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Remarks on the 21st Anniversary of Armenian Independence Day
On August 23rd 1990 the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR) Supreme Council adopted Armenia’s Declaration of Independence, whereby the country’s independence process was launched. By the Declaration, Armenian SSR was renamed the Republic of Armenia. The very next day, that is, on August 24, the law on the country’s flag was adopted, whereby the tricolor was recognized as Armenia’s national flag.
A year later, on September 21, 1991, Armenia held its referendum on independence, and, as a result, 95 percent of the participants voted in favor of Armenia’s independence.
For the first time in many centuries, after being under the oppression of various invaders, Armenia gained independence in 1918: the Armenian Nation established its Republic. It was then that the cohesion of Armenians allowed stopping the advance of the Ottoman Empire. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union we regained our independence. We are quite a young nation, having been ready to defend national sovereignty and provide security for our citizens.
For many nations of the world statehood is just a dream. We are proud that we have it now. And it is quite natural because it signifies an exceptional event which we had waited for a long time, which we had dreamed about for centuries and for which the best sons and daughters of our nation had sacrificed their lives. We lived and struggled as independent Armenia since 1991; this is the new mentality and the new political thinking for more than 20 years.
For me personally, September 21st is a significant day because on that very day we changed our self-assessment. On that day, we told all neighbors, friends close and distant, as well as foes, that we will exist eternally; that we had interests and goals; that we would defend fiercely ourselves, our interests and would pursue our national goals. On the other hand, our Republic had adopted the most advanced ideas, democratic rule, and had set the standard of human rights at the highest level. We adopted on the state level the universal human and national values, with the conviction that they complement each other.
Today, we are far from idealizing our Nation, but the most significant processes have already happened: psychologically and politically we are an independent Nation, taking care of our internal issues, as well as contributing our piece of efforts in combating contemporary challenges that the international community currently faces.
On this very significant occasion I would like to congratulate all Armenians throughout the World and wish us all peaceful work and the image befitting a proud citizen of the state, no matter where they live.
Taking this opportunity, I would also like to thank the people of all our friends and allies in the Coalition and outside of it, who have always supported our cause and helped in our efforts to rebuild our Country and to become a more prosperous Armenia. Certainly, our people’s ties have more profound historical roots, and especially the Armenian communities in your respective Countries have a great and visible role in this.
We remain deeply interested in the future development of relations with all your Nations, hoping that nobody will ever challenge your national security and independence, preventing you from peaceful prosperity.
May God bless you all and keep in peace your States and people.
LTC Arman Mkrtchyan
SNR Armenia to USCENTCOM
Tampa, Florida
This article original appeared in Coalition Magazine.
Moral Considerations in the Art-Restitution Lawsuit Between the Armenian Church and the Getty Museum
Moral Considerations in the Art-Restitution Lawsuit Between the Armenian Church and the Getty Museum
By Michael Toumayan
FLArmenians Guest Contributor
On Nov. 4, a Los Angeles Times article, written by Mike Boehm, reported that in an effort to get back the Canon Tables of the 13th-century Zeyt’un Gospels from the Getty Museum, the Armenian Diaspora has inaudibly put its weight behind the Armenian Orthodox Church’s quest to repatriate the allegedly stolen illuminated manuscripts back to Armenia, where the rest is housed at the Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts.
In 1915, as Armenians were subjected to a genocidal campaign by the Ottoman Empire, the intact codex changed hands for safekeeping. The eight pages that were torn from the larger codex during the Armenian Genocide ultimately resurfaced with an Armenian American immigrant family in Massachusetts, which sold them to the Getty in 1994.
The Getty Museum
Church attorneys were initially asked by the Getty to come up with solutions, and no less than 16 were put forth, only to be rejected by the Getty. Clearly the content of a proposal for a solution is a critical component to any successful resolution of conflict, but equally necessary is the timing of the efforts. Resolution can only be achieved if the parties are sincere in negotiating.
One wonders whether the Getty was ready and sincere when it asked church attorneys to come up with solutions. However, for the sake of being aware of our cognitive biases, we should also question whether both parties were engaging in positional bargaining, a negotiation strategy that involves holding on to a position, rather than interest-based bargaining in which parties collaborate to find a “win-win” solution to their dispute.
Nevertheless, on Nov. 3, 2011 a Los Angeles Superior Court judge denied the museum’s motion to dismiss the plaintiff’s claim that the Canon Tables are “wrongfully in the possession, custody and control” of the J. Paul Getty Trust, in the Getty Museum. Instead, the judge ordered the parties to four months of mediation, scheduling a March 2 resumption if the case isn’t settled. Citing that it was “not clear” whether the case would fall within statute-of-limitations law, perhaps the judge’s ruling may create the necessary conditions for the dispute to be ripe, and both will perceive that there is a suitable way out.
With a murky history and 90 years later, one cannot rule out the Getty’s possible legal possession and title to the disputed manuscripts. Simultaneously, the Getty’s concern in the preservation of world artistic heritage should not confine itself to considering just the legal entitlement. In mediation, where context is pivotal, there is an ethical obligation that rests on the museum taking into account the moral strength of the church’s case based on the circumstances during times of turmoil. Now is the time for the museum to exhibit consistency with its own core ethical values while also demonstrating sensitivity to the sacred values of the Armenian nation in its quest for restorative justice.
For the mediation to be successful, both must enter into it willingly and away from a zero-sum mindset, through a cooperative approach. The potential benefits of mediation will outweigh the steep cost of litigation, but more importantly, the long-term outcome will be a healed and expanded relationship between the two. This may open the path for a joint restoration project where both can take part in repairing the lost gleam of the larger Zeyt’un Gospels and have them showcased with other extraordinary works of Armenian art from the vaults of the church.
Michael Toumayan is an independnt political commentator on the Caucasus and Middle East affairs. He holds a master’s degree in conflict resolution and mediation from Tel Aviv University in Tel Aviv, Israel. He resides in Delray Beach, Florida.
SOURCE: http://www.armenianweekly.com/2011/11/29/moral-considerations/
Florida Armenians 