Heroes of Nikolic Armenia

Each and every one of us must repay a debt to the motherland. To be more precise, to the Real Republic of Armenia, the territory of which has suddenly shrunk from 29,800 square kilometres ‘generously’ ‘guaranteed’ by the current Prime Minister to 29,743. What should each individual do for their country? To be a good citizen, become professional in their work, protect the environment, raise their children with love for the homeland? And what does it take to become a national hero? Perhaps commit an extraordinarily courageous act that will save many countrymen, or sacrifice themselves on a daily basis for the sake of a common future? Well, Prime Minister Pashinyan considers paying taxes as such a ‘sacrifice’. Now that’s an act he can appreciate, because the rustling of banknotes in his pocket is not the suffering of his own citizens, it is something he can perceive and feel. Maybe that is why he did not stand up for the elderly and children in blockaded and then physically exterminated Artsakh – they are not employable and therefore do not pay taxes.

Pashinyan is perplexed: ‘Why don’t they toast to the taxpayer at wedding feasts?’. He believes that without taxpayers, Armenia would not have an army. Now we see you, motivation to fight for the motherland. And so that’s where we get our weapons from. It is not the support of Armenian communities around the world, not the international loans and the ever-increasing national debt, not the bilateral agreements, not, after all, the subsoil of the Armenian land – the national asset. No. We owe our army to those who had the courage not to withhold their income from the government.

We are in no way belittling the importance of paying taxes. It is the basis for the functioning and efficiency of the state, and one of the citizen’s duties. But when this duty is reduced to absurdity, neglecting all the rest and providing no accountability in return, when the authorities themselves carry out dirty machinations to augment their own party budget, and then just shrug and ask the impoverished citizens to double-check if perhaps they have forgotten how they donated $6,500 to the people’s party, after all, when taxation is the only thing that defines the territory as a state, then the glorification of taxpayers becomes a mockery. The tax service hires bloggers to remind people to pay their taxes, but there is nothing in Yerevan to remind them of the hundreds of Armenians suffering in Azerbaijani captivity, and schools are gradually dismantling memorial boards for those who have fallen in defence of Artsakh. Ah yes, neither of them pay taxes, hence should be forsaken. Which is what Pashinyan did on 2024 New Year’s Eve, starting his appeal to his flock with the report on the collected taxes, as if there was no tragic loss of Artsakh and yet another casualties of his dilettantism in the Armenian army in 2023. At the same time, to be on the safe side, he did not let the Catholicos’ appeal be aired, so as not to spoil the festivities, and this is in spite of the fact that the Church, contrary to Alen Simonyan’s misleading claims, is in the tax field. Apparently, paying taxes is still not a sufficient condition. Therefore, we should start toasting to the taxpayers with poor memory and the ones who don’t bother the ‘people’s’ government with unnecessary questions – the true heroes of Nikol Pashinyan’s Real Armenia. Until they grow old and feel as unwanted as the uprooted people of Artsakh.