Serious blow to Armenia ahead of “genocide” centenary

Sargsyan may well have missed out the movie as he was engaged in separatist activities in Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh region at the time. 

If Sargsyan didn’t really see the "Double Impact”, he needs to take time to watch it to have a clear idea of what happened on April 24, 1915, which Armenians are 

preparing to commemorate as the 100th anniversary of "genocide” in Ottoman Turkey.

Contrary to common sense and logic, Armenians decided to give more prominence to the "genocide” centenary than their independence celebrations. Oh yes, such an attitude to independence probably makes sense. This country has never been independent.

Whatever happened a century ago, the idea of commemorating those events on such a large scale and trying to sell Armenians to the world as the worst-suffering people on earth (think about Jews, Tutsis, Hutus and a dozen others) looks more like a mass hysteria than a well-planned diplomatic PR event.   

While the mass hysteria has hit the minds of our neighbors, especially that of their leaders, other nations have had the opportunity to soberly assess the situation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, for one, didn’t make public his decision to visit Yerevan on April 24 up until the last moment. All member states of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), which Armenia is a member of, felt obliged to attend the centenary commemorations in Yerevan.  Yet, they had to weigh it with a potential damage that might be caused to relations with Turkey, which has developed a close relationship with Russia in recent years. They were also mindful of a negative reaction from Baku.

I am not sure how Moscow and Ankara managed to agree on this, but the Kremlin had to take note of Azerbaijan’s interests in the first place.  As Armenian media reported, the leader of the separatist regime in Nagorno-Karabakh, Bako Sahakyan, will not be able to join the commemorations in Yerevan on April 24. Armenian media underlined the fact that Sahakyan normally visits the "genocide” memorial in Yerevan every year.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that it was probably Moscow who insisted that the leader of the separatist regime should keep away from the 

commemorations, which will also be joined by French President François Hollande. Armenian political analysts themselves support this view, saying France probably agreed to the idea of keeping Sahakyan out.

Yerevan had no option but to accept the demands. Otherwise, both the Russian and French presidents could have cancelled their visits to Yerevan.

Another serious blow to Armenia came from Washington. The White House Chief of Staff, Denis McDonough, and Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes said in advance that President Barack Obama will not use the word "genocide” in his traditional April 24 message. 

Obama also turned down an invitation to visit Yerevan on April 24. Neither did Secretary of State John Kerry accept the invitation. Instead, the US administration decided to send Secretary of the Treasury Jack Lew to the Armenian capital.

The worldwide crying orchestrated by Yerevan jointly with Armenian diaspora organizations clearly irritate key world players, which are preoccupied by more

important issues of global importance. Yerevan was once again made to understand that it’s time to give up "genocide” speculations. Otherwise, Armenia will face with extremely unpleasant consequences.