VaՀe H Apelian
All politics is local, but Armenian politics brought to Diaspora is a mess.
Armenia is embarked on a peace process. I support Armenia’s crossroad for peace initiative as well as the peace deal Armenia and Azerbaijan signed on August 8, 2025 and agreed on a passageway through Armenia that would connect Nachichevan with Azerbaijan and beyond. The signatories agreed to call the passage TRIPP – Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity.
Much like war, or any other state relation for that matter, peace is a process that excises a price. There are no handouts there. Armenia will pay a price. But I believe the price Armenia will pay for its peace initiative is much more bearable than otherwise.
The last few days I came across a confluence of reports in Horizon Daily in Canada that did not make sense to me, let alone make me more informed in understanding why the opposition is opposing these initiatives and what they are offering in return. Horizon is an ARF run newspaper. It is well known that ARF is part of the Robert Kocharian led coalition that stands against the Nikol Pashinyan led Armenian government and its initiatives for Armenia.
I cite the following from the journal.
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““Armenia should not be a state that reconciles itself with reality, but rather a state that creates reality.”
The statement was the header of a post reporting about the speech Ishkhan Saghatelyan had made on September 21, 2025 at the monument of Aram Manougian, on the occasion of Armenia's Independence Day. Ishkhan Saghatelyanis is the representative of the ARF Armenia Supreme Body, and is a member of the National Assembly.
His speech came across to me as a bombastic rhetoric because it is vague in every conceivable way in elaborating on the policies ARF Supreme Body will pursue, assuming the reins of governance of Armenia.
During the past three decades, the ARF Armenia Supreme Body has cooperated with president Robert Kocharian, became part of the Serzh Sargsyan government whose policies had nothing to do with the ARF socialistic leaning ideology; nor about the political aspirations of the organization in laying claims of Western Armenian lands for a united Armenia, or demanding genocide restitution and reparation as a matter of Armenia state policy.
What is the reality whose making he advocates? I leave it to the reader to decipher as to what ARF Supreme Body / Ishkhan Saghatelyan actually mean by advocating that Armenia, 34 years in its new republic, should be a state that creates its own reality, when he offers no policy towards that vision of that reality, whatever that is.
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“Aram Manoukian and our ancestors oblige us to be strong, courageous, and relentlessly fight for national goals.”
Ishkhan Saghatelyan on behalf of the ARF Supreme Body made that statement too during the same speech on September 21, 2025 Armenia Independence Day near the Aram Manukyan monument, invoking the name of Aram Manougian / Manukyan. Again I found it sentiment raising rhetorical statement devoid of the first republic's historical stand.
On Tuesday May 28, 1918, the Armenian Council in Tiblisi, declared Armenia free and independent Republic. Turkey immediately welcomed the announcement and invited Armenia to formalize the state relations between the two.
Exactly a week after that historical May 28, 1918, we celebrate, on Tuesday June 4, 1918, the Ottoman Empire and the newly independent First Republic of Armenia, signed the Treaty of Batumi. Turkey recognized Armenia's independence but the treaty was a devastating blow, forcing Armenia to cede large territories and submit to a significantly reduced military and restricted sovereignty under duress and overwhelming Ottoman military pressure following the collapse of the Russian Empire. The treaty left Armenia with a severely truncated, landlocked territory of 10,400 square km, that included Yerevan, Etchmiadzin and their immediate surrounding.
Ishkhan Saghatelyan / ARF Armenia Supremem body surely opposes the conceptualization of “real” and “historical” Armenia, pm Nikol Pashinyan advocates. Ishkhan Saghatelyan either does not know the pragmatic policies the founders of the First Republic carried on behalf of the Republic they brought forth; or he knows well but considers his audience illiterate and gullible to accept his bombastic rhetorics that invokes Aram Manougian's name but offers no policy clarity.
Again, I leave it to the reader to decipher as to what is ARF Armenia Supreme Body / Ishkhan Saghatelyan's understanding of the policies the first republic carried in relations with its dealing with Turkey. But more importantly what are the policies they will pursue dealing with Turkey.
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“There is only one guarantee for the long-term and real security of Syunik: return to Artsakh.”
That sentence was the header of a report about an interview the editor of Horizon had with Dr. Varuzhan Geghamyan, who is an adjunct lecturer at the American University of Armenia and specializes in the domestic politics of modern Turkey and Azerbaijan, as well as Middle Eastern geopolitics. The interview lasted for 21 minutes and few seconds. The header is a quote Dr. Varuzhan made at the very end but making that statement as the header of the report, easily comes across implying an out of context message .
To begin the editor of Horizon or, for that matter any edito,r should honor the spelling of an Armenian citizen’s name. Instead, the editor chose to spell his interviewee’s name in western Armenian whose transliteration in English would have made the person’s name unrecognizable.
Varuzhan Geghamyan made no policy statement regarding the return of Artsakh Armenians. Nor he recommended any policy for return of the Artskah. He simply made a statement to the undisputable reality, in context of geographical reality that the southern Armenia would be longer and better protected with historical Artsakh at its south eastern border. But alas historical Artsakh is part of modern day Azerbaijan and the crux of the matter for Armenia is to deal of that harsh reality to secure its borders given the harsh geographical reality. The August 8, 2025 attest to the sanctity of Armenia's territory, which only the Armenians can enforce, or may forfeit by their bickering.
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“A brutally defeated person cannot be a negotiator.”
That is another header in the journal about a piece by Lillit Galstyan who is a member of ARF Bureau and Robert Kocharian led “Armenia Coalition” delegate in the National Assembly. The actual sentence from the piece is “A brutally defeated person cannot be a negotiator; it is an axiomatic truth. GO!!!!!”.
The piece is a rhetorical write-up consisting of a dozen or so statements through which she raise sentiments and offers condemnation after condemnation, assumes no responsibility and offers no counter policy, when I expected her to lay down ARF Burea's vision being one of its member and also the vision of the "Armenia" coalitions for being a delegate on its behalf in the NA. There was no offer for any vision other than condemnations.
"All politics is local", so is the case with Armenia. It is up to the citizens of Armenia to clarify policies they advocate. The government has laid down its policy. The opposition opposes it and offers no counter policy.
Armenian politics brought to Diaspora makes a mess for Diaspora. Also, Armenian political rhetorics brought to Diaspora, makes for a murkier mess for Diaspora with no constructive recourse.
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