On June 28, 1994, Artsrun Pepanyan published an article in the Hayq newspaper that had a meaningful title: “Bolshevism: the Father of all Political Parties?” It is noteworthy to mention that Hayk was a newspaper that supported the ruling party, which is a fact that speaks about its free morals. Bolshevism, of course, was common among all political parties at the time, but the Pan-Armenian National Movement was not fully ‘bureaucratized,’ and it at least tolerated its reminders of Bolshevism. A lot changed (for the worse) after December 28th of that same year when the ARF was banned.
But prior to that, the relatively ‘vegetarian’ approach was probably due to the fact that the ruling party at the time, although immersed in its own faults, had certain ideas and values at its core that had not yet been completely forgotten in 1994. Thus, it differed from the RPA, which was the ruling party later on. When Vazgen Sargsyan, and later, Serzh Sargsyan, ‘took over’ that structure in 1998, Republicans spoke of ‘Taronism’ and ‘Nzhdehism’ just for show. But, in reality, that served as a way to maintain the democratic nature of the elections, but that political party did not have any ideology or system of values by that time; the RPA was simply a corrupt nomenclature.
This discrediting of national values, by the way, explains the ‘numbness’ of a significant part of society regarding the loss of the homeland and terrible threats in the future. When the current government says, ‘Shushi? What Shushi?,’ “Artsakh? This much is enough. There’s a president who comes and goes,’ “Syunik? Don’t worry about it, endure these painful problems,’ it does not cause anger among our citizens. If Nzhdehism was truly the official ideology over the past 10 years, people would not be so indifferent.
The RPA, therefore, is an entirely Bolshevik structure. What about Civil Contract? Such a political party does not exist. There is the My Step party in parliament, which is entirely Bolshevik and is prepared to carry out all its boss’ orders. Do we have to deprive Naira Zohrabyan of her position as chair of a committee? No problem, we’re prepared. Do we need to carry out ‘judicial changes’ so that the executive branch can finally have the courts in its pocket? With pleasure. Do we need to change the law on mass media to cause problems for opposition news outlets? Great!
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If the government brings forth legislation that would make Nikol Pashinyan a saint, do you doubt that My Step would vote in favor of it? Moreover, this new ‘stagnation’ phenomenon is accompanied by a sharp change in the behavior of most deputies. It is interesting to see how the formerly modest and educated young people behave in the same manner as the most odious figures of the Republican Party did during the previous administrations.
… In the mid-19th century (pay attention, this was a rather enlightened time period, not the Middle Ages), Pope Pius IX decided to change the Catholic Church doctrine and he introduced new dogmatism according to which the pope… is infallible. The current parliament can also introduce similar legislation regarding the Prime Minister.
Aram Abrahamyan
