Last year, Armenians commemorated the 90th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. I remember how active our compatriots from the Diaspora were during the events dedicated to the Genocide. Well of course, 90 years had passed since the tragic event and the Genocide, as Armenians know, is a national value. However, if we look at it as a formal event, in other words, going to the Tsitsernakabert memorial, we’ll see that not too far from the unfading fire there are some cafes and restaurants where Armenian state officials go and it’s obvious that they don’t sit and think about the tragic event that took place 90 years ago. The smell of barbecue and the Rabiz (low-class) music heard from those cafes and restaurants are directed towards our enemy-let them know that Armenia is like the phoenix rising from the ashes. However, this year marks the 15th anniversary of the declaration of independence of Armenia. I can’t really say how effective the past 15 years of independence were. In this case the number 15 is not in the least important. It could have been 115 or 215. We would still have what we have today. The flow of events shows that we Armenians have lost the sense of time. There is no need to justify the decrease in the standard of living, depression and loss of faith with the past 15 years of independence because it’s just 15 years; it’s illogical. Armenians even consider 1700 years as significant. You be the judge-how important is it for us Armenians that we have been a Christian nation for the past 1700 years? Fifteen years is nothing compared to 1700 years for us to make a reference to the short time period, justify that 15 years is a short period for not stealing, not killing, not betraying, etc. More than 1700 years have passed since Armenia adopted Christianity as a state religion, but the only thing that Armenians feel proud of when saying that is perhaps the fact that we were the first to adopt it. That’s it. We are in a very strange situation-there are no spiritual values in the country. Only the Catholicos of All Armenians could to do something to change that situation. Besides making his yearly New Year speech, he could have managed to bring the people back to believing, despite the fact that the Armenian president is atheist, hasn’t been baptized and always comes ten minutes after the holy mass ends. Well, the president wouldn’t like to hear the music of the holy mass.
The fact that he gave an award to Rabiz singer Tata Simonyan among other singers in light of Armenia’s 15th anniversary of the declaration of independence says a lot about what kind of music our president likes to listen to. However, I can justify this by saying that the Armenians’ taste and love for Rabiz music has made us call Tata Simonyan, Aram Asatryan and other Rabiz singers as popular singers. Today, a Rabiz singer in Armenia can fill a whole stadium. It’s obvious that Armenians won’t dance to slow, melancholy songs during wedding parties and parties in general. In Armenia, Rabiz music is respected at the state level. If the Armenian reader recalls, even the Armenian chess players that won the championship came to Armenia and Aram Asatryan was the singer during the concert.
Let’s not get off the topic-we’re going to celebrate the 15th anniversary of Armenia’s independence in a couple of days. A person feels good when he is independent and lives in an independent country. However, no matter how good it feels to be independent theoretically, we Armenians practically can’t feel that. Just take a look at the transactions that we have already made, giving away our strategically significant resources. We Armenians don’t like making decisions and taking on responsibilities and leave it up to other countries to decide for us. We care about the small things, which don’t really have anything to do with independence or human values. Even Armenian oligarchs, who don’t really have any problems with paying for getting an education, prefer going to Paris to flirt with French women and eat and drink in French restaurants. They don’t strive for more. They simply do small charities.
What was Armenia able to do during the past 15 years?-the same that it has done for the past 1700 years, in other words, nothing. The fact remains that all that Armenia has is just theoretical-we have a religion, but no faith. We have a state, but we’re not truly independent. The only thing we have seen (this wasn’t our fault) is genocide.
But in any case, I wish everyone a Happy Independence Day.