Pashinyan Must Go: The Security, Democracy and Dignity of Armenia Are at Stake- Vartan Oskanian

ArmInfo. Nikol Pashinyan's  appearance yesterday in the National Assembly-marked by erratic  behavior, a combative tone, and menacing threats toward former  presidents-was not an expression of conviction but the unraveling of  a man in free fall. Today's wave of arrests and intimidation  targeting relatives and supporters of opposition candidates ahead of  the Gyumri elections only confirms what Armenians across the country  already know: Pashinyan is no longer fit to lead. He is not just a  failed leader-he is a national liability. His continued presence in  power poses a clear and present danger to Armenia's security,  democracy, and dignity. Former RA Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian  posted this on social media. 

According to Oskanian, Pashinyan, who came to power seven years  riding into office on a tide of popular hope, has become the  architect of national destruction. His strategic blindness, political  inexperience and unwillingness to take responsibility have plunged  Armenia into an era of historic defeats and isolation. The complete  loss of Nagorno-Karabakh, the displacement of over 120,000 Armenians,  the deaths of thousands of young soldiers are not misfortunes of  fate, but the direct and tragic results of his reckless decisions and  failed leadership, he noted. <What makes matters worse is that  Pashinyan has not only failed to protect Armenia's interests-he has  actively undermined them. He stands today as the sole obstacle to  placing the right of return for Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh on the  international agenda. Even as the global community has expressed  readiness to support this fundamental issue, Pashinyan's inaction-and  likely, quiet opposition-continues to erase Armenian claims from the  diplomatic map,> the diplomat believes. 

Oskanian is convinced that Pashinyan's rule has had catastrophic  consequences for Armenia's sovereignty.  <Armenian hostages remain in  Azerbaijani captivity, swaths of internationally recognized Armenian  territory have been effectively ceded, and new concessions loom just  over the horizon. Meanwhile, the country grows ever more isolated,  with its foreign policy reduced to confused posturing and dangerous  appeasement. If allowed to continue, Pashinyan will complete the  undoing of the Armenian state,>  he emphasized. 

The former Foreign Minister points out the failures of Pashinyan's  domestic policy. <Once hailed as a democrat, Pashinyan now rules  through fear, suppression, and state propaganda. His government has  weaponized institutions, captured the judiciary, intimidated  dissenters, and harassed civil society. His tenure has normalized  corruption, where state resources are siphoned off to enrich allies  while ordinary Armenians are left disillusioned and impoverished. He  has transformed Armenia's fragile democracy into a brittle autocracy  cloaked in the trappings of legitimacy,> he is convinced. 

According to Oskanian, polls show that only 10% of Armenians still  support Pashinyan. A man with no democratic mandate, who clings to  power not through competence but coercion, has no right to speak on  behalf of a nation that he has humiliated and endangered. His power  is now sustained not by the will of the people but by a cynical  machinery of repression, intimidation, and lies, he continued.

< Perhaps most damning of all is his revisionist rhetoric around the  Armenian Genocide. For any Armenian leader to downplay or distort the  foundational trauma of our people is an unforgivable betrayal. It is  a desecration of memory, a cynical political calculation that shows  how far Pashinyan is willing to go to maintain his grip on power-even  at the expense of our shared history and identity. If he can  compromise on that, what else will he sacrifice? Nikol Pashinyan's  time is up. Armenia cannot afford to drift further into despair,  division, and defeat. The country deserves a leader who can unify,  not fracture; one who defends its sovereignty, not gives it away; one  who remembers and honors the past, not rewrites it for convenience.  For the sake of Armenia's survival, its democracy, and its  dignity-Pashinyan must go,> Vartan Oskanian concluded.