After the revolution, some people were appointed into official positions who are obviously not in the right place. I think that the prime minister understands this very well. They just simply add some limits to the characteristics of this transitional time period. Those people, presumably, will hold these positions until the upcoming parliamentary elections, and then they will do other things.
But now I want to write about someone who, I think, is in the right place despite people’s critiques. I’m talking about the Chair of the Civil Aviation Committee Tatevik Revazian. I think that the main reasons she is criticized so often are limits we place on our thought process, stereotypes, and traditions we adopted since the Soviet times. We have the type of mindset where we think a government official has to be a man who’s over 50, who has a large belly, who has a lot of life experience, who participates in corrupt activities, but at the same time thinks about his nation. Someone who we used to call a “strong business owner.” But a 30-year-old girl with a pretty face and a backpack on her shoulder who’s modest and friendly goes completely against our traditional expectations. But I agree with the comments that this April marked the end of the “post-Soviet” era. Our mindset therefore also needs to get rid of the decades-old stereotypes.
Tatevik graduated and received high honors from Europe’s top universities, worked in top aviation organizations, has a lot of connections, and has many interesting ideas. As far as her ability to lead- I have to say that leading today isn’t slamming your fist on the table and swearing. Leading is uniting your team and offering new ideas. And not having adapted to Armenian society is a minus just as much as it is a plus. Our society, especially the bureaucratic part, isn’t all that great. So, I think that this was a successful trial, and that in the future the government needs to recruit many more young people, especially those who have worked and lived in foreign countries and want to serve our state.
Regarding language. Yes, having not lived most of her life in Armenia, Tatevik speaks “colloquially”- not official, and not literary Armenian. She needs to work on her Armenian. But we also know people who have lived here forever and continue to speak foreign languages.
Aram Abrahamyan
