Alik Bakhshi
About the very, very, very... people
I hope you've already guessed which people we're talking
about, the ones who consider themselves the most ancient, the most cultured,
the most intelligent.
In short, if you find yourself in Armenia, don't be surprised
to learn that much of everything you know about human activity was first
invented, made, created, built, written, or baked by Armenians. Moreover, it
may well turn out that you, if you represent a people who have made a
significant contribution to the development of civilization, such as the
English, are ten generations Armenian. I've never encountered anything like
this in my travels to various countries. Vasily Grosman very accurately noted
this fact:
"With insidious ease, a people's nationalism
loses its noble foundation; it doesn't become formidable, it becomes pitiful;
it doesn't provoke, but humiliates. Thus, by striving to prove some kind of
inferiority, a person reveals his own. Some of my interlocutors, across all
areas of human creativity, emphasized the Armenian national preeminence in
architecture, science, and poetry. They emphasized the superiority of the
architectural merits of the temple in Garni over what they considered primitive
architecture on the Acropolis; speaking of the poet Tumanyan, they insistently
asserted that Tumanyan's genius surpassed that of Pushkin. The point, of
course, isn't whether Garni's architecture isn't more perfect than that of the
Acropolis, or whether Tumanyan is a greater genius than Pushkin. The point, and
the point is certainly sad, is that poetry, architecture, science, and history
themselves, in their essence, cease to be significant in the conversations of
some of my interlocutors. They exist only to demonstrate the superiority of the
Armenian national character over the national character of other peoples.
Poetry isn't important; what matters is simply proving that an Armenian
national poet is superior to, say, a Russian or French poet. My interlocutors,
without even realizing it, impoverished their souls and hearts by ceasing to
rejoice in poetry, the perfection of architecture, and the grandeur of science,
instead seeing poetry and science merely as a means to assert their national
superiority. This aspiration can be so fanatical and narrow that at times it
seems like madness."
("Znamya," no. 11, 1988)
It's hard to suspect Grosman of anti-Armenian sentiment, but
it seems to me that many would agree with his opinion. Perhaps this attitude
toward foreigners and their culture is also the reason for Armenia's
exceptionally mono-ethnic nature. Once at school, the physical education
teacher, lining us up, commanded "two steps forward," and drew our
attention to the fact that the shortest person in the line had leaped the
furthest; a case of the short stature syndrome, so to speak. No people, other
than the Armenians, indulge in such an excessive, literally morbid, level of
self-aggrandizement aimed at proving their national superiority, which
inevitably evokes disgust, and Vasily Grosman was right in his observations.
It should be noted that Grosman is not the only authority to
describe this situation. The renowned 19th-century Georgian poet and publicist
Ilia Chavchavadze wrote about how Armenians insulted and humiliated Georgia and
the Georgian people ("Armenian Scholars and Crying Stones"):
"There is hardly a people on earth that has been
so insultingly humiliated, defamed by everyone who has taken the trouble to do
so, as ours. Everyone is trying to either step over us, trample us, and raze us
to the ground. They practically want to destroy the memory of us in
Transcaucasia, to wipe the name of the Georgian from the face of the earth and
abandon us to the whims of the winds." As if we never existed, as if we
don't exist today. Poor in spirit, feeble-minded, morally fallen, stupid,
uneducated, ill-mannered, utterly ruined, unreliable, cowards—that's the
picture of our moral and physical baggage! This is what we were and what we
are, according to those whose interests demand such disgrace and humiliation.
They bend over backwards to convince everyone and everything, at home and
abroad, in words and in print, that we were worthless and unworthy and remain
so, if not worse. With this brand upon their brows, they spread the name of
Georgian throughout Europe, wherever only their voice and pen could reach. They
spread the same kind of fame about us Georgians throughout Russia. True, every
Russian or European who had personally had the chance to become familiar with
our good and bad sides said something in our favor—but, unfortunately, even
among them, many of their opinions were based on the desires of others, dancing
to someone else's tune and falling into someone else's trap. God bless them,
with their efforts to disgrace us! But the fact is that they swear to the whole
world, with word and pen, that from time immemorial, on this side of the
Caucasus Mountains, to the sources of the Tigris and Euphrates, almost from the
Black and Caspian Seas, there was a so-called Armenia."
Here is a map of "Greater Armenia," as presented by
the Armenians, which also includes Babylon, Damascus, Persia with its capital,
Azerbaijan, and Israel:
Incidentally, the main goal of
the Nazi Dashnaktsutyun party, formed in Tbilisi in 1890, was the creation of a
"Greater Armenia" (1,2) through ethnic cleansing and terrorizing the
predominantly Turkic and Kurdish populations of the Middle East. This was
subsequently carried out in Turkey and Azerbaijan during World War I, as well
as in 1916-1918, and was repeated again in Karabakh. (3,4) The German Nazis,
considering Germans a superior race, surprisingly copied the Armenians. Thus,
the racist approach towards the Georgian people (Vratsi, the Armenian term for
Georgians) on the part of Armenians was surprisingly accurately described by
Chavchavadze:
"These
Vratsi, as a people, do not deserve to be mentioned, since they are on the path
to destruction and degeneration. And even if this were not so, they are not
intelligent enough to understand their situation. God did not give them the
ability to trade: they are good for nothing except cabbies and chavdars, and
can't even use the few places for barns that, ridiculously, they call Georgia.
And how can they use them when they have neither the skill, nor the diligence,
nor the education, nor the knowledge, nor the desire, nor the willingness to
learn and learn—well, at least from those same Armenians, who, they say, are
called by God and history, with the banner of culture in hand, to revive and
bring happiness not only to the Middle East, but also to distant, wild, and
ignorant Asia.
"Not
content with dishonoring our name and depriving us of our national dignity, in
order to finally wipe us out, they abolish our entire history, our chronicles,
our historical remnants and monuments, all our blood-stained services to
Christianity, and all our historical heritage, all our own, through various
tricks, they claim for themselves. True, 'lies have short legs,' and by taking
away or diminishing the virtues of others, you cannot increase your own, but
'the slave of his own desires is hard of hearing and quick of tongue,' as the
Georgian proverb goes."
Everything Chavchavadze wrote
about the attitude of Armenian pseudo-historians toward Georgians is also
repeated in the case of Azerbaijan.
Chavchavadze unwittingly
predicted the situation that occurred a century later in Azerbaijan. The
Russians, who settled Armenians from the Middle East on Azerbaijani lands after
deporting the Azerbaijanis, created a situation that led to the Karabakh War:
According to Chavchavadze,
Armenians "are settling where they have never lived. Isn't it clear
that with this superficial scholarship they want to convince the world that
they have a historical right to occupy these places..."
This situation is identical to
the one taking place in Karabakh.
From Chavchavadze's text, it is
clear that even in his time, Armenian propaganda in Europe was spreading the
same lies about the Georgian people as it does about the Azerbaijanis today.
Human consciousness is such that the first information is perceived as truth,
and the Armenians take advantage of this, rushing to be the first to convey
falsehoods to the ignorant, and in this they have succeeded magnificently.
Settling across the world, leaving Armenia in search of a better life, they
blame neighboring peoples, finding this justification both for their emigration
and for calling for aid to create a Greater Armenia for the poor, exiled
Armenians at the expense of neighboring peoples. Interestingly, while the
Azerbaijanis expelled from Armenia found refuge in Azerbaijan, the Armenians
expelled from Azerbaijan, in response, found themselves everywhere but in
Armenia, spreading lies throughout the world about Azerbaijanis as barbarians
and villains.
"Their
boldness and insolence increase day by day; they begin to praise themselves
more and more boldly and treat us with ever greater insolence." Nowhere is
their once-and-for-all adopted plan of action, their mastered cunning and
insidiousness, so clearly outlined as in a single European newspaper, which
lists, in order, everything that could serve to exalt and glorify Armenians and
destroy Georgians, apparently instilled by these learned scholars. "Here,
these gentlemen are no longer shy or squeamish. They openly and openly employ
such tricks and means, the mere thought of which should bring a blush to the
face of any person, be they Armenian or anyone else," - wrote Chavchavadze.
Well, fine, let them talk; after
all, every people has its own national mentality that distinguishes it from
others. However, this circumstance is not as harmless as it seems at first
glance. The fact is, such conceit has had quite tragic consequences. Thus, the
historical research of Armenian scholars, proving the superiority of Armenians
over neighboring peoples, serves to substantiate territorial claims. Wikipedia
is filled with false stories (namely, stories of Armenian pseudo-historians)
about the Armenian people as the most ancient on earth, and they bypass the
well-known historical fact that the Armenians came to Asia Minor from Thrace,
moving to Phrygia, and then settled in Urartu, and today they present Urartu as
an ancient Armenian state.
There are countless similar
historical fabrications about Armenia. For example, in Wikipedia, regarding the
Treaty of Turkmanchay, an Armenian pseudo-historian writes: "According
to the Treaty of Turkmanchay, the territories of Eastern Armenia—the Erivan and
Nakhichevan Khanates—were ceded to Russia." In fact,
the actual text of the Treaty of Turkmanchay between Russia and Persia of
February 10, 1828, contains not a single word about Eastern Armenia:
Article III
His Majesty the
Shah of Persia, in his own name and on behalf of his heirs and successors,
cedes to the Russian Empire both the Erivan Khanate on this and the other side
of the Araks River, and the Nakhichevan Khanate, in full possession. As a
consequence of this cession, His Majesty the Shah promises, no later than six
months from the signing of this treaty, to surrender to the Russian authorities
all archives and public documents relating to the administration of both
aforementioned Khanates. (Treaty of Turkmenchay (msu.ru) ) (5)
Hence the conclusion: if you want
to know the truth about Armenia, don't look for it in the accounts of Armenian
historians.
1. Was there a Greater Armenia? https://alikbahshi.blogspot.com/2026/07/was-there-great-armenia_01974081286.html
2. "Greater Armenia" or
the Great Lie. https://alikbahshi.livejournal.com/91885.html
3. On the issue of genocide, or why Armenia is wary of the court.
https://alikbahshi.livejournal.com/44394.html
4. Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan.
https://alikbahshi.livejournal.com/13967.html
5. Stop lying! https://alikbahshi.blogspot.com/2026/07/stop-lying.html
04.02.2023
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