Tigran Khzmalyan: "We should not be outposts, we should be a bridge"

The representative of the initiative group of the opposition political movement Sardarapat and film director, Tigran Khzmalyan talks about confrontation within and outside Armenia, the Diaspora, and the mission of the Armenians in the world in an interview to VK.

- What are the most important challenges and threats with regard to Armenia that you see today?

- The main threat is neither political, economic or ideological. All of them are among the top priorities, but the most relevant threat, I think, is the demographic threat, manifested in the form of progressive migration. People of an active age are leaving Armenia, because of all the above reasons. By the way, emigration at this stage is not even caused by the socio-economic situation, but rather by the peculiarities of Armenian psychology. Our nation cannot be reconciled with social injustice, with what it considers unjust. In the first half of the 1990s, when everyone was living in harsh conditions, there were less people leaving than nowadays, and the social sphere was relatively prosperous. The Armenian authorities are now cleverly using an external threat to suppress social uprisings. The dissatisfied protesting street vendors in Yerevan, the drivers of Gyumri, pregnant women, environmentalists and students mean that Armenian society is in a state of ferment. One has to be an idiot to say that a social revolt in Armenia is impossible.

- Recently, the politician Ashot Manucharyan stated that the struggle between the Anglo-Saxon and the Russian value system for Armenia will allow the thinking part of the Armenian community to find new ways out of this difficult political situation. What is your opinion on this?

- It would be a terrible mistake to start looking for our national benefits and interests in the struggle for influence over us between the US and Russia, between the East and West. Although (fortunately or unfortunately) there is not only Western and Russian influence in the region, the interests of China and Iran are also visible. By the way, they are clearly manifested in the Armenian-Georgian region of Javakheti, which engages the attention of China as well, although it does not advertise it. Our national values and interests should be based on a policy of centrism, manifested in the priority of Armenian property and interests over other values. Many, unfortunately, often confuse politics with fundamental human and national values, mixing it all in with the political situation and prostitution. At the same time, Armenia has strategic interests, which coincide with the interests of Russia in the region. In common with the West we have human values and respectively, interests. Armenia is not a Russian outpost in the region, as it might seem to many people. Armenia is an outpost of European civilization and this is not the same thing. Therefore, Armenia should not see itself solely in military and economic alliances, because, whether we like it or not, we have our own role and mission in this world. Accordingly, if we stop this mission, then, following the examples of some mighty civilizations - Rome, Byzantium, ancient Greece - which crashed, we will simply disappear from the world arena.

- What, in your opinion, is the mission of the Armenians?

- This is an independent and quite huge humanitarian issue. In the Armenian translation of the Bible the Armenians were called the sons of Torgoma. This name was preserved in several languages in the form of the word "targmanich” which means “translator”. It is this particular word which denotes the mission of the Armenians: a nation of interpreters not only linguistically, but also culturally - as translators between civilizations, between the East and West, North and South. This is the mission of our culture, literature, history, architecture, poetry, commerce and politics. Therefore, we should not be the outposts; we need to be translators and bridges. If we realize this mission, many problems will not seem insurmountable to us any more, and many unions will cease to be contradictory. The understanding of its mission and historical responsibility is the most important.

- Let’s ground our conversation. I would like to know your opinion on the latest twists and turns in the fight between the coalition of the Republicans and the “Prosperous Armenia” party.

- I cannot name either of the groups as parties, even at a stretch, since they do not reflect the interests of society. These are economic factions, hastily formed around groups of oligarchs or sometimes even a single individual. We've all seen the process of formation of such parties in contemporary history, and how they collapsed in a single night. Therefore it is wrong to talk seriously about them, politically wrong, since these groups are exclusively engaged in protecting their economic interests. In this case, the Prosperous Armenia party and the Republican Party are protecting the interests of 50 families who own the national heritage in Armenia. For the sake of their political and economic domination these groups are creating pseudo-parties to show their legitimacy to the West. They do not deceive anyone, as their interests are reduced to economic competition, which often turns into a squabble or a quarrel. The temporary unions or differences between them have no influence on the destiny of the country.

- You mentioned pseudo parties. Will you characterize the recent activities of the leader of the People’s Party of Armenia, Tigran Karapetian?

- To talk about Tigran Karapetovich, means not to talk about him, but about the people who are following his appeal, although they can follow someone else’s appeal as well. It should be understood that this phenomenon is not static, it is fluid. Therefore, Tigran Karapetyan depends on these masses to a much greater extent than they depend on him. We do not accept snobbish poses with respect to this man. The Sardarapat movement considers itself to be an ally of those who sincerely want to change the existing occupation. The essence of Karapetyan will be revealed in the speed and logic of his future actions. My personal opinion is incorrect, since people tend to change constantly. When the TV channel “ALM” was being shut down, which caused some unrest, it became clear that Karapetyan has some chance. Time will show what advantage he will take of this chance.

- Is Sardarapat undertaking some steps to attract the Diaspora to Armenia?

- Given that, over the past 20 years, more than a million Armenian citizens became part of the Diaspora, a substantial part of the Diaspora (I'm not talking about the generation of people who fled the genocide in 1915) actually did not even leave Armenia. To understand this, just look at their blogs and comments: people are more connected to living in Armenia, than in other countries. The idea of creating a bicameral parliament in Armenia is not new, we talked about this just six months ago. It's the right idea. Another issue is that the authorities are trying to mould the Diaspora according to their own image and likeness, they are simply not capable of doing it another way. They take bribes from Armenians to come to Armenia for their right to start a business in the republic, begging them for presents. These authorities have managed to beg money from Kirk Kerkorian (a mogul in the automotive, aviation and cinema industry, that is – the three pillars of the US economy) for repairs and replacement of the roads and curbs. These areas were chosen only because they made it possible to assign half of the funds provided. Unfortunately, the intellectual level of the Armenian authorities allows them to limit their relations with the Diaspora to such idiocies. However, we hope that, sooner or later, we will manage to change the level and content of relations with the Diaspora. We have close contacts with compatriots across the globe; we are also closely monitoring the activities of the Government of Western Armenia in exile.

Interview by David Stepanyan, Armenia. Exclusively for VK