When I see how people leave supermarkets with carts full of groceries for their New Year’s festivities, I understand that besides the issue of the government, we also have a serious societal issue, and both of these issues are connected to one another.
Back in 2016-2017, when I would discuss new and larger wars with my friends, I would always ask questions that may have seemed profane both then and perhaps now. Did the Artsakh issue interest Armenian society as much as it interested our generation in 1988-1990? Is it truly one of our people’s priorities? I would ask these questions because our citizens did not experience joy after 1994 that they were able to liberate Artsakh and uphold the security of Armenia’s borders. In 1998, people took the bait of Kocharyan’s propaganda that 1992-1994 were considered the “cold and dark” years instead of victorious ones. The other reason for asking these questions was that people were more interested in getting rid of Serzh, Sashik, Lfik, Liska, and Shmays at the time (2016-2017) than they were in winning the next war.
People were interested in justice, which, according to society, always meant punishing those who became wealthy through theft, taking their wealth away from them, and distributing it among the people. People wanted a democracy, fair elections, the elimination of corruption, and more educated officials and deputies. Artsakh was once again not one of these priorities despite the fact that it existed in their speeches and toasts. And now people believe that the majority of those goals were achieved after the revolution. I have some hesitations regarding that. Yes, we were able to hold fair elections, and the majority of those “hated” people left the arena. There aren’t any reputable sources regarding corruption and theft in the past and present. No criminal cases reached their end in 2.5 years, and Samvel Aleksanyan became one of the most loved oligarchs of this regime. Democracy did not develop too much. I’m judging this based on the fact that criminal cases are being opened against the mayors of Syunik who dared to not provide the Prime Minister with a warm welcome. I also must express my doubts regarding education. I do not think that Hayk Sargsyan is Spinoza in comparison to Shmays and Artak of SAS.
But again, the majority of society is pleased with the process of having their goals implemented, and our embarrassing loss and the loss of Artsakh do not exist within that virtual reality. Or, even if they do, those who stole from the state are the ones entirely at fault. The painful part is that, without Artsakh and without security, with thousands of losses and tens of thousands of displaced people, there cannot be justice, democracy, or prosperity. In order to understand that, the majority of society will need months or perhaps years.
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But for now, dear compatriots, eat your New Year’s pork and listen to the Prime Minister’s speech where he will talk about our children and how they will live in a happy Armenia. In the coming years, many of those children won’t even live in Armenia at all.
Aram Abrahamyan
