Armenians promise to get Woodrow Wilson's ideas out of the coffin

A few days ago, Armenian and other media outlets reported on a strange appointment in the future administration of Donald Trump. A Christian preacher, a member of the Evangelical Church, and an associate of Trump named Joel Tenney announced that, after the inauguration of the 47th president in January, he will assume a certain position "aimed at strengthening and promoting relations between the United States and Armenia."

Tenney is known as a long-time and staunch supporter of Armenians. He has met with so-called "refugees" and has loudly accused Azerbaijan of "ethnic cleansing." Armenian media, sharing this news with enthusiasm, are already anticipating the beginning of a new era in the destructive activities of the Armenians in our region. Donald Trump himself has never shown much interest in the South Caucasus, but the presence of a significant number of pro-Armenian figures in his future team could alter this approach. The appointment of Preacher Tenney to oversee relations between the United States and Armenia is, of course, a very strange decision. And it's not about Tenney's personality as an Armenian sympathizer and Islamophobe, but rather about the very nature of the appointment. If this really happens, it means the diaspora managed to secure such an appointment for some merit. The United States cannot have individual preachers... sorry, staff members working with each country. There are almost two hundred countries on the planet, and Armenia is a speck of dust in the United States' interests in Eurasia. The Armenians are clearly being misled again, and they are happy about it.

By the way, the preacher has already started his work without waiting for an official appointment. A photo was posted on social media the other day, showing Tenney standing at the grave of the 28th President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson, with his hand resting on the coffin lid and smiling happily. This photo and gesture carry a certain message, and the timing is significant—November 22. On this day in 1920, President Wilson signed a report titled "The Decision of the President of the United States of America on the border between Turkiye and Armenia, Armenia's access to the sea, and the demilitarization of the Turkish territory adjacent to the Armenian border."

In Armenia, the so-called Wilson arbitration is remembered with tears. Over a hundred years have passed, yet the aftertaste left by the signing of this document still haunts the Armenians. For the first time in their real, not mythical history, they stood on the threshold of "Armenia from sea to sea." The president of such a powerful nation personally drew the borders of "Greater Armenia," despite the fact that the US Senate rejected by a vote of 52 to 23 the proposal of the Supreme Council of the Allied Powers to accept a mandate for Armenia. Wilson's drawing of the borders, as historians note, was already merely a symbolic gesture.

But Armenians still believe that everything can be returned. I remember that Armenia even considered challenging the legality of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline and the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, arguing that these projects violated the Armenian "borders" drawn by Wilson. Armenian pundits have argued that the American arbitration remains in force today and will continue to do so until Armenia concludes a new border agreement and formally recognizes its current border with Turkiye. Of course, this is absurd, but we are talking about our neighbors—and that explains everything.

In fact, the document signed by Wilson on November 22, 1920, never gained legal force. Those who try to promote a different interpretation in Armenian society are simply deceiving the Armenians. Wilson's arbitration was based on the Treaty of Sèvres. However, there's a problem—the Treaty of Sèvres was signed with Ottoman Turkey, and the Turkish Republic, established by Atatürk, did not recognize it. As a result, the agreement became nothing more than a worthless piece of paper, a napkin that sobbing Armenian nationalists wiped their noses on. Distressed, Woodrow Wilson even sent a fact-finding mission to Turkiye, which, as we would say today, recognized that there was no possibility of implementing pro-Armenian plans. The issue was closed. The Dashnaks attempted to reopen it, and in response, they received the Treaty of Alexandropol, signed by the same powers that had signed the Treaty of Sèvres, which deprived Armenia of any future territorial claims on Turkiye. In 1921, world powers concluded the Moscow and Kars Treaties, which established the current borders in the region. This marked the final blow to Armenian hopes. All they can do now is demand the denunciation of these treaties and deceive themselves by proving their invalidity.

The Treaty of Sèvres has long been relegated to the archives, and so has Wilson's report. However, Armenia continues to hope that Yerevan can resurrect the issue. Our neighbors are trapped in the past, so they come up with absurd ideas, such as denouncing the Moscow Treaty or bringing Sèvres back to life.

These hopes were reignited by yesterday's photo posted on social media. The preacher's pose at Wilson's grave gave the Armenians renewed hope that Wilson's arbitration might return to the agenda. Tenney posed there intentionally; it was a symbolic and promising gesture toward the Armenians. Today's date will be celebrated by Dashnaks and nationalists with great enthusiasm because Tenney's gesture confirmed their belief that "The West is with them." They are confident that Mr. Tenney will whisper the right words into Trump's ear, and everything will be decided in their favor. Once, the Armenians clung to Russia's skirt, believing that Mother Russia would give them Azerbaijani lands; now, they are clinging to America's hem in the hope that, for reasons still unclear, the new president, courting the Armenians, will lift the lid of the coffin and bring Woodrow Wilson's ideas back to life.

The preacher and, according to the media, the future head of a certain department dedicated to Armenia, Joel Tenney, with his gesture, has given the Armenians unrealistic hopes for this. However, their fulfillment is unlikely, but Armenians are used to being promised unrealistic things. They'll survive this too.