I listened with great pleasure to the report by the wonderful scholar Alexander Khosroev, who had come from St. Petersburg, at the international conference dedicated to Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s 80th anniversary. His subject was the date of Christ’s Ascension. My fellow journalists, however, quickly pulled me back into our far less pleasant reality and pressed the first president to speak about Pashinyan.
That instinct is normal—I would have done the same. Events of the 1st century and their reflection in ancient texts interest perhaps 0.01 percent of readers (myself included), while 99.99 percent want to know who landed a “political slap” on whom—and, even more, how the one slapped then, pardon the phrase, scrambled to save face.
IIn that framework, readers are not drawn to the various proposals for resolving the Karabakh conflict, nor to the Civil Contract party’s lies about the 2019 OSCE Minsk Group proposal for its settlement. What captivates them is the “godchild” story.People everywhere and always are less interested in how the state’s problems are or were solved, and far more in the personal relationships behind it all. In this case, the theme has two readings: (1) as an accusation against Pashinyan—he (Levon Ter-Petrosyan) made you who you are, and now you disparage him; (2) as an accusation against Ter-Petrosyan—look whom you gathered around yourself, this is your protégé, so why complain?
As journalistic material this is, I repeat, interesting and even touching. But as political analysis, in my view, it is beside the point. In politics, people’s paths cross and then diverge; there is no place here for talk of “godparenthood.” Especially in this case, when there yawns such a chasm in education, upbringing, and intellect.
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Another matter is that today Pashinyan, as prime minister, makes statements about the path of the Republic of Armenia that, in my opinion, are incompatible with his office. If he agrees with Aliyev and truly believes that Armenia, under Ter-Petrosyan’s leadership, had “occupied” a neighboring country, then in 2018, upon taking office, he should have declared as much and ended the “occupation”—not visited the “occupied zone” several times, mingled with our soldiers, and delivered fiery speeches.
But that has nothing to do with personal relations.
Aram Abrahamyan
