of a civilization, a culture, and a time-earned way of life." This is where the debate about calling it genocide or not becomes absurd, trivial, and tertiary".

It is high time that we disassociated the Armenian experience from the narrow definition of genocide, which is defined as “a crime committed with the INTENT TO DESTROY a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, IN WHOLE OR IN PART.”  Tell me, which warring party can be absolved from not intending to destroy the national, racial, or religious group it is fighting, if not in whole, but in part? Do not Russians intend to wipe out of Ukrainians, if not in whole but in part? Did not the Azeris intend to wipe Karabakh Armenians if not in whole but in part? Does not China intent to wipe our Tibetans in part if not in whole? 

Let us face it, the term genocide has lost the significance we Armenians attribute to the word. Norms have changed, words have evolved. The term Raphael Lampkin coined has lost its significance we Armenians attribute to the G word. It would not surprise me if he were alive, he would have realized the legal and moral dimension of the legal term he coined has been trivialized.  We all know that the suffix -cide -comes from Latin and it means to kill or cut down. The sad thing is that we cannot not accuse someone of infanticide, fratricide, matricide without having committed the act. But we can accuse almost any nation in conflict for committing genocide. Does not Israel intend to  wipe the Palestinians in part or in whole?

It is time that we introduce the term MEDS YEGHERN (THE GREAT CRIME) in the English lexicon to uniquely define and term the Armenian experience, as Jews have succeeded in doing the same with the word Holocaust in capital letter. 

The U.S. presidents have already familiarized the term Meds Yeghern to the world. Inadvertently they have paved the road for us. All we have to do is introduce the term in the language and with time educate the world and also change our mindset.  American English is a very inclusive language. It has accepted Kwanzaa among many others, as bona fide American term. Any American who claims does not know what Kwanzaa means, parlays ignorance or insensately if not outright racial indifference if not bias.

I firmly believe that what happened to us in the 1915-time frame cannot be defined by U.N.’s narrow definition of genocide any longer. Genocide perception has radically changed. The term has been gutted. It has been disemboweled.

What happened to us was indeed the GREAT ARMENIAN DISPOSSESSION, of lives, property, honor, and “time-earned way of life”. 

What happened to us was a crime that is unprecedented in scope and magnitude and has no parallel. 

What happened to us was MEDS YEGHERN, the GREAT CRIME of humanity. And yes, it was the GREAT DISPOSSESSION of peaceful Armenians of their lives, of  their properties, and of  their civilization, their culture, and their time-earned way of life.

Arayik Khantoyan - Արայիկ Խանդոյան

  I read that today, April 19, is the birthday of Arayik Khandoyan. He remains etched in my memory wearing iconic Che Guevara cap. I am also reminded of his and his four brothers’ soft spoken mother. All her children served armed forces except one because he was handicapped, Attached is the Google translation of the Arayik Khantoyan Wikipedia post that awaits translation into English. Բնագիրը ՝ https://hy.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D4%B1%D6%80%D5%A1%D5%B5%D5%AB%D5%AF_%D4%BD%D5%A1%D5%B6%D5%A4%D5%B8%D5%B5%D5%A1%D5%B6

ARAYIK KHANTOYAN

Arayik Yezniki (Hendo) Khandoyan (nickname: Lone Wolf) (April 19, 1971, Verin Sasunik, Armenia - October 9, 2018, Gyumri, Armenia), freedom fighter who participated in the First Artsakh War, major of the reserve forces of the RA Armed Forces, public and political figure, Member of "Constituent Parliament" organization and "Sasna Tsrer" group [1].

EARLY LIFE

Arayik Khandoyan was born in 1971. on April 19, in the village of Tsaghkahovit, Aragatsotn region, in the family of Hendo (passport name: Yeznik) and Rima Khandoyan.

MILITARY ACTIVITY

Arayik Khandoyan's military career began in 1988, when he, being still 17 years old, was procuring weapons and ammunition from the nearby Soviet military base in the village of Tsaghkahovit in order to provide them to the Armenian volunteer squads.

In 1989, he was conscripted into the armed forces of the USSR, but in 1990, he did not return to the place of service.

The reason for desertion from the Soviet army was the escalation of the Artsakh war. In the same year, Arayik Khandoyan went to Artsakh and joined the volunteer self-defense movement, where he got the nickname "Lone Wolf". Three of his brothers, Ararat, Arthur and Hunan, also participated in the Artsakh war. Armen Khandoyan could not participate in the war due to health problems.

Hunan Khandoyan died during the war.

In 1994 After the ceasefire, Arayik Khandoyan and his brothers Ararat and Arthur continued their service in the RA Armed Forces.

FAMILY

Arayik Khandoyan's family is large. Parents are Hendo and Rima Khandoyan. He had 4 brothers (Armen, Ararat, Arthur, Hunan), three of whom participated in the Artsakh movement and the Artsakh war together with him. Due to illness, the middle brother, Armen, could not participate in the war. Arayik Khandoyan has 5 children.

Mother of Armen, Ararat, Arthur, Hunan, Arayik Khantoyan

POLITICAL ACTIVITY

In order to overcome the serious socio-economic, demographic and political problems prevailing in Armenia and Artsakh, and to preserve the integrity of the Republic of Artsakh, he made many political appeals. He then joined the movement founded by the commander of Shushi's special battalion, who participated in the Artsakh war, Jirayr Sefilyan. He is a member of the Constituent Parliament organization. He gave speeches at rallies, participated in political marches, made appeals through press conferences.

Arayik Khandoyan had been persecuted many times, including arrest, for his political activism.

100TH ANNIVERSARY WITHOUT THE REGIME 

Note: see main article: 100th anniversary without the regime.

Note: see main article: Berdzoryan incident (2015)

On January 31, 2015, Arayik Khandoyan, along with about 150 members of the "100th anniversary without the regime" initiative and their family members, were attacked and brutally assaulted by the police of the Republic of Artsakh masked special forces and people in civilian clothes in the Berdzor section of the Goris-Stepanakert highway and were beaten[2][3][4]. The representatives of the government who committed this crime remained unpunished until today.

STORMING THE YEREVAN POLICE STATION

Note: see the main article: Armed uprising in Yerevan (2016)

Arayik Khandoyan participated in the 2016 "Sasna Tsrer" group in the July 17 armed attack on the police regiment of Erebuni administrative district [1].

On July 31, 2016 when the group in the police station surrendered to the law enforcement officers, Arayik Khandoyan was arrested along with other members of the group. He, like the rest of the group, was charged with Article 218, Part 3, Clause 1 (hostage taking) and Article 235, Part 3 (acquiring, selling, storing, transporting illegal weapons) of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia.[5] .

DETENTION

Arayik Khandoyan was arrested  on July 31, 2016, after the surrender of the Sasna Tsrer group to the authorities[6]. He spent nearly two years in prison, he was regularly tortured. The June 28, 2017 incident was the extensively covered by the media, when 10-15 police officers brutally beat him in the basement of the Avan and Nor Nork court[7][8][9]. Khandoyan's defenders interpreted it as retaliation against him by order of the authorities.

Arayik Khandoyan's restraining order was changed on August 17, 2018, 3 months after the Velvet Revolution, and he was released.[10]

AWARDS

On March 11, 2015, Arayik Khandoyan, as a statement against the Armenian and Artsakh authorities, renounced his combat medals: Artsakh and RA "Valor" medals, "Combat Service" award, "Soldier Andranik", "Marshal Baghramyan" awards and others.[11][12].

But in 2018 after the popular revolution, all awards were returned.

DEATH

Araik Khandoyan died on October 9, 2018 from a heart attack[13].

FUNERAL

Arayik Khandoyan's funeral took place on October 14, in Yerablur pantheon [14]. The funeral was attended by Arayik Khandoyan's comrades-in-arms, party leaders, cultural and political figures. RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan also sent his condolences to the relatives of Arayik Khandoyan.

When the Wednesday’s mailing was not in the inbox

Vahe H Apelian

The Wednesday’s mailing is Dr. Armenag Yeghiayan emailing his friends and followers his customary email on Wednesdays he titles them:  «Ի պէտս զարգացելոց մանկանցն Թորգոմայ» that may be translated as “in order to educate the children of Torkomah.” Wikipedia notes the following regarding the name Torkom. “Torkom is an Armenian given name. Togarmah is ancestor of the peoples of the South Caucasus and father of Hayk, the legendary patriarch and founder of the Armenian nation.”

Armenag’s Wednesday emailing has to do with the Western Armenian language and is accompanied by a quiz.  The last email I received – no. 167 – was on April 10, 2024 and the accompanying quiz was no. 165.  On and off, I take the quiz and look forward for his grading in his follow up email the Wednesday after. He simply lists the number of correct answers each participant had and then posts his answer. But yesterday, I did not receive his email. I recall the following incident when it comes to the regularity by which he emails. At one time there was no email from him on a Wednesday. I got concerned. He was my teacher in Sourp Nshan Armenian school when he was studying dentistry at the University of St. Joseph, a French university.  Before calling a mutual friend to find out, I had the presence of mind to check my spam folder. There it was. For some reason Yahoo had categorized that week’s email as a spam and had it forwarded there. There have been times that having received his email I have said to myself it must be Wednesday or Sunday. Because he also emails regularly on Sundays but his Sunday emails are not instructional but it's about Armenian literature or an article or a story he wrote. He is a superb story teller. 

Apparently it is not only I who has become accustomed to the clock wise regularity of his emails. Yesterday, my friend Ara Mekhsian from Racine, WI, messaged me asking me if I received my Wednesday mailing from Armenag Yeghiayan, because he has not received his. I told him that I too did not receive the expected Wednesday mailing, the number 168 and its accompanying quiz no. 166.

My mother was a teacher for over fifty years. She has said the following about young students. I quote. “He is the greatest judge (մեծագոյն դատաւորն է ան), he makes up his mind quickly (շուտ կը ճանչնայ), renders his judgement fast (արագ կը վճռէ). It was in 1962 and we were in the last year of our middle school in Soupr Nshan, when we had him as our math teacher. It did not take as long for us to know him as firm, resolute and determined. But I do not mean to imply unfriendly.

Decades passed and each one of us went his way.  But I would hear about him and read his articles and comments. He became a dentist and married a student of his who was a year younger than us. But we knew of his affection to her.  He raised his family and surprisingly became an authority of the Western Armenian language. A few years ago, I contacted him by email. He remembered me and my mother well, as she thought in the same school at the time.  He does not have a Facebook account Our contact is through email. We speak sporadically.  

In his Wednesday mailing he does not shy to single out Armenian reporters, editors and fault them for their wrong usage of the Armenian. At times he likens them to students who fail to learn and end up making the same mistakes over and over again. He admitted that he is a more demanding from the staff of the Aztag daily. He attributed it to the ties he has with the daily which he considers dearer to his heart. At times his comments seem to ruffle feathers and I read covert comments to a “certain dentist"  who is relentless in finding faults!

I can visualize some feeling that way. He can come across as abrupt. But that is the way he was as a teacher, firm, resolute, determined. It does not surprise me those very attributes were reasons that enabled him to establish himself as an authority of Western Armenian language. It would have taken a single-minded determination, devotion to become an undisputed authority of the Western Armenian language. After all, how many dentists, medical doctors, pharmacists, engineers or what not, have established themselves also as  authoritative linguists.

He is generous in sharing his expertise. I quote the following from my blog dated August 29, 1922 ( see below). 

“A few days ago, the director of the Gulbenkian Foundation Armenian Department Dr. Razmig Panossian, who is a staunch supporter for the preservation of the Western Armenian language, which UNESCO a few years ago classified as an endangered language, happily announced that Dr. Armenag Yeghiayan’s “A Manual for Western Armenian: An Orthographic, Orthoepic and Stylistic Guide” is now available on Nayiri.com.   

Dr. Panossian further noted that: “This extensive and detailed guidebook for the Western Armenian language, with its unique approach and format, closes a big gap that has existed in the Western Armenian-speaking world for many years.” The manual, which is 860 pages long, provides an electronic tool for the proper or correct usage of the western Armenian language. He also noted that the manual “is the result of Dr. Armenag Yeghiayan’s dedicated work throughout his entire adult life.” Indeed, I imagine that the manual or the guide, is the culmination of Armenag Yeghiayan’s life-long quest for the mastery of the Western Armenian language, of which he is acknowledged as an undisputed authority. He has graciously donated his literary opus, be it a manual or a guide, and made it available for public’s use. A magnanimous gesture, indeed.” (http://vhapelian.blogspot.com/2022/08/armenag-yeghiayans-opus-magnanimous.html )

 

Well, done teacher! Keep on, it’s Wednesday!

 

When the Wednesday’s mailing was not in the inbox

Vahe H Apelian

The Wednesday’s mailing is Dr. Armenag Yeghiayan emailing his friends and followers his customary email on Wednesdays he titles them:  «Ի պէտս զարգացելոց մանկանցն Թորգոմայ» that may be translated as “in order to educate the children of Torkomah.” Wikipedia notes the following regarding the name Torkom. “Torkom is an Armenian given name. Togarmah is ancestor of the peoples of the South Caucasus and father of Hayk, the legendary patriarch and founder of the Armenian nation.”

Armenag’s Wednesday emailing has to do with the Western Armenian language and is accompanied by a quiz.  The last email I received – no. 167 – was on April 10, 2024 and the accompanying quiz was no. 165.  On and off, I take the quiz and look forward for his grading in his follow up email the Wednesday after. He simply lists the number of correct answers each participant had and then posts his answer. But yesterday, I did not receive his email. I recall the following incident when it comes to the regularity by which he emails. At one time there was no email from him on a Wednesday. I got concerned. He was my teacher in Sourp Nshan Armenian school when he was studying dentistry at the University of St. Joseph, a French university.  Before calling a mutual friend to find out, I had the presence of mind to check my spam folder. There it was. For some reason Yahoo had categorized that week’s email as a spam and had it forwarded there. There have been times that having received his email I have said to myself it must be Wednesday or Sunday. Because he also emails regularly on Sundays but his Sunday emails are not instructional but it's about Armenian literature or an article or a story he wrote. He is a superb story teller. 

Apparently it is not only I who has become accustomed to the clock wise regularity of his emails. Yesterday, my friend Ara Mekhsian from Racine, WI, messaged me asking me if I received my Wednesday mailing from Armenag Yeghiayan, because he has not received his. I told him that I too did not receive the expected Wednesday mailing, the number 168 and its accompanying quiz no. 166.

My mother was a teacher for over fifty years. She has said the following about young students. I quote. “He is the greatest judge (մեծագոյն դատաւորն է ան), he makes up his mind quickly (շուտ կը ճանչնայ), renders his judgement fast (արագ կը վճռէ). It was in 1962 and we were in the last year of our middle school in Soupr Nshan, when we had him as our math teacher. It did not take as long for us to know him as firm, resolute and determined. But I do not mean to imply unfriendly.

Decades passed and each one of us went his way.  But I would hear about him and read his articles and comments. He became a dentist and married a student of his who was a year younger than us. But we knew of his affection to her.  He raised his family and surprisingly became an authority of the Western Armenian language. A few years ago, I contacted him by email. He remembered me and my mother well, as she thought in the same school at the time.  He does not have a Facebook account Our contact is through email. We speak sporadically.  

In his Wednesday mailing he does not shy to single out Armenian reporters, editors and fault them for their wrong usage of the Armenian. At times he likens them to students who fail to learn and end up making the same mistakes over and over again. He admitted that he is a more demanding from the staff of the Aztag daily. He attributed it to the ties he has with the daily which he considers dearer to his heart. At times his comments seem to ruffle feathers and I read covert comments to a “certain dentist"  who is relentless in finding faults!

I can visualize some feeling that way. He can come across as abrupt. But that is the way he was as a teacher, firm, resolute, determined. It does not surprise me those very attributes were reasons that enabled him to establish himself as an authority of Western Armenian language. It would have taken a single-minded determination, devotion to become an undisputed authority of the Western Armenian language. After all, how many dentists, medical doctors, pharmacists, engineers or what not, have established themselves also as  authoritative linguists.

He is generous in sharing his expertise. I quote the following from my blog dated August 29, 1922 ( see below). 

“A few days ago, the director of the Gulbenkian Foundation Armenian Department Dr. Razmig Panossian, who is a staunch supporter for the preservation of the Western Armenian language, which UNESCO a few years ago classified as an endangered language, happily announced that Dr. Armenag Yeghiayan’s “A Manual for Western Armenian: An Orthographic, Orthoepic and Stylistic Guide” is now available on Nayiri.com.   

Dr. Panossian further noted that: “This extensive and detailed guidebook for the Western Armenian language, with its unique approach and format, closes a big gap that has existed in the Western Armenian-speaking world for many years.” The manual, which is 860 pages long, provides an electronic tool for the proper or correct usage of the western Armenian language. He also noted that the manual “is the result of Dr. Armenag Yeghiayan’s dedicated work throughout his entire adult life.” Indeed, I imagine that the manual or the guide, is the culmination of Armenag Yeghiayan’s life-long quest for the mastery of the Western Armenian language, of which he is acknowledged as an undisputed authority. He has graciously donated his literary opus, be it a manual or a guide, and made it available for public’s use. A magnanimous gesture, indeed.” (http://vhapelian.blogspot.com/2022/08/armenag-yeghiayans-opus-magnanimous.html )

 

Well, done teacher! Keep on, it’s Wednesday!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Love in Medz Yeghern

Facebook reminded me of the attached. It is my reproduction of an article I posted in Keghart.com 10 years ago today. Vahe H Apelian

The award-winning novelist Chris Bohjalian wrote "The Sandcastle Girls" in 2002. The news of the novel's publication was enthusiastically anticipated and received by the Armenian community, even before it hit bookstore shelves. 

A quarter-of-century before Sandcastle Girls, journalist and editor Antranig Dzarougian (Անդրանիկ Ծառուկեան) wrote a novel in Western Armenian titled “Love in the Yeghern - (Սէրը Եղեռնին Մէջ)”. Medz Yeghern is a term that the survivors of the Armenian Genocide coined to refer to the horrible reality of their dispossession, of their loss of loved ones and of property, and the loss of their millennia-old way of life on their ancestral lands.

Both novels are love stories. Sandcastle Girls is story within a story. Amazon.com describes with these words: “When Elizabeth Endicott arrives in Aleppo, Syria, she has a diploma from Mount Holyoke, a crash course in nursing, and only the most basic grasp of the Armenian language. It’s 1915, and Elizabeth has volunteered to help deliver food and medical aid to Armenian Genocide survivors. There she meets Armen, a young Armenian engineer who has already lost his wife and infant daughter. After leaving Aleppo and traveling to Egypt to join the British Army, he begins writing to Elizabeth, realizing that he has fallen in love with the wealthy young American.
 Years later, their American granddaughter, Laura, embarks on a journey through her family history, uncovering a story of love, loss—and a wrenching secret that has been buried for generations.”

“Love in the Yeghern” is based on the love story of the eminent early 20th century Armenian poet Roupen Sevag, who was a medical doctor and an accomplished painter. The novel is a true depiction and a fictional rendering of their lives, interactions and stands vis-à-vis the cultural and political affairs of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. Most of the other characters in the book are also depictions of prominent Constantinople / Istanbul Armenians. The characters are referred to either by their first or family names. However, for anyone who has a basic knowledge of Western Armenian culture that blossomed after remaining dormant for centuries and hit its zenith just before the Genocide, it would not be difficult to surmise who Dzarougian refers to when he describes characters named Varoujan, Adom, Zartarian and many more.

Roupen Chilingirian Sevag was born in Silvri, Ottoman Empire on Feb. 15, 1885. After graduating from the famed Berberian Armenian School in Istanbul he went to Lausanne, Switzerland where he studied medicine and fell in love with a vibrant (German) woman named Yanni. The young couple, driven by Roupen's patriotism, returned to Istanbul in 1914. Their return home proved to be fatally fateful. Roupen was arrested at the onset of the Armenian Genocide on April 24, 1915 and was tortured to death on August 26, 1915 in Çankır (Chankir), Turkey along with poets Taniel Varoujan, Siamanto and others. He was 30-years-old.

Sevag is known for his patriotic and humanistic poetry. He is fondly remembered to this day. In 2011 Armenia issued a stamp in his honor. A Yerevan school is named after him. In 2012 a family museum, established and run by his nephew, was relocated from Nice, France to Holy Etchmiazin in Armenia.

Dzarougian depicts Sevag's wife and concludes the novel with these words (see note): “Janine wrote poetry in French and published them in books. One of her books received an award from the French Academy. She lived engrossed in her books and in her children Levon and Shamiram. With the passing years ashes covered her hair, but not her heart. Her heart remained fresh and vibrant defying time and the years with an indifference but always open, always graceful on white pages and in her thoughts with her Roupen…..”.

Kourken Mekhitarian noted in his review of Armenian literature that following his death Sevag had emerged as a tragic but iconic and heroic figure and that his life could be the subject of a captivating novel. Dzarougian’s novel Love in Yeghern makes for a captivating reading and makes justice to the young couple’s love story. The novel awaits translation into English and French on the eve of the centennial of the Armenian Genocide, the Medz Yeghern.

Note: It is claimed that Roupen's wife bitterly disappointed from the German government conduct,  settled in France instead and refused to write in German. Their daughter Shamiram passed away in Nice at the ripe age of 102 in October 2016.

 

 

What makes an effective (Armenian) FM

 

Vahe H Apelian

Antony Blinken and Ararat Mirzoyan

It’s fair that I state over again that I am blogger. What I blog is what I would have said, a hookah in my hand and board of backgammon in front of me, seating in a restaurant overlooking the Mediterranean Sea and articulating over the world affairs to friends with me But, there is no Mediterranean Sea where I live, nor backgammon or hookah are as available as they were and most likely still are in Lebanon, and friends were all over. Instead, where I live, there is the Facebook and social media. 

Therefore, please look at the matter with such a perspective as this time, in this blog, I will reflect on what makes an effective Secretary of State of the U.S. or a Foreign minister as is the case for Armenia.

In both cases, it does not have to do much on some highly inordinately specialized skills that the Secretary of State or the FM minister should possess, in order to qualify and assume the mantle of that important position. Naturally, I am not referring to basic criteria, such as good knowledge, good verbal and interpersonal relation skills. These are understood to be mundane for any public job.

In case of the United States, the criteria that makes a Secretary of State effective is that the person has the backing of the most powerful man in the free world, the president of the United States. All those who deal with the Secretary of State would know that what the person says is what the president of the United States wants to implement as a policy. I am not inventing the wheel here. I am simply articulating on what the eminent NY Times columnist Thomas Friedman said, when it came for the United States to have an effective Secretary of State, who is sort of America’s foreign minister.

Here is what Thomas Friedman wrote:

“I covered a secretary of state, one of the best, James A. Baker III, for four years, and one of the things I learned during those years was that what made Baker an effective diplomat was not only his own skills as a negotiator, a prerequisite for the job, but the fact that his boss, President George H.W. Bush, always had Baker’s back. When foreign leaders spoke with Baker, they knew that they were speaking to President Bush, and they knew that President Bush would defend Baker from domestic rivals and the machinations of foreign governments.

That backing is the most important requirement for a secretary of state to be effective. Frankly, Obama could appoint his dear mother-in-law as secretary of state, and if he let the world know she was his envoy, she would be more effective than any ex-ambassador who had no relationship with the president.”

The U.S. is an advanced democratic society. Like any democratic country, the U.S. is also not one single voice. But the relations of the opposition, or the minority and the majority or the government, is not as chaotic as it is in Armenia as the latter hones its three decades long democracy at home. Consequently, the Secretary of the State needs not have bi-partisan support at home, let alone the support of the American public as a whole to be effective. But he remains effective as long as he or she enjoys the backing of the president who backs the Secretary of the State “from domestic rivals and the machinations of foreign governments.”

 It is not the same with Armenia, which is a third-rate country, if that. Armenia’s military and political prowess is insignificant on the world scene. Obviously, it does not command the influence the U.S. does. Even if the prime minister Nikol Pashinyan backs his FM minister Ararat Mirzoyan, as he does, the effectiveness of the FM Mirzoyan does not derive from the PMs backing only, but from the from the lock, stock and barrel backing of the public of the country – Armenia - he represents.

Armenia has a cadre of refined diplomats who represent Armenia as ambassadors, FM and what not.  But when persons of prominence in Armenia, such as high placed politically motivated clergy accuse the FM of unilaterally conceding, instead of backing him to stand firm and resolute, they help weaken the FM’s or Armenian delegates’ position across the negotiation table, be it a round table. It would be asinine to think that the Azeris are not gauging the internal cohesion of Armenia and taking advantage of the lack in hardening the Azeri demands, during the negotiations. 

Yeghishe Charents was right when in a coded message he wrote his famous line: “Oh, Armenian people, your only salvation lies in the power of your unity” - «Ով հայ ժողովուրդ, քո միխն փրկութիւնը քո միասնական ուժի մէջ է» - Եղիշէ Չարենց.

Charents was a poet. His vision of the poetic unity he advocated has no place in the political life of a nation. Nor do I subscribe to such romantic notion. What he advocated has no place in the political life of Armenia. But what has place or should have place in the Armenian political life is the compartmentalization of political issues. Churchill faced serious opposition led by Lord Halifax who advocated negotiation with the Nazis, yet joined the Churchill cabinet. Failure of the Armenian FM is the failure of the nation as a whole, although, there will be individuals who will be beneficiaries, but not the Armenian public, even the constituents of the  segment of the Armenian public  who attempted to undermine the PM and thwarted the FM,s initiatives. They may very well end up regretting the realization of what they advocated. I doubt there will be anything benefitial for them as a public.

Armenia is at a cross road. "When you come to a fork, take it", said the wise Yogi Berra. But, take the right fork, I will add. 

  

What makes an effective (Armenian) FM

Vahe H Apelian

Antony Blinken and Ararat Mirzoyan

It’s fair that I state over again that I am blogger. What I blog is what I would have said, a hookah in my hand and board of backgammon in front of me, seating in a restaurant overlooking the Mediterranean Sea and articulating over the world affairs to friends with me But, there is no Mediterranean Sea where I live, nor backgammon or hookah are as available as they were and most likely still are in Lebanon, and friends were all over. Instead, where I live, there is the Facebook and social media. 

Therefore, please look at the matter with such a perspective as this time, in this blog, I will reflect on what makes an effective Secretary of State of the U.S. or a Foreign minister as is the case for Armenia.

In both cases, it does not have to do much on some highly inordinately specialized skills that the Secretary of State or the FM minister should possess, in order to qualify and assume the mantle of that important position. Naturally, I am not referring to basic criteria, such as good knowledge, good verbal and interpersonal relation skills. These are understood to be mundane for any public job.

In case of the United States, the criteria that makes a Secretary of State effective is that the person has the backing of the most powerful man in the free world, the president of the United States. All those who deal with the Secretary of State would know that what the person says is what the president of the United States wants to implement as a policy. I am not inventing the wheel here. I am simply articulating on what the eminent NY Times columnist Thomas Friedman said, when it came for the United States to have an effective Secretary of State, who is sort of America’s foreign minister.

Here is what Thomas Friedman wrote:

“I covered a secretary of state, one of the best, James A. Baker III, for four years, and one of the things I learned during those years was that what made Baker an effective diplomat was not only his own skills as a negotiator, a prerequisite for the job, but the fact that his boss, President George H.W. Bush, always had Baker’s back. When foreign leaders spoke with Baker, they knew that they were speaking to President Bush, and they knew that President Bush would defend Baker from domestic rivals and the machinations of foreign governments.

That backing is the most important requirement for a secretary of state to be effective. Frankly, Obama could appoint his dear mother-in-law as secretary of state, and if he let the world know she was his envoy, she would be more effective than any ex-ambassador who had no relationship with the president.”

The U.S. is an advanced democratic society. Like any democratic country, the U.S. is also not one single voice. But the relations of the opposition, or the minority and the majority or the government, is not as chaotic as it is in Armenia as the latter hones its three decades long democracy at home. Consequently, the Secretary of the State needs not have bi-partisan support at home, let alone the support of the American public as a whole to be effective. But he remains effective as long as he or she enjoys the backing of the president who backs the Secretary of the State “from domestic rivals and the machinations of foreign governments.”

 It is not the same with Armenia, which is a third-rate country, if that. Armenia’s military and political prowess is insignificant on the world scene. Obviously, it does not command the influence the U.S. does. Even if the prime minister Nikol Pashinyan backs his FM minister Ararat Mirzoyan, as he does, the effectiveness of the FM Mirzoyan does not derive from the PMs backing only, but from the from the lock, stock and barrel backing of the public of the country – Armenia - he represents.

Armenia has a cadre of refined diplomats who represent Armenia as ambassadors, FM and what not.  But when persons of prominence in Armenia, such as high placed politically motivated clergy accuse the FM of unilaterally conceding, instead of backing him to stand firm and resolute, they help weaken the FM’s or Armenian delegates’ position across the negotiation table, be it a round table. It would be asinine to think that the Azeris are not gauging the internal cohesion of Armenia and taking advantage of the lack in hardening the Azeri demands, during the negotiations. 

Yeghishe Charents was right when in a coded message he wrote his famous line: “Oh, Armenian people, your only salvation lies in the power of your unity” - «Ով հայ ժողովուրդ, քո միխն փրկութիւնը քո միասնական ուժի մէջ է» - Եղիշէ Չարենց.

Charents was a poet. His vision of the poetic unity he advocated has no place in the political life of a nation. Nor do I subscribe to such romantic notion. What he advocated has no place in the political life of Armenia. But what has place or should have place in the Armenian political life is the compartmentalization of political issues. Churchill faced serious opposition led by Lord Halifax who advocated negotiation with the Nazis, yet joined the Churchill cabinet. Failure of the Armenian FM is the failure of the nation as a whole, although, there will be individuals who will be beneficiaries, but not the Armenian public, even the constituents of the  segment of the Armenian public  who attempted to undermine the PM and thwarted the FM,s initiatives. They may very well end up regretting the realization of what they advocated. I doubt there will be anything benefitial for them as a public.

Armenia is at a cross road. "When you come to a fork, take it", said the wise Yogi Berra. But, take the right fork, I will add.