The Servants of Traitors. Part 2. What Does Armen Ashotyan Keep Silent About?

The Public Tribunal continues its series of articles titled “The Servants of Traitors.” In today’s installment, we examine the role of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), ‘serving’ former President Serzh Sargsyan, in the national catastrophe of Artsakh and the grave security situation now facing the Republic of Armenia.

This piece was prompted by a recent post by Armen Ashotyan, Chairman of the RPA, in which he outlines how the leader of the Civil Contract Party [ed. Nikol Pashinyan] orchestrated the 44-day war. In his publication, Ashotyan presents 18 specific actions by Pashinyan which, had they been avoided, might have prevented the war. We will not reprint the list here; readers can review the details via the original source.

So, Armen Ashotyan presents the 44-day war as the outcome of deliberate actions taken by Nikol Pashinyan. This assessment is indeed accurate, and Public Tribunal has consistently highlighted the current Prime Minister’s role in provoking the war. However, a critical question remains for Armen Ashotyan himself: what was driving Pashinyan’s actions? And more importantly - why did Ashotyan’s own political party secure the necessary votes for Pashinyan’s rise to power, fully aware of the objectives he was pursuing?

Speeches delivered by leading members of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) on May 1, 2018, during the parliamentary session considering Nikol Pashinyan’s nomination for Prime Minister, clearly show that the RPA was aware of the true objectives behind the so-called “velvet revolution.” Yet this is something Armen Ashotyan deliberately avoids addressing, as he attempts to deflect his party’s responsibility for Armenia’s current national catastrophe: the occupation of Artsakh, the mass displacement of the Armenian population, and the dismantling of Armenia’s security architecture, including its strategic relationship with Russia.

For example, during that same May 1 session, RPA MP Arman Saghatelyan openly questioned Pashinyan’s competence to serve as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, citing his lack of military knowledge. Saghatelyan stated:

“I don’t want to believe the widely circulated claims that Nikol and his associates fail to realize that all this [the ‘velvet revolution’] is merely the beginning of an externally orchestrated scenario - a scenario that will ultimately lead to an anti-Armenian resolution of the Artsakh conflict. I don’t want to believe that, but... I am compelled to present numerous citations.”

He then went on to quote several of Pashinyan’s past statements and articles, in which the future Prime Minister criticized Armenia’s membership in the Eurasian Economic Union and expressed the need to return of territories under Armenian control to Azerbaijan.

On the same day, another Republican, Vice Speaker of the Armenian Parliament Eduard Sharmazanov, also delivered a speech. He stated:

“We don’t need a national tribune or a good orator; we need a leader of the executive power whose political actions are predictable, first and foremost, by a clear political ideology. By ‘predictable,’ I mean consistency and steadfastness on matters of principle. Who will be your first deputy prime minister, defense minister, finance minister, police chief, director of the National Security Service, or economy minister if you are elected [addressing Pashinyan]? Who? There are no answers.”

Sharmazanov underscored Pashinyan’s inconsistency, pointing to his shifting positions on issues such as Armenia’s membership in the EAEU. Concluding his speech, Sharmazanov echoed the concerns voiced by Arman Saghatelyan:

“Mr. Pashinyan, today - just as yesterday - you have failed to convince me. I do not see you as the Commander-in-Chief.”

Armen Ashotyan also took the floor in parliament on May 1, 2018, delivering a speech that foreshadowed catastrophe for Armenia:

“I don’t agree, Mr. Beglaryan, with your statement that we have to choose between the bad and the worst. No. I believe we are choosing between the bad and the disastrous options. What is the bad one? The bad thing is that I cannot stand up and say that I am joining the hundreds of thousands, the national movement, and say, ‘Long Live Armenia,’ which will come. This is bad—politically, very bad. However, I believe it is disastrous that, under the current geopolitical conditions, we are forced to make a choice which, in my view, marks the beginning of Armenia’s end.”

Ashotyan continued:

“I don’t want Nikol Pashinyan - who has successfully become the Armenian Mandela - to become the prime minister of Armenia’s destruction, or worse, the last prime minister of Armenia. I don’t want that. Nikol has already etched his name in history, in the history of the Armenian people, in modern Armenian history. From the standpoint of democracy, he has written his name in gold letters. I don’t want that to change.”

Just two days later, on May 3, 2018, Eduard Sharmazanov publicly announced that despite the Republican Party’s clear political concerns, the RPA would nevertheless provide the necessary votes to ensure Nikol Pashinyan’s election as Prime Minister.

As this series of statements makes clear, the key figures of the Republican Party fully understood that Nikol Pashinyan was unfit to serve as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and that his rise to power could lead Armenia into disaster. Despite this awareness, they willingly enabled his ascent. Thus, Armen Ashotyan and other Republican parliamentarians bear direct political and moral responsibility for the consequences of Pashinyan’s destructive policies.

Meanwhile, in December 2018, Prime Minister Pashinyan ordered the National Security Service to investigate whether the widely discussed claim that the so-called “velvet revolution” was in fact a foreign-orchestrated plot against Armenia had any basis. The NSS, however, responded with what can only be described as criminal negligence - a failure we have previously documented in earlier installments of Public Tribunal.

And finally, the Public Tribunal reminds Armen Ashotyan where all of this truly began. It began with the Constitutional Reform initiated by the Republican Party under the leadership of Serzh Sargsyan. This reform transitioned Armenia from a presidential to a parliamentary system of government. In 2014, Serzh Sargsyan publicly pledged that he would not seek any high office - neither prime minister, parliamentary speaker, nor president - once Armenia adopted the parliamentary model. However, he broke that promise. On April 11, 2018, RPA spokesperson Eduard Sharmazanov announced that Serzh Sargsyan would, in fact, be the party’s nominee for Prime Minister.

On April 17, 2018, the National Assembly elected the Republican candidate Serzh Sargsyan as Prime Minister with 77 votes in favor and 17 against. That same day, during a mass protest, Nikol Pashinyan proclaimed the beginning of the “velvet revolution.”

The Parliament of Armenia elected Nikol Pashinyan, leader of the Yelq Parliamentary Faction, as prime minister on May 8, 2018. RPA voted in favor of Pashinyan. Later on May 8, 2018, the Armenian Parliament—with votes from the RPA—elected Nikol Pashinyan, leader of the Yelq Parliamentary Faction, as the country’s new Prime Minister.

While Armen Ashotyan now offers a detailed 18-point list of how the 44-day war could have been avoided, Public Tribunal proposes a much simpler formula consisting of only three steps:

  1. Serzh Sargsyan should not have initiated the constituional reform.
  2. He should not have deceived the public by pledging not to pursue high office - and then breaking that promise.
  3. He should not have handed over power to Nikol Pashinyan on a silver platter.

The Public Tribunal experts believe that the words and actions of Republican Party representatives in 2018 were not accidental and not merely a spontaneous reaction to the revolutionary situation in the country. Rather, they were part of carefully crafted political technologies serving very specific objectives — a meticulously planned scenario for the “velvet revolution” in Armenia, ultimately aimed at the “legalization” of the shameful handover of Artsakh. In this light, members of the RPA, especially its key figures, are, in fact, accomplices in the high treason committed by Serzh Sargsyan and Nikol Pashinyan.