“Do Nothing, Say Nothing, Take What Is Given”: Why the EEU Is Convenient for Armenian Leaders

In recent years, a culture of sanctimonious, pseudo-traditional relations has formed in Armenia, which has been mixed with criminal world’s “rule book.” The latter was said by writer, public intellectual Vahram Martirosyan (pictured on right) during a press conference today, March 13, speaking of the peculiarities of the current political culture.

According to the writer, the proof of the latter is that the conflict between President Serzh Sargsyan and Prosperous Armenia Party Gagik Tsarukyan was resolved by the rules of a “a criminal showdown.”

“A quite distant mediator appeared, reconcilatory gestures were found between the sides. One was expelled with humiliation, the other generously won without using all of his winner's rights,” said Martirosyan. He stressed, however, that they did make numerous accusations about each other, which has to do with the “qyart (rabiz) culture” that has formed in Armenia.

To the question of whether the situation were to get worse after joining the Eurasian Economic Union, Vahram Martirosyan answered in agreement, noting that Russia’ political culture has a negative influence on Armenia.

Another press conference participant cultural academic Vardan Jaloyan (pictured on left) stressed that Russia’s negative influence did not start in one day and is not only connected to joining the EEU. He recalled that the Russian ruling “United Russia Party” slogan, “Go, Russia!”, was copied by Serzh Sargsyan’s team in 2008 saying, “Go, Armenia!” According to Jaloyan, Armenia’s ruling Republican Party copies the United Russia Party’s structure in the same manner; “Both of them are the same type of party – a party of everything. You can find whatever you want there, if, of course, the person is corrupted, or has any other kind of weakness.” That, according to the speaker, is tied to Serzh Sargsyan’s basic approach of ‘don’t do anything and don’t say anything, take what’s given and make an autonomous state into a political colony.’

Turning to the formulation of ‘not doing anything,’ Vahram Martirosyan tied the second and third presidencies of Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan to the Soviet past.

“Both, Serzh Sargsyan and Robert Kocharyan were officials of a middle management party. They are used to working in a hierarchal structure. And now, that the EEU’s reality is conceived, it is of a higher psychological convenience for that type of officials, because they have someone higher than them,” said Martirosyan.