Rewriting History: How Serzh Sargsyan Is Trying to Shed Responsibility for the Events of 2018

The media space is overflowing with reactions to the sensational claim Serzh Sargsyan made in the latest episode of the Imnemnimi podcast. The former president declared:

“I transferred power to Karen Karapetyan, not Nikol Pashinyan.”

For anyone who followed the dramatic events of 2018, that statement landed like a punch in the gut. Serzh Sargsyan’s name is inseparably tied to the political plot that unfolded in Armenia that year - events that remain vivid in the public memory.

• It was Sargsyan who, back in 2018, uttered the now-famous line: “Nikol was right, I was wrong.”
• It was he who publicly vowed not to seek the post of prime minister, then broke that promise, becoming the catalyst for the “Velvet Revolution.”
• He amassed unprecedented power in his own hands; at the time, every law-enforcement and security structure was under his control.
• Yet he did nothing to block Pashinyan’s rise.
• For years, his own son-in-law had been financing Pashinyan’s platform- the Haykakan Zhamanak daily.

In April 2018, in an interview with Shant TV, Karen Karapetyan himself warned against the ascent of “pseudo-democrat” Nikol Pashinyan:

“What does it mean: either I become prime minister, or Armenia has no prime minister? This looks like an attempt to monopolize the political field. Many of the citizens gathered outside have every right to express their dissatisfaction with our authorities, but does everyone want Nikol Pashinyan as prime minister? I don’t think so. People must be given the chance to choose, not be confronted with such ultimatums.”

Nevertheless, the Republican Party of Armenia, headed by Serzh Sargsyan, threw its support behind Nikol Pashinyan’s candidacy for prime minister instead of dissolving the National Assembly and calling snap elections. We have previously covered this vote in our article “The Servants of Traitors. Part 2: What Is Armen Ashotyan Keeping Silent About?”

And now, years later, Sargsyan calmly distorts the essence of 2018. His recent remark is more than a simple statement - it is an attempt to rewrite the history of those turbulent days and to wash his hands of their consequences.

Karen Karapetyan, Armenia’s former acting prime minister, remains silent. Sargsyan is exploiting that silence, resorting once again to his favorite tactic: shifting the blame onto others for elevating Nikol Pashinyan to power.

What can counter such manipulations? First and foremost, Karen Karapetyan must break his silence, however balanced that silence may appear. Otherwise, the public will read his quietness as consent, and Sargsyan’s latest falsehood may harden into a “new reality” - one that has little to do with the truth.

The Public Tribunal insists: the people of Armenia have the right to clear, unequivocal answers, and history deserves to be anchored in unbiased facts. Only then can Armenia overcome the profound crisis created by the political games of Nikol Pashinyan and Serzh Sargsyan. Without an honest reckoning with the past, there is no path out of the catastrophic present.