Caught Between Survival And Sacrifice: Armenia’s Struggle For Peace. NeosKosmos
Facing pressure from powerful neighbours, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan weighs a contentious land concession to Azerbaijan, sparking protests and memories of genocide. Former Victorian minister, Theo Theophanous links the struggles in Armenia with Cyprus and the Turkish occupation of the north of the island.
Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan (front), the Primate of the Tavush Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, stages a protest against border demarcation demanding the resignation of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, in central Yerevan. Photo: AAP/Alexander Patrin
Theo Theophanous
21 May 2024 10:00amFacebookTwitter: @NeosKosmosInstagram
Imagine being the leader of a country whose people suffered an unimaginable genocide, then after occupation and domination by the Soviets climbed back to construct an independent democracy in a landlocked area, surrounded by powerful neighbours who deny the genocide and now demand more of your land in exchange for peace.
I recently visited Yerevan, capital of Armenia, and have witnessed the demonstrations against Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan and his proposal to cede even more land to Azerbaijan than was captured by them in the 2020 war as part of a hoped-for delimitation agreement to deliver an elusive peace.
Faustian bargain
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The proposal has been described as a Faustian bargain. It’s where you make concessions to a powerful force to secure an elusive benefit. In this case giving up four villages and potentially more to avoid another war where you know you will be defeated and many more of your young men killed.
In the war of 2020, 6000 young Armenian soldiers died, and Azerbaijan captured the Nagorno-Karabakh area where Armenians had lived for generations. It has subsequently been cleansed of about 100,000 Christian Armenians who are now refugees in other parts of Armenia.
The whole experience of seeing a democratic country being pressured to give up its land to Turkish interests reminded me of Cyprus which faces a similar tough situation with the new Turkish Cypriot regime demanding that the North of Cyprus be effectively ceded from a proposed Cyprus Federation encompassing the whole island and be handed over to Turkish interests to create a state that most of the world sees as not legitimate. As I have said many times such an outcome would diminish both Greek and Turkish Cypriots.
Demonstrations against Pashinyan
We flew to Armenia on May 9. The same day that an estimated 31,700 people demonstrated against Prime Minister Pashinyan. The demonstration was led not by the political opposition but by Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, a prominent cleric in the Armenian Apostolic Church. They were followed by almost daily demonstrations that we witnessed. We felt safe as we walked through the crowd and talked to the protestors but there were many arrests.
Emotions are running high partly because of the historical context. Azerbaijan is strongly aligned with Turkey and its language is closely linked to Turkish. As such, the conflict reignites feelings about the Armenian Genocide that took place in the period 1915 to 1918 by the Ottoman Turks. 1.5 million Armenians were killed or starved in death marches through the Syrian desert. About a million Greeks and Assyrians suffered the same fate.
I visited the genocide museum in Yerevan, and was deeply moved by the images of children women and men in mass graves, tortured, crucified and starved to death. The magnitude of the evidence for the genocide is overwhelming. The Armenian genocide is recognised by 32 nations around the world but not Australia. Australia ‘s special relationship with Turkey including cooperation on Gallipoli commemorations has made that nigh impossible.
The genocides
The genocides were carried out under the regime of the Three Pashas, who were also known as the Young Turks. They were Mehmed Talaat Pasha, the Grand Vizier, Ismail Enver Pasha, the Minister of War and Ahmed Djemal Pasha, the Minister of the Navy. Talaat and Cemal were assassinated after the war as revenge for their crimes.
Other ethnic groups were similarly attacked by the Ottoman Empire during this period, including Assyrians and Greeks, and some scholars consider those events to be part of the same policy of extermination. It is the second most-studied case of genocide after the Holocaust. The word genocide was coined in order to describe these events. Photo: AAP
Today’s Turkey continues to refuse to recognise the genocide, and is moving in the opposite direction. Streets have been controversially renamed and some monuments built in honour of the Pashas. Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey who brought reforms such as adoption of the Latin alphabet, a secular society and the establishment of museums rather than mosques in Christian places of worship such as Agia Sophia would not support reversals of many of his initiatives under the current Turkish regime.
Ataturk was not involved in the genocides of 1915- 19. And historians are divided as to the extent of his involvement in later killings and ethnic cleansing of Greeks, Armenians and Assyrians in Smyrni in1921-22. Turkey could preserve his modernising legacy while recognising the genocides of 1915 to 1919 as being a part of its Ottoman legacy. Other countries such as Germany, Japan and even Australia in relation to its indigenous peoples have done so and it has resulted in a morally uplifting and healing outcome.
Secular and progressive Turks
Many progressive Turks that I speak to think Turkey should accept the Ottoman Turks’ role in the Armenian and other genocides. They also believe that the erosion of the secular reforms of Ataturk by Erdogan must be stopped. These are the challenges for modern day, Turkish democrats who want to bring Turkey closer to the West by adopting human rights, a free press, judicial independence and clear democratic principles.Advertisement
But back to present day Armenia. Having suffered so much over the last two centuries it finds itself internally split over whether to accept Azerbaijan’s Faustian deal. The war of 2020 was a turning point. Azerbaijan was armed with weapons supplied by Turkey including modern drones and missiles and was also armed by the US over the last decades. The US had calculated that by arming Azerbaijan it could form a bulwark against Russian and Iranian aggression. It could also provide a conduit to supply Turkish and Eastern Mediterranean gas to Europe.
So, despite the ethnic cleansing of 100,000 Armenians following their successful war in 2020 using US and Turkish arms, no sanctions have been applied against Azerbaijan. In fact, they are now poised to be rewarded with even more of Armenian land.
It is hard to be judgemental of the Prime Minister of Armenia. He faces an appalling set of choices. He could reject any deal with Azerbaijan and face inevitable war which would result in the loss of even more land and certainly more young lives. In accepting the deal he risks division in his own country and emboldens Azerbaijan to seek more land in the future. The least that the West could do is to be a guarantor of any agreement between the two sides.
Armenia a jewel in sea of tyrannies
Armenia is a jewel in its part of the world. A functioning democracy, a free press, and a tolerant peace-loving community. It could try to join the European Union but that would risk the wrath of Putin and Russia. And neither Europe nor the West have offered to come to its aid if attacked by Azerbaijan. It could align closer to Russia, but history has shown that Russia will not protect it when the crunch comes.
I would urge people to visit Yerevan. It is an amazingly welcoming city with an arts, music and coffee culture not dissimilar to Melbourne but with a great history and physical environment to explore. It also reminds me of Nicosia where Cypriots face similar pressures to divide their country into two.
Armenian people live under constant threats by their neighbours and the major powers but somehow still believe in justice, peace and a democratic free existence. They work hard, are industrious and optimistic. Let us hope that a just peace in secure borders comes to Armenia and equally that justice comes to Cyprus with a free united Cyprus.
Theo Theophanous is President of the Cyprus Community of Melbourne and Victoria and a Former Labor Minister
