I lived twenty-seven years in the United States...

05:58:00 27.03.2026

I lived twenty-seven years in the United States and the last ten years in Armenia (half of which I have spent actively engaged in politics). During that time, both in the Homeland and in the Diaspora, I have interacted with all kinds of Armenians and, sadly, I have many times witnessed false patriotism, or as Garegin Nzhdeh calls it, “pseudo-patriotism.”

These are the people who love Armenia but are not patriots. Those who have become masters of the art of loving Armenia from a distance. Those who are “patriots” when the Homeland is victorious, but disappear when the Fatherland is defeated and continues to be humiliated by the enemy. They are those who consider themselves “patriots” until the moment arrives when one must truly be a patriot and perform patriotic deeds.

I had clearly noticed all this while living in California for nearly three decades, and before repatriating I believed the situation in Armenia would be different. But it turned out that I was mistaken, because in the Fatherland there is no real difference on this matter. After reading Nzhdeh’s writings more deeply, I realized that this phenomenon is not new at all.

Let him explain it better:

“Likewise, I know of no other people whose patriotism is so poor in substance as that found among a part of our nation… Passion and enthusiasm—there is plenty of that—but this patriotism is lazy, barren, and unwilling to sacrifice. And that is precisely why those considered ‘patriots’ among us have, in times of danger, left their homeland in flames and fled shamefully… Armenia is in need of concrete and living patriotism. Armenian patriotism often carries a festive, ceremonial, aristocratic character. It is suitable for rhetoric and for clinking toasts around warm tables, but not for Armenia and the Armenian people. Armenia needs daily and self-sacrificing patriotism. Some people’s patriotism is crude—so crude that it borders on lack of patriotism… The main internal cause of our homeland’s misfortune is the pseudo-patriotism of the Armenian of today… Why have many Armenian organizations and institutions become schools of cowardice? The Homeland—which means also the Nation—deserves deep devotion; it needs race-worshippers, those who devote themselves to the Nation alone. Yes—without love for the nation, there can be no true patriotism.”

— Nzhdeh

P.S. The photo was taken in 2015 in Los Angeles on the centennial of the Armenian Genocide, a year and a half after which I moved to Armenia