Armenian premier persistently follows way of reconfiguring national  identity - Russian expert

ArmInfo. In recent years, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has increasingly followed the path of reformatting national and state identity, abandoning the ideas and practices of an "expanded Armenia" in favor of a compact, peaceful, albeit peripheral republic. 

This is how Russian political scientist Sergei Markedonov commented  on yesterday's statements by the head of the Armenian Foreign  Ministry on the Armenian Genocide. The expert noted that in the  history of each nation there are events that have a special emotional  load. They largely shape ethnic, national, and state identity, a  number of sacred symbols are built around them, they provide heroes  and antiheroes, and behavioral patterns are sought in them. "For  Armenians all over the world, both for the citizens of the Republic  of Armenia and for the Diaspora, one of the key events in world  history is the tragedy of the first quarter of the 20th century in  the Ottoman Empire. Mets Yeghern, literally "The Great Massacre."  This is how the Armenian national narrative defines the events of  1915.

With the collapse of the USSR and the emergence of independent  Armenia, the issue of international recognition of the genocide  became one of its foreign policy priorities. However, some  reservations are needed here. The first president of the republic,  Levon Ter-Petrosyan, already in the early 1990s, long before the  notorious "football diplomacy", spoke about the need to normalize  relations with Turkey and reprioritize national goals, moving away  from the historical past in favor of the present," Markedonov  recalled.

In this vein, he added that, nevertheless, direct military  confrontation with Azerbaijan and indirect political confrontation  with Turkey overshadowed this conciliatory discourse.

"The fight for recognition of the genocide has acquired new  relevance. And when the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Ararat  Mirzoyan states that "the study of the tragic events, the Armenian  genocide, or their transformation into priority number one is  certainly not on the agenda" of his department, this is not just the  opinion of a high-ranking official," the Russian expert noted.

At the same time, he believes that Mirzoyan has not actually  discovered anything new. "In the last couple of years, Mirzoyan's  boss Nikol Pashinyan has repeatedly called for abandoning the past  for the sake of the future. Especially when this past becomes "red  clothes" that irritate neighboring "bulls." 

And even if such clothes were sewn by a "beloved grandmother," the  Armenian prime minister developed his thesis, "it is better to take  them off. Simply put, to reformat the national-state identity,  abandoning the ideas and practices of an "expanded Armenia" in favor  of a compact, peaceful, albeit peripheral republic," Markedonov  added. The Russian political scientist also believes that Armenian  society is frustrated and not ready to fight, there is no external  support for Armenian geopolitical maximalism, and internal reserves  are insufficient. " During my lectures, students and ordinary  listeners have repeatedly asked the same question:  are Armenians  overdoing it with history, are they focusing too much on the past?

"I will note two points. Firstly, both the Karabakh idea and the idea  of a "greater Armenia" in general arose each time not because of the  allegedly "strange Armenians - lovers of the hoary past", but because  in "foreign countries" they were subjected to severe trials. Hence  the cult of "one's own land", where only one can feel oneself. And  never again! This goal was not realized by angels in white robes,  true. But the logic of preserving a special identity demanded a lot  from the Armenian leaders plus a little more. Otherwise, it was  simply physically impossible to survive on the imperial fault lines!  I urge my readers, if not to accept, then to understand this idea,"  the political scientist is sure. 

Secondly, according to Markedonov, who actually said that relations  between Armenia and Turkey are about yesterday and the day before  yesterday. "Or is the closed land border and the blocking of regional  projects about Talaat and Enver? Or about Ataturk? Or is the support  of Baku in 2016, 2020 and 2023 not only with a kind word, but also  with a gun about the fate of Komitas? I mean that reprioritization,  to which the government and people of Armenia have every right, will  not close the current urgent challenges in itself. Just as our  confrontation with the West will not be closed by thousands of  Moscow's repentances for 1956 or 1968," the expert is sure.

In his opinion, history is not only the legends of ancient times.  "First of all, it is the science of cause-and- effect relationships.  Of course, we can solemnly renounce them. But the problem is that  Mother History has its own plans for us," Markedonov summed up. 

The Armenian FM stated in parliament on October 31 that the issue of  promoting the agenda of international recognition of the Armenian  Genocide in the Ottoman Empire is not the prerogative of the Armenian  Foreign Ministry. He then repeated the narratives promoted by Ankara  for decades that this issue should be dealt with by historians. In  fact, with today's statement, Mirzoyan confirmed the concerns of  experts, previously expressed in terms of the fact that the current  Armenian authorities will do anything to normalize relations with  Turkey while trampling on their own national interests, including in  terms of international recognition of the Armenian Genocide.