“DO NOTHING, SAY NOTHING, TAKE WHAT IS GIVEN”: WHY THE EEU IS CONVENIENT FOR ARMENIAN LEADERS

03.13.2015 18:29 epress.am

In recent years, a culture of sanctimonious, pseudo-traditional
relations has formed in Armenia, which has been mixed with criminal
world’s “rule book.” The latter was said by writer, public intellectual
Vahram Martirosyan (pictured on right) during a press conference
today, March 13, speaking of the peculiarities of the current
political culture.

According to the writer, the proof of the latter is that the conflict
between President Serzh Sargsyan and Prosperous Armenia Party Gagik
Tsarukyan was resolved by the rules of a “a criminal showdown.”

“A quite distant mediator appeared, reconcilatory gestures were
found between the sides. One was expelled with humiliation, the
other generously won without using all of his winner’s rights,”
said Martirosyan. He stressed, however, that they did make numerous
accusations about each other, which has to do with the “qyart (rabiz)
culture” that has formed in Armenia.

To the question of whether the situation were to get worse after
joining the Eurasian Economic Union, Vahram Martirosyan answered
in agreement, noting that Russia’ political culture has a negative
influence on Armenia.

Another press conference participant cultural academic Vardan Jaloyan
(pictured on left) stressed that Russia’s negative influence did not
start in one day and is not only connected to joining the EEU. He
recalled that the Russian ruling “United Russia Party” slogan, “Go,
Russia!”, was copied by Serzh Sargsyan’s team in 2008 saying, “Go,
Armenia!” According to Jaloyan, Armenia’s ruling Republican Party
copies the United Russia Party’s structure in the same manner; “Both
of them are the same type of party – a party of everything. You can
find whatever you want there, if, of course, the person is corrupted,
or has any other kind of weakness.” That, according to the speaker,
is tied to Serzh Sargsyan’s basic approach of ‘don’t do anything and
don’t say anything, take what’s given and make an autonomous state
into a political colony.’

Turning to the formulation of ‘not doing anything,’ Vahram Martirosyan
tied the second and third presidencies of Robert Kocharyan and Serzh
Sargsyan to the Soviet past.

“Both, Serzh Sargsyan and Robert Kocharyan were officials of a middle
management party. They are used to working in a hierarchal structure.

And now, that the EEU’s reality is conceived, it is of a higher
psychological convenience for that type of officials, because they
have someone higher than them,” said Martirosyan.