Publicist: Armenia has no independence, freedom

Armenian publicist and screenwriter Tigran Paskevichyan has said that his country has no independence and freedom.

"Many people did not believe in our country's sovereignty from the beginning, because they measured it in absolute terms. It appeared to them that Armenia, which had been independent since at least September 22, should not be compared to both nearby and distant countries. And, if it matters, what kind of independence and sovereignty exist? Whether it was Soviet Armenia or not, it survived behind the Iron Curtain due to the agility of its party workers," Armenian media quotes Paskevishyan as saying, Caliber.Az reports.

"Our collective idea was initially built by blocks of nihilism and maximalism: we are too small and weak to live independently, but we are big and ambitious to be an ordinary country.

Already in the summer of 1991, on the eve of the referendum, the idea of a 'world nation' was put forward, which, in my opinion, became the mother of all our troubles. They will say: and Dashnaktsutyun, and the Armenian question (Ay Dat)? They were, of course, but in order to squeeze into modernity, a loophole was needed. And it was the idea of a 'world nation', albeit unformulated and not endowed with flesh and blood, that became the loophole.

The movement of 1988 (at least since May) chose pragmatism as a means of safe struggle, and there could be no place for illusions in it. The ARF "Dashnaktsutyun" and the Armenian Communist Party fought in unison against the Movement for this very reason, it was for this reason that they cursed independence and withdrawal from the USSR.

The first, at least, pinned hopes on the war. A war that, with national liberation enthusiasm, was supposed to overshadow a sober mind, a balance of desires and possible achievements.

Without the slogan of a "world nation", this eclipse would not have been realized. And although its author Vazgen Manukyan and Vazgen Sargsyan hated each other with all their hearts, the latter was the spiritual child of the former.

"I am convinced that our country will become a strong and rich state. The 21st century will undoubtedly be ours. I see well that many people have no enthusiasm in their eyes, in their voice when pronouncing the word independence. It's sad, but it's a fact. We, who are responsible for this state, must not allow Independence, Freedom and Victory to become common ideas for the people. We will perish if the people hate these ideas," Vazgen Sargsyan said, it seems, in the spring of 1999.

The publicist did not say how the state could become powerful and rich in the conditions of the status quo. How can those responsible for the state prevent Independence, Freedom and Victory in the conditions of the status quo from becoming common ideas for the people, the speaker also said nothing.

He only said that "the 21st century will undoubtedly be ours".

The 21st century is still ours, at least as a calculation of time. It cannot be said that we now live in the 19th century (although — maybe). Not ours, however, neither Independence, nor Freedom, nor Victory.

We were left with only the status quo, which after the war quietly moved to Armenia. And high-ranking ladies/gentlemen representing truly global nations are competing for this status quo.

Independent Armenia has dissolved into the idea of a 'world nation', although the opposite was expected," the Armenian journalist writes.