Armenian PM mercilessly deals with opposition MPs

The collapse of the Armenian opposition, which has recently protested in the squares, is an obvious reality in Armenia. Although the so-called “Resistance” movement is preparing for the next “last” battle with the authorities, in fact, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his team are dealing with this “army”. The entire process is an Armenian-style show.

The deprivation of opposition MPs of their mandates as a result of voting in parliament by a majority of votes from Pashinyan’s "Civil Contract" faction was easy to implement. The prime minister's supporters dominate the Armenian National Assembly.

However, this is only the first part of the Pashinyan's punishment. The authorities created a real program for those who disagree. The deprivation of mandates, loss of work, and daily bread are the most sparing measures on the list. A criminal case will be filed against someone while some opposition MPs will be even drafted into the army.
The army is Pashinyan's new idea. About four dozen participants in the so-called Resistance movement have been recently drafted to participate in the three-month mobilisation training of the defence ministry.

According to the Hraparak newspaper, law enforcement agencies purposefully view video footage of opposition rallies, identifying the participants in the rallies and sending them military enlistment documents.

“The authorities, in fact, are still afraid of the opposition and they are trying to keep people from fighting. The absurdity is that even a few activists who are now in custody were notified,” the Armenian media reports.

The authorities are very pleased. The highest-level show with a memorial service for the defeated opposition was organised by Speaker of the Armenian parliament Alen Simonyan. His interview full of mockery against the defeated opposition was generally cited. Even his passion for prejudice was revealed.

Thus, the speaker believes that third Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan cursed Ishkhan Saghatelyan [vice-president of the national assembly of Armenia] when he called him the leader of the opposition, and this played a fatal role in the failure of the protests.

“While saying this, Serzh Sargsyan not only cursed him but saw him off. By the way, thank you, Mr. Sargsyan,” Simonyan said in an interview with journalists in the parliament.

He also happily stressed that there is no opposition in Armenia.

"They made a false start", Simonyan said.

While rejoicing, he revealed other interesting details.

The speaker said that all actions of the opposition were favourable to the authorities. Some rallies were not deliberately dispersed by the Armenian security forces. The authorities decided that this way the intensity of rallies would subside on its own and the tension would gradually come to naught.

It turns out that Pashinyan has developed a real strategy to pacify the protests, showing Caesar’s foresight.

The speaker of the Armenian parliament expressed his "respect " for the actions of the leader of the "Fatherland" faction Artur Vanetsyan.

“For example, I welcome Vanetsyan's step. He said that he would not come to parliament and refused his MP mandate,” Simonyan said in an interview with Armenian journalists.

Pashinyan thinks that it is obvious that depriving the revanchists of income is the fairest punishment.

As for the inglorious end of revanchist leader Ishkhan Saghatelyan, Simonyan thinks that instead of giving interviews and saying “let's go with our agenda”, he should accept his defeat with dignity.

“I should say that I have started the political process, admitted my defeat, and now I am refusing my mandate. So let them say, let them show that this is not a struggle for posts. This is an issue of inviolability, a question of salary,” Simonyan said.

Proceeding from the pace of executions, the entire opposition will be smashed, and Armenian political analysts are already writing about this. However, there are other interesting points of view. For example, after the defeat of the revanchists, Pashinyan, who is angry with Moscow, which sponsored the opposition rebellion, will start another game.

He decided to gradually abandon the diligent tactics of adhering to Moscow's course and start rapprochement with Washington. Pashinyan doesn’t need to try too hard. There are already many representatives of the US special services and non-governmental organisations funded by them in Armenia.

According to some experts’ opinion, for example, Pashinyan's recent statement that the bio laboratories created through the US assistance are Armenia’s property and Russian partners should not worry about this testifies to the policy of such rapprochement.

“Biolaboratories located in Armenia are its own property, although they were created through the US assistance. We invited our Russian partners to look on the spot, and discuss whether there are reasons for concern. Such reasons were not found,” Pashinyan reassured everyone at a video conference a few days ago, responding to Moscow’s attacks due to bio laboratories in Armenia, which allegedly posed a threat to Russia.

All this shows that Pashinyan wants to finally get rid of all Moscow’s claims to begin a course towards rapprochement with Washington in the future. Such an attitude may turn out to be beneficial for Azerbaijan, as is known, the White House recognises the territorial integrity of our country.

Although the fruitless activity of the OSCE Minsk Group for 30 years clearly shows that there are many forces in the US that are playing against Baku. However, Washington’s position may turn out to be more clear and unambiguous in a new era for the region, after a 44-day victorious war [Second Karabakh War], compared to Moscow’s tactics, for which the situation with a “disappearing conflict” and the factor of the presence of Russian peacekeepers are important as a tool to manipulate the geopolitics of the South Caucasus.