Political heat in Armenia is exceeding the fever of Coronavirus!

By: Caucasus affairs – Syrializm coverage 

Ever since Nikol Pashinyan came to power in Armenia, there have been a lot of political scandals connected with arrests of politicians.

Recently the prime-minister was accused of making mistakes in Armenian opposition in Yerevan, which many observers seeing it similar mistakes were that made by his predecessors.

Since 2018 the new authority has been trying to arrest the ex-president of Armenia Robert Kocharyan on suspicion of “overthrowing of the constitutional order”.

There is a very important slogan which Pashinyan undertook, as he’s reform and fighting corruption in the country, looking for a perhaps a similar image somehow to what former president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili took in order to meet European and western requirements in terms of renew the government system and economic, social reforms, with for sure fighting corruption.     

These moves however cannot be done without typical mix with personal issues, between the new leadership and the old one.

In June 2020 the Russian businessmen (the head of group of companies “Tashir” Samvel Karapetyan, Sergey Ambartsumian from group of companies “Monarch”, businessman and patronage Gennadiy Stepanyan and AFK Sistema) posted bail for the ex-president.

And even a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin with Bella Kocharyan, the former president Robert Kocharyan’s wife, who was thought in Yerevan as the demonstration of the position of Moscow on the arrest of the ex-president, did not help to solve the problem.

In Yerevan the arrest is thought to be connected with prime minister Nikol Pashinyan’s personal vendetta for the years of his “suffering” from the role of the politician of the Armenian opposition.

With fight against corruption slogans the prime-minister of Armenia is trying to revenge his ex-opponents and at the same time to demonstrate his determination to fight for spheres of influence in the country.

Some says that, these kind of a frightening methods, actually made things worse for his relationships with his strategic partner in geometric progression.

The situation with Former president Robert Kocharyan did not subside, on June 14 2020 there was another scandal connected with a search of the businessman and the leader of the “Prosperous Armenia” party Gagik Tsarukyan carried out by the law enforcement agency of Armenia.

After the search he was taken for interrogation which was held during mass street protests.

As Tsarukyan believes, probable causes that were initiated against him have only political implication and are connected with the criticism of prime-minister Pashinyan, who is destroying the economy of the country by his decisions and who is incapable of realization of the reforms which he had proposed at the beginning of his premiership.

That arrest caused criticism of the authority of Armenia both from the European Union and Russia.

For instance, the “European national party”, which is headed by the ex-chairman of the European Council Donald Tusk, conveyed their concern connected with the cases of suppressing the authorities of Armenia towards the opposition.

“The European national party is concerned about numerous cases of retreat of the democracy in Armenia.

We urge the authorities of Armenia to abstain from suppressing the opposition”. Tusk tweeted.

The concern about the conflict in “Prosperous Armenia” was also conveyed in “United Russia”.

Commission of the Presidium of the General Council of “United Russia” on international activity reckons that the situation must be solved in stringent accordance with the law, respecting political pluralism and the liberty of public service.

“We’re basing on the fact that the political competition intrinsic to the democratic countries, will not be held by illegal methods, and we wish the earliest exit from the conflict, which got resonance much farther than the borders of Armenia, to our Armenian colleagues”, said in the official declaration of the commission.

In the declaration it is also stated that the political parties “United Russia” and “Prosperous Armenia” have been cooperated in the interests of the nations of both of the countries successfully since 2008.

The numerous Armenian diaspora of Russia has also interfered in the situation around the leader of “Prosperous Armenia” Gagik Tsarukyan.

Commenting on the situation around Tsarukyan, the President of the “Union of Armenians” Ara Abramyan stated that “nowadays a lot of dangerous social processes, exacerbating the social polarization, cultivating intolerance to each other, evil and belittling our traditional values, the church and spirituality are being developed”.

The head of the union believes that it is obvious that today is not the time for political innuendo, search for the culprits and labeling and moreover oppressing the leader of one of the most fundamental systemically important element of Armenian economy.

Adyghe Republic leadership department of the “Union of Armenians of Russia” did not stay aside of the processes and released a declaration in which their deep concern for the situation around the “Prosperous Armenia” party and its leader Gagik Tsarukyan was expressed.

In the declaration it is said that the actions of the official authorities of Armenia in relation to the politician will influence on the level of democratic liberties of the country and the effectiveness of collaboration of Armenia and Russia negatively.

Armenian community of the Republic of Adygea urges the authorities of Yerevan to prevent the occurrence of new political crisis, to show restraint and prudence, stay in the framework of legal field and search for compromises in the best tendency of the Armenian nation.

It appears that Armenian prime minister Pashinyan may not only face abrupt loss of his electoral support of Armenia, but also stay alone with his political rivals abroad in conditions of abrupt decline of the income of the population and economic activity in the country, with putting into consideration, the continuous spread of the Coronavirus.

All these elements are somehow similar to the early conditions, which are exactly like the time when he came to power.