Turan Information Agency, Azerbaijani (Opposition) Press
Saturday
Pashinyan's totalitarian democracy
by: ASTNA.biz
Since then, the author of the democratic "Velvet Revolution" is increasingly showing signs of a totalitarian way of governing Armenia. In the first year of Pashinyan"s rule, his rally threats to "roll up the asphalt" of internal opponents were explained by the political inexperience of the new Armenian leader, in the second year, the inexperience of the attacks on democratic values cannot be explained. Pashinyan"s dictatorial receptions began to receive attention even in international and European organizations after the Prime Minister blocked Armenian courts for half a day on May 20, 2019, mobilizing crowds of his admirers for this.
"We wish to express our concern in connection with the appeal of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to his supporters about blocking all courts," said Sadjad Karim, head of the European Parliament"s EU-Armenia parliamentary cooperation committee, who also expressed concern about the "idea vettinga "(checking the judges for compliance with the position).
In Armenia, they write that "Pashinyan broke loose" after Robert Kocharian was released from the courtroom. In June, Nikol Pashinyan and his supporters in the government announced the need for a "hard response" to the actions of the opposition and even demanded reprisals against the participants of the anti-Pashinyan flashmob in Yerevan. Pashinyan again began to talk about conspirators, this time pointing to a new opposition group in black T-shirts. Three weeks ago, he made an official speech in which four pages four times said about the conspiracy. The most interesting thing for Azerbaijanis is that Nikol linked the conspirators with the possibility of defeat in the war with Azerbaijan.
The author of the blog "Political Geography of the South Caucasus" reports about a unique phenomenon, new to the region: posters were posted in Armenia offering citizens to "knock" on committing criminal acts. Since the political opponents of the Prime Minister are now called "conspirators", it is therefore suggested that citizens should inform the police about political actions against Pashinyan.
Yerevan analysts explain Pashinyan has accustomed totalitarianism by its economic failures caused by the premier"s inability to create an effective government. Within the framework of government reform, the ministries are united. However, it turned out that the ministries are unable to perform new functions, in particular, the Ministry of Economy cannot work for the Ministry of Agriculture, and the Ministry of Territorial Administration does not fulfill the functions of the Ministry of Energy. The reform was delayed, starting in January, but until recently, the reduced five ministries continued to operate in a passive mode, where the former deputies combined the activities of the minister.
Ministers and Deputy Ministers (26 deputies) were reduced. On June 7, Justice Minister Artak Zeynalyan resigned. The reason for the resignation is not reported, but Zeynalyan responded to the prime minister"s call this way to block the courts and check the professionalism of the judges. Far from all the candidates who are offered this agree to the new appointments, as they fear that they will have to take responsibility for what they cannot predict, a Yerevan-based blogger reports.
Pashinyan's methods led to the emergence of new political organizations that chose harsh methods of dealing with the current government. The party "One Armenia" becomes the most moderate in the right, conditionally speaking "Ter-Petrosyan" political field, in which, judging by its name, the occupied Karabakh is already included in the state with its capital in Yerevan. The second right political force is the National Agenda party. Against Pashinyan are Dashnaks and the Sargsyan RPA, and his most ardent enemies are the new movements – Adekvad and VETO, which chose tough methods of fighting Pashinyan. In addition, at the head of Adekvad is Pashinyan"s recent associate in the rally events.
In Armenia, they speak of a high, 82%, popular support for Pashinyan. The blogger believes that the premier"s popularity cannot but decrease, since he has not fulfilled any task declared at the rally. Armenia"s relations with Azerbaijan began to deteriorate even more; last week, after a long lull, snipers again fired at the fronts, yesterday Armenians launched a missile at the Azerbaijani combat aircraft, the day before yesterday Azerbaijani positions were fired at by Armenian mortar gunners. There are those killed on both sides, Defense Minister Tonoyan awarded saboteurs who killed our soldier. Pashinyan"s populist program on creating confidence-building measures between Armenians and Azerbaijanis failed. Four months ago, local elections were held, where out of 20 communities, the authorities won only two.
Armenia discusses Pashinyan"s lack of a personnel reserve. He appoints to high positions not on a professional, but on an ideological basis. This quality makes Pashinyan related to the former President of Georgia M. Saakashvili; currently he is considered a criminal in Georgia. Pashinyan continues to rule Armenia with the power of the crowd; now they say that the next ones he will send to the bestial supporters will be the Yerevan media and the authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh. Moreover, he openly threatened to do so.
People in Yerevan write about the character of the prime minister: impulsive, unstable, "may not react to any information channel, but reacts sharply to it with a delay. And vice versa – reacts sharply, and then gradually "passes back", that is, it is very difficult to predict behavior of Pashinyan, which is a dangerous quality for a leader, because it impedes him in the formation of informal coalitions and in the formation of strategic relations," the aforementioned blogger writes.
We talked about the similarity of Pashinyan to Saakashvili. In Pashinyan"s rhetoric, analogies are also traced with Azerbaijani political propaganda from the authorities. The most frequently repeated thesis of official Baku was the statement about the "no-tax" development of the Azerbaijani economy. Pashinyan expressed at a recent economic forum with the participation of Italian businessmen: "One of the government's priorities is the abrupt development of the country's economy… For one year politically, we were able to eradicate systemic corruption, eradicate monopolies politically… An unprecedented situation is also in world history, when, after a revolution, a country is not experiencing economic shocks, and is not on the recessionary stage. This means that in Armenia there are special and interesting conditions for economic activity… It is planned to create such an ecosystem in Armenia so that every talented person has the opportunity to realize his talent, enrich and enrich," said N. Pashinyan on June 10, 2019.
In the same speech, he reported that in the first quarter of this year, 7.1% economic growth was recorded in Armenia and the indicator of economic activity in April of this year amounted to 9.2%. The official figures of the Armenian economic statistics are commented on by the opposition with irony and distrust. They report a significant drop in exports of the main Armenian goods exported abroad. Export of only brandy increased, by 8%.