V.H. Apelian's Blog: The audacity of Vartan

Vaհe H Apelian

It’s February and it’s the month in which the name Vartan dominates Armenian calendar. It’s the month that we celebrate Vartanank, The Feast of Vartanantz, also known as the Feast of St. Vartan the Captain and Companions. It is in celebration of the 451 A.D. Battle of Avarayr, led by Vartan Mamigonian.

But it is not about Vartan Mamigonian I am going to muse in this blog, in this month of February. But it's about the former foreign minister of Armenia, Vartan Oskanian, who seems to have taken his one-time vocation in foreign ministry and brought it to the Diaspora. But, his mission is not for forging an alliance between Diaspora and Armenia, or soliciting Diaspora supporting the government the citizens of Armenia have chosen. His present-day ministerial mission is to incite Diaspora against it. I have to correct myself and note that it is to incite the Armenians in the West to stand against the present government the citizens of Armenia voted for thrice, the first time by a snap parliamentary election on May 8, 2018, and twice by general elections; one held in December 2018, and the other in June 2021. His message, in his impeccable English, is not addressed to the Russian Armenians, because he wants the Armenians in the Western hemisphere and in Armenia, present Armenia on a platter onto the fold of the Russian Federation, damning Nikol Pashinyan policy of diversification and the pursuit of the crossroad for peace initiative.

Vartan Oskanian, should know that not all Armenians think the way he does. Yes, Armenians living in the United States are painfully aware of the ever-evolving geopolitics. They also know that no other super power in its day, has been as restrained as America was after Word War II. They also know that no other nation, no other people, has helped Armenians in their times of need, as America and Americans did. And this blogger will not forget what Simon Vratsian said, “Whatever happens; however we regard America’s role in the Armenian Question, we do not forget nor should we forget the U.S. humanitarian assistance to Armenia and the provisions they provided.” (Link 1)

What is the message Vartan Oskanian brings to the Armenians in the west?

In fact, it is a very simple message. It goes like this.

See folks, he says, your United States government is so unreliable that you should heed to its ugly American reality, and you should have the citizens of Armenia also heed to the ugly American "reality". Much like Ukraine that faces dwindling American support, Armenia will soon face the same unsettling scenario, in spite of the cordial relations that have come about between Armenia and the United State of America.

In simple terms, Vartan Oskanian’s mission is for Western Armenians renounce Armenian American relations, and help Armenia do the same, right onto the Russian Federation fold. Forget about the Russia reneging its November 9, 2020 agreement and seeing that Azerbaijan depopulated the native Armenians to the latest soul, and had eight of its leaders abduct and have them languish in the Baku prisons. That, he implies, came about because of the fault of the present Armenian leaders. Don’t you see, what happened to the last president of Republic of Artsakh, who signed the capitulation of the Republic he presided? Vartan Osaknian implies. Samvel Shahramadian was flown on Russian helicopter to Armenia and lives there a comfortable life. So will Armenia and Armenians and so will of course Vartan Oskanian, Robert Kocharian and their cronies.

Coming to Vartan Oskanian

Vartan Oskanian is a repatriate who joined the Armenian foreign ministry under president Levon Ter Petrosyan, and in a relatively short period of time worked his way up the diplomatic hierarchy. He likely knew LTP’s policy about settling the Karabagh issue by major concessions LTP asserted in his November 1, 1997 position paper titling it “War or peace, time to get serious.” Where LTP noted:

“The only option for solving the Karabakh question is compromise, which does not mean victory for one side and defeat for the other but by possible agreement reached through conflict resolution. Let them not try to mislead the people by saying that there is an alternative to compromise. The alternative to compromise is war.

Rejection of compromise and maximalism (striving to achieve the maximum and not the possible) is the shortest way to the complete destruction of Karabakh and deterioration of the situation in Armenia.

It is not about giving or not giving Karabakh. It is about keeping Karabakh Armenian. It was inhabited by Armenians for 3000 years and it should be inhabited by Armenians after 3000 years." (Link 2)

But a few months after publishing his policy position for settling of the Karabagh issue, LTP was forced to resign. The palace coup was led by a quartet that included Robert Kocharian, Sezh Sargsyan, Vazken Sargsyan and Vartan Oskanian.

The consequences of the shift of the policy is the chapter before last of the torturous and tragic Armenian history, whose last chapter is the present day Republic of Armenia.

Much will be written about the period between the February 1998 forced resignation of LTP and September, 2023 capitulation of Republic of Artsakh. But one thing is regrettably certain for me. Years will turn into decades, into quindecinnium (quarter century), and semi-century and on. Not much will remain from the once proud native Armenian inhabitants of historic Artsakh, the land of the legendary Meliks.

But the red poppies will continue to blossom on the hills of mountainous Nagorno-Karabagh, as Artsakh recedes onto history and Vartan Oskanian too, unlike Vartan Mamigonian, will never be able to redeem himself.