USA Armenian Political atmosphere, Armenian Diaspora - Harut Sassounian
Question :
Mr. Harut Sassounian, I saw in you a patriotic Armenian who is not biased. My impression of Lebanese Armenian political spectrum was that Armenians in Lebanon are largely biased. I saw the same situation in Armenia. I have been away from the Armenian diaspora and Lebanon. In your experienced view, how would you evaluate the American Armenian Political atmosphere?
Answer:
The political atmosphere of Armenian in the United States is not in good shape. Aside from a handful of activists, most of the community is in a coma. The majority of Armenians in Armenia and the Diaspora do not realize that we are on the verge of losing the homeland, after losing most of Artsakh.
Question:
Armenia faces a grave danger. It seems we are facing an existential threat. We know where the Armenian political parties stand regarding both the current rule and the parliamentary opposition. What is the view of Armenians who are rather neutral or less involved to partisan influence?
Answer
The worst Armenian is the one who does not give a damn about his heritage, his homeland, and the Armenian Cause. You can’t be neutral or indifferent when the homeland is facing an existential threat. Waking up after everything is lost, does not do any good. The time to wake up is now.
Question:
Are there calls in the American Armenian community for a more objective approach? Are there efforts for a united initiative from US Armenians towards the republic?
Answer
Forget the objective approach. There are no calls of any kind, objective or otherwise. I have initiated a project to form the Diaspora Armenian Parliament through elections in all Armenian communities to unite seven million Diaspora Armenians under one umbrella. “Ov hay joghovourt, ko miyag prgoutioune ko havakagan ouji mech e” (Charents). Please go to HyeID.org and join us.
Question:
I personally noticed that a lot of experienced Armenian politicians have a surprisingly superficial grasp of the situation in Armenia. They seem to have based their approach on a rather basic approach, not to say primitive. I am under the impression that they gather and base their knowledge and analysis on Armenian corporate mass media, which is naturally owned and controlled by the large parties, while inside Armenia people who are involved in politics tend to rely on the alternative media, the internet and the social media. Do you have any comments or advice, recommendations?
Answer
There are hardly any experienced or competent Armenian politicians in the Diaspora or Armenia. That is one of our biggest shortcomings or problems. No matter what kind of media people follow, if they cannot grasp the political situation, they are useless to the nation. This lack of competent diplomats or leaders has been a problem not now, not the last 30 years, but the last 3,000 years, throughout our entire history. That is why we are in this miserable shape now.
Question :
Mr. Sassounian, the Armenian national assembly sessions are an expression of an ugly scene of lack of tolerance, a divided nation. Do you see any vision, approach, initiative, for a dialog on national level, both between the political forces inside Armenia, and a dialogue between the Armenian political forces and the diaspora?
Answer
The Armenian National Assembly is a disgrace. It is a wrestling ring, not a parliament. What makes it worse is that the Parliament’s sessions are televised, so the public can see with disgust their miserable behavior. They have no shame. They have no self-respect. Unless we get some wise people in the Parliament, the situation will remain the same
Question:
How do you evaluate the policy of official Yerevan, while the Armenian government calls for peace and harmony, Baku gets more arrogant, makes demands, threatens every day, while Armenians implement the policy of appeasement, compromise and yield.
Answer:
This is what happens when a small and weak country has an incompetent leader. What makes it worse is that under Pashinyan’s leadership, Armenia suffered a crushing defeat in the 2020 war. A leader with a losing mentality had to resign the same day the war was over. But Pashinyan refuses to resign, making Armenia lose more and more with every passing day. Our enemies, Aliyev and Erdogan, know that they are dealing with a weak, defeated and loser leader in Armenia, so they demand more and concessions. Sadly, they are getting these concessions. We need fresh leaders who can stop the hemorrhage.
Thank you Mr. Sassounian.
Interview run by : Peter Manoukian
