An Open Letter to the Armenian Americans

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By Armenian Council of America, Glendale CA, 27 December 2008

We read with interest the joint statement of the Armenian Assembly of America, The Armenian General Benevolent Union, the Armenian National Committee of America, the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern/Western) and the Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America (Eastern/Western) regarding the recent events in Armenia.

By Armenian Council of America, Glendale CA, 27 December 2008

We join them in expressing our heartfelt sympathies to all families of the victims, condemn all violent acts and expect that the perpetrators are brought to justice.

We reaffirm our commitment to strive "toward our shared aim of strengthening an open and democratic Armenian homeland, based upon the rule of law, social and economic justice, freedom of expression and the media, and equal opportunity for all".

However, it is difficult for us to understand how these noble principles could be justly served with simultaneously "cooperating with the newly-elected President and the government", when we are all well aware that the latter have trampled and disgraced those same principles for the past at least ten years.

What kind of "rule of law" can we expect from these authorities, who have committed many constitutional infractions, falsified presidential and parliamentary elections, conducted farcical legal proceedings of the Oct. 27 case, and falsified the constitutional plebiscite, to name just a few examples?

What kind of "social and economic justice" can we expect from these authorities who have created a class of oligarchs by usurping the rights of their citizens, monopolized the economy of the country and given away objects of strategic importance to foreign powers?

What kind of "freedom of expression and the media" can we expect from these authorities, who have banned independent TV stations from the airwaves, established a public TV reminiscent of totalitarian regimes and banned public protests?

What kind of "equal opportunity for all" can we expect from these authorities, whose actions have polarized the populace, exploited the resources of the country and the people and hence created deep mistrust between the latter and themselves?

An Armenia where the authorities capriciously infract the law, trample justice, and usurp the rights and freedom of its population can NOT be an inspiration neither to its citizens nor to Armenians worldwide. These kind of authorities are a disgrace to Armenia and Armenians worldwide and hence do NOT deserve our support. Rather than cooperating with them, we should hold them accountable to their misdeeds, because it is not only the future of Armenia that is at stake, but the future of Armenians worldwide.

Armenian Council of America