Where is the dignity of Armenians?

12/03/2006 Armen KOCHARYAN

In Armenia, conflicts usually arise because of dignity. Generally children are taught from their early childhood to respect girls and to protect them (anyway this is what I think). Of course there was a time when people were taught also to protect weak and old people, but now times have changed and now it is loss of prestige to do so. Anyway, let’s leave all these things for educational and other relevant institutions (as well as parents of children and their relatives) and talk about what Armenians mean by saying “dignity”. Nowadays, people have started to compare everything with money and some think that they can also compare their dignity with money. As to how much some people evaluate their dignity, that is a different story. Let’s remember the jokes that Armenian humorists were making during the opening ceremony of the Armenian year in Russia and how the numerous Armenians in the hall were laughing. Among these people laughing were also high ranked officials from Armenia.

I don’t blame people leaving for abroad in order to earn money to keep food on the table for their families and children. But whatever I do I can’t understand why those Armenians that have a good financial status here in Armenia leave for the US to work in cheap labor market. So where is the dignity of those representatives of intelligentsia who are ready to praise politicians in order to get something from them? Where is the dignity of our sportsmen who have won only one golden medal since the independence of our country?

Actually it turns out that we can only speak, but not do anything. For instance let’s take our politicians. It has already been three years that the opposition is trying to make a revolution every week. But each time either the rain or their ambitions don’t let them. The guys are very “fragile”. This means that there can be only one type of revolution in our country: “fragile” revolution. Or let’s take for instance Aghasi Arshakyan, who recently said that the National Unity will prepare for the elections alone. But I personally think Aghasi Arshakyan can not go to the parliament alone, because I think he will take a couple of bottles of beer as well. Besides that everyone knows that he can go as far as his phone hasn’t rung yet. Recently it turned out that the Rule of Law doesn’t’ have that much dignity either. As for the Revolutionary Federation, after the letters of Mnjoyan it seems to me that they have left their dignity either in one of the neighboring countries or in the rooms of “Valem” hotel. As for the ANM, it seems to me that Vano Siradeghyan took their dignity with him out of the country. As for the communists, there is no need to speak about them: their dignity has always been international. According to Youri Manoukyan it has been several years already that this dignity has become united-international.
Usually in the world the political elite is considered to be the center of the society (both governmental and oppositional). I don’t know what has happened to our society, but it is clear that the mentioned intelligentsia is not concentrated in the center of our society, but is spread wherever it is possible. And here we should speak about the dignity of the society. The society’s dignity spreads to other places faster.

Probably it is due to this optimism that I believe that very soon the dignity of Armenians will appear again and we will have what we have dreamed of when we used to gather all together at Freedom Square.