Imagine a nation with a rich history spanning over 4,000 years, a civilization that has left an indelible mark on humanity’s narrative.

Imagine a Christian country over 1700 years ago, at the forefront of spreading Christianity worldwide.

Imagine a nation deeply rooted in its ancestral homeland, repeatedly subjected to relentless barbaric invasions for thousands of years, dating back as far as the fourth century by the Persians and then the seventh century by the Arabs, and again in the 13th century by arriving nomadic Turkic Ottoman tribes.

Imagine a nation where half of its population is systematically massacred by the brutal Turkish Ottoman Empire in 1915, marking the first genocide of the 20th century. Imagine the survivors of this greatest tragedy coming together to forge an independent democratic state just a few years later.

Imagine a people forced into a Sovietized communist state for seven decades, enduring the harsh rule of Stalinism.

Imagine a small, landlocked country of three million people, shaken by a devastating earthquake that claims over 50,000 lives and destroys over half the country.

Imagine being the smallest and most remote Soviet state and being one of the first to declare independence from Moscow in August, 1990.

Imagine communist Stalin breaking away Artsakh, the ancestral birthplace and the very hearthland of a nation, in 1921, and imagine in 1989, after 68 years of living under a closed, communist regime and even before the fall of the Soviet Union, the people holding an internationally recognized and binding, free and fair referendum, to reunify with the motherland.

Imagine 120,000 people, facing a brutal 44 day war in September 2020, from one of the most ruthless, uncivilized countries - Azerbaijan, a post-Soviet creation with no historical or cultural heritage, whose only contribution to humanity in its 30 years of existence has been oil and gas.

Imagine fighting against all odds, with no external support, just to undo injustice and enforce the will of the people, to live freely in their unified homeland.

Imagine such an enduring nation. Imagine Armenia.

I harbor no illusions that politics prioritizes humanity, freedom, and justice. One cannot be naive to believe that the so-called “civilized world” will rush to aid the 120,000 Christian Armenians living in the Artsakh territory of independent Armenia today, as they are completely surrounded and blockaded by the armed forces of the Azerbaijani dictatorial regime, with the full support of the Turkish regime.

So why am I writing these words? It’s to send a message to Turkey and its satellite oil state of Azerbaijan. It’s to personally convey the promise of the small but resilient Armenian nation, that they will not succeed, that they have miscalculated, once again, that Armenia will not only weather these historically challenging times, perhaps some of the most critical and dire in its history, but will emerge stronger, with all of Artsakh united, including the historic Armenian territories occupied by Turkey and Azerbaijan during the 2020 44-day war. This small nation of 3 million, will, once again demonstrate to the world, that humanity always triumphs over brutality, that culture always prevails over barbarism, and that true nations endure and ultimately triumph in the face of adversity.

This has been Armenia’s legacy for 4,000 years.

This remains Armenia’s challenge today, one it will undoubtedly emerge victorious from.