Ongoing protests could serve as background for attempted coup -  Garegin Miskaryan

ArmInfo.The ongoing protests in Armenia's capital and other cities and towns could serve as a background for an attempted coup and for showing alleged widespread  discontent with Armenia's authorities and, therefore, a popular  demand for a change of power, the public and political figure Garegin  Miskaryan said in an interview with ArmInfo. 

"Protests as such will not bring about any changes. And they will die  down in the course of time if they are not accompanied with an  attempted coup. And even if such an attempt is made, it will have  nothing in common with the protests. In any case, an attempted coup  cannot be ruled out, and such the primary reason for such a  possibility is lack of reforms in the system of government. The  security agencies to name a few, the same personnel with the same  system of values in the same heads," he said.

In this context, Mr Miskaryan believes an attempted coup and Armenia  backsliding to authoritarian and later to oligarchic rule is highly  probable. Moreover, the incumbent government's steps demonstrate  Armenia is moving toward a new oligarchy, but with different  oligarchs. 

In this context, the present authorities-opposition struggle both in  Parliament and in the streets is a struggle for "redistribution of  capital" between the former owners and the new elite. And the fact  that this struggle does not contain a single hint at any ideological  component is evidence that "all is fair" in this "war," which is only  making a change of power by means of a coup more probable.

"Not a single hint at the defense of national interests in this  struggle, which is being claimed by some.  Rather, it is a struggle  for power. And no steps have ever been made toward increasing  sovereignty, justice, democracy in Armenia under either the former or  incumbent authorities. After Armenia's transition from electoral  authoritarianism to electoral democracy in 2018, we are backsliding  to electoral authoritarianism again for a number of objective and  subjective reasons. But a real democratic state has remained a  dream," Mr Miskaryan said.