Armenian society does not know how to leave personal details out of the political and pre-electoral process. Throughout the whole world, even if a vote has little meaning, participants in the political process do everything they can to look for details of their opponents’ personal lives, and they create slanderous stories from this: so-and-so’s son is a drug addict, this one’s grandson watches porn, and this one’s wife has illegal immigrants as workers and she pays them illegally.
To be honest, these worldwide attempts do not appeal to me, and I think that it’s unnecessary for this to take place in Armenia too. I know what is said by any “yellow journalist” about this: “They’re public figures, society has the right to know,” and such. Of course, society does have the right to know. But I personally am not interested in public figures’ families and personal lives. I understand that I am in a minority here.
Recently, the Prime Minister’s daughter’s lavish birthday party was covered in newspapers. Since I know Nikol Pashinyan and his wife, I knew at once that these details were completely false. But such ‘metamorphoses’ did not threaten them. Recently, the Prime Minister explained during a rally how second President Robert Kocharyan’s sons served in the army. They allegedly did not sleep at a military base for one night.
I do not know Kocharyan’s sons and therefore, I cannot say how true that information is, despite the fact that one of his sons denied it. But there is one thing I am certain of, and that is that this is not a subject to be discussed during election campaigns, not only due to the fact that the second President is not participating in the elections. It’s more important that this is not an issue that the leader of the country should be discussing while talking about his plans for the next five years.
In a political sense, it is essential to know about what bad things Kocharyan did during his time as President, and what kind of inglorious end it had on March 1, 2008. But it is not essential for me to know what his family members did. The line between a public or political figure and a regular human being is clear for me. Once again, the majority of society does not think like me.
I think it’s right that both claims have been denied. Maybe that will somewhat prevent the spread of myths by society.
Aram Abrahamyan
