“Different Thou Art Than Our Dream…”

By Dikran Abrahamian, Ontario, 22 June 2021

No man is good enough to govern another man without the other’s consent. Abraham Lincoln

Since the advent of the internet chatrooms and other social media outlets have sprang up like wild mushrooms. Frequently we express our thoughts in unbridled forms through those media. Instead of fashioning an article,  I’d like to share with you — the reader —  an email that I forwarded to friends the day after the elections. Only cosmetic changes are made and the names are removed.

Many of the points, I believe, you too have pondered about. You may notice that some are answers to correspondents and they are not interrelated. They do not follow a logical sequence, and some may be redundant written in the heat of the moment; they are not meant to support a preconceived thesis and structure.

I would like to hear your opinion. All the better if my views are criticized with constructive content.

Sent: June 21, 2021, 20:52:27 EST

1. Whether it’s Kocharyan or Pashinyan the outcome with minor variables would have been the same.
2. Pashinyan may have precipitated the war by misreading the dangers accumulated over time, inexperience in diplomacy, egomania, ineptitude, trusting the go-betweens, and being there at the wrong time. On Nov 9 he should have refused signing the agreement, made it public to the people and resigned.
3. People were devastated, demoralized and psychologically disturbed.
4. As mentioned earlier […] the choice would have been between bad and worse. Implication: nothing good would have come out of these elections.
5. People were mistrustful of both these villains.
6. People were spooked of Kocharyan’s thievery, sellout of key components of infrastructure for personal gain and murderous past (October 1999, March 1st 2008 tragedy, and a few individual liquidations, one in the presence of Aznavour). A snake does not change its nature no matter how many times it sheds its skin.
7. Individual egos prevented stake holders from forming a grand alliance and becoming a real competitor in the game. During the final debates between the candidates for the premiership, some even confessed that they had no chance getting into the parliament. Yet they continued the race.
8. Surveys, mostly unreliable, but some better, contemplated a two-way race, almost neck and neck.
9. No. People were not naive. They switched their vote from the person or party they liked to the perceived lesser evil. As said above they were spooked of Kocharyan’s ugly past. They had already broken their ties with him, his ilk and what he represented in 2008 and 2018. They could no more digest his presence.
10. There are some who believe that Kocharyan would have handled better security, RoA’s integrity, border issues, and Karabagh. The latter because he is from Karabagh and was an important leader in its liberation. People did not buy those arguments. Furthermore, Kocharyan is not a match to Putin whose blueprint for what’s to happen counts and not Kocharyan’s friendship or skills.
11. The election turned out to be “against” rather than “for”.
12. Contrary to all protestations of the “Hayastan” and Vanetzyan team the elections (on the day of election) were transparent and went by only with one physical altercation. Fraud? The vast majority […] in the form of bribery are registered against the two opposition parties that will be in the parliament if they don’t resign from their mandates.

People have spoken. Let’s look forward. Diaspora can help to mitigate the dangers and losses that may unfold. Concerted effort by all parties in unity can rally international outcry and find ways to reach highest levels in Europe and US.

One might criticize me and say, look who is talking. Yes, I have been against the west and still am, but national interest dictates me to behave otherwise at this juncture. I hope Iran-US relations get better so that Gulf to Black Sea route via Armenia becomes a reality. All efforts should be directed to not open the doors to Turkey. There are some who are not convinced of this necessity. All what I can say is to look at Georgia whose economy is heavily penetrated by Turkey.