If you ask me, after November 9 last year, Nikol Pashinyan had no moral right to rule the country. He should have left politics once and for all. Pashinyan and members of his team should not raise their eyes when meeting any Armenian or Artsakh citizen. But these are my emotions, and our most common mistake is that we tend to present our emotions as universal. On June 20, not only I was asked, but all the citizens of Armenia were too, and as a result of the elections, it became clear that the majority of citizens do not agree with me.
Based on this indisputable fact, let us answer the question of whether it is worth celebrating the 30th anniversary of our state in a “large” and “colorful” way. To answer, let us briefly touch upon what “state” means. In Armenian and Russian (государство) this word sounds like a structure under the rule of “bosses” (государь).
But European languages refer to the more important features of the modern state. If we translate State, Staat, and other similar words into Armenian, we will have the words “status” and “situation.” In other words, the state is something that has a certain status. What status? Here we must remember what the ideologues of the modern state, Locke, Hobbes, Montesquieu, and others, said. According to them, the state should fix the status that is formed as a result of agreements that are concluded between the citizens and the administration for a certain period of time.
By 2018, that contract had been terminated, which is why people eventually took to the streets. In 2018, the contract was renewed, and in 2021 it was reaffirmed. This fact, to put it mildly, confuses me, because it seems to me that the main function of the state is to ensure the security of citizens. But, I repeat, the majority of Armenian citizens do not agree with me, they have other priorities.
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Thus, Pashinyan, Civil Contract, and at least 680,000 citizens have every reason to celebrate Armenia’s 30th anniversary in a “large-scale” and “colorful” way. It would be more accurate to say that it will not be a 30th anniversary, because they think that 27 of those 30 years were years of nightmares and looting, but on June 20 of this year they will celebrate their convincing victory and the reaffirmation of their contract. They can sing, dance, have fun, and hug each other. If the majority thinks there is cause for rejoicing, who can stop them?
Aram Abrahamyan
