Tuesday, February 5 2019 12:52

ArmInfo. Freedom House in its report on Freedom and Democracy has ranked Armenia along with Georgia as a partly free country, which has recorded a democratic progress in 2018. 

In an interview with ''Voice of America'', Marc Behrendt, the  Director for Europe and Eurasia programs at Freedom House, commenting  the report emphasized that in 2018, Armenia, along with other  countries, showed unexpected progress in terms of democratization.  "What happened in Armenia was completely the result of internal  political processes, it was unexpected and was not provoked from the  outside," the director said.

The recent processes in Armenia in the Freedom House report were  qualified as "a massive, non- violent wave that forced the former  regime to respond to a public demand, as a result of which power  passed to reformers led by Nikol Pashinyan".

Marc Behrendt, along with positive trends, stressed the need for a  critical approach and the responsibility of the authorities. "It is  important that civil society, which for many years was out of power,  now has the opportunity to cooperate with the government, but at the  same time it is extremely important that it be critical and make the  government take responsibility for its actions," Behrendt said.

The report says that Armenia and other countries that registered  unexpected changes during 2018 deserve special attention in 2019. The  organization encourages foreign donors to give priority to this  subgroup of countries. "Of course, it is very important to support  Armenia, since these changes require financial assistance. The  security of Armenia is under threat, it continues to be a serious  problem, "Behrendt stressed.

Turkey, Iran, Azerbaijan, and also Russia were ranked as not free  countries. As for Azerbaijan, the report speaks of repression,  embezzlement of public funds and oppression of political opponents.