Armenia: Politicial Chess

Khirimian’s Thought comments on news reports that an opposition politician accuses the present and former authorities of dealing with demonstrations in the same manner. Earlier this month the government declared a state of emergency and used the military to enforce prohibitions on rallies by supporters of Levon Ter-Petrossian. Ironically, the former president also used the military to prevent protests against his disputed 1996 re-election.

Simply put, it just does not taste the same. Aside from these crucial differences between the actions of the former and current Presidents, we can now see that the current government is taking positive steps to earn back any trust from the populace that may have been tainted as a result of March 1st. The formation of a Multi-Party Coalition representing the majority and actively pursuing dialogue, which the government could have avoided and still held a majority if it had formed an alliance with just the Prosperous Armenia Party, as oppose to banning them and arresting their leaders which shows the extent to which the current government is applying itself to stabilize the post-election waves.