An active election campaign is starting in Armenia with a predictable outcome. Alas, if we managed to form a parliament based on the results of a disastrously lost war, consisting solely of the perpetrators of such an outcome, then after 5 years we have nothing to expect from the circus called ‘elections’.
Everything has long been clear with the ‘authorities’ – the Turkish governors. With their predecessors, too. Having brought Nikol Pashinyan to power with their incompetent rule and unwillingness to take responsibility, they have not calmed down and continue to help him get re-elected. It is obvious to everyone that Pashinyan is staying afloat, only because the ghosts of ‘former’ leaders, in particular Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan, continue to loom on the horizon. The elections of local self-government bodies in Armenian communities show that it is enough for people not to see their faces and not to hear their voices in order to vote for any opponents of Pashinyan’s Civil Contract.
However, this is not enough for the ‘opposition’. Apart from the fact that they create a favourable contrast to the Turkish satrap, they absolutely waste their opportunities as a parliamentary opposition. It would seem that nothing prevents them from effectively using not only their parliamentary immunity, but also airtime and chances to ask the prime minister sharp questions, since they have agreed to sit in the parliament that is controlled by him. Yet, time after time, questions and statements turn into a showdown, discouraging any sane person from watching this circus and hoping that someday the fate of the Armenian nation will be decided in the National Assembly of Armenia.
There are several explanations for this: banal laziness, incompetence, fear of losing parliamentary immunity. Any of these confirms that the ‘oppositionists’ are satisfied with the current situation. However, it would be strange if it did not: The Turkish satrap was quite respectful of the political ‘legacy’ of the Third Republic’s leaders. It is not the legacy of Garegin Nzhdeh and Aram Manukyan to cherish. It is much more convenient to measure who is more to blame for the embezzlement of this legacy.
And what substantive questions would the ‘opposition’ ask the Turkish satrap, if they had any appreciation for the undeserved hundreds of thousands of votes they received in the elections?
- 1. You promised that Artsvashen would be Armenian. How do you plan to provide basic security, transportation, and utilities for the Armenians who decide to move there? Where exactly will you put the Armenians of Tigranashen, which has never been an Azerbaijani enclave, but will be handed over to Azerbaijan – with your light hand and our diligent legitimisation?
- 2. On what grounds do you continue to take out loans and borrowings? Does this allow Armenia to grow economically, or will we soon have to ask for restructuring from external donors? (The question is rhetorical, and, as we think, the resulting ‘generous agreements’ of the donors are clear to everyone.)
- 3. Since ‘citizens are the source of power’, why is not a single key national security decision put to a referendum or at least a vote in our toy parliament?
- 4. Provide detailed accounts of the expenditure of each of the loans taken out during the last 5 years.
- 5. Where is the promised reform of the Armenian Armed Forces from 2 years ago, which has been reduced to useless 24-day-long exercises, in which the same people have participated several times already?
- 6. How many high-ranking officials have been convicted of corruption in your time? Why do all the ‘high-profile cases’ against former officials end in nothing or disappear from the agenda?
- 7. How many small families from Artsakh are unable to purchase housing through the proposed housing program and what measures are you going to take to support them?
- 8. Is there at least one long-term state plan for the integration of deported Armenians of Artsakh, besides dragging them through the state institutions in order to obtain a second Armenian passport?
- 9. On what grounds does the government interfere in the internal affairs of the Armenian Apostolic Church?
- 10. How many Armenian citizens have permanently left the country since 2021?
The list could go on indefinitely, if only there was the political will to do so. But Pashinyan and his political masters and ‘opponents’ can only discuss topics that are close to them: who stole how much, who takes what psychotropic substances, and from whom Azerbaijan was going to buy Artsakh at a higher price. And this will continue until a national aristocracy is formed that is responsible for the future of Armenia and is able to transfer this senseless dispute to a public tribunal.
