Yesterday I watched the Ukrainian comedy program “Kvartal-95” (which was a bit like our “32 Teeth” or “Vitamin”) and several episodes of the political series “Servant of the People.” Of course, you can guess why I decided to watch those rather controversial TV shows in terms of taste. The reason is simple.
Yesterday, the former mayor of Yerevan, Hayk Marutyan, announced that the “Mayor” is returning to the stage with a mono-performance. I think that it is also a bid to return to the public and perhaps political arena. The parallel with Zelensky, in my opinion, is obvious: the actor, the showman uses the resources acquired by his profession to succeed in politics. There is also a difference.
Vladimir Zelensky managed to reach the heights of power with his acting and political sketches. Marutyan also, being a popular showman and a comrade in arms of a popular orator, easily managed to become the mayor, but now that the prime minister removed him from that position, returning to politics through acting will be a much more difficult task.
And in general, it is normal to fight for power through a profession, acting or journalism, there are many such cases in the history of mankind. The whole issue is whether a person, coming to power, continues to be an actor or a journalist or becomes a statesman. Zelensky is a positive example in that regard. He became a real national leader who, under the conditions of Russian aggression, was able to unite Ukrainians as a political nation, which includes ethnic Ukrainians, Russians, Armenians, Jews, and others.
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The current Prime Minister of Armenia, on the contrary, continues to act as a journalist of a specific genre, who is primarily interested in scandals, sensational revelations, and compromising documents. Do you remember how the reaction was when the same Hayk Marutyan tried to show some independence? Immediately, a “terrible kompromat” was published: the mayor, it turns out, had met with Seyran Ohanyan. That was the journalist’s response to the actor.
It is quite expected that propagandists of the government and the opposition will start stoning the former mayor in unison and with approximately the same arguments. But I think Mr. Marutyan will pass that test.
Aram Abrahamyan
