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A View From Yerevan: Summarizing Pashinyan’s Achievements
On August 17, Armenia’s new Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan marked his first 100 days in office with a huge rally in Yerevan.
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I am concerned that the name revolution by itself is a symbol of antagonization. A wiser naming would have been consolidating democratic values in the country with the leadership of Pashinian. Past mistakes should not and cannot be cut-off abruptly. This is not a well-thought approach. The velvet revolution has many negative aspects, namely foreign policy, beginning with discomforting Russia. This is very unwise. A good leader should have a good background about the psychological impact on the citizens and neighbors. Zero corruption should be replaced by what is acceptable in human terms. Every human being should be encouraged to give to their country by exploiting values in them for the benefit of the country and of which antagonism is not a value and the least desirable to insinuate.
This is erroneously too “rosy”. We need to be objective. We all have high hopes, but should not overstate achievements.
1-We are getting mixed signals on Constitutional changes and elections.
2- Yerevan mayoral elections; no consensus, no unity among allies.
3- Justice Minister Artak Zeynelian takes leave of absence to run for mayor.
Is the Mayor of Yerevan a more important post that being the Justice Minister ? especially at a time when so much is happening.
4- Corruption. What has been recovered is peanuts ( less than 50 million) when there are billions at stake. Small fish compared to the big fish oligarchs.
5- Economy. No major new investments to create jobs. The investors are still waiting for major reforms.
6- Foreign policy unclear. Relations with Russia, which is critical for Armenia, not on good terms .
Still hopeful, but expectations have to be realistic.
Vart Adjemian
Similar to most activists, it is much more difficult to govern than leading the protests. Nevertheless Mr. Pashinyan deserved our respect and support because of one reason …. he has restored hope in Armenia…without which nothing will improve.
I am not concerned about the Russian relationship. Pashinyan has to “test the edges”in order to establish his own identity. Russian has bullied Armenia and supports enough instability in the southern Caucasus to allow them to maintain control. Armenia has to give Russia a message that it understand the geo political realities but will and can not work against its own interests. I believe that is at the core of Pashinyan’s strategy.
Anyone who thought investments would flow and corruption would vanish in 100days is naive. The biggest issue is the “counter revolutionary” forces and will be slow progress and move in to fill the void. This would be a disaster for Armenia and is much more important than any ego bruising in Moscow.
Prime Minister Pashinian and President Putin met in Moscow on 9/8/2018.
This was the third meeting in a span of 4 months.
This is a positive indication that dialogue between Russia and Armenia continues.
But it is also a sign that there are pending issues and possible disagreements between the two sides.
We hope and pray that these discussions end on positive notes. Russia is and continues to be a critical player in Armenia’s safety and security. Admittedly, sometimes there will be disagreements, and Russia will inevitably play its games in the geopolitical arena, but militarily and economically Armenia is heavily reliant on Russia.
Diplomatic skills will be of paramount importance,
Vart Adjemian