THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA AT THIRTY

Anniversaries do not change by themselves the course of our life. Yet they are milestones to take stock of the past and review what future we envision. The same can be said of people and states. On Tuesday, September 21, the Republic of Armenia celebrates its thirtieth anniversary. This very young state is the latest reincarnation of one of the oldest nations still around in the world. So old Armenians are that they have seen the rise and fall of civilizations that now only feature in history books and museums. Yet, especially now, that should not lead to hubris. On the contrary, our collective experience—past and so painfully present—serves as a cautionary tale against complacency. True, Parthians, Romans, Byzantines, Mamluks, have come and gone, but for the last millennium or so we have had to deal with an enduring enemy and threat that is not going away. And our extraordinary capacity for survival and resistance should not make us smug: throughout the millennia of our history, we have seen the rise and fall of our own statehood not a few times. We should stand alert and united, firmly grounded in our common history and for our common future. Sadly, too, against our common enemies. Yet, as history also teaches us in Virgil’s immortal words, “Meliora sequentur”: “Better things will follow.”