It is simply important to consider the fact that they are non-governmental organizations that reflect our social situation in some manner. But the main issue is that society’s control over the authorities has weakened considerably over the past two years. Imagine that two men fought each other on the street. One of them is the Vice Speaker of the National Assembly and the other one is a member of the opposition. The authorities decide to prosecute the latter, Artur Danielyan, but they do not believe that the former did anything illegal. How would NGOs have responded to that 2.5 years ago? They would have kept the issue at the center of attention for several weeks. They would have protested by the Prosecutor General’s office and appealed to international agencies. Why aren’t they doing that now? Is “Soros” forbidding it? Of course not. The reason is much clearer; the aforementioned opposition member is not popular in society and anyone who says anything in his defense could be considered an “outlaw.” (By the way, I also consider Artur’s commentary to be strange, to put it mildly, but that has nothing to do with the problem). What NGO wants to become the target of attack by hundreds of Facebook Armenians, both fake and real profiles? Why isn’t there a movement to save the Mashtots park? Because if a new “Hayk Marutyan” arises who will protest against the decisions of the current mayor, Hayk Marutyan, that individual will automatically be labeled “a servant of the former regime.” In a best-case scenario, that public figure will need to justify themselves day and night, and in a worst-case scenario, that person will “wake up” and pay more attention to the mistakes of the past while turning a blind eye towards the current issues.
Read the entire editorial in Armenian: https://www.aravot.am/2020/08/04/1127376/
Aram Abrahamyan
