Around this time of the year, Armenians around the world usually celebrate the anniversary of Armenia’s Independence on September 21. However, the brutal attack by Azerbaijan on Artsakh last year, that began on September 19, 2023 and forced the displacement of Artsakh’s Armenian population, forces us as a nation to mark these two days in tandem.
September 21 was a day of victory over the more than 70-year Soviet occupation of Armenia. September 19 will become a day to remember when Armenians, once again, became victims of a Genocide, a term being used to describe Azerbaijan’s murderous campaign against Armenians, the warning for which fell on deaf ears around the world.
The images from a year ago were jarring, to say the least. Bereft families, who had lived through an inhumane blockade for the previous 10 months and had endured the wrath of Azerbaijan’s attacks during the 2020 Artsakh War, had to live through another round of incessant attacks by Azerbaijan, having been left with no other choice but to pack whatever belongings they could to immediately flee to safety, leaving behind their ancestral homes. A caravan of cars stuck on the highway to Armenia. Women, children and the elderly cramped in vans and cars determined to get to safety, the prospects of their future uncertain.
Those images were starkly reminiscent of thousands we have seen throughout the years from 109 years ago—the caravan of people marching through the desert, families huddled in fear of their lives, children, whose bright futures were shattered.
The disturbing images of Armenians marching to their deaths during the Genocide were trumped last year with real-time videos playing on our computer screens, phones and social media accounts of Armenians forcibly fleeing to an unknown future. Every Armenian, regardless of their location around the world, could actually hear their despair. We could feel their dread. As a Nation, we were witnessing another Armenian Genocide as it happened.
As we are left marking these two distinct anniversaries simultaneously for the foreseeable future, we cannot ignore the reality that the Artsakh Liberation Movement that began in 1988 was a critical catalyst for Armenians in Yerevan and Stepanakert to rise up in tandem and demand independence. In fact, Artsakh declared its independence weeks prior—on September 2, 1991— to Armenians raising the tricolor flag in Yerevan’s Republic Square on September 21, 1991.
Yet today, the government of Armenia, which, until a few years ago, was the guarantor of Artsakh, has all but washed its hands of Artsakh. The residents of Artsakh who were granted Armenian citizenship now have to re-apply for that privilege. The valiant Artsakh Armenians who fought to protect their homeland have become mere pawns in a political agenda being advanced by the current Armenian regime, which finds itself in a geopolitical tug-of-war between foreign interests.
As recently as September 18, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan laid out his vision of a future Armenia that is devoid of history. Artsakh does not occupy a place in his government’s future plans, which are solely focused on an Armenia that is defined by its geographic borders and the Armenians that live within those borders, despite their dwindling numbers.
He said that traditional patriotism is “destructive,” claiming that, for Armenians, patriotism does not envision an independent homeland, completely dishonoring the Diaspora’s seven-decade struggle to keep the vision of an independent state alive for generations of Armenians who lived outside of Armenia. He is forgetting—perhaps not remembering, because he was a young child in 1991—that Armenia’s declaration of independence on September 21 was the realization of our collective NATIONAL aspirations. Instead, he conjectured that the concept of an independent homeland was a means to an end for us Armenians. A way to settle historical scores and seek justice, as if fighting for justice and truth for Armenians is somehow a worthless cause.
The international response to last year’s events is also demeaning to Armenians and devoid of any consideration for human rights. The West, as it always has done, is throwing money at the problem, seeing the ethnic cleansing of Artsakh Armenians and their forced displacement as an opportunity to lure Armenia toward the West by buying it. Russia, on the other hand, whose 4,000 troops were on the ground—as protectors—stood by as Azerbaijan took control of the Lachin Corridor and other strategic parts of Artsakh and did nothing to prevent the blockade that led to the ethnic cleansing.
Artsakh and the fate of its Armenian residents is an indivisible part of the current Armenian state. We cannot mark Armenia’s Independence without remembering the thousands of men and women who gave their lives at the altar of freedom in Artsakh, propelling a nation to seek independence and attain it on September 21, 1991.
At the same time, we also cannot ignore self-centered policies of successive Armenian governments since 1991, whose greed for money and power have diminished our true national ideals and goals. At the end of day, each and every Armenian should bear responsibility for the current state of affairs. We cannot just celebrate victories, and ignore the losses.
Armenia’s Independence and an independent Armenian state is the homeland for ALL Armenians. Would it be ideal if every single Armenian were to move back to Armenia? Yes. A successful policy to ensure the security and safety of our country would be to tap the potential of every single Armenian, be they in Armenia or the Diaspora, a concept successive Armenian governments, including the current regime, have failed to do.
As a nation, we are at an existential crossroads. This is a time for collective action that requires determination and drive to strengthen our state institutions, to ensure human rights and pursue justice for ALL ARMENIANS.
