The HomelandOp-Eds
Artsakh woman detained over Facebook post raises free speech concerns
More than 1,000 comments, the overwhelming majority of them hate speech against Armenians from Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), have appeared under a recent video report by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) Armenia shared on Facebook. The segment tells the story of Gayane Mesropyan, a mother of five from Artsakh, who was taken to the Dilijan branch of the state Investigative Committee for questioning, along with her 7-year-old daughter, late at night March 17, over a Facebook comment cri
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So this is what “democracy”, “freedom of speech”, “human rights” and other “freedoms” under the rule of the self-proclaimed “democrat”, “reformer” and “anti-corruption fighter” Pashiyan looks like.
The moral of the story is to beware of so-called self-proclaimed “democrats”, “reformers” and “anti-corruption fighters”, like Pashinyan (Lukashenko, Erdogan or Khomeini), who preach and promise these lofty ideas (while harboring the exact same vices they supposedly condemn) by utilizing the guise of reform (while hiding their self-serving motives and dictatorial desires) in order to come to power. They then drop all pretense, when they attain that power. It is the playbook and trajectory of many dictators, past and present, and of future aspiring dictators.
And of course, such guys who came to power through democratic means by deceiving the voters, don’t hold free and fair elections again.
Tell the full quote and stop misleading the public. She made a threat and incited violence to kill the PM. You can’t make a threat like that and expect no consequences. And to compare him to Lukashenko Aliyev Erdogan Khomeini is an insult as those leaders would put those critics much worse. Pashinyan has been more tolerant than all 3 previous leaders combined. Never once did this newspaper criticize or call out Robert Kocharyan who killed a man just for saying hi casually to him.
The fact that a mother of five is essentially abducted from her home in the middle of the night by Armenian authorities subservient to a psychopathic traitor disguised as “prime minister” for interrogation over a Facebook post says very little about what this traumatized displaced mother from Artsakh said or meant to say but speaks volumes about the sorry state of mind this panic-stricken “Çoban Oğlu” Pashinyan is in these days. It is very easy for those who have never experienced the trauma this woman has experienced to display a knee-jerk reaction to what she actually meant to say by distorting and manipulating her words out of context because that serves their bias and political agenda. I have not seen her Facebook post but even if she used the word “kill” in a moment of unbearable anguish to vent and to express her frustration that does not mean she literally meant what that word implies. It is very common among our population to use such a word but only to mean the person at whom such word is directed to go away because he is the source of all evil and tragedy brought upon them. That is what that word means when you put things in context. But for those who want to make an example of this woman as a form of warning to others by scapegoating her it is simply a cheap shot to misuse authority to scare people into submission. This is a tactic that will backfire on this incompetent sorry excuse for a leader just like the tactic he used inside the church he recently attended by his junta turning a place of worship into a voting booth by his stale and manipulative nonsense during which two young men were arrested for displaying contempt towards him. This is the behavior of a “leader” who realizes his time is up and he will use anything and everything in his power, illegally mostly, in attempts to silence people if he can’t make them submit to his will and wishes.
In one of his rants Pashinyan made the two following statements (YouTube link available):
1. Կարող էինք կանխել պատերազմը որի արդյունքում մենք կունենայինք նույն վիճակը իհարկե առանց զոհերի (Karogh eyink kankhel paterazme vori ardyunkum menk kunenayink nuyn vijake iharke arants zoheri).
Translation: We could have avoided the war as a result of which we would have had the same outcome but of course without our martyrs.
2. Գիտակցած զոհության մենք գնացինք 2020 թվին դրա համարա որ դրա արդյունքում ձեռք ենք բերել պետություն և անկախություն (Gitaktsadz zohutyan menk gnatsink 2020 tvin dra hamara vor dra ardyunkum dzerk enk berel petutyun yev ankakhutyun).
Translation: Knowingly we chose the path of martyrdom in 2020 as a consequence of which we have acquired an independent state.
Which statement(s) is more telling and dangerous, his or this traumatized Artsakh woman’s who lost everything? Why wasn’t he picked up, interrogated and charged for these statements?
Nicole by definition is biggest deception to his own people.