Sarkis Tsaturyan: Greater Armenia Begins with Enlightenment

Sarkis Tsaturyan, the author of the book “Armenian Dream” and the founder of the “Ashkharazhokhov” movement, answered questions from MIASIN.RU.

What inspired you to write the book “Armenian Dream”?

After the Azerbaijani-Turkish aggression against Armenia and its province of Artsakh in 2020, I came to the conclusion that winning a war on the battlefield is not enough. First and foremost, we must defeat the enemy on the ideological front. Only our Armenian ideology can defeat the enemy’s ideology. If we lack an ideology, we have nothing to fight with. It’s like coming to a duel without a weapon.

For the past hundred years, Armenian political discourse has focused on the topic of the Genocide—that is, the past. The past should be studied only to the extent necessary to take revenge on Turkish fascists and ensure that such massacres never happen again. But we cannot live in the past because the past cannot be changed. However, we can change the future, and only ideology can do that.

What is ideology? It is a system of ideas that shapes a people’s vision of tomorrow—a vision of the future. The book “Armenian Dream” answers three key questions step by step: Who are the Armenians? What path have Armenians taken in their relations with other nations, and on what principles should Greater Armenia be restored?

Once we anchor the Armenian Dream in our collective consciousness, we will immediately begin to change our present. It’s like starting a journey. If you choose your path, every step you take leads you closer to your goal. If you don’t choose a path, others will make that choice for you, and you won’t like the result. This is exactly what happened to the Armenian people in 2020 and 2023. Others constantly make decisions for us—simply because we once abandoned the Armenian Dream, which is the restoration of Greater Armenia, the cradle of the Armenian people. It’s time to return to our roots.

In your book, you touch on the idea of recreating Greater Armenia within the borders from the Euphrates to the Kura River. Many wonder: How can Armenia restore anything in its current state if Armenians couldn’t even preserve Artsakh?

It’s important to clearly understand the cause-and-effect relationship. We lost Artsakh precisely because we abandoned the Armenian Dream. Instead of annexing Artsakh to Armenia, settling our lands, and turning them into a flourishing garden, Armenian politicians put our land up for sale, ultimately handing it over to Turkish and Azerbaijani fascists.

How can we today question the idea of recreating Greater Armenia if we haven’t even tried to revive it?

Greater Armenia is not just a dream. Greater Armenia is a historical fact. On August 11, 2024, it will be 4,516 years since Hayk, the progenitor of the Armenians, founded Armenia after defeating the Babylonian tyrant Bel. From Hayk’s time until the partition of Armenia in 387 AD, our homeland existed within the borders from the Euphrates to the Kura. Armenia maintained these borders for 2,879 years!

In human history, there is no other nation that has preserved the borders of its state for so long. For example, the Roman Empire lasted 500 years, Byzantium—over 1,000 years, the Ottoman Empire—623 years, and the Russian Empire—nearly 200 years.

There have been different periods in Armenian history when Armenia either shrank or expanded its borders, as was the case under Tigranes II the Great in the 1st century BC. There was also the period of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, a Mediterranean power that lasted 344 years, from the late 11th century to the early 15th century. By the way, Cilicia, which is a relatively small chapter in Armenian statehood, lasted longer than the Mongol Empire and the Russian Empire. Empires constantly replaced one another in Armenia’s history, but the flame of Armenian statehood never died out.

How can Greater Armenia be practically realized?

We must start with enlightenment. We need to bring the new Armenian ideology to every Armenian family. When we all work together toward the Armenian Dream, nations, events, and opportunities will emerge on our path to achieving this national goal.

If we constantly complain about our fate and fear the Dream, we will have no chance of physically surviving in the South Caucasus and the Middle East.

In your book, you write: “The Armenian Dream is a chance to restore the fabric of history, torn apart by our sins and foreign invaders.” What does the “fabric of history” mean, and what specific sins are you referring to?

The fabric of history is the invisible spiritual and genetic connection between modern Armenians and their ancestors and the Armenian land. This is the historical continuum that foreign invaders have taken from us.

As for sins, the most common sin in Armenian history is pride. It’s no coincidence that the great Garegin Nzhdeh called egoism the main cause of our people’s misfortunes. To reconcile with God—that is, to make a new covenant with Him—we must start with repentance. But repentance begins with acknowledging our mistakes, and this is the hardest part because only a strong and experienced nation can admit that it made mistakes in the past.

Why can’t we reconcile with Turkish and Azerbaijani fascists? Because they do not acknowledge their crimes against the Armenians—they do not recognize the Armenian Genocide or the occupation of our homeland. The Turks are so far from God that they refuse to repent.

What does it mean to reconcile with God? Peace with God means following His commandments. Every religion has its commandments. The “Ashkharazhokhov” movement does not divide the world along confessional lines. We love and accept all Armenians, regardless of their religious affiliation.

For “Ashkharazhokhov”, it doesn’t matter if you’re a Christian, Muslim, or atheist. What matters is whether an Armenian recognizes the 15 provinces of Greater Armenia as their homeland. If they do, they have the full moral right to become part of “Ashkharazhokhov”, the Pan-Armenian assembly of heirs to the Armenian land. Our doors are open to all Armenians ready to participate in the restoration of “Ashkharazhokhov” — the pan-Armenian model of governance.

In one of your interviews, you stated: “Armenians have been led to believe that they can only choose between Russia and Turkey or between Russia and the West. In reality, this is a false choice that corrupts and humiliates the Armenian people.” On what principles should Armenia’s foreign policy be based?

Armenian land—with its mountains, plains, forests, rivers, and minerals—as well as Armenian statehood, are the inalienable property of the Armenian people. Therefore, Armenia must pursue a pro-Armenian policy, not a pro-Russian, pro-Western, or pro-Turkish one.

Our foreign policy should be based on the principle of neutrality. Armenia must become a non-aligned state and proclaim its non-aligned status on the international stage. After that, we will withdraw Armenia from the CSTO, but not for the sake of NATO.

We will focus on bilateral defense agreements with countries willing to support Armenia in its struggle against Turkish-Azerbaijani occupation. These include Iran, China, India, France, Greece, Cyprus, and any other country that sees the Armenian people as a strategic ally. The countries I mentioned are interested in Armenia reclaiming its historical place on the Silk Road between Europe and Asia—for the benefit of the indigenous peoples of the South Caucasus and the Middle East.

In your book, you write: “The cradle of our people is the Armenian Highlands, which held sacred significance for humanity long before Noah’s Ark, as it was the location of Eden—the Garden of Paradise, the original dwelling place of humanity. According to Moses, a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden and then divided into four heads: the Tigris, Euphrates, Kura [Pishon], and Araks [Gihon]. Commenting on Chapter II of the Book of Genesis [11–14], Bishop Vissarion of Kostroma and Galich, a leading 19th-century Russian Empire biblical scholar, explains that these ‘four branches’ originate in the Armenian Highlands. Thus, Armenia is the continuation of Eden.”

Does this mean that the first humans, Adam and Eve, were created by God in Armenia, and then, centuries after the Great Flood, Noah’s Ark landed on the same land where life originally began?

This thesis is supported by numbers. For example, the Kingdom of Hayk was established 754 years after the Flood. Alongside Hayk, 300 men and their families founded the kingdom. Remember the magical number 300—it repeats throughout history, accompanying epochal events. For instance, the number 300 appears in the Old Testament chapters about the Great Flood, which began in the spring of 3246 BC—the length of Noah’s Ark was 300 cubits.

After Hayk, the number 300 reappears in the history of Rome, which was founded on April 21, 753 BC—also with the participation of 300 families. By the way, 29 years before the founding of Rome, King Argishti I of Urartu founded the fortress city of Erebuni. But I wanted to say something else.

According to the generally accepted chronology, the birth of Christ occurred in 754 AUC (ab urbe condita, “from the founding of the city”). Interesting coincidence, isn’t it? The Kingdom of Hayk was founded 754 years after the Flood, and the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ occurred 754 years after the founding of Rome. Why? Because the Kingdom of Ararat, created by Hayk, marks the beginning of a new world—just like the birth of Christ, which changed the fate of Armenians and all humanity.

A quote from “Armenian Dream”: “The prophet Jeremiah, who lived 600 years before Christ, mentions the Armenians in the context of the confrontation between Babylon and the Kingdom of Ararat [51:27]: ‘Raise a banner in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, prepare the nations for battle against Babylon; summon against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. Appoint a commander against her; bring up horses like a swarm of locusts.'”

Given that Hayk Nahapet, the progenitor of the Armenians, refused to participate in the godless endeavor—the construction of the Tower of Babel, whose chief ideologist was the God-fighter Nimrod/Bel (a descendant of Ham)—can we assume that the descendants of Nimrod (the symbolic Babylon) are taking revenge on the descendants of Hayk in the last days?

We can not only assume this but also provide specific historical facts. After all, Jeremiah’s prophecy was fulfilled by the Armenian king Tigranes I Yervanduni and the Persian ruler Cyrus II Achaemenid, who jointly conquered Babylon in 539 BC and freed the Jewish people from 70 years of captivity. This is described in the “Cyropaedia” by the Greek writer Xenophon.

I must admit, I am still surprised that the prophets Ezra and Isaiah praise Cyrus while forgetting about Tigranes’ 48,000-strong army (a colossal number for that time), which entered Babylon alongside the Persians. Not to mention the fact that Cyrus borrowed money from Tigranes for the military campaign, as Xenophon meticulously notes.

The entire history of the Armenian people over the past 45 centuries is a living testimony to the war between the descendants of Hayk and the heirs of pagan Babylon. However, the Babylon that Hayk fought against has been in ruins for two and a half millennia. Therefore, today Babylon is no longer a geographical concept but a moral one: Babylon is the image of a pagan kingdom at war with God’s people.

For the past two thousand years, the role of pagan Babylon has been played by the Roman Empire, whose legacy passed first to Byzantium and then, from the late 15th century to the present day, to the Ottoman Empire (and later Turkey), which committed the Genocide of the Armenian people.

Thus, the mass extermination of the Armenian people at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, during World War I, as well as the wars between Armenia and so-called Azerbaijan at the turn of the 20th-21st centuries and today—all of this is a continuation of the war between the descendants of Hayk and Bel. In the book “Armenian Dream,” I explore this topic in more detail.

Do you believe there is a deliberate effort to undermine and “dilute” Armenian national consciousness and identity using various “brainwashing” technologies (NLP, social engineering, etc.)?

A hybrid war is being waged against the Armenian people, involving both conventional weapons and information terrorism. Moreover, at the mental and informational level, the Armenian government itself is fighting against us by injecting enemy propaganda into public consciousness.

That said, I wouldn’t overestimate the strength of our enemies because they are only as strong as we allow them to be while we remain on the ground after a knockdown. It’s time for us to get up! But how? The best remedy for the destruction of national identity is quality education and the upbringing of Armenians.

This is why, under the auspices of “Ashkharazhokhov”, we created the “Armenian Academy,” where we teach our students Armenian history, the Armenian language, and the history of Christianity. And this is just the beginning. Our movement will undoubtedly expand its course offerings. Next up is a special course on Armenian philosophy, which will soon open for enrollment.

You claim that “Armenia and the Armenian people are the mirror of this world”: “Armenia bears the same birth traumas as the world. In turn, the world bears the same birth traumas as Armenia. The Kingdom of Ararat is divided to the same extent as the rest of the world. Therefore, the victory of Armenians over their vices is the key to the revival of not only Armenia but also the rest of the world”.

What specific vices are you referring to, and how can they be overcome?

The Armenian people have a mission before God – though the word “mission” isn’t always appropriate here. I would replace “mission” with “responsibility.” We, Armenians, bear responsibility before God for spreading His Light and preserving the values of our civilization.

Unfortunately, we have abandoned this responsibility. This burden proved too heavy for us. But it’s never too late to rise from our knees. We have risen from the ashes many times. What’s stopping us from doing it again? We just need to work hard, and everything will work out!