This was not diplomacy — it was deception

By Vahe Andonian

In recent days, what we witnessed was not diplomacy. It was political theatre and a shameful insult to the Armenian national consciousness.

The most painful moment came at Tsitsernakaberd. U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance stood before the Armenian Genocide Memorial without any real political weight or serious state commitment, used the word “genocide,” and hours later erased it from his official statement before flying to blood-stained Baku. This single act revealed everything. It was not a mistake. It was deliberate.

Calling this “success” or “progress” is an insult. The same deception repeated itself in the story of the “$9 billion” aid. The Armenian people were sold false headlines, not truth. Armenia was forced to purchase, with its own funds, American small modular nuclear reactors that are not operational anywhere in the world as of today.

For anyone paying attention, this is not support. It is an obligation — a lie wrapped in the language of generosity.

For decades, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation has warned that Armenia’s real danger does not come only from open enemies. It comes from policies that present concession as peace and silence as realism.

When truth is sacrificed for short-term convenience, national interests are always the first to fall. Today, deception is polished — visits, statements, headlines — while national red lines are quietly erased.

The trap of this deception is clear. To divert public attention, the regime has launched a new wave of attacks on the Armenian Revolutionary Federation and the Armenian Apostolic Church, deliberately targeting these institutions, fully aware that the truth will eventually spread.

Turkey and Azerbaijan have taken advantage of a weakened Armenia, where retreat is sold as wisdom and defeat as maturity. Nikol and his inner circle, through their continued rule, have served this agenda — normalization without justice, concessions without guarantees, words without consequences.

But deception succeeds only when it is accepted.

If you recognize the genocide, do not erase it for political convenience. If you speak of peace, also speak of Armenian prisoners in Azerbaijani jails and the ongoing attacks on Christians and the Armenian Apostolic Church. If you call for cooperation, let it strengthen Armenia — not make it dependent.

Memory has survived a century of denial, war, displacement, and international silence. It survives deleted statements, staged visits, and polished deception.

But the Armenian people are not obliged to accept lies in silence. Truth is not negotiable. National dignity is not a bargaining chip.

This is a test — not only for those in power, but for the entire nation. We either reject these false gestures and stand for truth, alongside our prisoners, our faith, our Church, and our homeland, or we become silent witnesses to our own humiliation.