No foreign support for protest movement
ArmInfo. The protest movement that has unfolded in Armenia against the policies of the Armenian authorities has distinctive features from all previous movements, political scientist Karen Igityan told ArmInfo.
According to him, we are talking, first of all, about uniting a huge number of people who would not follow the so-called “former” ones, but who united around a new personality in the person of Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan. In Armenian politics, according to Igityan, there has long been a crisis of leadership, and the archbishop very successfully filled this role, which allowed him to involve a huge mass of people in the movement. Earlier, even before Bagrat Galstanyan reached Yerevan, the political scientist recalled, there was talk among the public that the number of participants did not reflect popular support for the movement. But when he began to gather a huge number of people in the capital, it became clear that the movement had prospects. It all started with a few hundred people, after which 50-60 thousand people already gathered in the squares of Yerevan. In this regard, Igityan continued, the archbishop achieved success, accumulating a significant protest electorate.
“As for whether the movement will achieve its goal, namely, the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan (a candidacy for this position from the opposition has already been announced – the leader of the movement himself has become the leader), then we must keep in mind one circumstance caused by the lack of external support for the actions protest, which allowed the authorities to fully use the existing arsenal of force,” Igityan said.
Moreover, the political scientist added, in this case there is active support from the collective West for the policies of the current government. After the recent visit to Yerevan of CIA Deputy Director David Cohen, opposition to the actions of the opposition increased sharply, as a result of which the security forces stopped paying attention to who was standing in front of them – a woman or an old man. “Against this background, the public quite rightly has questions related to democracy, human rights, and the rule of law,” the political scientist emphasized.
Nevertheless, according to Igityan, the movement has the potential to achieve its goal. “Today it becomes more than obvious that the overwhelming majority of the population of Armenia does not support Pashinyan, but this does not mean that everyone supports Bagrat Galstanyan. Pashinyan today has the lowest rating for the entire time he was in power, which does not exceed 20%. Accordingly, the remaining 80% is a field in which the archbishop can work. If he manages to consolidate this 80% of the protest electorate, then the opportunities for success will be much higher,” Igityan noted, adding at the same time that this success is not guaranteed.
The “Tavush for the Motherland” movement, led by Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, began a march on May 4 from the village of Kirants to Yerevan demanding an end to unilateral territorial concessions to Azerbaijan after the Armenian Foreign Ministry announced an agreement with Baku to begin delimitation from the Tavush region. On May 9, a rally of the movement was held on Republic Square in Yerevan, the leader of which demanded the resignation of the prime minister and also called for mass actions of civil disobedience. At a rally on May 26, the movement nominated Galstanyan for the post of prime minister. Supporters of the movement held a rally on May 31 near the Foreign Ministry building, and on June 3 at the Investigative Committee in Yerevan.
