Let\u2019s face facts.<\/p>\n
Turkey and Azerbaijan threaten the Armenian nation\u2019s survival.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s our reality. Now and for the foreseeable future. <\/p>\n
Ankara and Baku seek to conquer Artsakh because they want to crush Armenia.<\/p>\n
They work to destroy our Diaspora because they want to defeat our homeland.<\/p>\n
Who strive mightily to erase our past because they want, ultimately, to deny us our future.<\/p>\n
Azerbaijan\u2019s merciless hammer strikes upon Ankara\u2019s neo-Ottoman anvil fall hardest on those young souls protecting our Armenian homeland \u2013 devastating the families of those lost or injured, but\u2014make no mistake\u2014these attacks are against all of us.<\/p>\n
They target each and every Armenian. Our very existence. Our place on this planet.<\/p>\n
Me and you. Our sisters and brothers. The young and old.<\/p>\n
From all parties and every political point of view.<\/p>\n
From all corners of the earth\u2014from Armenia, Artsakh, and Javakhk to the Americas, Europe, Russia, and the Middle East. No exceptions.<\/p>\n
Just like 1915. Just like 1988.<\/p>\n
Theirs is a modern, multi-billion dollar campaign to finish the work of the genocide.<\/p>\n
Their weapons have changed, but not their aims. They seek\u2013as did those who held the reins of power before them:<\/p>\n
To capture Artsakh;
\nTo empty our homeland;
\nAnd to destroy our Diaspora.<\/p>\n
They have vast resources, and they are not holding any in reserve.<\/p>\n
We don\u2019t have their government revenues or oil dollars, but we do have something more powerful:<\/p>\n
Our honor;
\nOur pride;
\nOur faith;
\nAnd our will.<\/p>\n
We are each an ambassador for our nation.<\/p>\n
We are\u2014every man, woman, and child\u2014a soldier for our cause.<\/p>\n
Together, as a diaspora, we represent a second army of the Armenian nation\u2014an unmatched international legion\u2014protecting our homeland, preserving our heritage, and advancing our rights.<\/p>\n
An army of identity, of ideas, of inspiration.<\/p>\n
As citizen soldiers, we are not called upon the make the sacrifices of those brave sentinels who stand guard today along the frontiers of Armenian freedom<\/p>\n
But the enemies we face are just as powerful. The stakes of our struggle just as high.<\/p>\n
This is our generation\u2019s Avarayr. Our Sardarabad. Our Shushi.<\/p>\n
Khrimian Hayrik, in honoring St. Vartan, wrote: \u201cYou perished, and Armenia arose.\u201d<\/p>\n
So too is it for each of us.<\/p>\n
All of us Vartans, struggling upon our own Vaspurakan, striving, searching, and sacrificing for a better tomorrow. Not for only ourselves, but for all our brothers and sisters.<\/p>\n
Not simply for today, but for all our tomorrows.<\/p>\n
That is the price of Armenia\u2019s survival.<\/p>\n
For, as Mer Hayrenik teaches us, \u201cdeath is the same everywhere; A man dies but once; but blessed is he who gives his life for the freedom of his nation.\u201d<\/p>\n
So much has changed, but that simple truth has not.<\/p>\n
Our nation calls to us today, as she has so often through the centuries.<\/p>\n
The words of Charents echo in our hearts:<\/p>\n
\u201cOv hai joghovurd, ko miak prkootyune ko havakakan uji mej eh\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOh! Armenian people, your salvation lies only in your collective power\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
The songs of our youth still stirs our souls:<\/p>\n
\u201cZartir Lao, mrnim kzi.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAwake, my son, I would die for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
A mother awakening her son for battle, just as our mother, Mayr Hairenik, tearfully summons us, her children, to her defense.<\/p>\n
Let us rally to the call of our nation.<\/p>\n
Let us rise together to the challenge of our age.<\/p>\n
Let us unite, and show our strength.<\/p>\n
Working with and for and through the Hai Tahd movement, as the proud sons and daughters of one Armenian Nation\u2014one Armenian Cause\u2014we will, as we must, defend the Armenian people in this hour of danger.<\/p>\n
It is the devotion we owe to our past.<\/p>\n
The determination we owe to our future.<\/p>\n
And the debt we owe to ourselves.<\/p>\n