Armenia cannot be state without national idea - expert 

ArmInfo.Armenia cannot become a state without a national idea.  Especially in a situation where its neighbor (Azerbaijan - ed.) is constantly waging a hidden but never- ending war, including in the information and psychological arena.

Azerbaijan scholar Tatevik Hayrapetyan expressed this opinion on her  page, responding to yesterday's protest organized by participants in  the Artsakh War. The latter, in protest against the Armenian  authorities' attempt to erase history and consign the Armenian  people's National Liberation Struggle to oblivion, deposited their  military awards at the government building in Armenia.

In this vein, Hayrapetyan recalled that any medal acquires value  solely due to the idea embedded within it.  "The medal that bears the  names of Andranik Ozanyan and Garegin Nzhdeh is a symbol of national  dignity, struggle, and perseverance for the Armenian people. All of  this acquires value solely through the idea.  Without the idea,  nothing else has value-neither the struggle, nor the sacrifices, nor  the medals," Hayrapetyan noted.

Under these circumstances, the Azerbaijani scholar emphasized, any  human sacrifice becomes meaningless, and along with it, medals,  awards, orders, and other ideological symbols received for military  exploits lose all significance. "It turns out that the participants  in the Artsakh War invested everything they had in these battles and  lost their comrades there. And today they are told that their  struggle was a mistake, and that they acted wrongly when they  prevented the Armenians of Artsakh from being subjected to genocide  and ethnic cleansing. They are told that they acted wrongly when they  took up arms in the name of national dignity and the defense of the  lives of the people of Artsakh," the expert noted.

In this vein, she recalled another episode in Armenian history, when  Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, then a journalist, asked  Sparapet (commander - ed.) Vazgen Sargsyan a question regarding  Artsakh during a press conference on January 23, 1998.

"Then Vazgen Sargsyan replied: 'I gave this war everything I could  and gained pride. Take away this pride, take away this idea, and  there will be nothing left.' "I have fought, I am fighting, and I  will fight for an idea, for a goal," Hayrapetyan recalled.

In this vein, she noted that today, the Armenian people are  essentially going through a difficult period in their history, when  they are being deprived of ideas and moral values, convinced that the  most important thing is to "be well-fed." Hayrapetyan emphasized that  under such conditions, Armenia will not be able to become a state if  it loses its national ideas. However, she expressed her conviction  that this is yet another stage the Armenian people must overcome.