Armenian Weekly April 2011 Magazine

MensoianWe have becomeso obsessed emotionallywith seeking recognitionthat we fail to accept thefact that the Enver Beysand Taalat Beys and theAtaturks who sought todestroy our nation havebeen defeated.rightful Armenian inhabitants. The newlyformed Armenian Republic, beset with overwhelmingproblems—refugees, shortages offood, medicine, clothing, and housing, andthe trauma of genocide—was in no positionto claim its historic lands.The rump government of Kemal Ataturkseated in Ankara summarily rejected theTreaty of Sevres, which Sultan Muhammad VIin Constantinople had signed. With littleeffective opposition to his nationalist message,Ataturk protected his eastern flank by agreementwith the Russian Bolsheviks, thus freeinghimself to reestablish Turkish control overan Anatolia that had been partitioned by theallied powers. Ataturk’s ensuing military successesforced the scrapping of the Treaty ofSevres and its replacement by the the Treaty of Lausanne (1923). Itwas recognition by the European victors of the Great War of thenew reality in Anatolia. The present-day country of Turkey, successorto the defeated Ottoman Turkish Empire, was officially recognizedas a sovereign state. The genocide of 1.5 million Armeniansand the promised independent Wilsonian Armenia were forgotten.The nascent Armenian Republic had collapsed earlier in 1920under the combined burden of the socio-economic problems generatedby the genocide and the political subversionof the Russian Bolsheviks. Theboundaries of the newly created BolshevikArmenian Republic were redrawn to placeJavakhk in Georgia, and Nakhitchevan andArtsakh in the newly created BolshevikRepublic of Azerbaijan, and by treaty cededKars-Ardahan to Turkey.In the decades that followed, the determinationand resiliency of our people allowedthem to overcome what should have been aninsurmountable tragedy. Their fortitude andwill to survive has brought us to this April24th, which, symbolically, falls on EasterSunday. In our desire to honor our martyrsthe subtext of our observance continues to bethe demand for recognition. We seem willingto ignore the fact that this is the 20th year of the second independentRepublic of Armenia. We seem willing to ignore the fact thatin Artsakh, our brothers and sisters were successful in their war forindependence from a despotic Turkic-Azeri government. Thatduring the nearly two decades of their freedom, they have developeda sustainable economy and a democratic government.We are so fixated on the intransigence of Turkish leaders notrecognizing the genocide that the miracle wrought by our survivorsof the genocide is overlooked. Not only did they rebuildshattered lives, they created vibrant communities wherever goodfortune or misfortune took them. Their efforts have made thediaspora a vital part of a ressurected Armenian nation. Throughtheir efforts Armenia can no longer be viewed as a small, isolated,landlocked country, but a global nation whose people have createda web of vigorous and energetic communities in over 40 countrieson every continent, linked emotionally and spiritually to the culturalhearth, mer Hayasdan (our Armenia).April 24th should be an opportunity not only to rememberour martyrs, but to honor them by dedicating ourselves to buildinga better and stronger mayreni yergir (motherland) and a betterand stronger diaspora. Let us not devote this day to alamentation of their deaths. That should not be the message ofApril 24th. We have become so obsessed emotionally with seekingrecognition that we fail to accept the fact that the Enver Beys andTaalat Beys and the Ataturks who sought to destroy our nationhave been defeated.Today Erdogan looks to the east and sees an independentArmenia, while his Turkic brother in arms President Ilham Aliyevlooks to the west and sees historic Armenian Artsakh resurrected.Today our Armenia is on the threshold of an exciting and challengingfuture. And it is up to each of us, if we care enough, to participatein shaping that future. That should be the message for thisApril 24th and every April 24th that follows.Our martyrs would be proud of what their people haveaccomplished. And each of us, old and young alike, should beinspired as well. Genocide recognition is not the key to Armenia’sfuture. A strong and secure Armenia is the key to the justice werightfully seek. a40| THE ARMENIAN WEEKLY | April 2011