«Որոշելու է մեզ» - Կարեն ԱՂԵԿՅԱՆ, Հրաչյա ԱՐԶՈՒՄԱՆՅԱՆ

The article by Karen Aghekyan and Rachya Arzumanyan, "It Is for Us to Decide," is devoted to an analysis of the socio-political reaction of Armenian society to the sharp acceleration of regional processes in the Caucasus that occurred after the events of October 2008, and to the polemics surrounding the nature of this reaction within the Armenian and international expert community.

Introduction and Methodology
The authors proceed from the thesis that the acceleration of political processes in the region deprives participants of the ability to conduct a "subtle game" and to mask their true motives, thereby exposing enduring national political values that remain latent under conditions of stability but manifest themselves as the level of threat intensifies. The methodological foundation of the article is a critical examination of statements made by a number of political scientists and commentators who characterized the mobilization of Armenian society as "panic" and "hysteria."

Key Thesis
The central argument of the work is that public concern over the fate of Artsakh is not a marginal or artificially inflamed phenomenon, but a natural expression of the collective will of the Armenian World, responding to concrete political signals — regional initiatives and statements that admit the possibility of territorial concessions.

Argumentation: An Examination of Critical Claims
The authors consistently refute attempts to discredit public activism:

accusations of "permanent intra-Armenian panic" are interpreted as a means of devaluing a legitimate civic position;
attempts to attribute the protest sentiments exclusively to the opposition or to external "colored revolution" projects are rejected as a simplification that ignores the independent, supra-party character of patriotic mobilization;
attention is drawn to an asymmetry: a consolidated anti-Armenian position is met, in contrast, with a demand for passivity and "vegetative existence" from Armenian society, which weakens the negotiating position of Armenian statehood itself.

The National Position and the Status of the NKR
A separate place is given to the assertion of the inviolability of the territories under the control of Armenian statehood, and to the status of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic within its existing borders as a political reality of the twenty-first century, not subject to bargaining. It is emphasized that any concessions, including the idea of a postponed referendum, carry the risk of fatal consequences not only for Artsakh, but for the entire Armenian World.

The Civilizational Dimension
The authors separately insist on the inapplicability to the Armenian World of categories such as a "service center" or a "firm" governed by the logic of management and economic expediency, defining it instead as a distinctive civilization with its own system of values, in which the Armenian Land constitutes an absolute value of the highest order.

Conclusion
The key conclusion of the article is formulated as an unconditional principle — "Not an inch of land," understood not as a political instrument or a matter of internal political expediency, but as an enduring, timeless foundation of national self-consciousness, not subject to revision under the pressure of Realpolitik considerations or regional projects of restructuring.