ASTARJIAN: NON ILLEGITIMI CARBORUNDUM
By Henry D. Astarjian

14/astarjian-non-illegitimi-carborundum/
October 14, 2009

That is as far as my Latin goes. Non Illegitimi Carborundum: Don’t
let the bastards get to you!

Just minutes ago I watched on the tube the Turkish and the Armenian
comic legends, sitting side by side with their grim faces dripping
pungent sweat, affixing their signatures to deceptive documents:
The Turk on a document of victory, and the Armenian on a document of
surrender. Post-signature, Turkish foreign minister Ahmed Davutoglu
sported a silly grin, further stretching his mustache, eager to shake
hands with his counterpart, while the Armenian foreign minister,
sensing defeat of historic proportion, had a somber masked face. For
eight million Armenians it was a moment that "…will live in infamy"
(Roosevelt).

There was a three and a half hour delay in the signing
ceremony. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was on her
way to the University of Zurich, learned about the disagreement and
returned to her hotel.

What caused the delay was a planned post-signing Turkish statement,
which our shrewd negotiating team had discovered at the last
minute. Hillary then convinced both parties to refrain from making
post-signing statements. And congratulations, the protocols were
signed.

Who won is not even a matter of speculation. The protocol reminded me
of an old story that tells about a partnership between a farmer and a
bear who decided to farm together. The farmer convinced the bear to
keep what grows above the ground, and give him what is under. The
bear agreed. So, they planted wheat. The next time, the bear,
feeling cheated, asked for what grows above ground, so the farmer
planted carrots.

This is the sum total of Armenia’s relationship with Turkey defined by
this protocol: Amateur Armenian diplomacy midgets trying to challenge
a 500-year-old Turkish diplomatic giant-and survive. Barring that
inequity, the Armenian delegation was negotiating from a position
of weakness. They did not have the support of the Armenian nation,
which would have given them potency and greatness.

The people of Armenia, indeed the Armenian nation, do not want
compromises on the genocide issue. These protocols do.

The people of Armenia do not want to subject Karabagh to the will of
the Azeris and Turkey. These protocols do.

The people of Armenia do not want to affix the border of their country
as it is now. The protocols do.

The government of Armenia, defying the will of its people, indeed the
entire Armenian nation, is affixing its signature in lieu of opening
the borders. The borders are already open. Armenia, even Karabagh,
is full of Turkish goods. The hottest, best-selling item in Yerevan
are Turkish CDs of Turkish songs. The invasion of a commercial
and cultural Turkey has already taken place in Yerevan. How would
opening the borders, at this high price, change the equation? What
are Armenia’s gains?

Present at Zurich’s protocol signing were Clinton, Russian Foreign
Minister Sergei Ivanov, and the European Union’s Javier Solana, all
representing supreme powers. Their presence indicated the importance of
Armenia in the struggle for control of the region. With this agreement,
Armenia will be in line with the United States, effectively expelling
Russian forces. It will also dismember Iran from its main supporter
Russia. Mission accomplished. Additional analysis on the geopolitical
implications of this protocol will be addressed in the future.

At the expense of saying, "Didn’t I say so?" What we have been
cautioning about has already become a reality: This morning, barely
24 hours after the signing of the protocols, and much to my delight,
Prime Minister Recep Tayipp Erdogan departed from the text and sprit
of the agreement by announcing that "the border with Armenia will
not be open, unless the Karabagh issue is solved." It did not take
long for the Turkish government show its true colors. This has to be
a lesson for the Armenian government. Maybe, just maybe, they can can
the issue in parliament, thus starting a new phase with the diasporan
Armenians, who are so terribly worried about Karabagh and disgusted
with the arrogance of the government of Armenia. Maybe, just maybe,
this will teach them a lesson about dealing with the Turkish diplomacy,
whose agreements give us what is above ground once, and under ground
another time.

It should have been evident to the Armenians that their interlocutors
represent a chauvinist, neo-fascist government, which is untrustworthy
at best. That their hatred of Armenians is inherent and centuries-old,
that the modern, secular, and democratic Turkey of Kemal Ataturk has
augmented the individual Turk’s brutal and cruel attitude towards
its minorities. That their hero, the father of their country,
Ataturk, beheaded thousands of Kurds for speaking Kurdish. That
successive Turkish Kemalist governments ran prisons in Diyarbakir
where Kurdish political inmates were made to eat human excrements,
and have truncheons shoved up their asses while other inmates licked it
(see Gunaysu, Armenian Weekly, Oct. 17, 2009). Bastards!

"Bastardhood" is not just violation of human rights the way it is
practiced in Turkey. It can also befit political conduct. And no one
can surpass Turkish diplomacy in such conduct!

What they have done to the Kurdish nation is almost equal to what they
have done to the Armenian nation. The genocide is a living testimonial
to this. Unless and until Turkey recognizes the genocide, there should
be no reconciliation.

In the meantime, my fellow Armenians, Non Illegitimi Carborundum!