The assumptions, by which Armenia is a provincial country, won’t be argued with any wise person. It’s a pity that not only the country, lifestyle and leisure are provincial but also the political battle and public perception. Almost every time a mysterious message is spread in the city about the mysterious visit of Armenian oppositionists to the US. And everybody thinks that the US government is inclined to the Armenian opposition. However, what the oppositionists are doing I s a result of a provincial mentality.
This week simultaneously two opposition leaders from Armenia were in DC – Aram Sargsyan and Artur Baghdasaryan. You may ask how these two oppositionists appeared in the US. Very easily – with a tourist’s status. There are hundreds of political science institutes, research centers and organizations in Washington, which time to time organize various seminars, meetings, and conferences. Those research centers are specialized not only with regional aspect but also certain topics, such as conflict managements, energetic cooperation, etc. But those Americans check the resume of the invitee, which reads former Prime-Minister. Former NA Speaker, finalist-candidate of previous presidential elections. In this country people pay attention to state positions and ranks. As almost most part of Armenia’s political actors have somehow at different times occupied certain positions in Armenia they don’t have any problems with visas or invitations.
Once the oppositions have the visa and the invitation they start to think who they can meet with. The framework of the invitation anticipates a press conference, presentation and a Q&A session. And the maximum is dinner. However, in order to show the US trips more complete it’s necessary to hold a few political meetings. Very often it’s titled “meetings in the US Congress and Senate”. Frank Pallone and others meet Armenian oppositionists not because they rely on them but because it’s necessary to have information in order to be accountable to their American-Armenian voters. Just to show that they think about Armenia. This is part of the US political culture. If I’m a Utah voter and go to DC and can easily call my Congressman and schedule a meeting with him. He will of course meet me, have pictures with and will give me a souvenir because my vote does matter whether he’ll get elected or not. That’s why the pro-Armenian Congressman agrees to meet anyone. The second circle of meetings in the Armenian organizations – Armenian Congress of America, the office of the Armenian Cause and the Apostolic Church of Armenia. The latter meet the Armenian oppositionists not because they are going to develop a new strategy for Genocide recognition but because it’s been like this the past 70 years. They miss Armenians.
This much. Right after this it’s time for self-expression. If they have someone in the delegation, who’s a lecturer, he may read a lecture in one of the US universities or of they call in advance they might have the chance to meet Matthew Bryza. But this is not a big deal. The most terrible thing of this story is the fact that the Armenian politicians are not prepared at all. One of them was asked by a State Department representative what he thinks about Karabagh conflict resolution and he answered, “We’ll answer as soon as we are in government.” In fact in DC the Americans after the speeches made by Armenians just keep silence in order not to burst into laughter.
I think Artur Baghdasaryan will have the most impressive press release. Even when he was an NA Speaker he was making the press service of the Assembly to record everything and make a press release just to show that he had so many meetings. Can you imagine Baghdasaryan taking a tourist group to the White House? And if he meets George Bush in the corridor. Aram Sargsyan is in DC with the invitation of the National Democratic Institute. We are lost! This is the notorious organization, which also has an office in Yerevan and holds trainings for Armenia oppositionists. Baghdasaryan was invited by the US Strategic and International Research Center.