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Columnist for The Washington Post, journalist and writer
David Ignatius, who is so proud of his Armenian ancestry that he never mentions
his ancestral Armenian surname, called on the US president to protect Ruben
Vardanyan. They say that Trump promised to protect the Christians of Armenia
and can start with this guy who is currently on trial in Baku. In the eyes of
Ignatius of Armenian origin, Rubik Vardanyan is a man who "supported the
Armenian resistance", a "political prisoner", in a word,
something between Nelson Mandela and Che Guevara.
Ignatius became famous after he was the moderator of one of
the panel discussions in Davos in 2009 and did not allow the Turkish president
to speak. He brazenly cut Erdogan short, announcing that it was time for the
participants to have lunch, and immediately turned into a hero of the Armenian
people.
Today, the new hero of the Armenian people is trying to remind Trump of his populist pre-election statements. When he needed the votes of the Armenians, he, like other politicians before him, played the Armenian card. In order to tarnish the image of his rival, Harris accused her of inaction when "Christian Armenians were persecuted and forcibly evicted." At the same time, he used the non-existent name "Artsakh", which caused an enthusiastic squeal among the Armenians. During the election campaign, Trump promised Armenians a lot of things. A few days before the election, I personally called the Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia, Aram the First, and spared no epithets to describe the virtues of the Armenian community in the United States.
A few days ago, the same Aram the First, who apparently felt
that after that call he and Trump had become close, wrote a letter to the White
House asking for the release of Ruben Vardanyan and other riffraff. Whether
there was a response to this letter or what it was, the Armenian media did not
report. In any case, the Armenians do not intend to forget about Trump's
fervent assurances during the election period and are going to actively juggle
them in connection with the campaign against "anti-Christian
prejudices" announced by the new president. The Armenian side has always
tried to give the Karabakh conflict a religious connotation in order to
disguise its territorial claims to its neighbor and assemble a support group
from the so-called "Christian club." And then the opportunity
presented itself - Donald Trump himself, who renames the straits with a wave of
his hand, is going to lead a new "crusade."
The Armenians do not mind at all if the problems between Armenia and Azerbaijan are given a religious character by the decision of the White House, and the Armenians of Karabakh are declared martyrs for their faith. All this is unlikely to happen, but hope dies last, as you know. In recent years, and especially in the field of the Second Karabakh War, the topic of the "religious essence" of the conflict has been increasingly raised by the Armenian side. Previously, Armenian leaders themselves strongly rejected such assumptions, firmly assuring that the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict has no religious background. Initially, this thesis was only in reserve, since Yerevan was counting on the notorious right to self-determination to conceal the true essence of the conflict, which consisted in territorial claims against Azerbaijan. In order to receive worldwide recognition of the results of the First Karabakh War, the Armenians of Karabakh had to look in the eyes of the world community not as martyrs of faith, but as heroic fighters for freedom and democracy.
The situation began to change after the April 2016 fighting.
It was then that Yerevan realized for the first time that the occupiers'
affairs were bad and it was time to upgrade the ideological foundations of
claims against Azerbaijan. Already in July of the same year, at a regular
meeting of the Interparliamentary Assembly of Orthodoxy in Thessaloniki
(Greece), at the suggestion of the Armenian side and its allies, a resolution
was adopted with appropriate accusations against Azerbaijan. The Russian
Orthodox Church (ROC) had to justify itself in response to a letter from the
Azerbaijani Embassy in Moscow and admit, albeit in a roundabout way, that
"the Karabakh conflict is devoid of religious grounds and is political in
nature, and inciting ethnic hatred is a sin from the point of view of
Christianity and Islam."
Since the beginning of the Second Karabakh War, the
religious factor has become the main weapon of the occupier who realized his
impotence. A hysterical campaign began in various Western media, calling for a
"holy war" and "salvation of Christians." It did not help
to unite the West against Azerbaijan, because most countries of the Western
world think soberly and are not subject to hysteria. Only a few Armenian allies
and representatives of Islamophobic parties and organizations came to the
uproar, and this is not enough for a "crusade". Most importantly, the
United States and Trump were silent. By the way, Armenian experts recall this
today, who doubtfully accepted Donald Trump's current promises to "save
Christianity" in the face of Armenians in the South Caucasus.
During the 44-day war, the American weekly Newsweek
published an article entitled "Unite for the Future of Karabakh" by
the heads of the three main religious denominations of Azerbaijan. Muslim
leaders. The Orthodox and Jewish communities pointed out that no matter how
hard others tried to give a religious connotation to the escalated
confrontation between Armenia and Azerbaijan, this conflict has no religious
essence, and Azerbaijan does not play the role of a "Muslim occupying
country." It is noteworthy that at the same time, one of the four
patriarchs of the AAC Sahag also stated that what was happening was not an
interreligious confrontation, adding that "it is dangerous to turn
religion into an instrument of politics and try to set religions against each
other."
Very reasonable words. It is a pity that they were not heard
by representatives of European Christian parties, which joined forces in
putting pressure on Azerbaijan after the Second Karabakh War. With the
submission of these parties, biased resolutions were adopted in the parliaments
of several countries. After the 44-day war, the Armenians had no other hopes
except for the "Christian brotherhood." That's why it has seized on
the strange plans of the new head of the White House.
We will see how far the fight against "anti-Christian
prejudices" announced by Trump will affect Armenian wishes. So far, the
President of the United States is creating a new office, the United States
Commission on Religious Freedom. He announced this during the summit on
religious freedom in Washington. Given that the head of the White House talks a
lot about the "persecution of Christians," experts believe that this
will become a new pretext for interfering in the affairs of other states.
The Armenian people are counting on these trends in Donald
Trump's plans and his careless promises. It is even ready to forgive him for
his neutral position during the 44-day war if he keeps them. But something, including the very neutral
position, suggests that hopes will not be fulfilled.