Epress.am News from Armenia
It comes from perceptions of revolt. For Armenians, though they live poorly, there is no such rebellion, said Sociometr independent sociological center (also known as the Center for Independent Social Studies) Director Aharon Adibekyan, speaking to journalists in Yerevan today and commenting on Armenia’s social situation and the likelihood of events unfolding in Armenia as they have in Egypt.
“That which is happening in Egypt and is forecast to happen in Armenia, a similar color revolution and its social base doesn’t exist,” he said.
According to him, one cannot predict whether the future political struggle in Armenia will go on the basis of social discontent.
“People are poor here, but they don’t consider themselves poor; our psychology is such that if they considered themselves poor, they would come out [onto the streets, to protest]. According to our questions, the number of poor is only 3–4% [of Armenia’s population]; they are so poor that they don’t believe in their own strength, that they can come out onto the streets and do something. That which is happening in Egypt is very similar to color revolutions, the instigator of which is a former chief of America’s intelligence department, who in Georgia and Ukraine was able to successfully wed the revolutions,” said Adibekyan, not revealing the name of the intelligence chief, however.
The Sociometre director stressed the importance of religious and cultural factors in revolutions in different countries.
“There exists Islamist socialism, Islam is a community religion, while the western model, European capitalism, is personalized, is liberal. I am rich; if you are poor, that’s your problem. The incidents in Egypt might lead to global Islamization; this is an allergy toward European countries,” he explained.
He added, everyone should understand, Armenia is not a place for color revolutions.