“My dad brought me a dog sheep,” a boy from our yard said once.
“ It’s not a dog sheep; it’s a sheep dog,” we used to say, but the boy kept on saying “dog sheep”.
At first, we thought that he felt jealous that we were saying it the right way, but then we realized that he simply likes the “dog” part of the word; as if being a dog wasn’t enough, it’s also like a sheep. But this was not the important thing; the important thing was that the boy had a unique imagination about keeping a dog. When we asked him why he wanted to have a sheep dog, he said: “So that I can tell him who to attack”.
This is just one of the thousands of little things that I remember from my childhood. I wouldn’t remember the boy and his dog if it weren’t for the recent bill passed by the French Senate and the visit of Constantine Zatulin to Armenia.
Right after the kick-off of the Armenian year in France with the title “Armenia my friend”, the French parliament took another step towards delaying the process of Turkey’s European integration. What was considered a topic for negotiations turned into something that is considered a crime and can castigate. It would be wrong to say that the French parliament did that for the sake of Armenia or the love of the Armenian people, or for the sake of human values. Even Charles Aznavour, who played a major role in the passing of the bill was amazed at how senseless the bill was. He asked himself how could only the denial of the Armenian Genocide be a penalty and not the other genocides committed against humanity. Being the honest entertainer that he is, it never crossed Charles Aznavour’s mind that France’s daddy gave his child a “sheep dog” as a present and now the child can tell the dog to attack anyone he wants.
Meanwhile, the former French Ambassador to Armenia Henry Cuni, also being an honest artist (he is author of many books), was so courteous that before bidding farewell to Armenia, he said that France simply did what it had to do and it was up to Armenia to try to get along with its neighboring country.
After the French parliament’s approval of the bill penalizing anyone who denies the Armenian Genocide, the reputation of Armenia as a sheep dog became known in the international community. That’s why Constantine Zatulin came to Armenia and is making us attack Georgia. That’s how the dog owner gets mad at his dog when he sees that it does what “someone else” says.
“So, we’re nothing compared to France, which can make you attack Turkey,” this is what Zatulin must be thinking and remembers the time when Armenia was just a part of the Soviet Union and the French were playing the “national renaissance” in the squares during the ‘60s. Zatulin doubts that NATO or the U.S. will make Armenia attack.
Why not? Before starting military operations in Iran, the U.S. Senate will approve a bill, which penalizes anyone who denies the moral victory of the Armenians during the war of Avarayr. Now let’s see if you won’t bark at your neighbor. This would have sounded ridiculous if it weren’t tragic and it could have not been tragic if this tragedy hadn’t spread to all corners of the world. What is the opposition that a three thousand-year old (many people think five-thousand) people don’t have? What does the opposition stand for if it doesn’t stand up and say ‘wait, where are you leading the country towards’? Each oppositionist, who hates the authorities with all his heart, is happy for the achievements of the authorities deep down inside because it’s hard to build a country and a state, while hating the enemies is a hobby. The European Union has set requirements for Turkey, after which it will discuss the issue of accepting Turkey or not. According to a preliminary agreement, the discussions will take ten years. I don’t think that Europe will be baffled and not know which preconditions are first. Europe is working with Armenia and other countries with the “let’s get everything we can out of it” principle. If, let’s say, Turkey apologizes to its revolutionary Nobel Peace Prize winner who called on everyone to remember the genocides of Armenians and the Kurds, Europe will considered that another important step. If Turkey solves gender issues among other issues, it will no doubt have a chance to enter the EU. In the end, Turkey will most definitely recognize the Armenian Genocide and it will do that by the order of the European Union if it already knows what kind of European family it’s going to be a part of geographically speaking.
That will be late fall of 2015 and only ninety years will be left of Vartan Oskanyan’s promised 100 years of solitude.