2024-03-16 19:51:11
Author: Akper Hasanov
Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan held a press conference today, during which he made a number of loud, traditionally mutually exclusive statements. Surely articles in the Armenian press will be devoted to their analysis. I want to draw attention to one of Pashinyan’s answers. He was reminded that he had not fulfilled his 2021 election promises regarding Karabakh and, accordingly, must leave.
I will immediately note that Nikol Vovaevich did not fulfill so many of his promises, he so often made “feints with his ears,” changed Armenia’s foreign policy guidelines and turned his yesterday’s supporters and fellow travelers into political opponents, that a whole series of articles could be written on this topic. So, reminding Pashinyan that he did not fulfill the next portion of his promise with the hope that he will admit all this is a wasted effort.
This happened this time too. Pashinyan said that he does not see the need for early elections… And here you need to understand that his entire current press conference did not take place today by chance. The fact is that tomorrow, March 13, the “Together” movement will hold a rally in Yerevan. Member of the movement, former Prime Minister of Armenia Hrant Bagratyan stated this at a meeting with journalists on March 11. He explained that the rally will take place on Freedom Square, starting at 18:00.
Bagratyan said that during this time, representatives of the movement held many important meetings, including in the regions. According to him, a change of power in Armenia is brewing. He called on citizens to become part of this process. Head Earlier, the leader of the Democratic Party of Armenia Aram Sargsyan, who is also the coordinator of the “Together” movement, made a very remarkable statement.
“We must ensure that Nikol Pashinyan resigns himself. This will allow us to achieve a peaceful change in the situation in the country,” he said. Yes, we all remember how small the previous protests of the Armenian opposition were. But now the situation is somewhat different. The Armenian media are simply full of articles, the authors of which claim an internal split regarding the country’s foreign policy.
In this regard, it makes sense to recall the high-profile recent resignation from the post of Armenian Ambassador at Large Edmon Marukyan. explained the resignation by his disagreements regarding the possible adoption of a new Constitution and the “revision of the foundations of statehood.” That is, Pashinyan’s yesterday’s traveling companion is turning into his critic, and in the future, he may well become Nikol Vovaevich’s opponent.
At the same time, former mayor of Yerevan, member of the National Progress faction Hayk Marutyan has already signed up as Pashinyan’s political opponents. At the end of January, he announced his intention to create his own party. As the former Yerevan mayor noted then, the party will take part in important political events in the country, including parliamentary elections and elections to local government bodies.
And today Marutyan announced that his party intends to take part in the elections, following the results of which, in his opinion, the current government will be eliminated. “We will form a new government, and we will really do what we promised in 2018. This is not an easy process that takes time. But we are on the way,” he noted. As we can see, before us is another character who was once one side of the barricades with Pashinyan, and now demands his resignation.
It turns out that Nikol Vovaevich is opposed by the “Karabakh clan”, Dashnaks, supporters of the first President of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan, the ex-mayor of Yerevan, and supporters of Edmon Marukyan. It is also worth remembering about the Heritage party, Prosperous Armenia and other political forces that have not yet fully participated in the process of removing the current government, taking a mostly wait-and-see attitude.
In this regard, it is appropriate to recall that the current President of Armenia Vahagn Khachatryan is also a supporter of Levon Ter-Petrosyan. And Khachatryan earlier, not being the President of Armenia, very actively criticized Pashinyan. So, it is quite possible that for now he is simply keeping silent, waiting for the right moment to voice his position. However, that is not all. There are many politicians and parties in Armenia who have close and long-standing ties with Russia. And we all see how openly anti-Russian steps the current Armenian government is taking.
Both the Kremlin and the Russian media have already sounded warnings to the Armenian leadership in this regard. So, it is not surprising that Pashinyan does not want to hold early elections in Armenia. He is really afraid of losing power, which could have truly sad consequences for him. It is unlikely that France will agree to provide him, who has lost power, with political asylum. Monsieur Macron is too cynical and pragmatic for that. He will prefer to negotiate with the new Armenian government.