Families under Pressure

[xBaron Dants]

You know what? I give up. I'm just going to claim that you're right so I don't need to speak about this anymore.

You seem to think of Artsakhtsis as some sort of economic burden, instead of Armenians.

In your way of thinking, the Artsakhtsi fedayis I met in Karindag this summer should just leave their house (which they had just renovated), their jobs, their lives to resettle in some borken down building for refugees in the outskirts of Yerevan like so many others did during the war. Who cares that they had lost brothers and sons in the war to liberate those lands, right? We'll just give them away, and they'll get over it.

I don't care who is to blame for the whole mess, whether it is Stalin, Gorbachev, Aliyev, Hitler, Clinton, Bush, Chirac, I really don't care. Fact is, our brothers and sisters in Sumgayt were massacred, and had we not retaliated, God knows where it would have went.

Artsakh, by the way, is also experiencing an economic growth, and its last elections, as I'm sure you were aware, impressed all european observers (the english observers even took an idea or two that they wanted to suggest to the British Parliament). Stepanakert is a completely redone city, that is cleaner and greener than even Montreal.

With the "silly road" that's being built, I get a feeling that local businesses will even thrive, as they will have easier access to larger markets in Yerevan, which will give them enough money to but more products from Yerevan and other cities.

Internationally, our position on Artsakh has never been as understood as it is today, and the possible presence of delegates from Artaskh in negociations, which were deemed impossible a few years ago, is now very likely to happen.

You know, maybe we should just give Gyumri to Turkey, it's quite an economic liability for us, isn't it? Imagine where all that Lincy money could have been invested...

[anileve]

Aww Baronchik, I think that you took all of this personally. I never stated that I don’t care about the people of Artsakh you are assuming things. In fact that is all that I was advocating, the well being of Armenian people, that is why I don’t agree with more bloodshed and wars. I simply stated the facts, even mentioned that I will allow you to be the judge, and I did make a statement that this issue is a large percentage political one.

Regarding blaming this mess on someone, I believe that the responsible party is the one that began the conflict, and then quietly stood and watched the conflict and anger that exploded in hate and murder. It’s like some indvidual ignited a spark and after the flame eroded everyone forgot who started the fire. Also I do believe that the right party should be appealed rather than Azerbaijan it should be Russia, since they always seemed to be supporting Azerbaijan due to their interest in oil.

Please don’t get so heated, we are having a discussion on history and current events no one should be hostile and aggressive. Please disagree if you will but don’t allow your personal emotions to get in a way of a diplomatic approach, not a good practice for a future ambassador of Armenia if I may note.

[xBaron Dants]

Originally posted by anileve Aww Baronchik, I think that you took all of this personally. I never stated that I don’t care about the people of Artsakh you are assuming things. In fact that is all that I was advocating, the well being of Armenian people, that is why I don’t agree with more bloodshed and wars. I simply stated the facts, even mentioned that I will allow you to be the judge, and I did make a statement that this issue is a large percentage political one.

Regarding blaming this mess on someone, I believe that the responsible party is the one that began the conflict, and then quietly stood and watched the conflict and anger that exploded in hate and murder. It’s like some indvidual ignited a spark and after the flame eroded everyone forgot who started the fire. Also I do believe that the right party should be appealed rather than Azerbaijan it should be Russia, since they always seemed to be supporting Azerbaijan due to their interest in oil.

Please don’t get so heated, we are having a discussion on history and current events no one should be hostile and aggressive. Please disagree if you will but don’t allow your personal emotions to get in a way of a diplomatic approach, not a good practice for a future ambassador of Armenia if I may note.

Eh, diplomatic shiplomatic. As Jean Chrétien said, "if I had been politically correct during my career, I wouldn't have survived as long as I have".

My point is not who to blame. My point is that the end result was the survival of the Artsakh Armenians' being at risk. You have still not explained what you think would have happened to the Artsakhtsis had there not been war. We were able to liberate Artsakh, and as much as Aliyev and his crew talk about "re-liberating" Karabakh, there will not be war, not in the present conditions anyways. And no matter what the final agreement is (if it is to be reached in the near future), it is safe to say that it will be Armenians who will have the final say on whatever goes on in Artsakh. Therefore, we must ensure that our brothers and sisters who have lived there for thousands of years also get a chance to develop. Which leads yet again to the construction of the road.

Even if Armenia undoubtedly paid tremendous amounts of money during this war, it was left with no other viable option. Also, had we not retaliated, it would have created a huuuuuge amount of refugees leaving their homes in Artsakh, and resettling in unsanitary buildings around Yerevan. The liberation of these lands allowed the Artsakhtsis to keep their homes. I keep on bringing the example of the fedayis I met this summer, but I do not see these people being in a better situation than they are in today if they had left Artsakh 10-12 years ago. They built their house in 1998, and the man was planning to add a second floor this year. And with the amount of sacrifice these people had done to save their homes, and the fact that they have absolutely noooo regret despite their heavy losses proves that this is not some government-led competition.

There, I tried being more polite this time.



P.S. Have you been to Stepanakert lately? Something tells me that you would be very pleasantly surprised.