HISTORIAN ASHOT MELKONIAN: ALL ARMENIANS SHOULD STRIVE FOR CREATING UNITED HOMELAND

Noyan Tapan
May 27, 2009

YEREVAN, MAY 27, NOYAN TAPAN. State independence is the guarantee of
any nation’s future. Ashot Melkonian, a historian, the Director of
the History Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia,
expressed such an opinion at the May 27 press conference estimating
the significance of independence the Armenian people achieved on
May 28, 1918. According to him, though after the fall of Kilikia
the Armenians for the first time achieved independence in 1918,
nevertheless after 1043 there were "some functions of a state"
among the Armenians. Touching upon the heroic fights of Sardarapat
and Gharakilisa, A. Melkonian said that Armenian regular detachments
including seven thousand soldiers proved to the world that an Armenian
can be a good soldier.

According to A. Melkonian, the facts that historic Armenia was
divided between two different superpowers for several times left a
negative trace on Armenian people’s psychology, and the Eastern and
Western Armenias were formed as a result of it. Those two Armenias,
according to the historian, were turned into political notions in
the course of time, which is very painful. In A. Melkonian’s words,
all Armenians should strive for creating a united homeland pursuing
solution of the Armenian Cause (Hay Dat). As to Armenian-Turkish
relations and recognition of the Armenian Genocide, they are not purely
the problems of the Republic of Armenia, but of all Armenians. "From
Eastern Armenia one should not speak and make decisions on Western
Armenia, as it is up to the Diaspora to say the final word," A.

Melkonian said. According to him, it is time for formation of RA
plenipotentiary bodies in RA that will attend to all-national issues.