SONENTZ: ON THE THRESHOLD OF A CENTENARY…
By Tatul Sonentz-Papazian

009/06/02/on-the-threshold-of-a-centenary%e2%80%a6 -2/
June 2, 2009

With the ominous noises of a crumbling world economic structure, shaken
by tremors caused by shifting financial fault lines on a global scale,
everyone is aware that historic changes are taking place and that the
search for a new world order is causing serious political tremors in
the status quo, so far defined and sustained by a declining "unipolar"
free market-based hegemony over nations, large and small.

The Armenian nation-one of the smallest, to be sure-whose recent
historic decades were marked by dauntingly trying times, commemorates
and celebrates losses and triumphs culminating in the reestablishment
of an independent, sovereign state after a long hiatus of total or
partial dependency under foreign autocratic regimes. In a region beset
by constant turmoil, our 18-year-old third republic still strives for
the recognition and realization of its demographic and territorial
integrity within viable, open boundaries, trying to hold its own in
the treacherous jungle of world diplomacy.

Just when our resurgent Homeland, hand in hand with the Armenian
Diaspora, was mustering its potential to rebuild the areas devastated
by the 1988 earthquake, it found itself constricted in the relentless
noose of the Azeri-Turkish blockade, aggravated by murderous border
clashes, an acute shortage of grain and fuel, and most of all,
the ongoing armed conflict over the status of historically and
culturally Armenian Artsakh, known to the world with its alien name
as Nagorno-Karabagh.

In those days of confrontation with brutally determined adversaries,
the contribution of each and every Armenian individual, each and
every Armenian organization, to our common national cause had special
significance. The Armenian Relief Society (ARS), as an experienced,
global Armenian organization that had gone through the crucible of the
first genocide of the 20th century, now with numerous regional entities
around the world and countless supporters-both in the diaspora and
the Homeland-felt deeply the urgency of its commitments and remained
cognizant of the very real needs of the day, and the immediate future.

In this context, the year 1991, along with the fateful years preceding
and succeeding it, was a frantic time of accelerated accomplishment
for the ARS. Surely, the numerous successful results wouldn’t have
been achieved without the total commitment of the Society’s regional
executives, its disciplined entities and their membership, and,
most of all, its ever-present friends and supporters throughout the
diaspora and the Homeland. With such united backing, the ARS family
was effectively able to assume responsibilities often considered
beyond its reach.

Naturally, there was an accumulative price tag attached to these
countless projects-all necessary, all worthwhile-albeit, way over
the Society’s means, taxed beyond its limits. As a result, today the
Armenian Relief Society looks to its devoted membership, its loyal
supporters and concerned beneficiaries to replenish its depleted
resources in order to continue its long, uninterrupted service to
our nation whose growing needs everywhere cannot be side stepped
or ignored.