WHO IS ACTUALLY IGNORANT
Armen Tsaturyan

"HAYOTS ASHKHARH" Daily Newspaper
8 Nov 07
Armenia

Of the Slogan "There are no Christians to the East of Armenia"

It was quite predictable that the press belonging to Armenian Pan
National Movement would definitely misrepresent and speculate on the
ideas expressed by Prime Minister Serge Sargsyan during his visit to
America. But what is happening at present can be named in no other
way than ridicule.

Particularly the idea expressed by the Prime Minister "There are
no Christians to the East of Armenia" was evaluated as, no more no
less, a manifestation of an absolute ignorance about our country’s
geographical positions.

But the definition "There are no Christians to the East of Armenia"
given by the Prime Minister refers not to Armenia’s present
geographical situation but to the history of our country. In reality
S.Sargsyan has evaluated the history of the relations between Armenians
and their neighbor Muslims. Speaking about Islam, he said," When we
observe this factor from the point of view of millenniums, probably
this is the only reason for our conflict. There are no Christians
to the East of Armenia and if we can say so, we are on the edge of
Christianity."

But it turns out that there are some know-alls in Armenian Pan
National Movement who are trying to give lessons of geography to
the public, stating that Christians live in Australia and in the Far
East. Really? But, what if the latter ones have settled down in this
territory for some centuries and the relationship of Armenians with
Muslim countries has a history of 1,4 millennium.

We could ignore the cheap tricks of Armenian Pan National Movement,
had S. Sargsyan’s announcement referred to any of a current political
issue.

But the thing is, for the first time in the history of our newly
independent state Armenian Prime Minister hinted to the Western
Community, that for centuries we have played the role of the stronghold
of Christian civilization, in the East.

But beginning from 301, when Armenia was the first to adopt
Christianity as a state religion and thus clarified its political
and cultural orientation, in the arsenal of our foreign policy we
have always had the statement "There are no Christians to the East
of Armenia" and none of our Ministers or Kings have been blamed for
ignorance, when they reminded the rulers of the West about it. Nowadays
only those who have no idea about the history of their own nation
can give a hostile reception to this historical fact.

Moreover the idea expressed by the Prime Minister in the USA was
not only the recording of an evident historical fact, but also an
attempt to remind about the doctrine that has existed in the arsenal
of Armenian diplomacy for around a millennium and a half. The latter
has been the pivotal clause of our relations with the Christian
World and first of all the western countries, both in the period of
the adoption of Christianity and when Armenia was ruled over by the
Kingdom of Kilikia and in the future centuries.

The vision of the medieval Armenian messiah Nerses Mets was based
on the idea of liberating Armenia from the yoke of eastern tyrants,
with the help of Christian Franks. Even in recent times our delegates,
such as Stepanos Salmastetsy, Israel Ory, and Khrimyan Hayrik who
left for Europe and Russia, have been guided by this idea-slogan. The
external orientations of Armenian liberation movement and even the
goals and steps of the leaders of the first Republic of Armenia have
been anchored on the clause of the necessity of being the eastern
strongholds of Christianity.

We should also remind you that our neighbor Georgians, who in
their whole history, had little role as strongholds of Christian
civilization, recently after the "revolution of roses" have owned
the flag of crusaders, that is well known to us, from the time
when Armenia was ruled over by the Kingdom of Kilikia, to represent
themselves to the West with the slogan "There are no Christians to
the East of Georgia". But this open attempt of stealing Armenia’s
geopolitical function has never been considered the manifestation of
Sahakashvily’s ignorance.

By his recent mention about the clause "There are no Christians to
the East of Armenia", that has played a role of a pivotal political
doctrine for Armenian diplomacy and liberation movement, Armenian
Prime Minister Serge Sargsyan didn’t make an invention. It is more
ridiculous that the statement considered by an outstanding historian
Nikoghayos Adonts "The Spur of Armenian History", is called ignorance
by some ignorant people.

By the way if the political doctrine based on the formula "There are
no Christians to the East of Armenia" is ignorance, then by the same
logic the work "Kilikia and the Crusaders" by Levon Ter-Petrosyan
that thoroughly studied one of the most important periods of the
formulation and accomplishment of that doctrine, should also be
considered ignorance.

That is why we hope that at least Levon Ter-Petrosyan will moderate
the ridiculous and ignorant ribaldry of the activists of Armenian
Pan National Movement.