Hye Sharzhoom Armenian Action
Claire Kasaian
Staff Writer
Photo: Christine Pambukyan
On Thursday, March 7, students, professors, and members of the community attended a lecture at Fresno State by Dr. Ara Sanjian, who spoke on the topic of “Armenia’s Road To and Since the ‘Velvet Revolution.’”
The “Velvet Revolution” refers to the political events that occurred in Armenia in April of 2018, which led to the resignation of newly-elected Prime Minister Serge Sargsyan. He was replaced by Nikol Pashiniyan, who had been the leader of the opposition movement.
Dr. Sanjian, who is director of the Armenian Research Center based at the University of Michigan, Dearborn, studied for his master’s degree in history at Yerevan State University, Armenia (then, part of the USSR) from 1986 to 1991. Since then he has traveled often to Armenia and has maintained close ties with students and faculty.
Dr. Sanjian began his presentation by observing that since 1988, something significant has occurred in Armenia in every year ending in the number 8. In 1988, there was the Karabagh Movement; in 1998, President Levon Ter-Petrossian was forced to resign; and in 2008 Serge Sargsyan was elected as President of Armenia. These elections ended with violence as ten people were killed in mass protests on the streets of Yerevan on March 1, 2008.
Dr. Sanjian discussed the choices that President Sargsyan had at the end of his second term as President. Either he could retire from politics, or put his hat in the ring for Prime Minister. Armenia’s Constitution had been modified in 2015, from providing for a strong-President type of government, to one in which the Prime Minister would be the most important political figure in the country.
Sargsyan decided to be a candidate for Prime Minister in the April 17, 2018 elections and was easily elected. There were wide-scale protests by the population, and according to Dr. Sanjian people disliked Sargsyan for “rigging of the elections and the constitutional referendum, supporting a corrupt oligarchic system of running politics and the economy, a politicized and corrupt judiciary, and economic inefficiency leading to widespread poverty and mass emigration.” The street protests in Armenia drew worldwide attention from media outlets.
Opposition to Sargsyan coalesced around the person of Nikol Pashinyan, a former journalist, editor of Haykakan Zhamanak newspaper, and political activist.
On March 31, 2018 Pashinyan began a protest march from Gyumri to Yerevan. He gathered support along the way and by the time he arrived in Yerevan’s Republican Square, the move-ment had grown into the thousands. Under intense political pressure, Sargsyan agreed to meet Pashinyan on April 22, in a public place in front of news cameras. Hours later Pashinyan was detained by police but was later released under popular pressure. Sargsyan unexpectedly resigned as Prime Minister on April 23, and Pashinyan was elected as Armenia’s new Prime Minister by the Parliament on May 8.
Dr. Sanjian discussed in detail the major figures in the new Pashinyan administration, noting that most of them were relatively young. In fact, the Armenian Parliament underwent a complete transformation, with 75% of those elected in December of 2018, having never served in the Parliament. Pashinyan now completely controls the Parliament and also the cabinet. He has replaced fifteen of the cabinet members with new faces, who were born between the years of 1979-1989.
Dr. Sanjian concluded the formal part of his presentation by broadly discussing areas that the Pashinyan administration will need to address.
The new government has undertaken initiatives to reform the economic and educational systems. Dr. Sanjian described the economic policy as “neo-liberal,” with calls for more foreign investment and the establishment of a flat income tax.
Dr. Sanjian also outlined the foreign policy challenges of the new Pashinyan administration: Artsakh and relations with Azerbaijan; relations with Russia and the Eurasian Economic Union; relations with the European Union; relations with Turkey; and relations with the Armenian Diaspora.
As far as internal policies, according to Dr. Sanjian, the new government is seeking election law reform, reforms in the judiciary, constitutional reform, reform in the organization of the government, and a campaign against corruption.
Dr. Sanjian’s presentation was followed by a question and answer period with the audience.