The government speaks to journalists in the NA press lodge using violent language; they are dragged away by the police of the State Security Service.
The autority strip a former pro-government MP—now an opposition figure—of immunity simply because he refused to comply with the monarch’s demands and surrender his mandate.
In the Gyumri Council of Elders elections, the regional governor, along with directors of state medical institutions, schools, and other public entities, actively campaign for the ruling party. Meanwhile, law enforcement agencies have taken up the task of persecuting opposition candidates and their relatives, dredging up old and new allegations against them just in time for the elections. Arresting parents and children to apply pressure—this reminds me of the Stalinist era.
All of this unfolds against the backdrop of the so-called “beginning of the process of joining the European Union.” Yet, the majority of ordinary citizens see no contradiction here. For them, the EU aspiration is merely a geopolitical matter—a way to rid themselves of the Russians who “have abandonded us” It is not a choice based on values, nor is it linked to freedom, democracy, or the principles of tolerance.
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What is more significant, however, is that European officials themselves seem unbothered by this contradiction. They are willing to portray even the most blatant, brazen, and brutal dictatorship as “democracy” so long as the monarch and his court utter a few harsh words against the Russians.
In my view, not only do our own authorities fail to believe in democracy, free elections, or the checks and balances of power, but neither do European officials and observers. The latter merely hold a stamp in their hands—one they can press onto a document to label a regime as either “legitimate” or “illegitimate”, “democratic” or “undemocratic”, depending on political expediency.
…Turkey’s Erdoğan arrested his main political rival, the mayor of Istanbul. Did this, in any way, make Erdoğan illegitimate in the eyes of any European leader?
Aram ABRAHAMYAN
