Those who cannot remember history are doomed to repeat it – Philip Kanayan

Philip Kanayan, legendary commander, hero of Armenia, grandson of Drastamat Kanayan. He is a trial lawyer by profession, but for him this is just part of the job. He says that “AYF” has played a very important role in his life. His father served in the ARF Dashnakcutyun.

“We can’t sit here and feel bad about our situation, we have to start rebuilding. It’s not a, hey, oh, wallow in our pain, we need to revive patriotism in our hearts. In my belief, that is something we’ve lost to some degree. And I blame our institutions, I blame ourselves. We got, once we won, we got it, we took it easy. We have a wonderful army, we have a wonderful nation, and I believe if we, we establish our patriotism, we can reestablish what we’ve lost. I think there’s been an internationalist view that has entered the Armenian identity. It’s a view that I was raised is counter to my belief system. I’m hopeful our government recognizes these flaws and will change.

Since Armenia has been free, Turkey has been a hostile nation to Armenia. They support our enemy Azerbaijan who are ethnically Turks. Listen, are the Russians better? Yes. Are they great? No. But when you look at your choice of people who want to finish the job, as Aliyev said, versus someone who, you know, they aren’t, they’re going to exert their control. I’d rather have someone who wants to keep, who doesn’t want to eliminate me, than somebody who wants to destroy my nation” says Philip Kanayan.