The latest Caucasus Barometer 2021/2022 poll does not contain particularly unexpected revelations. I think, in general, it reflects the atmosphere of distrust, apathy, and dissatisfaction. One of the reasons for that is likely how people view the past 30 years. The issue related to it is divided into 4 parts according to the periods of the 4 leaders of Armenia.
According to the relative majority of the respondents, no achievements were registered in any of these 4 periods; 36, 39, 54 and 39 percent, respectively, think so.
“Lack of achievements” is most often mentioned during Serzh Sargsyan’s term (54%), but in other cases, too, “achievements” received a lower percentage than their absence. Thus, neither the “victory in the first Karabakh war” (under Ter-Petrossian) or, say, “economic development” (under Kocharyan) received more votes than the point of “no achievement.”
This can mean two things. Either all these authorities have been pursuing extremely unsuccessful policies during these 30 years, or we simply cannot assess the positives that existed in the history of the Third Republic. In this regard, it would be interesting to compare the perceptions of our society with both neighboring and developed countries. Something tells me that the picture will not be so pessimistic.
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In terms of trust, the ombudsman continues to be an undisputed leader for Armenians (we are talking about Arman Tatoyan), and our citizens’ deep distrust of the media is equally indisputable. Here we can record approximately the same. On the one hand, as they say, we deserve it: the media often does things that just amaze you. On the other hand, it often seems to me that the pro-government and opposition circles carry out purposeful propaganda, deliberately mixing wet and dry. “Their writings are lies”, “journalists are sold out” and so on. In the absence of that disbelief, in the absence of authority, it is easier to carry out one’s own propaganda and to pit different sections of society against each other.
It is worth mentioning the attitude of our society towards the Artsakh issue. But that’s another topic of conversation.
Aram Abrahamyan
