The authors of the annual report on the “International Religious Freedom” believe that in May and June 2008, “Hayots Ashkharh” and “Golos Armenii” Armenian newspapers and the first channel of the Public Television and Radio Company displayed anti-Semitist sentiments in their publications and broadcasts.
Let’s try to understand what happened in reality. The publications and broadcasts discussed in the State Department report on the “International Religious Freedom” definitely refer to the mediation of the “Big East” powerful Jewish Masonic organization, “The Jewish-American Committee” and other structures and individuals, as well as the sums of tens of millions of Dollars spent on the pre-election campaign in our country.
All that gives rise to the following questions:
First: Has L. Ter-Petrosyan or his closest circles refuted those facts so far?
Second: Have the above-mentioned organizations and individuals ever been dissatisfied with the “unfounded accusations” ascribed to them?
Third: Have these facts of interfering in the internal affairs of a sovereign state received a relevant assessment by the State Department - the Number 1 specialist in this sphere, which now acts in support of the sovereignty of Georgia, making relevant statements in this connection every week?
So, what’s the matter?
In none of our articles have we ever published critical statements either about Israel or the Jewish people. We never did anything of the kind even at the moments when we saw the Israeli flag swaying on the Theatrical Square during the rallies of the opposition which was struggling for power. So, what was happening was an obvious political provocation. If our country weren’t a democratic state and our authorities and people weren’t extremely tolerant, there would really be concrete manifestations of anti-Semitism.
And after all that happened, after the opposition tried to launch attack on the government hoisting the Israeli flag, did any Jew suffer in Armenia or was anyone vilified or insulted by rude words on account of his/her ethnic origin and religious affiliation?
The answer is quite clear. Those who applied to the Jewish organizations with the purpose of overthrowing the Government received relevant sums from them and, as a sign of gratitude, swayed the Israeli flag on the square. But because no anti-Semitist sentiments were observed in Armenia even after all that happened, it is obvious that instead of punishing the culprit, innocent people are now being held accountable.
That’s to say, instead of recording the obvious facts of interfering in the internal affairs of a sovereign country and demanding that the Armenian and foreign authors of such attempts respect the independence of Armenia, the State Department is trying to accuse us of protecting ourselves by using legal and quite civilized methods.
If, some time in future, the wife of the Armenian President appears to be a Russian or Chinese and receive financial assistance in the amount of several millions of Dollars from Russian or Chinese organizations with the purpose of overthrowing the authorities in Armenia, will the State Department express concern about the anti-Russian or anti-Chinese sentiments allegedly existing in our country? Definitely, it won’t. Moreover, the things will go just the other way about.
Mildly speaking, we are dealing with an illiterate attempt of falsifying the content of the universal accusation called anti-Semitism and using it as a lever of political pressure. If its authors tried to go into the heart of the matter, they would find out that anti-Semitism, as a political phenomenon, is a manifestation of aggression or intolerance against the Jewish nation vs. an attempt of resisting the obvious aggression against any country with the help some representative of this particular nation.
And such attempt, as we know, is characterized as a lawful resistance to the Jewish-Masonic or Zionist ambitions, and by the way, this practice is common in the United States as well.
ARMEN TSATOURYAN
