They Don't Care About Us (Armenia, Ukraine and hypocrisy)

A reaction none of our non-Armenian friends expected when the 2022 Ukraine-Russia war started, was the bitterness Armenians expressed at first.

We may have come across as insensitive, asking why our people didn't have the same attention in 2020 that Ukrainians have in 2022. A few people understood, but told us "this isn't the time".

I disagree.

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It was quickly pointed out how much both the ongoing conflict and the 2020 Artsakh/Nagorno-Karabakh war shared in common:

• both involved an aggression by a dictator (two dictators in 2020, as Turkey's Erdogan gave full military support to his friend Aliyev)
• both involved people becoming refugees, and thousands of dead and injured.

However, the reactions from the West were different:

• Military support was provided to Ukrainians to defend themselves. We got none.

• Borders quickly opened for refugees. We took care of our own.

• Sanctions were taken against Russia. Turkey and Azerbaijan got none.

• Media coverage was overwhelming, it was the main topic everywhere. We were accused of being equally responsible for the war.

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So, when people tell us "this isn't the time, let's focus on Ukrainians", I ask: when is it going to be the right time?

• The right time was 2020, and nobody cared.

• Aliyev is freezing our people to death by cutting gas supplies in 2022. And nobody cares.

I'd bet if we all died and ended up in history books, the world still wouldn't care.

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In a video from March 3, 2022, Eric Hacopian, a political analyst, gives very relevant insights about why we end up with such different treatment. In this video, starting from 2:16, he goes through the masterful marketing from the Ukrainian side, who managed to tell their story in a way the world can feel it.

But in his opinion, and many others', there are darker reason here as to why the world cared for Ukraine, and not as much for Artsakh and many others. He exposes two examples. These are direct quotes.

It's really emotional for me because I see European people with blue eyes and blonde hair being killed, children being killed everyday with Putin's missiles.

As Eric points out, the BBC anchor never challenged that statement.

This isn't a place with all due respect, you know, like Iraq of Afghanistan, that has seen conflict raging for decades. [...] This is a relativiley civilized, relatively European - I have to chose those words carefully too - a city where you wouldn't expect that or hope that it's going to happen.

I really love Eric's answer to that:

If only we were blonde and civilized... everything would have been different...

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I'll just take Eric Hacopian's final points:

• The people from the video are honest and express what most of the West really thinks.
• We at least know where we stand in the eyes of the world. There's a club, and we're not in it.
• Let's not be mad at the world. Let's get to work instead and do what we need to do : get rich, have a more functional state, and tell a better story about yourself.

And once we do that, we can tell these people to go to hell.

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As a personal note, I'd like to say that as much as we Armenians may be mad at the world, we're no better.

Which one of us cares about what's going on in Central Asia or Africa? There are so many oppressed minorities under dictatorships we don't even know the names.

And we don't really care about them. We're the same hypocrites.

So, let's stop whining, and focus on the one thing our enemy doesn't want us to do: rebuild our nation and strenghten our people.