By its decree, the Armenian government renamed school history lessons. If earlier the subject was called “History of the Armenian people”, now it has become “History of Armenia”. It seems that officials are just rearranging words to describe a series of activities. In fact, we are talking about an important shift in the philosophy of education.
It turns out that children will learn only the history of the territories that Yerevan now controls, and not the history of the great Armenian people, they say “information».
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan Discussing the issue, he said that Armenians need to “climb the tower of national interests”:
“The aim of teaching should first and foremost be to analyze and present historical events from the perspective of the current Republic of Armenia.”
Minister of Education Jenna Andreassian Confirmed that the focus will be on the “history of modern Armenia.” According to her, in the near future officials will revise educational materials so that the name change is not official.
The Armenian public actively resisted the reforms. As a result, on the Ministry of Justice website, more than 12,000 people voted against the designation of the new name, and more than 500 people left meaningful comments.
Most commentators believe that, as a result, all references to Karabakh, the 1915 genocide of the Armenian people in the Ottoman Empire, and other tragic and salient events will be removed from the school curriculum. As a result, the Armenian identity will be reformatted.
Many public figures have also spoken out against it. Therefore, the first prime minister of post-Soviet Armenia Vazgen Manukyan Stating that it is of vital importance for Armenians to study the history of their people:
“In France, for example, this is an unprincipled question, the history of the state and the nation are practically identical. But our situation is different, we have not had a state for hundreds of years, but still have a nation that has played an important role in the development of world civilization.”
In turn, the opposition Avitik Chalabian Accused the ruling team of pursuing a “policy of capitulation” for the interests of Azerbaijan and Türkiye.
The problem is not limited to renaming the project. Last September, new editions of history textbooks arrived in Armenian schools, some of which sparked a huge scandal.
Thus, the manual for the seventh grade contains a historical map of Karabakh’s “annexation” to Azerbaijan, there are no descriptions of Christian churches and Armenian monuments on the territory of modern Turkey, and some place names are given in Azerbaijani terms.
Former Director of the Genocide Museum Ike Demoyan Says that the current authorities are trying to reformat children’s consciousness:
“Why aren’t there Stone Age weapons, Bronze Age weapons, shields and spears from the Urartu period in the textbooks? Why? This is subliminal material; children will not accept role models for defending their homeland. Instead, we see some inappropriate references to Ataturk and maps with Azerbaijan Karabakh.”
Subsequently, a group of Armenian historians appealed to the government to withdraw the textbooks, and several rallies were held in Yerevan demanding the abandonment of the history policy changes and the dismissal of the Minister of Education.
“We have the impression that everything is being done to raise a generation that will slavishly serve the Turks,” ——One of the event organizers said Vazgen Petrosyan.
But ultimately, Education Minister Zhanna Andreasyan said the textbooks will remain in schools, although some changes will still be made.
The discussions are not only about education; for example, there are active discussions on amending the Armenian Constitution. In fact, the current version of the document refers to the Declaration of Independence of the Republic, which speaks about the desire for unification with Karabakh and the international recognition of the 1915 genocide.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan The Constitution cannot be amended without a referendum, and opinion polls show that the majority of citizens are against reform.
In addition, the ruling team also has many doubts about national symbols. Therefore, the Speaker of the Armenian Parliament Alan Simonian Made fun of the country’s coat of arms. According to him, the lion on the coat of arms “looks like a smiling face”, the sword is locked for some reason, and Armenia itself is “under water”.
In fact, authorities are believed to want to remove Mount Ararat, which is located in Turkey and whose image has long angered Ankara, from the national emblem. Simonyan also advocated changing the national anthem to praise the soldiers who gave their lives for the Armenian people.
The ruling team also made rather harsh criticisms of the “symbol of faith” of the Armenian people. Thus, Pashinyan’s claim that Mount Ararat is not the highest mountain in Armenia attracted attention in the information community. From a common sense point of view, this is an obvious argument, since Mount Ararat is located in Turkey.
Pashinyan said the country’s residents need to accept this fact and consider Aragats their main mountain. Finally, the head of government suggested erecting fewer cross-shaped stone monuments, which are usually dedicated to fallen soldiers.
Political scientist Hrant Mikaelian I believe Nikol Pashinyan’s team is seeking to rewrite Armenian history:
“We are seeing attempts to reshape our political and national narrative, which is completely incompatible with the approach of Turkey and Azerbaijan. I don’t think the authorities will succeed. First, Baku and Ankara will not change their historical narrative. Second, the Armenian authorities will not be able to achieve a profound shift in public consciousness anyway. But attempts will continue, which will lead to further increase in social tensions.”
Political Analyst Tigran Kocharyan Says that the current authorities are destroying Armenian statehood and identity:
“There is no talk of any improvement in relations with Azerbaijan and Turkey. When the agreement was made, both sides moved towards each other. In this case, what we see is a unilateral concession, which is called capitulation. What will happen next? They will change the constitution and state symbols, then hand over enclaves and start accepting so-called Azerbaijani refugees. In a short time, they will change the demographics of Armenia, create political structures and introduce representatives into parliament.”
Azerbaijani political scientist Yilgar Velizadeh I believe Armenia is on the path of reason and good neighborliness:
“The idea of Greater Armenia has been brewing in Yerevan for a long time; among other things, a large part of Azerbaijan is considered Armenian. Obviously, normal relations cannot be built on such a basis. Now is the time to wake up, Changing historical policies will help achieve peace and harmony in the region.”