Armenia’s Ararat Valley – a sacred place for global dialogue
The geopolitical mosaic has been going through drastic changes recently. The ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, the continuous Turkish-Azeri aggression and ethnic cleansing against Artsakh and Armenia as well as the rise of Erdoganocracy have signaled a big reshuffle in the world.
Since the dangerous lack of wisdom and leadership on both sides of the Atlantic the world is approaching a tumultuous age of iron curtains and even nuclear arms conflicts. And if one adds the recent advancements in military tech such as the AI or highest-precision arms, we get a grey picture – mankind is in danger. It then becomes clear that an abrupt reversal is necessary to cope with the aforementioned challenges.
When the world and the global political leadership in particular thumbed their noses at the 2020 Turkish-Azeri vicious aggression against Artsakh and Armenia it became clear that mankind will experience permanent violence and aggression in many parts of the planet.
Genocides, ethnic cleansings, partition of countries and societies, rise of terrorism and transnational crimes, the weakening of states and the strengthening of multinationals – what we have got for the 21st century instead of eradicating wars and poverty, rebuilding our planet and heading to space exploration.
The bleakness notwithstanding, there is a room for change, for a brighter future. The birth of strong global leadership through dialogue has been a rampant pattern in history during dark times. Thus the world is in dire need of an entity to build up trust and dialogue between rivals.
The Armenian nation has been capable of playing that buffer – dialogue window role for centuries. The historical preview of this unique Armenian journey of several millennia was detailed in the May 2021 article titled “The New Armenia – a Russia-Turkey wedge, an East-West buffer”.
The asymmetry of current international relations and the dangers posed by Russia-US rivalry, the severe sanctions on Russia and the flow of millions of refugees from the Middle East, Afghanistan and Ukraine, the permanent aggression against Armenia and Artsakh by Turkey and Azerbaijan must make the world think twice before drawing their policy vis-a-vis Armenia and the 10-million World Armenians.
All of a sudden it turns out that Armenia is one of the fewest countries on Earth that has good political, cultural and civilizational relations with the West and the Rest, including ancient nations such as China, India, Iran and so forth.
This is a geopolitical, cultural, ideological and political capital that the world needs to utilise otherwise it will be late. Instead of focusing on mundane statements regarding Azerbaijan vs Armenia, it is of utmost importance to put forward a big role for Armenia to play in building up a big global dialogue platform.
Moreover, the 10 million World Armenians are everywhere with hundreds of thousands of influencing figures in their host countries who can build dialogue cells and networks. One does not need to invent a new bicycle as there already is one – Armenia and World Armenians.
Last but not least, there are already good examples of Armenia being used as a dialogue between certain countries, businesses and cultures. In the last months of the last year the Americans required the Russian citizens to come and get a visa at the US embassy in Yerevan.
And now, according to some sources, between February 24 – March 22, around 85000 Russian citizens, 4000 Ukrainian citizens, 3500 Iranian citizens entered Armenia, 4500 Russian citizens opened bank accounts in Armenian banks, 938 private entrepreneurs and 268 LLCs were registered in Armenia.
Why can’t we make Armenia a bridge, buffer, window for people of different backgrounds and citizenships to come and settle down here? One should imagine how many businesses, cultures and innovative minds will flourish instead of wiping them out and getting to a stalemate.
The Turks have been trying to be that buffer between the West and the Rest but apparently they have failed (the results are clear) not because they did not want but they did not have that know-how of bridging people. Armenians do have! And in order to make Armenia as a dialogue window the world needs to change its geopolitics in the region.
If not, then we are going to witness a global catastrophe together and all of us are on the same boat.
Ararat valley once was the birthplace of civilisation with Noah landing there, why can’t Ararat valley become the birthplace of the post-Potsdam world order having peace and dialogue as its core values?
There already are think-tanks and even foundations with certain resources that work towards building that Armenia – a dialogue window under the eyes of the holy mountain Ararat. Let’s work closely then.
Vahram Ayvazyan is the Founder & Chairman of the Board of Trustees at the Network State Panarmenian Foundation.
