All of Nikol Pashinyan’s actions are aimed at one goal — to remain Prime Minister of Armenia for another term, and it seems he is prepared to stop at nothing to achieve this. This was stated by lawyer Yervand Varosyan.
According to him, Pashinyan is doing everything possible to impose a convenient agenda on society, especially in the run-up to elections. “Before all these recent developments, the public discourse in the country was focused on entirely different issues: where Armenia is headed, what has been achieved during the years of the Civil Contract party’s rule, and what to expect in the future. Public attention was drawn to scandals involving the embezzlement of millions of dollars and the ongoing enrichment of the ruling elite. Within such an agenda, Pashinyan inevitably loses, as he has no strong counterarguments. But look at what we’re discussing today — at his initiative: the nationalization of the Electric Networks of Armenia (ENA), a supposedly planned ‘terrorist attack’, the possible arrest of the Catholicos. In other words, on one hand he is eliminating potential centers of resistance, and on the other — he is completely shifting the public’s focus,” Varosyan noted.
Political analyst Hakob Badalyan believes that the current atmosphere in the country — including the now-regular brawls at the parliamentary podium — suits all players in the process, but especially the ruling party. “The parliamentary majority has all the means to change the situation, but they choose not to, because scandals and confrontations are an effective way to draw public attention. This parliament has not distinguished itself with any serious or beneficial reforms, simply because no one had the desire or interest to pursue them,” he said.
According to the expert, the campaign against the Church and the wave of mass arrests are part of the authorities’ election-cycle logic: they are meant to deepen societal polarization and bring the conflict between the ‘former’ and the ‘current’ back to the agenda. At the same time, Badalyan points out that law enforcement bodies have yet to present any convincing evidence of preparations for a violent coup.
Both Varosyan and Badalyan describe the use of audio recordings as a basis for talking about a supposed ‘terrorist plot’ as absurd. “Everyone in Armenia knows they’re being surveilled. A person seriously planning a terrorist attack would never discuss it out loud. If you listen to all the published recordings together, you’ll see it’s not planning, but rather the expression of emotions and desires — and desires that fully fit within the logic and goals of the 2018 events. The scenario of regime change discussed in those recordings is, in essence, simply a repetition of the Velvet Revolution,” Varosyan said.
Badalyan, in turn, added that the content of the recordings resembles ordinary kitchen-table conversations — the kind one might hear in any home in Armenia.