“You get disappointed in Russia and berate it. But why did you have any hopes? Who told you that Russia is the savior of the Armenians? Russia did not say that. It is you who came up with that, dear compatriots. You had some hopes in Russia, but you are now disappointed.
We need to be fair: during these 300 years, the rulers of Russia have told us: “Armenians, we will not defend you in your disputes with the Muslims.” And they proved their position with actions. We still have some hopes that Russia will finally switch to our side in our fight against our Muslim neighbors.
And all these 300 years, we have been telling Russia: “You know, Muslims are bad, they are your enemies, and we are good Armenians, you must protect us.” The Armenians wrote many articles and books to convince the Russians to protect them. And always in vain.
The Russian state is experienced and knows its interests well. We are without a state. We lost state thinking: we teach that “Kemal deceived Lenin”, “Azerbaijanis bribed the Kremlin”, “wives or relatives of Politburo members are Turks and Tatars, and that’s why they don’t protect us” – these are underdeveloped and just silly thoughts expressed by many Armenians.
No, dear ones, Lenin knew very well who Kemal was. Supporting him, he pursued the correct policy from the point of view of the interests of his state. It was us who were foolish in 1920 because we hadn’t managed to negotiate with Kemal and lost Kars.
Azerbaijanis did not bribe the Kremlin, rest assured. The Kremlin has its own interests, and these interests do not include the protection of Armenians. And associating Turkish and Tatar wives and relatives with the policy of Russia is even more nonsensical. This story has been lasting 300 years.
Quarreling with Russia is also unwise. Not to depend on Russia, not to make plans based on their capabilities, and not to rely on them does not mean at all to quarrel. We need to be friends but not depend on them, be friends without fanaticism, not view them as our saviors, and become an independent state. And you know what? Russians will respect us.
Many Armenians are outraged that Gorbachev did not hand Artsakh over to Armenia. But dear Armenians, who of his predecessors gave us Artsakh? Lenin, Stalin, Malenkov, Khrushchev, Brezhnev… Who? No one. This means that separating Artsakh from Azerbaijan and giving it to Armenia was against the interests of Russia.
Why are they outraged exactly by Gorbachev? He at least allowed us to demand the exit of Artsakh from Azerbaijan and to form the “Artsakh” committee. His predecessors hadn’t allowed even that. None of the leaders can go against the interests of their state. You need to understand this, finally.
The European Parliament recognized the Armenian Genocide. And many Armenians were delighted with this news. The European Parliament acknowledged that the Turks had raped, slaughtered, killed, and buried us alive…
But the European Parliament had its own interests. The members of the Western European market do not want backward Turkey to become a member of their union. Therefore, the European Parliament reminds the Armenian Genocide to the Turks.
They use our greatest misfortune, and we rejoice. The recognition of the Armenian Genocide by various states and the UN is meaningless. Suppose all states and the UN have recognized that the Turks slaughtered us. What next? Our naive Armenians will say: “And then we will return our lands.”
Dear ones, how is the recognition of the Genocide connected to the return of our lands? For example, the genocide of the Redskins of America is recognized by the UN. So why don’t the whites leave America and return the land to the Redskins? How long will we stay so naive?
Then, you asked yourself who would receive the historical Armenian lands. Russia (USSR)? Does Russia have a lack of land? Russia (USSR) officially announced that it had no territorial claims against Turkey.
And finally, if Russia gets the Armenian lands from Turkey, why do you think that these lands will be gifted to Armenia? If Russia decided to return or give away anything, then, for a start, they would at least return Nakhichevan and Artsakh to us.”
An excerpt from the article by Doctor of Historical Sciences, a member of parliament, and public figure Rafael Ishkhanyan. This article was published in 1990 and caused quite a few debates.
