The tumultuous political climate after Armenia’s severe defeat in the Second Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) war in the Autumn 2020 has caused uproar within the 10 million World Armenians.
That shocking loss of another land and the end of the Armenian presence in the major part of Artsakh has made Armenians work on finding ways out of the morass. History shows that big losses have sobered entire nations up and Armenians must not be an exception.
One could already see how thousands of Armenians have changed their lifestyles - that is they have firmly decided to leave the pre-2020 comfort zones and double and triple their efforts to help the mother Armenia recover from the bitter 2020 loss.
Armenians in Armenia and in the Diaspora (together they are called the World Armenians by the Armenian Network State movement to stress their one complete subjectivity) have teamed up in different movements, initiatives, organisations and companies to change the political vector of the Armenian world.
A lot of self-organised teams have already appeared in Armenia since November 2020 to teach and train people with military knowledge and might. A lot of networking platforms have been created to bring in investments into mother Armenia.
Those are indicators of reviving seeds of the nation that has suffered a lot since the year of 1045 when the Bagratuni (Bagratid) kingdom of Armenia collapsed.
Nevertheless, there are two very hazardous socio-political processes within the Armenian world parallel to the self-organisation and revival which need to be addressed urgently by the World Armenians.
First thing is the lack of central pan-Armenian elite who would otherwise usher the thousands of self-organising Armenians to coordinated actions everywhere.
According to the political science theory, that elite would be the incumbent government of Armenia who would share with the World Armenians the strategic plans to overcome the vehement challenges by concrete day-to-day steps.
But the World Armenians now appear to be under severe circumstances: the incumbent government of Armenia has proved its inability to deliver as a pan-Armenian elite.
Walking through this type of difficult terrain is not an easy task for a nation that has usually lacked smart political thinking. As a result, a lot of competent and incompetent individuals and teams have brought 180 degree differing agendas into the political field of the Armenian world.
These currents reminding Brownian motions are very dangerous as they can trigger (and probably have already triggered) a number of anti-Armenian special services and supranational structures to penetrate into and lead those self-organising initiatives which can bring a bitter harm to the World Armenians.
There is an even more dangerous political process that has started shaping itself into a daily Armenian agenda.
Different individuals and teams & initiatives in Armenia and in different Diaspora communities have started believing that the current Armenian statehood is gone and that the Armenians need to find other, “out-of-box” options for the Armenian problems.
Not surprisingly, these anti-Armenian ideas find fertile soil among respectable amounts of the World Armenians because of the lack of central agenda and pan-Armenian elite.
There are initiatives and media publications where the Armenian Statehood (i.e. the state of Armenia in the 1/10 land of the Armenian Highlands) gets blamed for the Armenian sufferings and there even are a number of proposals in Armenia and in the Diaspora that champion for alternative political structures such as religious [smaller] state; or a new Armenian reservation far from the Armenian Highlands and so forth.
It is clear that these currents that undermine the Armenian Statehood are easy political prey for Turkish, Azeri and other special services, and unsuspecting Armenians who of course establish these initiatives without any anti-Armenian incentives fall into a trap due to lack of deep political knowledge and foresight.
The Armenian Statehood in the Armenian Highlands (even if now it encompasses just 1/10 of the Armenian highlands) is the only political and ideological entity that the 10 million World Armenians should look and head to.
The Armenian Statehood is the centre of the Armenian world and this must be an avowed axiom for every single World Armenian.
The 10 million Armenians should never confuse the bad or incompetent government with the Armenian Statehood: the latter is a highest value, it should nest in every Armenian’s mind and the World Armenians should streamline their efforts to empower the Armenian Statehood in the Armenian Highlands.
The Armenian Network State has carefully monitored all aforementioned dangerous currents during the last 6 months and will continue doing so. The fall of Armenia as an independent state must be an existential threat to all 10 million World Armenians.
The declaration of the Armenian Network State reads:
“Being convinced that the sustenance of the Armenian people can be ensured only in the territory of its origin and historical development – the Armenian Highlands, and that the World Armenians as an ethnic unit with a unique identity can survive and develop only under a viable Armenian statehood;
United around the idea of protection and development of the Armenian statehood,
Our goal is to build a free, united and sovereign Armenia, as well as to ensure the security and protection of the rights of the World Armenians anywhere in the world.”
This is the political formula that the Armenians should unite around.
Armenian Statehood in the Armenian Highlands stands above all.
Vahram Ayvazyan is the founder of the Armenian Network State. He is an International Relations and Genocide scholar, startup founder and a Climate Reality Leader, personally trained by former US vice president Al Gore.