Vahe H. Apelian
The finest moment of my Armenian experience is the possibility of the promise Nikol Pachinyan led Velvet Revolution projected. It remains the high point of my Armenian life but it appears that it is on the verge of dying, not due to faults of its own. After all, the movement is still in its infancy to render such a judgement. It took seventy years for the Lenin led revolution to implode and fragment. While the forces the Velvet revolution unleashed in Armenia in way empowering the average citizen most likely will not die, or should not die, but its leader Nikol Pachinyan, the onetime imprisoned journalist who ascended to the apex of the political establishment in Armenia as its Prime Minister, is under pressure to resign from his post. His resignation surely will adversely affect the revolution or the movement he led.
Governments tend to resign after such catastrophic defeat Armenia experienced in its grossly asymmetrical war against Turkabaijan NATO trained and equipped forces after valiant and heroic resistance for 44 days. In 1967, President Nasser offered his resignation to a stunned, muted and subdued nation after the Egypt’s defeat in the 1967 Six Days war against Israel but the Egyptians overwhelmingly rejected his resignation. PM Pachinyan has not yet presented his and hence his government’s resignation but calls for his resignation came about almost right after the PM signed the dictates to end the war.
A coalition of 17 political parties led by ARF is demanding the resignation of the PM. Frankly speaking I was surprised to read that there are so many political parties in Armenia. After all, the 17 political parties do not represent all the political parties in Armenia. As far as I know a political party in Armenia is an organization that has to meet some criteria to be recognized as a political party because it will be privileged to vie for power through election. Under the parliamentarian system, Armenians do not vote for individuals but vote for political parties and their coalitions. I wondered if all these political parties are such legally privileged entities as a political party or some of which simply is an assembly of like-minded people with names such as “Apricot Country“ Party.
A national salvage front is expected to emerge to take over the governance. While the PM Pachinyan led government may resign but the My Step movement is very much alive and has its supporters who would not want to be excluded from the deliberation for a national salvation leadership. The current 17 political parties that form the opposition opposition are united in demanding the resignation of the PM but they have not expressed any unity as to who they will they choose to fill in the vacated seats in the government and what will their agenda be. Naturally shifting alliances will emerge and I would not be surprised to see the opposition break apart at its seams as the backdoor negotiations take place over the individuals who will be occupying the vacant seats.
The best scenario I envision is to temper the current emotions by having the leaders of the opposition parties and government direct their members and the public at large to refrain from hurling adjectives to each other that enflame emotions further and serve no other purpose. The two catholicos may also intervene to quell the emotions. Once emotions are in control and people feel safe and secure, a national referendum or a new election may take place to have the people choose between the current nationally elected government and a new salvation government that will take over governance and engage in coming to terms with the trileteral agreement signed by the representatives Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia to end the Artsakh war. Or, even reject it, if the salvation front government feels it is empowered to do so.
I would like to draw attention to another aspect that I find missing in the quest to have a new leadership emerge in Armenia and that is the Armenia and Diaspora relations. In my view the the Nikol Pachinyan led Velvet Revolution, or the Movement if you will, should anyone have a reservation calling the historical event as a revolution, brought a new and a fresh air to the Armenia and Diaspora relations. Armenia Fund which was experiencing overt reservations found a revival. For the very first time I saw Armenia and Diaspora relations as well and as energized. It remains to be seen whether a new government in Armenia will be able to maintain the momentum or whether Nikol Pachinyan led government will, as post war stark realities sink in. I remain cautiously optimistic.
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