We like to say we are a small country but a large nation. Sometimes we even call ourselves the “global nation”. We say that and feel good about ourselves. But as soon as we make steps towards embodying that title, it triggers domestic political fight and some petty complexes.

We learned on February 8 that Armenia sent to Aleppo a group of 83 experts including deminers, doctors and the personnel ensuring their safety. This humanitarian mission was announced long ago, and we had a lengthy interview about it with Armenian Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan back in September of 2018.

Certain representatives of the previous regime are now speaking against what they describe as “adventurous Prime Minister using our army, our soldiers as a playing card”.

You could argue how appropriate it is to equal a humanitarian delegation to an “army”, but that is not the most important matter. These former officials claim that the delegation’s visit to Syria violates the Armenian Constitution, and the authorities insist that all required procedures were implemented. Next, the old regime supporters take Russian Defense Minister’s remark that Armenia was the first to respond to the call for humanitarian aid for Syria and present it as the proof that the decision to send a delegation was “forced”.

They demand to see Syria’s request for humanitarian aid. I believe I won’t violate the journalistic ethics if I reveal that Davit Tonoyan showed me the letter from his Syrian counterpart when we were speaking in September.

Purposely or not, on February 9 the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) joined in the claims of Sasna Tsrer Party, which issued a statement reading:

“We have to state with regret that the Armenian Government is consistently neglecting the vital necessity to overcome Armenia’s colonial dependency on Russia and build a dignified relationship with that country…”

I think it is clear to everyone that Armenia organized the humanitarian mission to Syria in close cooperation with Russia, if not at Russia’s suggestion. You can understand why Sasna Tsrer would oppose that, given their party’s foreign policy line. But when that sort of criticism comes from RPA, which is accusing current authorities of ruining relations with Russia… It is strange, to say the least.

Nevertheless, even that is not the most important point. What matters is that this criticism leaves out around 15,000 Armenians still living Aleppo, who are the primary recipients of Armenia’s humanitarian aid. We do not even realize how insulting it is for Aleppo’s Armenians to read the media reports of these days. What, don’t these people deserve help from Armenia?
Don’t we understand that we are returning to Syria 100 years after the Genocide to support the descendants of the Genocide survivors and those whose grandparents helped Armenian refugees settle and keep their national identity?

We seem to be forgetting that in September 2014 the ISIS militants committed horrible sacrilege by blasting the Armenian Genocide Martyrs’ Memorial Church in Deir ez-Zor, which kept the relics of the victims of Armenian Genocide, who perished in the desert. We seem to be forgetting that in November 2014 the ISIS seized the Armenian-populated Kessab in Syria. By the way, many people at that time were demanding with foam at their mouths that Armenia should send troops to Kessab.

Now Armenia is establishing presence in Syria to help its brothers and sisters there. Yes, we are doing it through Russia and with Russian help. Russia is our ally, which is a fact regardless of how we feel about it. We can’t view Russia as an ally only when it’s convenient for us, and if we help Armenians and establish presence in the Middle East through fulfilling our allied commitments to Russia, it is not a bad thing.

We have peacekeepers in Lebanon for a few years, and now we’ll be represented in Syria as well. There is no way politics-savvy people don’t understand the importance of that representation. Moreover, Armenia should expand and strengthen it. For decades we said we have huge material and spiritual heritage in Jerusalem, which is essentially left to its devices. As long as we don’t have an embassy in Israel, the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem and young seminary students from Armenia are the only keepers of that heritage, and they even have to fistfight with Greek clerics to do their job.

Is U.S. happy that we sent a humanitarian group to Syria? No, definitely not. But the U.S. is also unhappy with the regular Yerevan-Tehran flights, which it has tried to shut down for a long time. We aren’t cancelling them, are we?

People claiming that we “disrupt the balance” by sending a humanitarian group to Syria simply need to remember that Armenia has the second large peacekeeping unit in Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan among post-Soviet republics. Additionally, Armenia ranks 11th by the number of troops (121) among 39 participation nations, surpassing Croatia, Hungary, Belgium, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, who are all NATO members.

When we have an opportunity to defend our national interests by moving outside of Armenia’s borders, we should take it. That is how you become a “global nation”. Step by step. It could take decades, but these steps are the factor that reduces the possibility of finding ourselves in Deir ez-Zor as martyrs again.

Ara Tadevosyan is Director of Mediamax