“ACNIS ReView from Yerevan”. If this trend continues, the Government’s weekly meetings risk becoming a farce or a one-man show, starring a comedic actor. This impression is difficult to avoid after watching the video recordings of the Republic of Armenia government meetings held on April 3 and April 10, 2025. In a previous editorial, we highlighted various facets of the Civil Contract party’s incompetent personnel policies. Today’s editorial in the ACNIS review “Hayatsk Yerevanits” delves into the April 10 meeting, which reached new heights of absurdity—albeit under a more serious lens.
By “a more serious lens,” we mean that, paradoxically, the comedic undertones of the meeting were accompanied by a dose of uncomfortable truth—thanks to the candor of the meeting chair and, perhaps, his unrestrained imagination. Consider this remarkable admission: “The fact that our distant villagers lack knowledge is because we are ignorant ourselves,” he said, adding, “I stayed in the same first grade for seven years… People lack knowledge because we lack knowledge. We are the ones leading these people into poverty and ignorance. This applies to everyone, starting with me.”
Interestingly, the theme of rural development also came up during the April 3 meeting. Pashinyan tried to argue that Armenia faces a personnel drought, citing the lack of kindergartens in 70% of villages as evidence. One would need a particularly vivid imagination to draw such a conclusion. An uninformed observer might mistakenly believe that Armenian rural kindergartens are tasked with training personnel. Experts assert that there is no universal shortage of staff, not even in Armenia; the real issue lies in proper staff selection and placement. Additionally, concerns persist regarding Pashinyan’s reputation as an unreliable and unserious employer.
This brings us to the topic of a “government of the ignorant.” Since Pashinyan openly admits—perhaps for the first time in his life—that he, too, suffers from ignorance, we must examine how, during his seven-year tenure of national catastrophe, the country has seen no significant progress. Not a single stone, as the saying goes, has been laid upon another. Over these seven years, opportunities to strengthen the army, restore the economy, and implement systematic reforms in education, the judiciary, science, culture, and other fields have been squandered. These are not merely our observations but implicit in Pashinyan’s own self-assessment as a “first-grader” presiding over Armenia’s decline into humiliation, defeat, and degradation.
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For seven years, the government has frittered away time, failing to create public value or contribute to the common good. Yet, government members have consistently collected their high salaries and generous bonuses without the slightest remorse. Some officials have even had the audacity to claim they deserve more. Just days ago, the Minister of Finance lamented his salary: “I believe the work I do is not adequately compensated by my 1 million drams.” Notably, he omitted mentioning his bonus for the month, which is no less than 500,000 drams.
Against the backdrop of 25% poverty in the country, the extravagant bonuses awarded to Civil Contract officials are rightly seen by the public as state-level racketeering. Under this incompetent government, Armenia has experienced severe regression: the devastating defeat in the 44-day Artsakh war, countless casualties and injuries, the loss of Artsakh, approximately 240 square kilometers of Armenia’s own territory, and strategically vital positions, roads, historical cultural heritage and spiritual values.
This grim list excludes the current state of chaos, pervasive uncertainty, doubled external debt, intensifying Azerbaijani-Turkish pressure, and an array of other failures and ‘F’ grades. It’s clear that with such abysmal marks, the government’s record of incompetence and blatant disgraceful regression over the past seven years ensures that it remains stuck in “first grade” with no hope of advancement.
The Armenian Center for National and International Studies