The recording released by Serzh Sargsyan, in which Pashinyan talks about his ideas on the Artsakh issue, was not really sensational, especially for those who were waiting for some scandalous revelations of a personal nature. God forbid that any of the participants in the election process start invading the personal life of his opponent. I think that even naming Ashot Pashinyan in the internal political debate was wrong. He is a private individual and should have the opportunity to live his private life.
It was not sensational for me that the Prime Minister spoke about this crucial issue for Armenia in too much, to put it mildly, everyday language; such are his perceptions of reality. The recording simply proves once again that Pashinyan, by “making himself seem crazy,” “ran away from” the Lavrov Plan, which, let me remind you, required the return of 5 and then 2 regions and the indefinite postponement of Artsakh’s status issue.
Would it be acceptable for the majority of the Armenian society (not to mention the Diaspora) if the Prime Minister accepted that proposal? I think not. Personally, I would have great doubts about that. But the leader of the country (who had the confidence of the overwhelming majority of the population) should have looked farther than us ordinary citizens and had in mind the scenario we unfortunately came to.
I do not think that anyone can doubt now that the situation today is a hundred times worse than what would have happened after the Lavrov Plan was accepted. Or, if the Prime Minister could not predict our sad future, he could have at least acted like Serzh Sargsyan by continuing to discuss the plan which, of course, was dangerous, and which caused the 2016 April War. If Russia did not want it, that war would not have happened.
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Without Russia’s desire, the war in 2020 would not have happened, either. Pashinyan believed that he was so “courageous” that he could “run away,” or, if we are to use his style of speech, “tell Lavrov (in other words, Russia) to get lost.” And this is one of the main reasons for this terrible war and our humiliating defeat.
I do not think that Serzh Sargsyan’s motivation for releasing the recording was to be “sensational.” I think that this step was not so much aimed at the internal audience, but at the external, to remind them of Pashinyan’s “machoism.” It is no coincidence that supporters of the current government are not actively discussing the recording. At least that much crosses their minds.
Aram Abrahamyan
