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In a few days, we will witness once again an unfortunate manifestation of Armenia\u2019s leadership dividing the Armenian nation, while claiming to unify it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, Zareh Sinanyan, has organized what he arrogantly calls a \u2018Global Armenian Summit,\u2019 to take place in Yerevan, Oct. 28-31.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is yet another example of the Armenian government’s inability to properly promote Armenia’s national interests. On the contrary, the Armenian government is undermining Armenian interests through divisive and ill-conceived schemes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ever since Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan came to power, he has spoken more harshly against his domestic opponents than against Armenia\u2019s enemies — Azerbaijan and Turkey. He has frequently talked about blacks vs. whites — the good guys (his supporters) vs. the bad guys (his political opponents). Shockingly, Pashinyan waved a hammer in the air during his campaign speeches, threatening to bash the heads of his opponents, squash them on the asphalt and slam them to the wall! He has pitted Armenia\u2019s population against Artsakh and alienated Diasporans from Armenia. Yet, those of us who criticize his divisive actions are lectured by his supporters not to divide the nation!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prime Minister Pashinyan abolished the Ministry of Diaspora and replaced it in 2019 with Sinanyan, the High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs. Judging by Pashinyan\u2019s many other appointments, the sole reason he appointed Sinanyan was that he backed the \u2018velvet revolution.\u2019 Competence does not seem to be an important criteria for Pashinyan, blind support is!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the last three years, Sinanyan toured the world, at Armenia\u2019s taxpayers\u2019 expense, accomplishing very little, but causing more internal dissension in the Diaspora. Rather than trying to unify Armenians, he has played partisan politics siding with Pashinyan\u2019s political party. Sinanyan does not seem to understand that he is getting a salary, not to be the Chief Propagandist for Pashinyan\u2019s political party, but to pursue the best interests of all Diaspora Armenians regardless of their differing persuasions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have described in previous columns my criticisms of Sinanyan\u2019s misguided and false statements. He has announced many plans that have remained unfulfilled, such as his questionable idea to appoint partisan representatives in various Diaspora communities. Another one of Sinanyan\u2019s half-baked ideas is encouraging Arabs to immigrate to Armenia. He is not aware that his duties are to deal exclusively with Diaspora Armenians, not foreign immigrants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sinanyan should not be blamed as much as Prime Minister Pashinyan who appointed him. In any normal country, apparatchiks like Sinanyan would have been fired long ago, but not in Pashinyan\u2019s administration, where incompetence and blind loyalty are prerequisites for appointments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Therefore, it is not surprising that Sinanyan, with the blessing of his boss, announced a \u201cGlobal Armenian Summit,\u201d to be attended by supporters of the regime. Not surprisingly, Sinanyan has not invited some of the major Armenian Diaspora organizations, just because they oppose the regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In an astounding blow, both leaders of the Armenian Apostolic Church, His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians, and His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia, announced that they will boycott Sinanyan\u2019s poorly organized partisan \u201cSummit.\u2019 A spokesman for Karekin II said that the \u2018Summit\u2019 \u201ccould cause new sensitivities and tensions in our national life and will not be effective.\u201d Given the strained relations between the Church and Armenia\u2019s government, the Primate of the Diocese of Shirak, Archbishop Mikael Ajapahyan, bluntly asked: \u201cwhy should we [the Church] participate in their [the government\u2019s] PR action?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To make matters worse, Hetq, the website of investigative journalists in Armenia, reported that the Armenian government is paying $768,000 to an outfit named Factory Production LLC, to organize the \u2018Summit.\u2019 I read the contract which indicates that it was signed on Oct. 21, 2022, just one week before the \u2018Summit.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The lack of seriousness of the organizers of the \u2018Summit\u2019 is indicated by the fact that in four days of meetings only one hour is devoted to Artsakh, with the participation of representatives of the Artsakh government along with Armenia\u2019s Foreign Ministry and Security Council. This does not do justice to a critical issue which is of utmost importance for all Armenians, but sadly, not the government of Armenia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two \u2018panel discussions\u2019 are planned for the \u2018Summit\u2019: \u201cHow Diaspora communities organize for local and national-level representation within their countries\u201d and \u201cDiaspora representation within the Republic of Armenia’s governing structures: Models to consider.\u201d Both of these topics require serious discussions with the participation of major Armenian organizations and knowledgeable individuals who were not invited. I presented to Prime Minister Pashinyan, during my visit to Armenia in 2019, a concrete plan for the formation of a Diaspora Armenian Parliament which Pashinyan enthusiastically welcomed. Regrettably, along with many others, I have not received an invitation to present this important plan to the \u2018Summit.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are also three simultaneous \u2018Breakout Sessions\u2019: 1) \u201cAppointing Republic of Armenia state representatives in Diaspora communities,\u201d 2) \u201cModels for Diaspora representation in Parliament,\u201d and 3) \u201cModels for Diaspora participation in governance and within the executive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hopefully, a future Armenian government, which is less inclined to divide the nation, will reconvene a proper \u201cDiaspora-Armenia-Artsakh Conference\u201d with the participation of all Armenian organizations and influential individuals, regardless of their affiliation, to deal with the existential challenges facing Armenia and Artsakh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At a time when Armenia and Artsakh stand at the edge of the precipice, there is no need to play self-defeating partisan politics and divide the nation further. Recently, Turkey\u2019s Foreign Minister Mavlut Cavusoglu complained once again about the Diaspora\u2019s anti-Azerbaijan and anti-Turkey activism. The last thing Armenians need is having the Armenian government help Azerbaijan and Turkey to weaken and neutralize the Diaspora. No wonder I did not see on the agenda of the \u2018Summit\u2019 the topic: how to counter Azerbaijan\u2019s and Turkey\u2019s anti-Armenian activities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u2018 In a few days, we will witness once again an unfortunate manifestation of Armenia\u2019s leadership dividing the Armenian nation, while claiming to unify it. The High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, Zareh Sinanyan, has organized what he arrogantly calls a \u2018Global Armenian Summit,\u2019 to take place in Yerevan, Oct. 28-31. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4101,"featured_media":774085,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3488],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-760314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-harut-sassounian"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4101"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=760314"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760314\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/774085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=760314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=760314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=760314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}