The political crisis in Armenia is not over, and it was not able to be over regardless of who won the elections. There are many reasons for this, but I will outline three of them.
- It is impossible for there to be political stability in a country that lost 70 percent of Armenian-controlled territories in Artsakh only months ago, that had 3,700 casualties (according to official data), that cannot defend its borders, and relies on another nation’s kindness to do that.
- There can be no political stability if the electorally defeated force does not accept defeat and, consequently, can take its huge electorate to the streets, plus thousands of people who did not go to the polls for one reason or another.
- There can be no political stability if there is a governmental crisis. And such a crisis cannot be avoided given the nature of the current government. Let me give you the simplest example. After the 2018 revolution, the new government launched fierce attacks on the army, discrediting generals, officers, and the heroes of the First War. However, the grandmothers who kissed Pashinyan’s hand during the election campaign (my greatest respect to those women) can not carry out military operations or lead military units. They can only admire the fact that the soldiers in the military units started eating strawberries. The results of such an attitude towards the army are known. During the election campaign, the acting Prime Minister also striked at the army, for example, with stories about candies, not realizing that he is weakening our defense capabilities, and by and large weakening himself as the head of state.
But the same applies to the teacher, the lecturer, the scientist, whom Pashinyan kept attacking. How does he envision the future of the state if the people in those professions can not influence the rulers or direct their actions in any way? That hostility leads to a deadlock. Not all professionals can be replaced by Civil Contract members or neutral people. Suppose the “disloyal” professors of law, oriental studies and history at Yerevan State University are “thrown out” (if we use the Prime Minister’s word) and replaced by loyal Civil Contract members. Will it improve the quality of our education?
Let me bring a more extreme example: the letter supporting Kocharyan. Among others, it was signed by famous musician, leader of the Komitas String Quartet Eduard Tadevosyan. If the revolutionaries seize the violin from Professor Tadevosyan and hand it over to any Civil Contract member, that party member will hardly make music lovers happy. A party ticket does not make a person a violinist. Think of it as an allegory.
Aram Abrahamyan
