Armenia

RFE/RL reports that Richard Hovannisian, one of the Armenian Diaspora’s most respected Genocide Historians has launched a scathing attack on the Armenian Government and the President himself. Very few local Armenians would disagree with what Hovannisian is quoted as saying. However, it is very rare that prominent Armenians in the Diaspora speak out like this.

Richard Hovannisian, a senior professor of Armenian and Near Eastern History at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), claimed that domestic policies pursued by the administration of President Robert Kocharian have alienated a large part of the country’s population and the influential Armenian community in the United States.

“Watching from the outside, we follow with pain the continuing electoral and other illegalities committed in Armenia,” he told RFE/RL in an interview. “We would have loved to see freedom of speech and thought in Armenia, instead of repression, secret police persecution and lies spread by state media.”

However, it should be pointed out that the scholar is the father of Armenia’s U.S. born first Foreign Minister, Raffi Hovannisian, who has found himself the target of personal attacks on his name through State TV as well as from the state security apparatus. Hovannisian has even been evicted and locked out of his own office allegedly as part of a campaign to frustrate his plans to contest the 2007 parliamentary elections.

“If Raffi Hovannisian had kept silent, acted like a ‘benign’ Diaspora Armenian here and did not attempt to engage in politics, they would have not only kept his office open but also accepted and shown him on their television,” said Richard Hovannisian. “I feel sorry for the individuals who are now suppressing him. If they had been in his place, they would not have even thought about moving to Armenia [from the United States in 1990].”

The veteran scholar claimed that his critical views on Armenia’s current leadership are shared by a growing number of Armenian-Americans. “I personally know dozens of individuals who say that they will not donate money to Armenia anymore because they have lost faith,” he said.

[…]

[…] we must not become a failed state. If this state also fails, we will have no future,” he added. “As long as our rulers fail to realize that they are not on the right track, that they must accept the people’s will, that they must allow political freedoms, I won’t be able to say that there will be positive change in this country.”

No kidding. I hope the guys at the MCA are keeping note of all of this although many are already critical of Armenia’s inclusion. Unfortunately, Jeff at Voch Me Ban probably got it right in a recent post.

It’s payday! Armenia gets a nice check for $235 million. Sec of State Rice says, “These are important commitments and the United States stands ready to help Armenia to ensure that its upcoming elections are free and fair,” Kocharian is laughing all the way to the bank.

Still, the ANCA apparently put on a nice show of theatrics in Washington to mark the occasion. Business as usual in Armenia and the Diaspora then…

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 30th, 2006 at 9:10 am and is filed under Diaspora, Caucasus, Elections, Democracy, Armenia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.