On Ralph Yirikian, Seyran Ohanyan and Nagorno-Karabakh: Pashinyan

Unlike the last few years, human rights watchdog Freedom House listed the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh (NKR) among those countries that are “not free.” In an article published by local daily Haykakan Jamanak (“Armenian Times”), the paper’s chief editor, imprisoned journalist Nikol Pashinyan, writing from Artik penitentiary, analyzes the situation.

“Some experts from Armenia express regret that Karabakh lost its advantage over Azerbaijan in the freedom rating, while others consider it a terrible injustice that NKR has moved from the group of ‘partly free’ to ‘not free’: as if one could not treat a… state like Nagorno-Karabakh this way.

“Of course, Karabakh as the homeland, as Armenia, is a shrine for each of us. But this doesn’t mean that the political regime established there is also holy. And, finally, let’s stop faking when speaking about ourselves. Perhaps, really, NKR president Bako Sahakyan, prime minister Ara Harutyunyan, even National Assembly chair Ashot Ghulyan, are politically moderate, partly free figures. But this [is so] perhaps for the reason that there’s no display of opposition or dissent. That, Armenia is considered a ‘partly free’ country on the Freedom House scale is understandable somewhat: In Armenia, there’s political opposition, and a few papers, webpages, non-governmental organizations not controlled by the government. In Karabakh, no alternative or different opinion exists.The last such display was Karabakh war veteran, Dashnak [Armenian Revolutionary Federation member], MP candidate Pavel Manukyan’s speech in the last NKR parliamentary elections, but NKR’s defense minister at the time, Seyran Ohanyan, with the help of a group of generals, beat up Pavlik in his own cabinet.

“After this, a ‘lukewarm atmosphere of national agreement’ was finally established in Karabakh. And that same Seyran Ohanyan has become a sweet [defense] minister in Armenia, because in Armenia there are papers who couldn’t care less how many stars he has on his epaulet. And not only that. But in Karabakh there are no such papers. The ruling authorities would like these not to exist in Armenia either. And vice versa, [ViviaCell-MTS General Manager] Ralph Yirikian, who’s an adorable phenomenon in Armenia, helping an old lady with a cane cross the street while accompanied by cameras night and day, is a monopolist in Karabakh who pressures customers. And takes steps to soften [the blow] when the press in Armenia uncovers this understandable fact.

“Thus, aha, there’s nothing surprising that Karabakh was considered a not free country; what was surprising was that it was considered partly free.

“And RA Prosperous Armenia parliamentary faction secretary Aram Safaryan, as always, takes on the role of Brave Andranik. He says he monitored the parliamentary elections in NKR last year and he can say that they were exemplary… also for Armenia. Safaryan and his leaders wouldn’t be opposed if in Armenia’s parliamentary elections there were names of four political parties on the ballot: Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), Prosperous Armenia (BHK), Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF-D) and Rule of Law (OEK). Do you know what exemplary elections there would be? RA citizens would have the right to freely vote between Serzh and Robert, and Robert and Serzh. Freely, wow.”