Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of ANCA.
Aram Hamparian, the Executive Director of the Armenian National Committee of America spoke to CivilNet about expectations in the centenary year of the Armenian Genocide and about the work of the ANCA. Hamparian said that pursuit of the recognition of the Armenian Genocide is not about being stuck in the past, it’s a future-oriented issue and about ensuring the long-term viability and survival of the Armenian nation. Below is the full transcript of that interview.
Maria Titizian: Welcome to CivilNet. Joining me today from Washington D.C. is Aram Hamparian. He is the director of the Armenian National Committee of America. Aram, thank you for joining us.
Aram Hamparian: Glad to be here, Maria.
Maria Titizian: ANCA is one of the most powerful Armenian lobbies in Washington, in the United States, and for decades you have been working diligently, around the clock to ensure the recognition of the Armenian Genocide, to ensure that the President of the United States acknowledges and uses the word ‘Genocide.’ You also do many other things, but because we are now in the centenary, the anticipated 100th year of the Armenian Genocide of 1915, I want to have this conversation with you, to talk about what our expectations should be. If we look at what is taking place – or what will be taking place – there are conferences being organized and books being written and films being made and commemoration ceremonies taking place probably in every city where there is an Armenian. But, in this 100th year, can we expect something to change?
Aram Hamparian: It is an excellent question. I think it is a question on the mind of every Armenian, and every friend of an Armenian around the world. To understand the issue, we do it in a bit of a different context – or in a bit of a larger context. I’d like to explain, the ANCA is part of a global movement – the Hai Tahd sharzhum – the Hai Tahd movement – that exists around the world. Our concern first and foremost is the survival and long-term survival of the Armenian nation. We have a global perspective, a 360º view of what it will take for Armenia to survive and thrive in the 21st century and beyond. We view the genocide in that context. We believe that the just resolution of this crime is, of course, at a moral level, an appropriate thing to do – it’s a fitting tribute to those whose lives were lost, but even more importantly it is about the Armenian homeland. Armenia cannot be safe and secure as long as it is bordered by an unrepentant, over-armed perpetrator of genocide. As you may have heard before, we Armenians are very tied to our history, but the most important chapter is the chapter yet to be written by generations yet to be born and that’s why we’re focused on the genocide because it’s a future tradition. We need to have viability to survive – you know, going forward. That being said, when we look at the centennial – sort of think about the framework, about the intellectual construct of the centennial, oftentimes, our greatest ally of truth is light. The centennial is an opportunity for light to shine on this issue. People around the world that did not pay attention before, will start paying attention, but it is ultimately a tool or an environment in which there will be vastly more attention to the issue. The enemy of this issue is darkness. It is in the shadows that our issue is attacked and set back and very often – too often – betrayed. So the centennial is an opportunity to bring our issue from its current state of attention worldwide to a higher state of potential – does that mean that the fundamental correlationof forces between the forces of denial and the forces of justice are fundamentally going to change – of course not. The battle lines have been drawn and they’ve been drawn on generally the same lines for some decades now with the Turkish state seeking to deny the truth and obstruct justice and the Armenian nation to assert the truth and secure justice. So, no I don’t think things will change fundamentally because the geopolitics just typically don’t change in radical ways. You don’t see very often sharp departures, but you do see pivot points where one side or the other gain an advantage and the centennial is an important milestone in that regard.
Maria Titizian: Speaking of light and darkness, political expedience, versus the right thing to do – the moral thing to do, as Armenians we know first hand the choices that are often made at our expense. You have struggled – Armenian organizations, community centers, lobby groups, the ANCA has lobbied, as I said, for recognition, especially from the President of the United States. Will Obama change the paradigm?
Aram Hamparian: You know, that remains to be seen. I mean, ultimately our best intelligence is that this is decision that will be made by the president himself. A lot of other policies dealing with the Armenian community get staffed out. They are resolved by the State Department, by the National Security Council. This is on the President’s desk and we’ve had very senior politicians and they’ve all led us to believe that this is a call by the American president. We all know there will be a lot more attention to his decision, but certainly that is a side of any president that he does not want to damage or fall on the wrong side of a moral issue. Maria, you raised a good point about the morality of the issue, and certainly there is no shortage of moral arguments that we could make on this issue, or factual evidence that we can present. But, there’s also the practical side which is that there have been repeated failed attempts to bring Armenians and Turks together by going around the genocide issue and they have failed because that is the central issue that exists – let’s say this – if there is an obstacle to the improvement of Turkish-Armenian relations, it is the unresolved issue of the Armenian Genocide. The practical move – not just the principle – but the practical move for the U.S. or for anyone else – the Europeans or anyone else – is to say that of course the genocide happened and there are consequences today. They have all been borne by the Armenian side. We need to have a more equitable distribution of those consequences and that really boils down to a just resolution of this crime. Does that mean that we get everything that we want? No. But it means that there needs to be a resolution and that the two parties need to come together in a post-denial environment.
Maria Titizian: It’s interesting that you raised this issue. I spoke with Professor Taner Akçam a few days ago and he also raised this issue, saying that the recognition of the Armenian Genocide for Turkey is not about democratization, it is not about freedom of speech, it’s about ensuring justice for the Armenian people. That’s sort of the starting point for any discussion with Turkish colleagues, counterparts, civil society. The genocide has to become part of Turkish identity as the Holocaust has become part of German identity. I want to talk about something you mentioned a few minutes earlier about the new generation, about the future. I think that it is also important that we understand that 2015 is not the end all and be all of this process. That life will continue beyond 2015. So what is the message for the next century? What would be your message for the next century, for the Armenian nation and for the Armenian homeland?
Aram Hamparian: In every generation stretching back something like 4,000 years, Armenians have stepped up and done what is required of them to hand off their civilization to the next generation. Hasn’t been everybody, but there have been enough folks who sacrificed and not viewed themselves as consumers of Armenian culture, but as the guarantors of Armenia’s survival. Our message and those who tend to work with most are those folks who tend to feel that sort of responsibility. We say, look, I’m not just a passenger on the Armenian train. I’m shoveling the coal, I’m driving, doing something to be part of the solution so I guess the solution going forward is find your place, right. For many in the diaspora, it is a sort of protect Armenian paradigm where we focus a lot of our efforts, for example, that Turkey and Azerbaijan represents to Armenia. For folks in Armenia, the challenge might be to build an economy, to build a fair society, to build a democratic future, to build a society in which opportunities exist at home so people do not feel the need to leave, to emigrate out of the country, so I guess once an Armenian feels in their heart that they’re responsible, that they’re an owner of the Armenian enterprise and not just a consumer of Armenian culture then I think they’ll find their place. And everyone – it’s going to be different for everybody. My particular path led me here, but everyone’s path is equally valid.
Maria Titizian: The ANCA has sometimes come under criticism for being solely focused on genocide recognition and it appears that the ANCA will use any means necessary in order to keep it in the global conversation, it would take it to any platform, questionable or non-questionable. What would you say to those detractors?
Aram Hamparian: First of all, I don’t see it is as criticism that we seek to end the denial and obstruction of justice of a genocide. But we’re not just focused on that. Our North Star, the guiding principle of the ANCA, of the Hai Tahd sharzhum worldwide is the survival and long-term viability of the Armenian nation. We consider a just resolution of the Armenian Genocide to be a critical component of that. But not just a component of that. So is the freedom of Artsakh, so is the sustainable economic development of Javakhk, so is the future of Armenian communities in the Middle East, the U.S.-Armenia relationship, including the trade relationship, military relationship, the political relationship. All of these are pieces of the puzzle that contribute to Armenia’s viability. The heavy work –the heavy lifting – is done by the soldiers of the Armenian Army, the citizens of the Armenian state who are building an economy and a future upon our ancient land, but there’s a strong supporting role for Armenians worldwide and we view it in this holistic context. What can we do that will be the most helpful to Armenia? The genocide is part of that, economic development is part of that, Artsakh’s freedom is part of that. I’ll give an example: we have pushed very aggressively and hopefully will soon see the results of this effort for trade and investment framework agreement between the U.S. and Armenia to facilitate the growth in trade and investment between these two countries. We think that would provide an important balance, we think Armenia would have more strategic options, for example, in dealing with it’s own neighborhood if they have a better trade relationship with the U.S. That is the most important part of it, but that doesn’t mean that we’re fixated on trade. No, it means that we consider trade to be an important part of Armenia’s survival and long-term viability. The genocide fits in that category, trade does, economic assistance does – all of these issues. They fit into a framework, right, this alignment with Armenia’s future.
Maria Titizian: I’ve been asking this question of several of my guests when we’re talking about the recognition of the Armenian Genocide in this centenary year. It seems that our conversation – the discourse – has shifted away from solely being focused on recognition, and now we’re also talking about restoration, we’re talking about compensation, we’re talking about restitution, we’re talking about return of properties, return of land. Is this a fair statement, in your opinion?
Aram Hamparian: Absolutely, absolutely. Our goal is – let me say this – we seek truth but truth is the service of justice. We want justice, but not justice for the sake of justice, it is not fixation upon the idea that things need – that we need to address past injustices. No, justice in the service of security. So truth is vital because it delivers justice. Justice is vital because it is an element of Armenia’s survival, its viability. Let me give a couple of examples of the profound reaction in international relations between recognition of wrongs and remedies of those wrongs. If you look at, for example, the South Africa freedom movement was an important part in securing national recognition, ultimately recognition by the guilty party, in this case the apartheid regime, and then ultimately the remedies fell into place. The same can be said, for example, about the struggle against tobacco, against smoking. There was first a recognition worldwide that smoking is bad for you. Then, the tobacco industry itself recognized their wrongs and then remedies were put into place. The same can be said of global warming, right? For many years there was outright denial of global warming, then came global recognition and ultimately the industry came around, at least rhetorically, but to the view that yes, they are contributing to a harm to the planet and then remedies were put into place. So the recognition and remedy tend to be, in our view, part of the same continuum. They are cut from the same cloth. It is not as if you can care about recognition or care about the remedy, or you can care about what President Obama says and the justice we deserve. They’re not separate things. One contributes to the other. They are so many examples of that and very few example in which justice is sort of parachuted into the air in which recognition has not been properly established.
Maria Titizian: Well, certainly a lot to think about. A lot of work ahead for the Armenian nation, for the Armenian homeland and for activists in Armenia and in the Diaspora. Aram thank you for joining us early morning Washington time to talk to us about this very important centenary year for the Armenian nation.
Aram Hamparian: Thank you so much, Maria, for having me on your show and all your great work.
