To be or not to be

Politics is about consistency, discipline and content. Any statement or action must have logic and clear objectives built upon well thought-out strategy. Recently, Samvel Karapetyan made a political statement in defence of the Armenian Church and Armenian identity. It caused a wide media response, which opened up a number of opportunities for Karapetyan. Turkish Commandant Pashinyan is acting in his customary aggressive manner – putting anyone who could become a potential threat to the ‘Real Armenia’ project (a geopolitical motel managed by Turkey and Azerbaijan) with their face down on the asphalt. He is sending a clear signal: the Turkish metropolis and he, as its representative, will not stick with diplomatic protocol vis-à-vis those who do not want to bend the knee and take the oath of allegiance.

In such circumstances, personalities like Karapetyan (as well as Armen Sarkissian, Noubar Afeyan and others) must clearly decide whether they declare war on the collaborationist regime or not. There is no third option. One cannot legitimise them, meet with them, smile to them, shake their hands, and only occasionally gently criticise them for their anti-national persecution. Karapetyan’s lawyer’s statement today about the government’s accusations of overthrowing the regime being untrue and that his client is out of politics immediately negates Samvel Karapetyan’s statement and narrows the possibilities for launching a nationwide struggle. One cannot make political statements and then try to talk about the legality or illegality of one’s arrest. This is utter nonsense, since the existence of the collaborationist regime is illegal in itself, and therefore its position on the legality and illegality of anything should not concern us.

The chance has come, and the only true statement would be about the illegality of the collaborationist regime itself and the announcement of a nationwide struggle for decolonisation of Armenia from the pro-Turkish regime, which is deliberately destroying the foundations of Armenian identity. It must be clearly understood that half measures and phase transitions are nothing more than a passive form of support and strengthening of the collaborationist regime. In this sense, one can learn a lot from Pashinyan himself, who acts quickly and decisively against his opponents. Make no mistake – otherwise his regime will only grow stronger day by day until it encounters consistent, determined and tough resistance. Samvel Karapetyan still has a chance to build the right strategy and implement it. Would it be a national struggle or not – that is the question.