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following the grand opening of Dr. Aram Akopyan’s new Wellness clinic on June 27, Asbarez’s Allen Yekikan sat down with the traditional healer to talk in more detail about his life, outlook, and the ancient art of traditional medicine.
The Heqim
A.Y.: Tell me about yourself. Where are you from? What is your background?
A.Y.: What’s a Heqim?
A.Y.: Can you tell me about traditional Armenian medicine?
A.Y.: And this predates Western medicine?
A.A.: Yea. This is pre-western medicine. Western Medicine didn’t even exist at the time. Allopathic medicine didn’t even know what a microscope was or what a bacteria was. And at this time we have eastern medicine discovering the progression of the disease from outside to inside the body–the courses it takes, what organs it affects, and how to prevent, cure or heal it, all with natural substances.
A.Y.: What are some of these natural remedies or herbal drugs, which they would produced and use in Ancient Armenia?
What is Qi?
A.Y. Does the concept of qi (pronounced chi), or something similar to it, exist within the Armenian tradition?
A.Y.: But how can stones, or other things or mountains generate it?
A.A.: Because everything is living. Everything is carbon based. What is the difference between organic and inorganic material? Think about it, we live in a Carbon world; everything is made of carbon; everything is organic. But go even further. Break it down to atoms; what’s in the atoms? Electrons, protons, and neutrons; break that down even further and you get quarks.
The smaller the particles get, the more modern science achieves the same fundamental discussion ’sthat no matter exists. Matter is energy that is vibrating at different frequency ranges. As long as you are vibrating, you are in a cyclical and morphing state and thus not a static item. Given that description, everything is living even though it’s not moving or breathing.
I think we are so limited in what we define as living. We consider something living it breathes or thinks. I think therefore I am; so if you don’t breathe or think you aren’t alive? No. Everything is alive and everything is connected. That is the fundamental difference between modern dogmas of a self-contained and physically limiting universes, versus the teachings of true Christianity and true Taoism, which is a philosophy of living. So scientifically I think that is the key point in describing chi.
Now, if we assume that that description describes chi significantly and correctly, then the hypothesis follows that everything that we touch and interact with has chi. Now, because it is also biomorphic, it could be in different states of existence. After all, we have four different states of matter: aolid, liquid, gas, plasma. Look at Plasma. It’s matter in a state of flux–in a state between solid, liquid and gas. So the point being, if matter changes, energy changes. By being biomorphic, it’s constantly and quite regularly changing its state of existence. So given that, your human body, or the plant that you are walking by has chi. And that chi, gives it life, gives it existence, and gives it the ability to think. chi gives you the ability to comprehend, just like it gives a plant the ability to convert oxygen into sugar. The chi in the molecule of a rock will keep the molecules in a shape so that it can be a rock and stay in that solid state. That is a scientific explanation of chi.
Now for a spiritual explanation of chi; if you really think about it chi can be understood from the perspective of intention or intent. Einstein had a really interesting saying. He once said that the concept if you think you exist should be expanded upon at a much greater level. Because If you intent, if you question things, then you exist. The concept of questioning is an important part of the spirit. What separates us from other entities like this rock or this chair is that we have the ability of intent–to question our existence, to participate. That is chi from a spiritual perspective. It’s the intent.
How you use your intent, brings us to today. There are people who use their chi, or their intent, to live a normal, happy, content, and balanced life. But there are people who use their intent for purposes of acquisition, or even destruction. These are different applications of your chi or your intent.
A.Y.: You spoke about spirituality; what about God and religion, is there a connection between God, or the concept of god, and chi?
A.Y.: What’s the connection between the spiritual aspect of chi and the more biomorphic, physical aspect that you described? For example, what I have always thought of as when you are unhealthy physically, you’re outlook is also polluted by that, and vise versa, when you have a polluted outlook it affects the body. So what is the connection between the two, how do you know which is happening?
A.A.: If we go back to our basic definition of what chi is–that it is a biomorphic energy, we realize that everything has power to it. Everything has a measurable energy to it. Even thought has measurable power and energy to it. So it’s safe to say that you will feel how you think.
Emotions have energy. Anger has energy. You can literally measure anger. There was an experiment done in the U.S. where they had a huge stadium where they were collecting electrons from the surrounding air. They had everyone collectively think of one positive idea and one negative idea and it manifested in the way the energy patterns in the air changed. So thought and emotion have a direct correlation on the vibration of that energy. So if you are not thinking pure things, or are not thinking positively, it generates disease and sickness.
Now the reverse of that; how does disease and sickness affect the mind? Well, the body is a system. It is an integral, fully functional machine, designed with different parts, doing different functions. But it goes a little bit deeper than that because each organ has its own energetic blueprint if you will. It can pollute the overall flow of the energy if its not functioning properly. Take for example the car. If your carburetor is dirty, your engine isn’t going to perform well because it is not filtering fuel properly. So from a comparative perspective, sickness somewhat induces, if you will, toxicity or pollutants into your spiritual wellbeing.
A.Y.: So being healthy is basically a combination of getting physically back in tune with your energy, while also having a positive spiritual intent?
Qi Gong for health
A.Y.: What is Qi Gong (Chi Gong)? Can you explain it to me?
A.Y.: Are there health benefits associated with chi gong?
A.Y.: What are some of the affects of practicing chi gong that you have witnessed in your students or other people in general?
A.A.: I have seen many instances. When I was in China I saw people that would basically live with terminal cancer, with the help of chi gong. As women approach menopause, interesting things happen. Women have more estrogen by nature; because they are feminine they are a Yin energy. Men have more testosterone and less estrogen, by nature. As both men and women hit “menopause,” it shifts. Women tend to lose estrogen and gain an imbalance of testosterone, while men tend to develop more estrogen and lose testosterone. This usually occurs around the age of 40-50. With chi gong, there have been numerous studies where it literally reverses that trend.
A.Y.: But how does the same exercise, practiced by a male and a female, produce the opposite results.
A.Y: So is chi gong considered a part of Eastern Medicine? or is it a Martial Art?
A.A.: The root of chi gong, was an exercise that was developed by the Taoist monks. As they practiced Buddhism and Taoism in ancient China, they discovered that mind exercises alone, and mental meditations alone, were not sufficient to keep their bodies in physical health. So they developed exercise routines to cultivate physical energy and to cultivate their physical chi in addition to the mental chi. Chi gong was born from those exercises. All martial arts were actually derivatives of these efforts by these monks, because ultimately they realized that these exercises can be converted into fighting form–to defend, to protect.
Back in those years, when clans and tribes were constantly feuding, there were a lot of cross border attacks, with one or another conqueror always coming in. So these temples needed to defend themselves. They therefore developed many techniques to defend themselves.
One in particular, medical chi gong was developed by the monks in healing the sick and the injured because they discovered that as you cultivate your own chi, you can use that chi to heal yourself, and as you develop more and more power with it, as you develop your mastery of your chi, you can then project that energy, project that chi and offer healing to other people. So that’s why chi gong, in today’s traditional medicine, especially in the oriental medicine, is used extensively as an adjunct to treatment protocols, such as acupuncture, herbal medicine. These are just tools that are available to your average practitioner of traditional medicine.
The secrets of acupuncture
A.Y.: Can you talk about acupuncture? What is acupuncture? How does it work?
A.Y.: But why take that approach? Aren’t the symptoms a direct consequence of the diseases? When you go to a regular physician with a sickness or an infection, they tell you to take X or Y pill to treat the symptoms and make them go away. Doesn’t that heal you?
A.A.: No. The body knows how to heal itself. We are the ones that screw it up by breathing in toxic fumes or drinking too much, eating too much, staying up too late, or engaging in warfare–whatever it is that we are doing, polluting our environments and our bodies.
We sometimes get in our body’s way of fixing itself. With acupuncture and Chinese medicine, what we try to do is nudge the body and help it get back into its norm. That’s why I will tell every patient that comes and sees me that “If they are just here looking for an instant fix, go down next door and ask the western doctor to give you a pill, because it will fix your problem and you can go home and consider yourself happy.” I’m not here to fix your problem right now instantly. I’m here to put your body back in a state where it can: A) prevent further diseases; and B) fix your diseases the proper way–not by covering up symptoms.
When you have a headache and go to the doctor, what does he do? He gives you a pill. You take the pill and the headache goes away. No! The headache didn’t go away, you just don’t feel the headache, it’s still there.
The root cause of the headache is still there. The prostaglandins that are generating nerve attenuation that give you a signal that there is pain in the body is still working in your body. You just don’t feel it anymore, and consider yourself lucky. After you take the pills you think to yourself, “boom, I’m done.” No! It festers and festers until it develops into a more severe problems and more chronic conditions. This is why it is very important to integrate this traditional way of living–this traditional medicine–into your life.
A.Y.: How do you do this in your own practice?
A.Y.: Going back to Chi meridians for a minute. If you can’t see them, how do you know they exist?
A.A.: Actually there is research currently being done to isolate these meridians and there are some promising discoveries that are being made. But before I can go there, I will ask you this question: less than a 100 years ago we didn’t know the lymphatic system existed. Less than a 150 years ago, no one knew that electricity existed, or that you could take a copper wire and have things travel through it that could turn light bulbs on or off. Is it presumptuous of us to think that just because we can’t see it that it doesn’t exist. Wrong. That’s a very boxed in way of thinking. If people thought that way, we wouldn’t be where we are today in terms of achievements as a culture, and as a species. If we thought that way we would still be living in caves because we would have just left well enough alone. I believe the discovery of chi meridians will come and once it does it’s going to revolutionize the way people think about life and living.
A.Y.: Are there any instances where researchers have been able to see these meridians, or run experiments on them?
A.Y.: But do you even need one. Aren’t radio frequencies free flowing?
A.A.: Very good point. No you don’t. You are right. I believe, again, that the more we see into the quantum world and understand how things work, the more we will understand our universe and the energy that makes it up. Quantum physics will unlock the secrets of chi and show us just how it flows in the body, from point A to point B, and how it functions that way.
A.Y.: What is the purpose of the acupuncture needle, how does it work and help you treat people?
A.A.: Visualize the radio station and antenna, which you mentioned earlier. Imagine, me intersecting a flow with my needle. A good practitioner knows where these points are. There are over 760 acupuncture points in the body, each one with a specific function with a specific usage. The chi meridian is like a river of energy. I can enter that river with a needle and stimulate or direct the flow of energy by manipulating the needle and by injecting chi through the needle. At that point, I as a practitioner can become synchronized with your chi flow and do things with it. I can remove it by moving the needle at a certain angle or in a certain direction. In that way, i can backflow it and create a sort of siphon to drain some of that excess energy. I can also nudge it to take a left or a right, or speed the flow to stimulate and accelerate the chi in your body. I can block it too.
We also use acupuncture for anesthesia in dental work for example. I can put needles in when you are getting your tooth drilled and you wont feel the pain because the needle basically blocks the meridian flow, or the energy flow from the teeth to the brain. The practitioner thus uses the needles to interact with that flow of energy through the meridian.
The journey to happiness
A.Y.: So you practice Chi Gong, you are an acupuncturist, and a traditional medicine doctor. How did you come to this point in your life? What did you do before you became a Traditional Medicine practitioner?
A.A.: My life can be analyzed as an example of what we talked about throughout our conversation. I mentioned to you earlier that I lived in a family with a traditional medicine background. But as we immigrated form Armenia to America, as most people do, I fell into the trap of the glitz and glamour of America. So I started a career in computers. I actually went to school here, received a Bachelors in computers and a Masters in business development and decided that acquisition of wealth was going to drive my purpose in life. So I went and started working for major corporations here. I started as an engineer and moved up to running US operations at one point. Were talking about billion dollar companies.
And in this process of shuffling from remedial management jobs or climbing the “proverbial ladder,” which I believe eventually gets you nowhere, I discovered that I was losing who I was as an individual. I was dying as an individual. I was generating wealth, and wealth for others, but my spirit was discontent. I was not happy as an individual–as a spirit. So I had a spiritual and emotional burnout.
I dropped everything. I literally left a six figure salary and decided to go into a deep soul searching. As a result of that I returned back to my grandfather’s teachings, which was: “be in harmony with nature, and you’ll live longer and happier, much more contempt and enjoyable as a person.” So when I did that I decided that I would take up his teachings and practice his lessons.
I went to medical school at a mid life crisis and completed medical school here. Then I went to study in Tibet and China. I actually made a visit to Armenia and studied Armenian traditional medicine a little bit at the Matenadaran and dug up some of my grandfather’s old teachings, though most were lost.
So here I am today. It’s a complete turn around for me. I will tell you this, I have never been happier with myself and my role in life than I am now. I used to close multimillion-dollar deals and come home and crash. I treat a patient right now, and get 5 or 10 or 20 dollars and it doesn’t matter, because to me that patient’s smile or treatment is my reward. There is no amount of money that you can take with you when you are ready to depart from this world. The feelings of thankfulness gratitude are what you are going to take with you when you go.
A.Y.: So what do you say to people who find happiness, or the fa?ade of happiness, through consumption and materialism?
A.A.: I can’t blame them–for two reasons: 1) It’s what’s available to them right now, and its very easy for them; 2) They are seeking. Everyone is aware of this, and everyone is hungry, thirst. They just haven’t found their path, or whatever that is. I’m not saying come and join chi gong, but find that thing, whatever it is, that you are seeking.
A lot of times, you have this feeling that you want to eat something but you don’t know what. You stand in front of the refrigerator for minutes trying to figure out what it is you want. We are living like that, many people are. On a much grander scale, we are spiritually hungry. But because we can’t find it, because we don’t know what it is we are seeking, we think that the iPhone or the Mercedes is going to give us happiness. Yea, it will, but it will be momentary. It gives us happiness, but then we are right back at it.
90 % of today’s abuse, whether it be drug abuse, substance abuse, or addictions, can be directly correlated to the fact that these people are trying to quench a fundamentally deep spiritual thirst. But they can’t find it so they keep upping the ante, always going for the next high. It doesn’t have to be drugs; one of the biggest addictions today is the desire to acquire. It’s an addiction! The new TV comes out, “Oh I got to have it,” or swapping out for a new car every six months. Why? It’s another way of being addicted–of seeking but not finding.
I am so fortunate that I was able to find it, and sooner than later. And for most people that doesn’t happen. What I did at midlife was unheard of. I had friends laughing at me. But since I came out of it, it’s given me a sense of rebirth.
An Armenian perspective
A.Y.: It seems as though the problem of humanity not being in tune with nature and its environment is one that is endemic to the world? We see this problem here and many other places, but we also see it in Armenia–a place we all hold dear. Prior to the genocide, our people had, by and large, lived on the land, in harmony with nature. So I would like to know your perspective on where we as a people stand amid all this and where we are going.
A.A.: first of all, I have to tell you. I am very fortunate to have been born in an Armenian culture, and to have the Armenian blood flowing in my veins. Because I think it has given me a very unique perspective. I have a deep-seated belief that the Armenian culture is a much more relevant culture in the world forum than we think. We may be a small insignificant country that most US presidents wouldn’t know the geographic location of, but irrespective of that, I believe Armenian culture, both historically and in the future, has a very prominent role in world affairs and in world affairs of significance; not in insignificant affairs of politics and land ownership, and border disputes and warfare or acquisition. I am talking about revelational stuff–spiritual and evolutionary states. I believe Armenia and our culture will play a very fundamental role in where the world is going.
Why is it that for an Armenian the most important thing is to maintain Armenianhood? Have you ever considered that this transcends even genocide recognition? There is a root cause. We have a genetic programming to maintain that cultural heritage, because one day it is going to come in handy. When? I can’t tell you. How? I don’t know. But it is a deep-seated feeling I have inside me, and I know it is important for our culture to continue to maintain itself and survive. I believe Armenians are much better suited to living in harmony with nature than any other culture.
A.Y.: So then what is the problem, if there is one?
A.A.: I think our problem is that we are stuck as a culture, and as a people. We are stuck in sorrow. We are out of sync with ourselves. I am not advocating that we forget what happened to our people, we have to fight for recognition; it’s a must. What I am saying is that we have to get away from the self induced misery surrounding the Genocide. We need to leave behind thoughts like: “Why us?” “Poor us,” and “Damn the Turks.” We have to get over that because it’s in the past. We have to use that energy, channel it constructively toward getting countries to recognize it. And I believe we are doing much better than we have ever done, I think the new, next generation, will be much more potent in transcending that, especially as we become more in sync with our surroundings.
We need to get out of the shroud of grey that you can see in the faces of the older generations. We are a vibrant culture. We have the intellectual, spiritual, and cultural capacity to blossom and we are poised to do that as a people if we can just collectively get over this wallowing in the past. Never forget, but channel those energies more constructively.
A.Y.: But once the mind’s mental pathways have behaved for that type of thinking for a while, that sort of thinking becomes automatic. You are always looking for excuses. There is always something that is infecting that which is pure, preventing you from realizing that you can purify it at any time just by changing your perception.
A.Y.: Throughout history, we have always had this problem. We can’t come to realize that we are all connected, as Armenians, as people. We say it all the time, but without really understanding it. We never take care of each other. Do you think this problem we have can be addressed with Taoism.
A.Y.: Do you think Armenians are prepared for what lays ahead? The world is changing in a drastic way. Do you think we have what it takes to weather the storm and all the challenges that humanity faces–environmental degradation, the rise in conflicts over dwindling natural resources, etc?
A.Y.: Seems as though we as a people have not yet freed ourselves from the burdens of our past.
For more information on Traditional Medicine, chi gong, or Dr. Akopyan’s practice, visit www.aramakopyan.com or send emails to aram@aramakopyan.com
Dr. Akopyan’s Tai Chi and wellness show can be seen on Horizon Armenian Television Monday through Friday at 8:30 am and 2:30pm.
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A short story by Richard Ohanian
A group of fish were living in an aquarium (the tank). They had lived there all their lives.
Their parents, and their parents parents, were all born and died in the tank
This group of fish lived in harmony, based on a code of ethics–a worldview.
But the tank couldn’t last forever. As it started to age, and degenerate, the fish started to realize that things can’t go on this way for long. Something had to change, they thought.
But what?
The fish couldn’t figure out the solution to their problems.
They didn’t know what they didn’t know.
After all, they had lived their entire lives in the tank, with one code–one worldview. A new way of seeing and doing things wasn’t coming to them. Their horizons were limited to the tank.
Finally, one day, a young fish decided that he has to be the one to bring the change. But how? He thought to himself and figured that one reason why he was unable to think up the “new” stuff, was the ultimate limitation he suffered by living in the tank, like the other fish.
So he decided to jump out of the tank in order to be able to view the tank from the outside world, so that, perhaps, he could see what was wrong with the tank, and hopefully a new theory or perspective would dawn on him.
He tried and tried to jump out of the tank….it was hard but every time he tried to jump, he got a little bit higher and higher. The others in the group were discouraging. Most were content with the
situation.
Finally, one day, he jumped out of the tank high enough that he reached the other side. In the way out, he could see the “inside” from the “outside” …
It was fascinating.
When he reached the other side, he died!
He jumped out of the water…..
Some time passed in the tank…..the fish started to forget about the young one that vanished, the one who
wanted to bring change.
But there was another young fish who didn’t forget his best friend.
Every day, he went near the surface of the water, and looked for any sign of his friend….but nothing!
As he would wait on the surface of the water, slowly, he became accustomed to breathing air as well…it was something new, something he had never experienced.
After some time, the young fish decided to follow his friend’s path and jump to the other side. Life in the tank was not satisfying him and the group of fish were bothering him as they were thinking they
knew the nature of their problems and were content with keeping themselves busy with little fishy stuff.
But for the young fish what others were saying was not making sense. He though to himself “memory is a stranger…history is for fools….these guys think they know, but in fact they don’t, they are just
happy with petty fishy stuff. I need to jump out and find the ultimate solution.”
So he set off on his attempt to jump out….little by little he cleared more of air, and jumped a bit higher, until one day he jumped out of the tank and reached the other side!
From the outside , he looked in, and saw the limitations of the tank.
It was fascinating.
He sat there and started to think, not noticing any change as he had already learned how to breath in the air….
After some time, he found the solution!
He thought to himself “i should go back to the tank now. I know what I know and i know what i don’t know, and i can find the answers now!”
He started jumping, until one day he got back into the tank.
Suddenly he noticed that he could not breath in the water…As he was struggling to breath he realized that he was not a fish anymore…..
He died in the tank!
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Asbarez Reports that Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is concerned with the situation in the South Caucasus. Azerbaijani news sources are quoting the OSCE’s Chairman-in-Office, Alexander Stubb, as having said on Wednesday that the OSCE has failed to reach any progress in settling the region’s outstanding conflicts.
“Speaking frankly, we failed to reach any progress in the South Caucasus and I am concerned with the situation in the area,” Stubb said, pointing to the conflicts in Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazia and North Ossetia.
Stubb’s statements were made during the OSCE’s 17th Parliamentary Assembly Wednesday in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan and come amid growing tensions in the South Caucasus, as Azerbaijan threatens to start a renewed war in the region.
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Armenia based political scientist and strategic analyst Armen Ayvazyan was in Southern California earlier this month giving a series of lectures and book presentations on the internal political situation in Armenia and the security risks it faces. During his visit, Asbarez’s Allen Yekikan sat down with Ayvazyan to talk about the Ararat Center for Strategic Research, its mission and its activities. Ayvazyan, who holds a PhD in history and political science, is the director of the Ararat Center for Strategic Research.
The following is the full text of the interview:
Allen Yekikan: Let’s start with the obvious. What is the Ararat Center for Strategic Research? What is its purpose, and mission?
Armen Ayvazyan: The Ararat Center for Strategic Research was established two years ago. The major objective of the Ararat Center is to serve as a platform that will bring like-minded Armenian professionals together to organize, step by step, the creation of the Armenian strategic school of thought.
Basically, the primary aim of the Ararat Center is to analyze current developments in the international political arena that pertain to, or affect, Armenia’s interests and, based on those findings, to define the needs and demands of its national security.
The Ararat Center also conducts research and analysis on issues related to Artsakh, Javakhk, Genocide recognition and denial, Diasporan affair, and military security.
A.Y.: Who is your research and analysis for, the Armenian Government, non-governmental organizations?
A.A: Well, our research will be of use to Armenian decision makers, basically the government and political and business elites, as well as the general public.
A.Y.: The Ararat Center seems to be a foreign and security policy think tank. Will it only be working to affect change in Armenian political thought or will it also seek to influence ideas in the broader international arena?
A.A: We want the Ararat Center to emerge as a force that can influence Armenian issues on a global scale, not just in Armenia. One of the primary goals of the Ararat Center is, through active publication, to neutralize the growing anti-Armenian propaganda launched internationally, on an almost daily basis by Azerbaijan and Turkey. It is not easy and requires a concerted effort to steadily increase the international community’s awareness of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh’s positions in a comprehensible way.
A.Y.: Does the Ararat Center currently have any projects or initiatives to counter the obvious bias toward Armenian issues in Foreign Media?
A.A.: Our latest project is an online project called the Foreign Press Review (http://artmamul.ararat-center.org/) The FPR is actually geared directly toward countering Turkish-Azeri influence in the international press. It is an unprecedented project in the Armenian reality. The FPR brings regular people, academics, professionals, analysts and journalists together to collect and translate important foreign media articles related and relevant to Armenia and Armenians, as well as the region at large. Priority is given to materials on security and foreign policy issues, including the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict and the current international discourse on the Armenian Genocide.
A.Y.: What do you hope to accomplish with the Foreign Policy Review? What progress has been made thus far?
A.Y.: We hope the project will serve as a platform for healthy and constructive debate and will facilitate the advancement of Armenian political thought.
We have already posted many articles that have been translated into Armenian from American, Russian, British, and Turkish sources and we are expecting translation from the Arabic news sources. Some volunteers have expressed their desire to occasionally provide us with translations from Arabic and Persian sources.
A.Y.: Can people in the Diaspora get involved and contribute to this project? If so, How?
A.A.: Sure. We would greatly appreciate the participation of anyone who is willing to help and there are several ways to participate. Along with the work the Ararat Center Staff does on this front, FPR participants are invited to comment on the facts and opinions expressed in each article that we flagged.
The participation of the Armenians from around the world could actually be very multifaceted and dynamic. They could provide us with the actual articles; they could translate the articles themselves; or just simply comment on the articles. All of these ways are acceptable and will be appreciated.
A.Y.: Earlier, you explained that this program was unique, how so?
A.A.: Well, the project is really an exceptional opportunity for the Armenian public as well as the decision makers in our society to be informed on how the international press is depicting Armenia and Armenian issues. The project will also provide opportunities for Armenian intellectual circles to become acquainted with the international communities dominant opinions, analysis, and perceptions are on our issues.
A.Y.: Are there any other projects the Ararat Center is working on?
A.A.: We have also begun a summer school course this July that is available to Armenian students from the ages of 19 to 28. The Summer school will center on Armenia and the region in the current international political system.
This is a very important project, since the basic knowledge about Armenian security issues is still not comprehended by Armenia’s youth, as well as by its decision makers, the elite and the society at large.
Armenians are still very weak in identifying and recognizing the threats to their national security and they heavily relying on foreign research and analysis, which is in many instances not only incorrect, but also misleading.
We need to analyze and teach our own Armenian issues by ourselves, independently. We need to identify the threats and the means to counter these threats, again, by our own independent capacities. Otherwise, we will always be supplied with biased and insufficient analysis. So this school is going to provide to young Armenians, perhaps for the first time, the latest and most recent product of Armenian thought on our strategic security, historical issues.
We also provide direct links to the original sources of the articles, so that those who cannot read Armenian well can go and read the article in the original language. At the same time they can try and use this opportunity to learn more Armenian, to enrich their knowledge of their national language.
A.Y.: What are some topics or issues you will be teaching or discussing during the summer school?
A.A.: We are going to talk about Azerbaijani and Turkish propaganda in the international arena, as well as ways to counter this propaganda. We hope that these students will eventually use the knowledge we impart on them to produce quality work for the good of the nation.
We are doing this rather time consuming job with very scarce human as well as financial resources. We also have the Ararat Center Blog, which is another project we have begun and it includes many activities, including video interviews, TV interviews, talk shows, radio interviews, lectures and so on. Our readers themselves can also participate by commenting on each issue.
A.Y.: The Government doesn’t provide public grants?
A.A.: No the Government doesn’t provide financial assistance in the form of grants. We are not supported financially by any government.
A.Y.: Why is that? Does it not see the value of the research and analysis the Ararat Center provides?
A.A.: No they do see the value; the appreciate it too. But they do not support us, at least they haven’t until now. Hopefully, sooner or later, they will come around and support us, but who knows when or whether or not they will.
A.Y.: Are there other think tanks like the Ararat Center operating in Armenia right now? What issues do they work with?
A.A.: We have several think tanks working on internal and external political issues. Three of those think tanks are state run, while there are many that are supported by other foreign grants or perhaps internal grants.
But I can say that the Ararat center is unique in its analysis of the international and internal security issues by taking interests and security of Armenia at the at the heart of all of its research.
For us, the analysis of everything is conditioned by the interests of Armenia’s security. The focus is Armenia’s security and I think this makes us unique from one side, and from the other side, I think our professionalism in the manner in which we analyze has also been noticed and appreciated by the public both in Armenia and the Diaspora.
A.Y.: What type of research has or does the Ararat Center usually publish? On what issues have you been working?
A.A.: Until now the Ararat Center has concentrated and focused mostly on military security issues, on the Artsakh and Javakh issues. We have several important publications and books, as well as anthologies of articles.
“Studies on Strategy and Security,” which has actually received the best book award in Armenia, contains more than 20 articles and analysis on regional military forces, Artsakh and the liberated territories, the significance in ensuring the national and military security of Armenia and balancing the military security situation in the Caucasus.
Some of the articles in the book deal with Military Psychology, Armenian-Turkey relations and its psychological perspectives, on Armenian military history, the Armenian Turkish war of 1920, and Artsakh war.
One of the articles in this book was written by the first commanding chief of forces in Artsakh, General Arkady “Komandos” Der-Tatevosian.
We have also published a translation in Armenian of the classic book on military energy by the famous Chinese strategist Tsun Tsu.
The Ararat Center has and continues to write and publish book reviews. Some very important reviews we have done, for example deal with the much-propagated book “Black Garden” by British author Thomas de Waal. The book is completely biased and incorrect in its analysis and conclusions. It takes the traditional so-called American neutral and middle ground and sacrifices the truth along the way. This middle way is only superficial, and although it is seen as unbiased, it is in fact not. De Waal’s book is very pro Azeri and Anti Armenian. Unfortunately the review we did is in Russian and there are no resources to translate it right now.
Another recent publication was a translation of British author Norman Copeland’s “Psychology and the Soldier,” which is a classic on military psychology. This book was very well received in the Armenian army and although it was written during World War II, it still represents a clear presentation of many applied psychological methods and issues that armies deal with.
A.Y.: I want to turn to the situation on the ground in Armenia. What are some of the security threats the country faces today?
A.A.: Well first we need to make it clear that what happened in February and March in Armenia, with a disputed election, riots, and a violation of the Artsakh cease-fire, show the lack of awareness on the part of the Armenian public about the existential security threats that Armenia faces.
The Armenians do not now understand, or clearly comprehend what could happen if Azerbaijan attacks and succeeds in overtaking Artsakh. Such a scenario would automatically result in the fall of Syunik (Southern Armenia) and without Syunik there is no Armenia. Without Artsakh there is no Syunik. This is an elementary concept, which is not being recognized. The Armenians, and the Armenian political elite, or part of this elite, does not recognize or realize the whole breadth of the Turkish animosity toward Armenia. They do not assess correctly the Turkish policies towards Armenia and they also do not comprehend the dynamics of the Armenian-Turkish and Armenian-Azeri relations.
Instead they hope for an unbelievable and incredible breakthrough to occur, again counting on western analysis and ideas about regional integration and Turkey soon becoming a member of the European Union.
A.Y.: So what are the dynamics of Turkish-Armenian-Azeri relations?
A.A.: Turkish animosity will not end in the near future. The objective of Turkey and its junior ally Azerbaijan is not only the occupation of Artsakh, But the destruction of Armenia as a country, as a state, and as a nation.
But this threat is not being recognized. Otherwise, both the public and the authorities, or at least segments of public and elite, would have behaved much more responsibly, and would have mobilized their resources for building a real democratic society in Armenia, built on social justice and the fundamental of democracy.
A.Y.: Do you think its the responsibility of think tanks, or research centers like the Ararat Center to push government and society to see this reality?
A.A.: Absolutely, we need to raise awareness, to analyze the possible developments and to give correct, or more correct prognosis.
A.Y.: Some may argue that, in the Diaspora, we know or understand even less the threats that Armenia faces. But at the end of the day, how can one teach the new generation in the Diaspora what they don’t know, and how can the Diaspora be engaged and activated the Diaspora, to prepare them for the threats that lay ahead.
A.A.: There has only been one practical way of engaging the Diaspora. Unfortunately until now that engagement has been about the issue of genocide, which after Armenia became independent, in fact, ceased to be the number one issue of Armenians and Armenia.
The recognition of genocide by international community is the only visible front where the Armenians of Diaspora could have acted before Armenian became independent, but after independence the situation on the ground has completely changed and after that the approaches to Armenian Diaspora relations and the priorities of lobby activities should have been revised and reviewed more thoroughly.
Until now Armenian lobby organizations in the US, continue to work mostly toward the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. Ninety percent of the Diaspora’s events are devoted to the Genocide issue. It shouldn’t have been this way.
Armenia’s security, Artsakh, Javakhk, and Armenian-Turkish relations should have been dealt with much more actively and proactively and they should have been protected on information front in the international press. No article, for example, representing the Armenian position on Artsakh has ever been published in the leading journals of international studies in the west.
We brag about the powerful Armenian lobby in the United States, but I don’t agree with such assessments.
A.Y.: What do you think needs to be revised in the Diasporas lobbying policies or strategies? And Why?
A.A.: One example, is the Armenian Lobby’s goal for pressuring Turkey, through the US, to open its end its blockade of Armenia and open its border. These organizations have, however, never tried to raise the question of ending Georgia’s blockade of Armenia’s railway coming through Abkhazia. Turkey can resist American pressures and keep their border closed, but Georgia cannot resist American demands.
Russia would like to see this border opened, Armenia would like to see it open, if America were to pressure its juniors ally Georgia to open it, then we would not even need the Turkish border to be opened. The Turkish blockade wouldn’t be felt the way we feel it now.
On the other hand, the opening of the Turkish border at this stage could have detrimental affects on Armenia’s economy, national security, psychology, demography and her cultural perceptions and so on.
I’m not propagating the closure of this border, but it should be opened only if some preconditions are met.
A.Y.: What are those preconditions?
A.A.: The border should only be opened when Turkey changes its attitude toward Armenia; when turkey does not pursue the same hostile policies toward Armenia. Only after that, could the opening of this border have some positive affects on Armenia.
I also think the Diaspora’s organizations should revise their policies when they talk about the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. Genocide Recognition should be very effectively tied up to the real needs of Armenia; to the situation on the ground; and to the security of Armenia, otherwise we have now, some 20 states, which have recognized the Armenian Genocide, but have not revised their policies towards Armenia.
We have Canada and Poland, which have recognized the genocide but so what? Have their policies on Artsakh and Armenia changed? No. Has France’s position on the Artsakh issue changed? No. These countries still do not recognize the right of the Armenians to have secure borders, and to have Artsakh free of any Azerbaijani threat. In that regard, we are failing to capitalize on the issue of these international recognitions of the Armenian Genocide.
But because both the Armenian state and the Diaspora have been concentrating on the Genocide issues, we fail to see the real issue. You know, we can lose Armenia tomorrow and have the Genocide still be recognized by the world. Who cares about recognition after Armenia is destroyed? Turkey itself will recognize the Genocide and start making movies about it when there is no Armenia and when the Armenian nation is destroyed and spread all over the world. So the priorities should be reviewed again, revised. We have no time; we have lost a lot of time.
A.Y.: Based on what you are saying, it sounds as though there might be a vacuum, or a void in Armenian political consciousness. Do you think we need to start have a real dialogue on these issues?
A.A.: Yes.
