The interim PACE delegation report is “one-sided and a document carrying out a clear geopolitical order,” said Eduard Sharmazanov, a member of the executive body of Armenia’s Republican Party.
According to the politician, the European institution is engaged in the veiled protection of the current authorities, Sputnik Armenia reported.
“The report has a pronounced anti-Russian orientation. It speaks about hybrid threats while targeting Russia, yet remains silent about direct political support coming from the West. It is obvious that this is a clear diversion against the Republic of Armenia. I repeat, this report conceals the collective West’s support for the current authorities. If external interference and hybrid threats are so serious, then why are direct encouragement and protection from the West toward Nikol Pashinyan’s regime not included as a violation of domestic legislation or of equal conditions?” Sharmazanov said.
According to him, it is unclear why the same report failed to mention open support for Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan from U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance or French President Emmanuel Macron ahead of the parliamentary elections.
Addressing domestic political developments, the Republican Party executive body member accused the ruling Civil Contract party of large-scale misuse of administrative resources and changing electoral rules during the process itself. He recalled that European institutions had previously recommended avoiding amendments to the Electoral Code at least one year before elections.
“Just a few months before the election — moreover, just weeks before the campaign — the Civil Contract party introduced amendments to the Electoral Code in parliament. No matter how much they say these are technical changes, what exactly is technical if an article is being changed and the substance itself is changing?” Sharmazanov added.
Commenting on references to the Church’s “political involvement,” Sharmazanov described them as a distortion of reality, stressing that the Church is defending national values and the rights of the people of Արցախ.
“Speaking about bishops as political prisoners does not mean they are politicized or unprecedentedly involved in politics. What is unprecedented is the authorities’ involvement in a campaign against the Church. Today, one bishop is deprived of freedom and held in custody, while two others are under house arrest. But why is there no mention of this? Why is there no reference to the presumption of innocence?
Why is there no mention of the fact that Pashinyan’s party included an unconstitutional and anti-democratic provision in its election platform according to which they effectively want to remove the Catholicos? What business does secular executive power have reforming the Church or appointing and removing the head of a religious organization? Do they not know in Europe that the state is separate from the Church and the Church from the state, and that executive authorities have no right to interfere in the internal affairs of religious organizations?” the politician said.
Sharmazanov also stressed that although the PACE delegation met with opposition representatives, their concerns were presented merely as opinions rather than facts. In his view, the report’s purpose is to “whitewash” the actions of the current authorities.
“I ask them only one rhetorical question: dear colleagues from PACE, if before 2018 any Armenian government had used even a fraction of the administrative resources that Pashinyan’s authorities are using today, what kind of reports would you have written? This is an obviously one-sided report,” Sharmazanov emphasized.
In his opinion, the report once again demonstrates that the West is interested in reproducing Nikol Pashinyan’s rule in order to finally distance Armenia from allied relations with Russia.
After its visit to Yerevan, the PACE pre-election delegation stated that Armenia’s upcoming parliamentary elections should be held in an environment free from fear, undue external influence and abuse of administrative resources. The delegation also said it was concerned about the increasingly complex and systemic nature of external interference affecting Armenia’s political and information space. The statement called on Armenian authorities to intensify efforts to protect against external interference and ensure equal conditions for all political actors. The PACE delegation also referred to the Armenian Apostolic Church, stating that it has unprecedented involvement in politics.
