At the second Armenian Democracy Forum, political scientist Areg Kochinyan asked Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan a question. “I would like to talk about the elephant in the room, and that elephant is Armenia’s foreign elections. Armenia continues to be a member of CSTO and EAEU; these are unions where all the participants, except Armenia, are the most undemocratic states if we express ourselves diplomatically. Do you see a problem here? Do you not see a problem with our democracy? Don’t you think that being in the camp of authoritarian states, we are creating a danger for our democracy and future,” said Kochinyan.
Nikol Pashinyan replied: “I want to talk about our recent past. On May 10, 2021, my resignation came into effect, and the parliament was dissolved. In other words, the country had practically no government or parliament. And on May 12, the invasion of Azerbaijan took place in the Sotk-Khoznavar section. And zero reaction from the Collective Security Treaty Organization. Now there are high-ranking military officers detained in a criminal case. Why are they detained because it turns out they did not take any action to protect the sovereign territory of Armenia? And they have no explanation.
If our reactions were linear in 2021, we would lose democracy and the state. And there is no exaggeration of what was said.” Pashinyan added that when the events in Ukraine started, Armenia tried to have balanced certain positions with its votes.
“Under those conditions, there was a situation when it created a certain satisfaction among all partners, but I also publicly said that it is obvious that Armenia’s field of maneuver is narrowing over time. And this is a severe challenge and problem for all of us, especially for Armenia, considering its vulnerability,” Pashinyan added.
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Roza HOVHANNISYAN
