BY APPO JABARIAN
Executive Publisher / Managing Editor
USA Armenian Life Magazine (English-language print edition)
USA Armenian Life E-Newsletter (Electronic Distribution — e-blast)
Hye Kiank Armenian Weekly (Armenian-language print edition)
USA Armenian LifeFACEBOOK
www.armenianlife.com
Several months have passed since the 44-Day Turkish-Azerbaijani Anti-Armenia Aggression in 2020.
Although active hostilities have halted in Artsakh Republic, Azerbaijan is now instigating another war this time against Armenia proper.
or several months now, Azerbaijan’s despotic ruler Ilham Aliyev has been steadily increasing his war rhetoric against Armenia boasting that if Armenia doesn’t cede a free corridor to Baku in its southern region effectively cutting off Armenia from its southern neighbor Iran, “then the Azerbaijani forces will do it by military force.”
Had Armenian armed forces been better prepared and dealt Azerbaijan a second major defeat similar to the First Artsakh Liberation War (1992-1994), Baku would not have dared to poke its nose inside Republic of Armenia’s sovereign territory.
Numerous American Armenian readers and TV viewers of USA Armenian Life, Hye Kiank Armenian weekly print editions, armenianlife.com, USA Armenian Life Facebook Page, USA Armenian Life E-Magazine (e-blast edition) and USA Armenian Life TV are increasingly asking “What did go wrong during the 44-Day Turkey/Azerbaijan Aggression Against Armenians in 2020?”
As the public discussion and the collective reminiscence about the aftermath of the tragic war is still ongoing, American Armenians – and for that matter, the entire Diaspora, now have the opportunity to positively influence Armenia’s strategic reassessment of itself as a country and a sovereign state in the Caucasus region.
Like a Damocles sword, a big question hangs over every concerned Armenian in the homeland and diaspora: What caused Armenians’ military defeat inflicting humongous human and territorial losses?
Other key questions that are being asked:
Who are the ultimate culprits?
For over three decades, Why did the top military leaders in Armenia choose to ignore numerous red flags about Armenia’s unpreparedness in a new military confrontation or an all-out war?
Were all the Armenian generals on the same page? Or, an important segment was co-opted by internal and external forces that wittingly or unwittingly undermined the Armenian war efforts?
The global community of USA Armenian Life readers and TV viewers rightfully expect from their most reliable news and analysis source to investigate and bring to light the dark chapters and the hidden factors to the surface in order for the world Armenians to be better prepared for new challenges ahead.
In this regard, USA Armenian Life renews its commitment to its readers to bring to them the Truth, and the key factors that have potentially contributed to the 2020 debacle. The analysis shall be conducted jointly by the editorial team and top military expert analysts.
The way it’s going to be done is that top military experts are going to have a first-person analysis of this critical issue. This is on-the-scene reporting and we have an obligation to you. You, the readers, ultimately, you’re my bosses. You’re free to assist and perhaps encourage those of the same mind to help Armenia in this preposterous period in time to make a sound reassessment of its strategic position in the world.
And with respect to Turkey and Azerbaijan, re-evaluation of Armenia’s economy and its economic engines is in order.
In this respect, it is vitally important for French Armenians and American Armenians to empower Washington and Paris to come forward with an economic growth plan – a Marshall Plan for Armenia that can help the Armenian economy become much more dynamic, more diverse and more productive; generating better results in terms of GNP (Gross National Product) and ultimately enable Armenia and Artsakh mount a viable demographic campaign to expedite the growth of Armenia’s population in double digits for the short- and long- terms through a combinations of means such as higher birth rates and sustainable repatriation.
As the post-war period continues to be marked by recriminations, fact-finding should serve as our nation’s guiding light.
Currently, the former regime forces — Pres. Ter-Petrosyan, Pres. Kocharyan and Pres. Sargsyan, have ganged up against the current Pashinyan regime blaming the latter for ‘conducting a losing war against Armenia’s archenemies Turkey and Azerbaijan.’
The Pashinyan regime is making counter-accusations against the former kleptocratic oligarchs, of large-scale misappropriations and outright siphoning of the Armenian Army’s budget during the course of the past 30+ years.
A third force – Armenian patriotic forces that constitute a huge majority both in Armenia and Diaspora is increasingly becoming outspoken and are insisting that all four regimes Ter-Petrosyan (1991-1998), Kocharyan (1998-2008), Sargsyan (2008-2018) and Pashinyan (2018-present) undergo full investigation by a independent commission.
Patriotic supporters of the Armenian republic are also accusing several Armenian generals of being ‘left-overs from the old oligarchic regimes.’
A number of generals and operatives of the three former presidents, are also being accused for actively sabotaging Armenian armed forces throughout the war period,
- by “actively going to various warfronts carrying out acts of sedition among Armenian soldiers;”
- by mounting a false propaganda among the frontline soldiers that “Pashinyan has already sold out these lands to the enemy. Therefore, there is no use for fighting and dying for nothing;” and that “either way the lands of Artsakh are going to be ‘returned’ to Azerbaijan;”
- by obstructing the Armenian soldiers’ enlistment and/or deployment process in various regions of Armenia and Artsakh;
- by blocking convoys of Armenian soldiers’ passage to the frontline;
- by declining to authorize the deployment of military high-tech systems to free Artsakh’s airspace from the enemy’s military drones and fighter jets;
- by committing “treason through unauthorized sharing of military secrets with Armenia’s enemies.”
Are these accusations all true?
What if only a certain percentage of these accusations are true? Would that be enough to influence the disastrous outcome of the war?
In order for the Armenian nation to move on to a better future, it is imperative that the Truth is uncovered. Because Armenians must learn from their individual and collective mistakes. They must see to it that a new set of mechanisms for good governance are established in order to help Armenia eradicate corruption, nepotism, mismanagement, mediocre statecraft and outright hijacking of the will of the People through derailment of democratic processes at every level of government.
As an integral part of the nation, the readers of USA Armenian Life and the free Armenian press in the United States and the wider Diaspora deserve to be well-informed of the facts on the ground.