Russia Makes Every Effort to Divide the Armenian People – Ruben Darbinian, 1920

On behalf of the Russian people, Russia not only put us under political pressure but also threw all efforts into dividing and assimilating the Armenian nation in order to destroy their cultural and moral image.

Gradually, in increasingly threatening proportions, the Russian spirit and Russian culture imposed its master stamp on the thoughts and feelings of the morality of the Armenian intelligentsia and the Armenian bourgeoisie who were losing their national identity, their natural connections with their native people, and without resistance were being impregnated with Russian benefits and Russians aspirations.

This is the reason why the influence of our upper classes (elites) on our people was negative, destructive, and distorting.

And a great danger occurred before the Armenian people – the danger of Russification. Armenian leading circles, forced to direct all forces to the Turkish front, suddenly noticed with horror this threat and felt the helplessness of the rear of the Armenian people – the Russian front.

Russophilia blinded our eyes to such an extent, the power of Russia so constrained our political thought that it seemed we had lost the ability to separate the interests of Armenia and the Armenian people from the interests of Russia and Russians.

And one can say without exaggeration that this desperate pro-Russian orientation, which we have adopted as a whole nation, is the result of not real political thinking or calculations but an invincible social psychosis and mass insanity.

We were more Russophiles than the Russians themselves. We fought for Russia with more dedication than the Russian people themselves. We gave countless victims for the Russian state and incurred incalculable damage. And all this was done with the naive belief that we were simultaneously doing an Armenian affair.

Now, when Russia is once again knocking on our doors and using criminal methods to make efforts to sacrifice our people for the sake of their imperial goals, there are people in our ranks who are subject to some sort of hesitation.

It happens not because we do not have enough strength to withstand the Russian threat with honor but because the Russian danger for us is predominantly psychological.

It is not located only on the borders but also inside us, in the depths of our soul. The danger is that the Russian enemy has penetrated into our thought, our heart, and will, and from within deprives us of the ability to resist and of our independence.

We must wage an implacable struggle not only at our borders but also against all Russian components in our soul which stupefy our thought and paralyze our will. Let us clear our soul of Russian influence, ideas, motives, moods, illusions, and illnesses. Otherwise, our losses will be inevitable.

Ruben Darbinian – Armenian Minister of Justice, 1920 (ՌՈՒԲԵՆ ԴԱՐԲԻՆՅԱՆ (1920 թ. ՀՀ արդարադատության նախարար))

Arshaluis Zurabyan