Armenian premier faces media boycott amid border protests & regional challenges

ANALYTICS  09 May 2024 - 10:54

Events in Armenia continue to attract the attention of residents of our region and all those interested in the South Caucasus. Against the backdrop of protests by residents of villages bordering Gazakh District of Azerbaijan, led by the Armenian Apostolic Church, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan held another major press conference. The heat the situation has reached is evidenced by the fact that several Armenian media outlets refused to cover Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's press conference, arguing that he was allegedly promoting Azerbaijani narratives in Armenian society.

“We, the undersigned media managers and editors, inform you that with a direct or hidden purpose, Nikol Pashinyan's press conference is justifying the shameful process of ‘border delimitation’ and ‘demarcation’ by spreading pro-Turkish theses in Armenian society and thus allowing the enemy to penetrate deep into the country. Based on these threats, we declare that we will not cover Nikol Pashinyan's press conference and will not disseminate his thoughts and views against the Armenian people and Armenian statehood,” reads the statement signed by ArmDay, NewDay, Irakanum.am, Past, Yerkir newspaper, and Lurer.com.

Well, Prime Minister Pashinyan turned out to be quite predictable in this matter and justified the “hopes” of the boycotters. He did make a strong commitment to the process of border delimitation with Azerbaijan a leitmotif of his speech, declaring that the border pillars are a guarantee of Armenia's security. Pashinyan also stated that he believes in the possibility of signing a peace treaty with Azerbaijan before November 2024, in time for the COP29 conference.

The following phrase from his speech became a curious place: “The raison d'être of the Republic of Armenia is not to serve historical justice, not to serve a national agenda, but to ensure the freedom, happiness, and well-being of the citizens of Armenia.”

At this point, Pashinyan continues the narrative started earlier about the real Armenia, which must confront the historical one. Let us leave the legitimacy of the term ‘historical Armenia’ out of brackets - it is clear that Pashinyan must choose his words in front of his electorate. However, it was perhaps quite bold of him to talk about ‘abandoning the national agenda’. From this thesis, it appears that Pashinyan took the course of defending the corpus of liberal values, which he contrasted with the outdated national agenda.

Perhaps the main idea of the speech: “The regional environment is the deepening and development of good neighborly relations with Georgia and Iran, management, reduction, nullification of enmity with Turkey and Azerbaijan, regional transport integration, establishment of economic ties, their deepening and development.”

There is nothing to add, one can only welcome it. Contrary to the efforts of some third parties, Yerevan has signaled its desire to contribute to making the South Caucasus a place of peace, stability, and prosperity.

And already today Pashinyan flew to Moscow to participate in the EAEU summit and a bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Thus, in general, unless, of course, Pashinyan pulls some kind of trick, we can say that Yerevan has managed to position itself as not even a distant but an equally close satellite of the West and Russia. At the same time, the firm intention to continue negotiations with Baku without intermediaries contributes to the increase of Armenia's subjectivity, and perhaps soon this country will be able to speak of itself not as a satellite, but as a partner of major centers of power. Only now Yerevan is beginning to realise that it will be very difficult to do this without Baku.

It should also be noted that Pashinyan's rhetorical style this time can even be praised for its unexpected elegance. Here, for example, is what he said about the diaspora: “I ask not to look for contradictions between Armenia and the Diaspora because every Armenian can obtain citizenship of the Republic of Armenia,” the prime minister said.

This phrase in its stunning brevity and capacity was a real slap on the nose to the Diaspora and its ambitions - if you love Armenia so much, welcome, come and live here.

However, the main threat to Pashinyan is now centered inside Armenia. It is the Armenian Church. Yes, it has lost its position, but it still has a certain influence on citizens, as well as financial resources and connections. Paralyzing this maddened beast becomes Pashinyan's number one task.

Caliber.Az