One time someone from the KVN said a joke: “Did you know that the Tatar language does not have the word “back”?”
-So, how do you go back?
-We do not go back, we only move forward. Then we turn back and then go
forward again. We Armenians leave the impression that we do not have
the word “forward”. We always tend to look back. During the Communist
era, we used to remember the czar. When Stalin and the Armenian
National Movement were in charge, we remembered the Communists, and now
the Armenian National Movement. On top of all that, we always remember
Tigran the Great (Our United Armenia)….
Generally, one looks back to the past when he has left the best years
of his life behind. He is forced to sum up all his years, whereas the
young people think about the present and the successful youth is
thinking about the future. If we take all this into consideration, then
it is safe to say that the Armenian people have lived some of the best
years in Armenian history and that we are an ancient nation. But we
should be optimistic and recall the more ancient nations which, for
some reason, do not only look forward, but also take different routes
ahead of Armenians (the Jewish, some European nations, etc.).
Of course, we always look back into the past and in some cases, around
us. We only look around us to see who is better than us, get jealous
and start whining about that. However, it is hard to imagine the rest
of the world feeling sorry for a nation that whines. During the
Karabagh war, when we were not moaning and groaning about everything,
everyone considered us as a winning nation. But as soon as we recalled
upon our “mentality” and started to moan and groan, they started
calling us aggressive.”
If we did not look back, the great 70-year old Armenian athlete Albert
Azaryan, whom I truly have respect for, would not be holding the
Armenian flag during the Olympics in Athens, but rather, one of the
athletes who had not won any championship would do that. But maybe it
would be an athlete who had the faith and strive in reaching higher.
Even during that time we did not wish to look to the future. Just to be
on the safe side and be optimistic, I would like to point out that the
flag bearer for Belarus was Al. Medvedeyev. We were not the only ones
participating in that glorious event. Recently, there are many rumors
flying around that Levon Ter-Petrosyan is returning to politics, and
that many Armenian citizens and members of the Armenian National
Movement are seeing him as the new leader of the country. These people
are the ones who, despite the fact that they consider themselves as the
part of society that moves forward, is once again looking back. Ladies
and gentlemen, we are living in the 21st century. Ever since Churchill
(the great political figure who returned to politics after his defeat),
I don’t recall any political figure who has returned, if we look at the
Western world (forward) as those kinds of people demand, and forget
about the East (back). The reason for this is not that the political
figures do not want to come back, but rather, that the people (any
people) wants to be on the winners’ side. The people do not go after
the losers sub- conscientiously and that is a fact. I would like to
point out the fact that as in the Armenian National Movement and in
other political parties, as well as in all levels of society, there is
youth (I am not referring to careerist individuals who go to the Baze
youth gatherings, but rather professionals). It is necessary to keep
close ties with them for the outlook of our future-not for optimism as
a whole, but progression as a whole.
I remember that writers Narekatsi and Kuchak are symbols of our nation,
that the whole world must recognize the Armenian Genocide committed by
the Turks, that the “Ararat-73” is a great soccer team, that….Please do
not think that I am against all of this, I am simply against turning
all of this into the dominant basis for developing and stabilizing
ourselves in the future. In contrast to us, all nations perceive their
glorious past as a base for making way for a new future rather than as
the future itself.