Recently, my respected poet and publicist Marine Petrosyan announced that she would vote for the force led by Robert Kocharyan during the elections. It is an unexpected and unacceptable choice for me, but since I do not doubt Marine’s sincerity, I have no choice but to respect her position.
I am more displeased with the behavior of those who bullied Marine, to put it in modern terms. On the one hand, it reminds me of the Nikol supporters’ approach, when the author of an unpleasant post is “insulted” by the army of fakes, and on the other hand, of Kocharyan’s “work style,” when the media outlets not under his control were silenced during his rule. If today’s bullies represent some parties, then from my point of view such facts (which may seem insignificant to many) are a significant “con” for those parties.
But these kinds of “incidents” are expressions of more serious, deeper social patterns that I have been thinking about a lot lately. Today’s style of political struggle seems to suggest that there is a fundamental flaw in our 30-year journey. What was our vision for 1991: market relations, democracy? But they can not be the ultimate goal. They are tools for creating an Armenian state. And the basis of any state is spiritual, moral values. They may or may not be formulated as an “official concept” (as in Israel). But the state of Armenia also needs those bases.
To understand what this is about, let me give you two examples. When I said that we should be humane towards Manvel Grigoryan and not treat him the way he treated many people, the representatives of the revolutionary sect (as well as educated and seemingly adequate people) accused me of sympathizing with the “former regime.” Now, when I say that in case of victory, the Kocharyan supporters should not judge Pashinyan and his comrades-in-arms as they have been judged for the past three years, they object one again: “How can that be?,” “What about justice?” Now, I hope, it is more understandable what spiritual values we are talking about, or the lack thereof.
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Pashinyan’s “reproving” rhetoric is not a separate, isolated phenomenon. It is an extreme expression of a value-free mindset that has evolved over the past three decades, or perhaps longer. It is an old-fashioned way of thinking.
Aram Abrahamyan
