Believe it or not, the world is a big place full of nations extolling their racist virtues (refer to borders). As astute readers of Global Editorial are aware, we need to be better as earthlings, rise above petty jingoism. Long story short, as one with Armenian ancestry I have an understanding of what nationalism can do. Ever since I was knee high, I've heard Armenians promoting a Turkish boycott, even the spilling of blood, this went into overdrive the past few months. Sorry to burst the bubble of zealots, but I’m a globalist that will never stoop to the level of hatred based on ethnicity. (Another thing, the couple behind the Covid-19 vaccine Ugur Sahin and Özlem Türeci are Turkish, I guess no vaccine for Armenians). Now that a tentative peace agreement has been reached in the Nagorno-Karabakh (NK) conflict, I will risk death threats to voice my two cents. This all ties into the op-ed I wrote in 2018, the peaceful rise to power of Nikol Pashinyan, at the time the antithesis of years of corrupt rule.
https://globaleditorial.blogspot.com/2018/04/apricot-revolution-not-quite_24.html
This was a major turning point for Armenia, long considered a Russian satellite unable to break free of the quasi authoritarian poison that it has endured since declaring independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. 19 months ago I warned Armenians that this might be an oasis, even with a peaceful uprising there comes caveats, and in this case it was Pashinyan having to deal with the devil, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) - long hell-bent on payback for the genocide, mainly coming in the form of taking back Turkish lands. Even though NK (Armenians refer to it as Artsakh) is internationally recognised as Azeri land, Armenians took it by force in 1994, and ever since has been an autonomous Armenian state (80% of its population being ethnic Armenians). Long story short, Pashinyan didn’t want to be embroiled in another conflict, and so when he was caught off guard with Azeri aggression a few months ago, he had to dig in, due to the ARF pact. Cut to November 9, thousands of troops and civilians dead on both sides and he falls for the Russian curse. So much for a peaceful uprising in 2018, bringing in a new dawn of democracy with the ability function outside the Russian yolk.
Not to blow my on trumpet, but I have been vindicated, not that I say this as a gloating mechanism. My gut told me after NP came to power that he would struggle to weigh up the Russian and ARF influence. This part of the world is not yet for a government free of military rhetoric and Mother Russia. In less than two months Armenia suffered not only casualties, but lost parts of NK (Azerbaijan now has a transport corridor connecting it to Turkey via Nakhchivan). November 9, 2020 will now go down in history as the beginning of the end of Armenia’s modern progress. Waving the white flag at Russia's insistence gives Putin what he wanted, Russian peacekeepers in NK. Some say this is payback for not allowing Putin to meet with his fellow crony pal Robert Kocharyan (Armenia's former President, currently behind bars over corruption at NP's behest). Put it this way, Putin's not happy with the peaceful transition of power taking place in his sphere, he was outraged after the Georgia Rose revolution and was displeased that Armenia went down the same track. You display any semblance of democracy and Vlad gets cranky, so much so he sits back during the NK conflict until such time he is invited to bring peace - classic modern-day Russian gamesmanship.
I shouldn’t mention the bogey man in the room, but I will: Turkey. Their kinship with the Azeri’s is now strengthened and they get to keep Russia on their side. Armenia hasn’t had the best of luck when it comes to receiving assistance from Superpowers (particularly the USA). No one bothered to protect Armenia during the 1915 genocide, Soviets finally coming to the rescue once 1.5 million were exterminated. Even when the NK conflict first flared up in 1994, the US was silent. It was a given that this recent episode wouldn’t get America’s attention, largely due to the government having no interest in geopolitics. Funny how the 45th President (shall remain nameless due to being discord to the dustbin of bigoted leaders of the adulterer variety) appeased his base with Christian talk, yet couldn’t be bothered to help Armenia, the first nation to adopt Christianity as a state religion. Then again, both Azerbaijan and Turkey are led by autocrats, which was the dream of no. 45. Now that we no longer have to worry about a Mussolini wannabe with the nuclear codes, I still don’t see much change with no. 46. JRB’s slight positive is that he won’t openly grovel to strong men, but that’s a topic for another day.
Long story short, women and children perished unnecessarily over another land grab. Everyone will believe what they want to believe, mainly dictated by your ancestry, Personally, I think blame lies on both sides for this recent conflict. This comment alone will garner death threats, now you know why I despise nationalism. We humans are raised to hate, we have no choice on our identity at birth, yet we grow up spewing hatred in the name of an origin story we have no say in. As a human with Armenian origin, I hereby denounce all those that hide behind a flag. Yes, Armenians killed innocent earthlings just like the Azeri’s did.
NK is a microcosm of the hate in the world. Even if you’re not connected to this conflict in any cultural way, remember, we’re a planet full of hate, let’s start a revolution of not being programmed to hate by our parents/environment, instead open our minds to the fact that we could have all been born into the identity of our enemy. Think about it, please, for the sake of humanity! Okay, I’ll count to three, and let the hate begin. I’m better than you due to my physical appearance, country of birth - what the hell does that even mean? We’re all Africans, dam it, yet we still kill our fellow man while sharing their DNA. If any aliens are reading this, we humans are so evolved that we no longer invade territories on earth (under the guise of our blind patriotism) to expand our insecurities - pigs might fly!!!
