In the Republic of Armenia, the Internet is free; the press is free; elections are free. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said this during the second Armenian Forum for Democracy. The Forum was organized by the international human rights organization “Freedom House” and the “Union of Informed Citizens” NGO. “But I don’t want to emphasize this as an achievement; I want to highlight this as a standard practice that is the result of all of us working together.
When the non-violent velvet revolution took place in 2018, and we said that democracy is the main brand of Armenia, many people were skeptical because they said that in the conditions of revolutionary euphoria, governments do not particularly need to restrict freedoms. But the fact that the Armenian Forum of Democracy was held in our country for the first time in 2022 and not in 2019 is quite telling,” he said.
Pashinyan added: “Yes, I must emphasize that democracy is the main brand of Armenia, and this is our belief, our strategy. It is not the result of coincidences due to circumstances, and this is a conscious political course that the RA government and people are conducting. In this sense, I must also emphasize that very serious institutional reforms are still underway, which should bring with them a higher level of human rights protection, the rule of law, and a higher level of anti-corruption policy.
But I also want to say that RA also enjoys the results of these freedoms. I consider that the high economic growth we have today is also the result of economic freedoms because if the economy were manageable and managed by the state, especially in the post-war period, we would have severe and deep problems. But since these freedoms have also reached the economic level, this freedom came to our aid at the most difficult and decisive moment.”
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Pashinyan noted that there is no internal threat to democracy in RA. According to him, all possible threats to RA democracy are external; these threats are well-known and visible to everyone. “But it is also essential that we be able to prove together and answer perhaps the most difficult question in Armenia today, which exists among the public. And the question is: is democracy capable of providing security?
This is indeed a question; the answer we believe is positive, but it still needs to be proven. And I hope, somewhere, I am also convinced that we can answer this question positively. And in this regard, I want to emphasize that democracy will continue to be the leading brand of Armenia. Still, it will also have related and supporting continuous brands, one of which will be steady high economic growth, and the second – is peace. And it is this trinity that should serve the very purpose because, in the end, we are talking about freedoms, but freedom itself is not the ultimate goal; freedom is a means to ensure human well-being and happiness.
That is the highest goal that we set before ourselves because our problem is that, under the conditions of freedom and democracy, a person in RA should be prosperous, protected, happy, and able to do what he loves to ensure his well-being with the results of his favorite work, and also the well-being of the country. In our opinion, democracy is a necessary but insufficient condition for this, and we must ensure the rest of the institutional prerequisites so that this vision becomes a reality,” added Pashinyan.
Roza HOVHANNISYAN
