No end to suffering...

Similar to Turkey, which with recent symbolic bill on the Armenian Genocide in the Congress took the opportunity to stack up all political cards to halt any further developments, Azerbaijan followed the suit. In a recent press release the President of Azerbaijan once again voiced the intentions of Azerbaijan on the 'occupation' of Nagorno Karabakh. Again there is the threat of war over Karabakh between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Well, the geopolitics is the fate of Armenians. Sandwiched between Turkey, Azerbaijan and Iran, it is constantly victimized and an obstacle to larger expansionist goals of these countries. Turkey, in its shameful denial of the Genocide, is not oblivious of the vast historic territories that Armenia may try to request back at some point in time in the future. Azerbaijan is going to use its strategic reserves of oil and gas to blackmail those who are interested, namely the US, Turkey, Iran and possibly Russia to get Karabakh back. Anyone who knows history will simply throw up hands at the assertions of Azerbaijan that this region is 'occupied' by Armenians. What about just telling the simple truth that Azerbaijan like Turkey forcefully gained much of its current territory from no one else, but Armenians and Nagorno Karabakh was just one small parcel of land remained to be overtaken forever... Azerbaijan has been waiting for the Armenian Diaspora to spend billions of dollars on improvements in Karabakh and retake it easily with tanks... Armenia recognizes Nagorno Karabakh's right to self-determination (here). It is and should remain an autonomous republic. But since the vast majority of the population is Armenian, Azerbaijan's territorial claims are void.

What do the Armenians have in their political storage facility? What cards do they have? They have no oil, no gas, no natural resources. They only have a painful past, history filled with misery and constant terror... Perhaps, they also have an unending faith in themselves... They fight hard, in desperation trying to preserve the last remnants of their nationhood... All they have is the voice of the Diaspora, spread all over the world, echoing in the halls of justice...

Declaration of Independence

On August 23, 1990 the Soviet republic of Armenia proclaimed its Declaration of Independence (here). On September 23, 1991 it offically became independent after 99 percent of the voters voted for it. This marked a landmark because for the first time voting meant something and actually reflected the will of the people. While this movement was a natural consequence of the disintegration of the USSR and was nothing like the independence movements in Yugoslavia or India, it still meant much for the Armenian people. Historically, always subjugated and oppressed by others, this was the time when it could assert its political identity.

However, the years after the independence proved not easy. A country with few natural resources and no energy supplies, it found itself without electricity or gas for almost a decade. Homes were dark and cold, the lines for bread (bread that reminded of the famine during World War II-- not eatable) were long. The inability to provide for rudimentary needs of life soon resulted in the mass exodus of Armenians-- to Russia, Europe and further to the US. The war in the neighboring Georgia, absolute lack of any relations with Turkey and Russia's 'shock therapy' were going to affect the Armenian economy the most. To add to the troubles, the war in Nagorno Karabakh with Azerbaijan. If it had not been for the war, the fate of Armenians in that area would have been the same as that of the Armenians in Turkey in 1915, only this time in the hands of Azerbaijan. In those conditions and with the help of the Russian military, Armenians were able to protect their brethren in Karabakh. Of course, this war did result in the rise of nationalism in Armenia-- inevitable.

Therefore, the independence was a bitter drink. Of course, no one can say with certainty whether remaining a part of Russia would have changed anything or even would have been feasible, given the geography and location of Armenia. I personally always thought that Armenia should always be a part of Russia, to survive against the encroachments of Turkey and Azerbaijan and to be part of a larger community. It should be noted that while Armenia is independent, it still has very strong ties with Russia...

Armenia that always had the highest standard of living in the former USSR by all accounts, plummeted to the lowest. It has suffered from a corrupt government (instituted after the war in Nagorno Karabakh), which erased all the political opposition in the country and has suspended all the individual liberties. Now it is completely dependent on the Diaspora abroad and is not any different from a Third World country, except for its very high level of education and spiritual and cultural proximity to European ideals. By its history and culture, it is very similar to Greece.
Its location has defined the fate: always insecure and fearful, it is truly a phenomenon that it has survived, by preserving language, religion and even political consciousness...

Galina Starovoitova and Human Rights in Russia

Galina Starovoitova (1946-1998) was one of the bravest women politicians and human rights activists of our times. During the transitional and volatile post-Communist period she was one of the very few to voice concerns about human rights issues in Russian politics. Galina received her B.A. from Leningrad College of Military Engeneering in 1966 and her M.A. in social psychology from Leningrad University 1971. Her Ph.D. in social anthropology from the Institute of Ethnography, USSR Academy of Sciences (1980) explored ethnic groups in the modern Soviet city. She published extensively on anthropological theory and cross-cultural studies.

An early and outspoken critic of human rights abuses against Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, Starovoitova won a seat in the USSR Supreme Soviet from Yerevan, Armenia. In 1990, she was elected from Leningrad to the Russian Supreme Soviet, where she served that body until it was disbanded in 1993.
Starovoitova also served as Russian president Boris Yeltsin's advisor on ethnic issues in 1991 and 1992, though she resigned because of differences over Kremlin policy in the Caucasus.
In 1993-1994, Starovoitova was a Jennings Randolph senior fellow at the U.S. Institute of Peace where she completed Sovereignty After Empire: Self-Determination Movements in the Former Soviet Union. In 1994-1995 Galina was the Thomas J. Watson distinguished visiting professor at Brown University.
Elected to the Russian State Duma in 1995, Galina represented the 209th parliamentary district in northern St. Petersburg. In 1997, Galina published National Self-Determination : Approaches and Case Studies, a scholarly book on ethnic relations.
A fearless critic of Russia's policy in Chechnya, she used to say, "If in accordance with international standards we recognize the rights of nations to self-determination, we must recognize it also [within Russia]." Galina was shot to death around her apartment in St. Petersburg, in November of 1998. Her murder case is still unsolved. Perhaps, she was the very reincarnation of Zoya Kosmodemianskaya-- never afraid and always ready to fight.