Democratic Patriotic Socialism and restoration of national values is the Salvation for the Republic of Armenia, Dr. Matsak Poladian

Question one

Mister Matsak, the first time I heard you, I was very impressed, in 1993 I attended the commemoration of the 20 Hunchakian Martyrs who were hanged, at Araradian Hall in Beirut, there I heard you, a theorist, I still remember your words:

“the fall of communism should by no means considered and regarded as the fall of Socialism, Socialism and Democracy are inseparable, Democracy is the very core and spirit of Socialism, communism leadership tried to impose and enforce Socialism through dictatorship, and it was destined to fail, but its failure by no means mean that Socialism is a failure”

Since that day on, I argue that Democracy is the oxygen of Socialism Democracy, I advocated Democratic Socialism since that day

Answer one

I can speak about this topic for long hours, but for starts, let me say that, the collapse of the Soviet Union, I was a student in 1980 in Yerevan, even back in 1980, I always told my entourage that one day, this giant empire will collapse, they condemned and criticize me, Why would you say such a thing they used to say, it is such a strong state, that is not possible they argued,

I had reached this conclusion, because in countries where Socialism or to be more accurate communism, was only serving as a flag, where corruption was deep and people reached higher positions only through personal ties, seeing all this I foresaw and predicted that this state with all this large space will crumble very soon, and that was what took place

And then when people asked me, how were you able to predict this, I told them, it is quite obvious, a state which is large cannot endure all this corruption

This does not mean that Socialism failed, it means that the leaders of the Soviet Union were not able to properly implement the scientific principles of Socialism, Socialism, Democracy and Social Justice principles and quest always remain ideas which are valid at all times,

I want to add that, in the year 1887, when the first Socialist party, the first Political party inside Armenian history, the Mother Party, the Social Democrat Hunchak party, was formed by seven students, in Geneva/ Switzerland, were all Socialists, it is no secret that a few years later, some hunchak party partisans split from the party, do you know what was the main reason behind, this, the main reason was that they did not absorb and understand Socialism core and substance, that was the reason this division took place, Democracy and Socialism must be properly understood, and if we, in the republic of Armenia, ever want to get out of this bad situation, Socialism is the solution that will be able to lead Armenia out of this crisis

Question two

Some people try to draw a contrast between one being a socialist and those who stress on national values, do you see such a contradiction between socialism and nationalism

Answer two

No, I do not see such a contract at all, Socialism and being a socialist never means to get away from national values, on the contrary, Socialism and national values, complete each other, they strengthen our culture, help preserve our literature, our values, they are deeply intermingled

For us, Socialism is a guideline showing us the direction towards our national roots, bit I once again stress and emphasize, Socialism must be studied, absorbed and understood thoroughly and deeply, it must be read intensively so that one understands that socialism enforces our national roots, our homeland security, our democracy, our justice, it is always valid at every timeframe, we all must base our foundations on socialist principles so that we may have a prosperous secure everlasting democratic homeland

Question three

On May of this year, as we know, Lebanese parliamentary elections were held, what are your impressions and point of view regarding the last Lebanese Elections

Answer Three

As for the last Lebanese elections, please allow me to step back in time some 20 years earlier, because in each elections which takes places every 4 5 years, during the last 3 4 elections, the relationship between the Lebanese Armenian political parties, did not run so smoothly, yes meetings between the three political parties were always held, and I attended almost all of them, in an attempt to run this elections with a joined united list, we always faced one certain issue, one party (which we all know which party) always tried to direct according to his interests, it always so it’s partisan interests a priority, that is why we faced problems, we forgot that we are not participating in elections in our homeland Armenia, but in hosting fatherland Lebanon, as one of the main seven religious groups in Lebanon, we were also in dialogue with other political forces, among which late former prime minister Raffik Harriri, I can speak at large about all this, but mainly, out three traditional Armenian Political parties were not able to find the path even in this last elections, so we Armenians run this election  with a single political front, a united front with as equal partners, that is why independent figures were able to reach the parliament, I am talking about the Lebanese Armenians, I will not personalize matters and give names, but the reason why we could not come forward with a united list lied in partisan interrelation issues as well as internal partisan issues, I don’t want to get in details, but I hope the Lebanese Armenian political parties resolve this issue for serving the best interests of Lebanese Armenians, so that we ran all elections, not only parliamentary, with a united list

Question four

Mr. Poladian, I know that you follow Armenia development closely, the republic faces a lot of challenges and hardships, how do you see the situation in Armenia, on political, social/economical and various aspects

Answer four

I see this situation, in Armenia, as I said in many of my personal interview; our national political situation is in a terrible situation, when I say national values, this does not mean that I call for lack of tolerance and refusing other nationalities, but only on national foundations a fatherland may be founded and established, something that all rulers during the last 30 years disregarded and ignored this principle, on the contrary, the focus was to benefit from the internal riches of the country, corruption was dominant, oligarchy emerged and grew, which resulted in the republic weakened and undermined, we all know that the Army got weaker, this is what led the country to this chaos.

Most importantly, when we ignore and neglect the national ideology and doctrine, we lose our identity, when a nation starts to lose its national identity, it loses the right to coexist as a nation, and this is the vision to fight for the fatherland and the republic, the nation.

Of course we witness a very sad reality, to destroy a nation’s national foundation, how do we fight against all this, only through a national ideology, and not by its absence, to conclude, silence and indifference is catastrophic and this is which has led us today to this situation,

All four rules were far away from the points I mentioned, national policy, national mentality, and national physiological approach     

The last four presidents since the collapse of the Soviet Union have failed in this mission

Question five

Can you tell us briefly about the national liberation struggle in Nagorno Karabagh and the role of the Social Democrat Hunchak Party

Answer five

When the national liberal war started in Artsakh, my political comrade, Comrade Yeghia Djeredjian who was a member of the Social Democrat Hunchak Party central committee, contacted me, he told me that as the Hunchak party historically advocates struggle for the Armenian National liberation cause, he suggested that I move to Armenia to organize this mission

Already our brigades the ‘Medzn Mourad – Great Mourad” and other brigades were already in the phase of getting organized,

At that time, I was the vice president of the AGBU in Southern france, in Nice I had a close friends, Arto Oksayan who was a Hunchakian supporter, we immediately organized the financial aspect for our journey to Artsakh, and I got in contact with the leader of “Medzn Mourad” brigade, comrade Kevork Guzelian, so that I estimate the situation and know what are the needs for this mission, so we prepared and provided what Comrade Guzelian advised, and we immediately headed to Artsakh, the brigade “Medzn Mourad” consisted of around 100-120 fighters, and we headed to shushi, this Hunchakian brigade headquarters was the Prison of Shushi, we waged a lot of fierce battles, and unfortunately we had also a lot of martyrs and wounded fighters, our brigade became very experienced under the leadership of experienced leader Comrade Guzelian and was engaged in a lot of daring courageous military operations,

At that time, the patriotic and national spirit and atmosphere within our fighters and all Armenia was very high, during the 1990’s, unfortunately, I noticed that this atmosphere has been lost during the last couple of years, and this contributed to our loss in the last war (the 44 day war)

Thank you Dr. Matsak Poladian