The Armenian Crusade: The Vardanians are trying to play the religious card against Baku

"American Christians have a duty to help wherever they can. The American government has no such responsibilities outside its borders, and it must avoid foreign policy conflicts." "The situation is much more complicated. Armenia also persecutes Azerbaijani Muslims."

These reasonable words belong to the readers of the Christian Post website, which recently published another article by Ruben Vardanyan's son, David, calling for a crusade against Baku to free his father. Of the six comments under the article, the author of only one supported the call for Christians to "wake up," though not for the sake of some Vardanyan. American readers clearly did not get into the touching phrases of Vardanyan Jr., who tried to awaken sympathy and anger in their souls. In the old days, the Armenians managed to play on a religious chord, accompanying the pan-Armenian crying. But something has changed.

It is noteworthy that in his next tearful appeal to world Christianity, Vardanyan Jr. chose a new way to achieve his goal. He focused on hymns to Donald Trump, who should use his influence on Azerbaijan. Baku, they say, will not dare to refuse, as it listens to Washington. The author of the article asserts that on the eve of Christmas, Christians all over the world are watching and praying for the salvation of "Christian Armenians" and for actions to be taken, just as the myth of the "Armenian genocide" was once brought to life. He is sure that Trump can do it, if he wants to. In short, he must stand up for the "martyrs of the faith", who are war criminals, terrorists and financiers of terrorism in the world.

The last straw is an unreliable phenomenon. They grab onto it, realizing that it will break off when there is simply no other way out. Ruben Vardanyan, whose case continues to be considered in the Baku court, chose the religious factor as the last straw. This can be seen both in David's articles and in Ruben Vardanyan's own "messages to freedom." Take, for example, his last phone conversation with his son. According to the Armenian media, the conversation was sublime and full of spiritual instructions, which the "ex-Minister of State" instructed to convey to the entire Christian world. Interestingly, the conversation took place in early November and was replicated in all Armenian media and social networks, and in early December, the Armenian media brought it to light again. Apparently, at the insistence of the family, it was necessary to try again, since the first one did not work.

A WORD TO THE EXPERT

Rovshan Ibragimov, Political scientist, Professor at Hanguk University of Regional Studies (Seoul):

"Sometimes it seems to me that Ruben Vardanyan's son, who is now saving for his dad due to the fact that he is being fed by Azerbaijani taxpayers, made all this fuss just to show that he is not sitting idly by. Apparently, from time to time, Vardanyan puts pressure on his son, blackmailing him by disinheriting him if he does nothing to free him. And it is beneficial for Ruben Vardanyan's family that he continues to sit. Seriously, publishing an article demanding to unite for a new crusade to free all the "martyrs of the faith" who were allegedly innocently convicted on Muslim soil is ridiculous. Right now, in Armenia itself, there are clergymen behind bars who are much more suitable for this definition. An appeal for their release would be in the right place, but for some reason it is not there. As for the Christian Post itself, it is possible that Vardanyan uses this platform because it is anti-trump. There are two aspects. Everyone can see how good relations have developed between the United States and Azerbaijan today and how successfully they are developing. Furthermore, everyone knows that the office of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has recently opened in Baku. The headquarters of this church is located in the USA. In other words, Azerbaijan demonstrates that it has no problems with the Christian world. In such circumstances, it will be very difficult to give Vardanyan and other Armenian figures on trial in Baku an aura of martyrdom. Perhaps such theses will cause some emotions among housewives who will cry between cooking the first and the second. But it is not serious to expect that these conversations will have any effective political impact."

Azerbaijan, which belongs to the Muslim world, has no problems with the Christian world. Absolutely none. Only a blind person or a known liar can talk about the persecution of Christians in our country. Rovshan Ibrahimov very conveniently recalled the opening of the office of the Mormon Church in Baku in November, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which became the 39th non-Islamic religious community registered in Azerbaijan. Isn't it strange that a country that, according to Vardanyan's heir, has set the goal of exterminating all "native Armenian Christians" is registering a new Christian community and the construction of the second Catholic church in Baku has already begun? These factors are much more important for the Christian world than the fate of war criminals. And in the United States, despite biased reports on religious freedom, they know exactly what's what. Everyone knows about Vardanyan, his business, and his activities in Karabakh. 

A new role for Vardanyan began to be composed after Donald Trump spoke about protecting Christians and fighting against "anti-Christian prejudice" during the election campaign. Moreover, during that period he was in friendly contact with representatives of the Armenian Church and the Diaspora. The future president could not resist the temptation to get Armenian votes, which overtakes all US presidential candidates. The diaspora has well-established marketing in this regard, although in reality it cannot play any serious role.

So, based on Donald Trump's pre-election statements, Ruben Vardanyan's fans decided that the Christian factor could solve the issue. Various Christian organizations and Islamophobes immediately got involved, and statements and appeals began to pour in. Trump was constantly reminded that he had promised to save Christianity and that "Christian Armenians were persecuted and forcibly evicted" in Azerbaijan. Rubik himself hastily embarked on a rebranding, even losing weight in order to better match the new image.

The thesis about the religious nature of the conflict was exploited by the Armenian side after the Second Karabakh War. After the war of the early 90s, after total ethnic cleansing and the destruction of dozens of mosques, Armenians tried to avoid such definitions. They needed the occupation to look like a "liberation war of the freedom-loving Karabakh people," and not a feast of xenophobia and misogyny. In those years, the religious factor was not beneficial to the occupier. Even the bloody Serzh Sargsyan warned about this and blasphemously talked about peace between religions and the preservation of spiritual heritage. I remember that in 2011, at a meeting of the Inter-Religious Council of the CIS in Yerevan, the scoundrel stated without shame that "it is immoral and unacceptable to destroy cultural, historical and spiritual monuments under the guise of conflict. Armenia fulfills its obligation to preserve such monuments and, if necessary, restore them." When he said this, he meant only the filmed Blue Mosque, but not the 300 mosques that were razed to the ground in Yerevan and its surroundings, and, of course, he did not keep in mind the 70 mosques destroyed in the occupied territories.

The religious factor became beneficial to the Armenians after the 44-day war in order to present it as a campaign against Christians, and not as a liberation war for the return of internationally recognized territories. This thesis was widely exploited in the hope of forcing the West and the Christian world to condemn Baku and not recognize the results of the war. That, according to calculations, should have led to sanctions and the return of Armenians to Azerbaijani lands. Such ambitious goals were not achieved, and the religious factor was attached to the cases of war criminals and separatist leaders detained in 2023.

Attempts are still ongoing. In a short article, Vardanyan Jr. repeated the word "Christians" in almost every sentence.  The idea that the "ex-minister of State" of the separatists is trampling on the rights of all Christians in the world shines through in every paragraph. And the further you go, the less convincing his writing becomes. It is very sad that my granddaughter did not see my grandfather, but it's not about my grandfather's religion, but about his deeds. It would be better for Grandfather to continue to engage in his fraudulent business and not stick his nose into politics, where he managed to inherit a lot in a short time. He was much better at cheating in business than cheating in politics.

Vardanyan Jr. is mistaken when he claims that the entire Christian world is watching the fate of his father and other "Armenian Christian hostages." The world is not watching. But his dad was right-light always overcomes darkness. And that's why he ended up in the dock and will answer for everything he did.