TIGRAN SARGSYAN: “THE MAIN PROBLEM FOR TODAY’S ARMENIA IS… PUT FORWARD A FORMULA FOR CO-EXISTENCE OF CIVILIZATIONS” THE LECTURING IN NORAVANK HAS ALREADY BEGAN
On October 4, 2007 in “Noravank” Foundation was launched the educational program on “Armenia and the Armenians in global developments: the present situation and challenges” and was delivered the first Noravank Lecture on the subject of “Armenian civilization as an ambitious project” (lecturer: T. Sargsyan).
During the lecture were discussed the necessary criteria for working out the Armenian unique civilization, and the role of the state, science, art, national elite and church as the transmitters of the civilization’s preservation and development. The speaker attracted everybody’s attention to different formulations of the conception of civilization, stressed up the importance of defining the context more exactly in case of observing them, and characterized the Armenian civilization as a cultural phenomenon. According to Tigran Sargsyan “In the modern geographical space, civilization is seen as full-fledged and systematized cultural and historical self-identification of society, in other words, the culturological essence (nucleus) of society. To qualify for full-fledged and systematized cultural and historical self-identification, the Armenians should meet the following parameters, inherent to civilizations:”
- To be recognized by other civilizations as an independent subject that went beyond the borders of a nation, state and territory, through association with that civilization;
- To have unique potential of a nation directed at the future;
- The ability to maintain historical heritage, one’s own history and the sense of common destiny;
- To have a critical mass of value carriers;
- Presence of elite able to reproduce behavioral patterns and value criteria
- Be able to absorb behavioral patterns of others.
The speaker paid special attention to a number of up-to-date problems: In particular he noticed that “As in Armenia we are unable to form our own standards through the state system, we adopt European ones. Therefore, Armenia’s drive to accede the EU should be viewed as a tactical task. Yet we should be mindful of the threat of losing self-identification in a long-term perspective.” It was also spoken that the today’s elite is in disarray and has no capacity to develop an integral system of values and behavioral norms. As a consequence a disarrayed society gives birth to mutually exclusive norms of behavior. Mr. Sargsyan also touched upon one more peculiarity of our society, which we often forget: The uniqueness of our society is that we are influenced not only by Western values, but also by Eastern ones. At the end the speaker mentioned that the uniqueness of our identity is that we went through many ordeals, but survived and became even stronger and “each historical trial set at least two formulas in our sub-consciousness and genetic code which help us live, namely:
- Belief in the victory of liberty and justice;
- The mission of relaying the belief in liberty and justice onto others.
The major task for today’s Armenia is to understand this mission and put forward a formula for co-existence of civilizations.”
At the end of the lecture the lecture was asked a lot of questions and an active discussion was held.
