A state, above all, is about legality — at least if we are talking about a modern, democratic one.
The head of the executive branch has no right to appoint or remove the head of a religious institution.
If that same official dislikes what someone says or writes, that cannot serve as grounds for searches and arrests.
When individuals buy or build homes, and those homes are later declared “illegal property” because of the owner’s past political position — in an attempt to take revenge on a “former” and win the crowd’s applause — that sets a dangerous precedent. Tomorrow, they might confiscate the property of Civil Contract Party members.
Take the case of the electricity distribution network. It used to be state-owned, poorly managed, and a burden on the state budget. That’s why it was privatized — first sold to Russia’s RAO UES, and later to Samvel Karapetyan. Although there were some improvements under private ownership, the situation is still far from ideal, and consumer dissatisfaction is justified.
But who still naively believes that this is about economic efficiency? The real issue is another one of Pashinyan’s whims. Stripping the power grid from an investor who legally acquired it and put money into it — that is not a state-minded approach. It sends a message to every other investor who bought a business and dared to develop it: you’re not safe.
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A true state must be a guarantor of stability — a source of trust in the future.
Aram ABRAHAMYAN
