In February 1933, following the Reichstag fire, German Chancellor (Prime Minister) Adolf Hitler compelled President Hindenburg to sign a decree restricting freedoms of speech, press, assembly, and privacy. In March of the same year, a presidential decree enabled the Nazi government to pass laws without parliamentary approval. By July, all political parties except the National Socialist Party were banned. In all three instances, the justification was the same: “to protect the people and the state.”
When it comes to open, undisguised dictatorial tendencies, it is difficult to compare Armenia’s current Prime Minister with any modern leader. For example, I doubt that Lukashenko, Putin, or Maduro would publicly threaten employees of an institution with dismissal for showing undesirable political activity. Of course, they would actually do it—or rather, have the owner do it—but they wouldn’t shout about it in public. (A curious detail: in the West, no one applauds Maduro or Putin, but there are still some who applaud Pashinyan.)
Modern dictatorships do, of course, practice the redistribution of property for political reasons. But to announce such redistribution at the exact moment the property owner dares to say he will worship in his church—that, clearly, is a peculiarity unique to Armenia.
…In 1938, Catholicos Khoren I Muradbekyan was murdered by Stalin’s NKVD. The Soviet government, however, presented it as a suicide. It never occurred to Stalin to send NKVD troops to the Mother See—not because he was kind, but because he was smarter than some. He thought not only about the immediate satisfaction of revenge, but also about how to implement effective governance in the future.
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Aram ABRAHAMYAN
