Editor’s Note: The following remarks were delivered during a protest outside the Armenian Embassy in Washington, DC on November 9 as part of the AYF-Eastern Region’s participation in the pan-Armenian youth resistance movement launched by the ARF Bureau Office of Youth Affairs in Armenia.
A year ago, Pashinyan surrendered Artsakh, signed away our lands, sacrificed our future. Let us be clear.
This was a defeat for our nation, for Armenians in Artsakh, across Armenia, and around the world.
But not for Nikol. Nikol Pashinyan got what he wanted.
Listen to his own words. Read his own writings. Look at his own actions. The facts bear out this painful truth: Pashinyan never wanted Artsakh. He said so in his book when he called Artsakh a liability.
He surely never respected Artsakh. He demonized Artsakh’s citizens and civic leaders, dragging them down to build himself up. He absolutely never protected Artsakh. He failed to prepare for war and did nothing to guard Artsakh against attack. And, when attacked, never defended Artsakh.
He told Armenians he was winning – lied to our faces, while secretly surrendering our lands, lands we held and lands brave souls were still defending.
That – sadly – has been the legacy of Nikol Pashinyan – weakness, lies, and surrender.
When our nation needs just the opposite: strength, truth and solidarity.
The strength to say “enough” and stop the surrender of our sovereign homeland – Artsakh, Syunik, foreign corridors and more.
The truth that Azerbaijan and its Turkish ally are not misunderstood neighbors to be appeased but rather genocidal killers to be resisted.
The solidarity to awaken our nation and rally our people to our common defense.
Sadly, today, Nikol is doubling down on weakness, lies and surrender. The only lesson he’s learned – after a year of relentless Armenian losses – is that he can still somehow distract from his own failures at the hands of foreign enemies by demonizing his fellow Armenians.
An expert at injecting venom and hate into Armenian hearts, he abandons Armenian prisoners held by Azerbaijan yet imprisons Armenians who dare to speak the truth.
A “tough guy” at home, he uses the Armenian treasury and armed forces to beat his own family.
A craven coward – of the most spineless sort – when it comes to the Turks and Azeris who actually threaten Armenia.
This liar, this coward, asks us today to believe that his new concessions will bring new opportunities. He asks us to accept that his further surrender of Armenian soil – of Armenian sovereignty – will usher in a new age of peace and prosperity.
He was lying a year ago, and he’s lying now. He knows it, and so do we.
Thankfully, a new generation of young Armenians is turning the tide from weakness to strength, from lies to truth, from surrender to solidarity.
Our fellow Armenians across the world protested today…protested against the Turkification of Armenia, against reckless concessions, against temerarious corridors and against the callous treatment of 200 heroes still held by Azerbaijan. Armenians protested in Greece, California, Canada, France, Lebanon, South America and Armenia.
We will resist the Turkish and Azeri governments and their actors, and we will reject the divisive and destructive policies of the current Armenian regime. We will no longer tolerate Pashinyan’s betrayal of Armenia.
And this is only the beginning of our pan-Armenian resistance movement.
The Armenian Youth Federation is the largest Armenian youth organization representing our diaspora. Our dedication to a free, independent and united Armenia is unmatched.
And we are a generation ready to protect Armenia. A generation unwilling to dishonor our sacred martyrs – from Avarayr and Shushi to Sardarabad and Askeran. A generation that refuses to forsake our future – to betray generations yet unborn. A generation worthy of our history, worthy of our heritage, worthy of our hopes as a nation.
Heirs of a proud tradition – youth of a noble nation – this is our moment, this is our movement.
We will not bend. We will not bow. We will never break.
We will stand strong and true – shoulder to shoulder with youth across the Armenian world.
Ինչքան պետք լինի’ կկռվենք այսպես, Հայ ազգի համար ախպերս ու ես
It is in this spirit that the Armenian Youth Federation-Youth Organization of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation calls on Pashinyan to step back from his path of reckless surrender and to step down in the interests of the Armenian nation.
It is in this spirit the AYF will continue the fight against those who would see us wiped from history.
And it is in this spirit I call on all of you to make your voices heard, to never surrender, to never cease in your devotion to our homeland!
Արար աշխարհ թող իմանայ: Հայը միշտ կայ և կը մնայ:
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