Who is the Real Target?: Call for Armenian FM resignation illustrates need for legitimacy at the top and in the opposition
A week after the President of Nagorno Karabakh Bako Sahakyan called for pan-Armenian unity, the political party that hosted the conference from which Sahakyan made his plea is showing unfortunate familiar contempt toward fulfilling Sahakyan’s wish.
The Armenian Revolutionary Federation, the “Dashnaks”, on Thursday called for the resignation of Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, Edward Nalbandian.A week after the President of Nagorno Karabakh Bako Sahakyan called for pan-Armenian unity, the political party that hosted the conference from which Sahakyan made his plea is showing unfortunate familiar contempt toward fulfilling Sahakyan’s wish.
The Armenian Revolutionary Federation, the “Dashnaks”, on Thursday called for the resignation of Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, Edward Nalbandian.
The demand is more a referendum on the government of Serzh Sargsyan, with whom the Dashnaks have split, over Sargsyan’s perceived nuzzling up to Turkey and in the process presumably jeopardizing the future of the self-declared republic Sahakyan leads and robbing Armenia – especially Diaspora – of its symbol of patriotic pride.
The Dashnaks – indeed all Armenians here, in Karabakh, and abroad – are right to worry over whether the blood-earned sovereignty of Karabakh is being encroached by recent negotiations that may (or may not) stipulate giving back land reclaimed by death and suffering through three years of war and ongoing contact-line skirmishes despite a 15-year “cease fire”.
“For the purpose of eliminating the negative consequences that have emerged in the foreign policy domain and restoring the national-state course, we demand the resignation of Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian, who is immediately responsible for the sphere,” said ARF Supreme Council of Armenia chairman Armen Rustamyan at a press conference Thursday.
“Immediately responsible”? What is Nalbandian but a mouthpiece? What good would sacking him achieve?
The unlikely dismissal would, of course, notify all parties that the Dashnaks remain a powerful influence, capable of shaping government policy even after resigning (in April), their ministerial positions in the Sargsyan administration.
Firing his foreign minister would also signify President Sargsyan’s willingness for a “do-over” of re-thinking how far Armenia might de-normalize herself in an effort to normalize relations with Turkey. Now would be a late but better-than-never time to make such a move, with the anticipated flurry of attention focused on the Karabakh-Azerbaijan/Armenia-Turkey situation coming in October (when Football Diplomacy II takes place in Turkey).
And what message would it send to Turkey, to Azerbaijan, to the OSCE Minsk Group negotiators?
Maybe a good one, depending on perspective – a message that says President Sargsyan recognizes that consent should trump dictation in navigating a path to peace and prosperity for his country and its neighbors.
It would also, however, be an admission of fault on Sargsyan’s part. He is not a man known for saying “oops, my bad”. And for that reason, we would be most surprised if the president conceded to Dashnak wishes.
This president sits in power on a seat propped up by the fraud, the unknown deals, the support of Mother Russia, and the spineless acquiescence of the US and Europe who helped put him there (if only by their pathetic estimations of his “mostly democratic” election).
To admit weakness (by dismissing his link to countries with whom he has few other representations) would likely raise, again, questions of Sargsyan’s legitimacy. With a diminished but yet active opposition licking its chops in the wings, the president can hardly afford to show a crack in his resolve as the chief of all Armenians.
For the latter reason, the call from the Dashnaks is not about Foreign Minister Nalbandyan. It is not about Serzh Sargsyan, directly. It is about Levon Ter-Petrosyan.
Were a more believable/reliable/trusted opposition leader in place, it is likely the Dashnak demand would have been for the resignation of Sargsyan, rather than for one of his lieutenants.
Such a call would have had less teeth than even this one, but the fact that the target of the Dashnak discontent is a government ambassador rather than the government leader says much about the ineffectiveness of Armenia’s opposition to groom a figure to offer alternative leadership. Simply put: The Dashnaks (or any others) know that should they dethrone Sargsyan, their action would be a de facto validation of Ter-Petrosyan. And nobody – save radical oppositionists whose brains are in their adrenal glands – should want that.
That the Dashnaks would bother with such a grandstanding stunt, illustrates the frustration of a political society in which choices are limited and trustworthiness at a premium. Calling for Nalbandian’s resignation is akin to Diaspora’s demand that any US Ambassador admit the Genocide.
Like an ambassador, the Foreign Minister is a fallguy for the policy of his government. Demanding that he be sacked reduces a legitimate debate to pettiness.
And Armenia politics has seen too much of that.
The Armenian Revolutionary Federation, the “Dashnaks”, on Thursday called for the resignation of Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, Edward Nalbandian.A week after the President of Nagorno Karabakh Bako Sahakyan called for pan-Armenian unity, the political party that hosted the conference from which Sahakyan made his plea is showing unfortunate familiar contempt toward fulfilling Sahakyan’s wish.
The Armenian Revolutionary Federation, the “Dashnaks”, on Thursday called for the resignation of Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, Edward Nalbandian.
The demand is more a referendum on the government of Serzh Sargsyan, with whom the Dashnaks have split, over Sargsyan’s perceived nuzzling up to Turkey and in the process presumably jeopardizing the future of the self-declared republic Sahakyan leads and robbing Armenia – especially Diaspora – of its symbol of patriotic pride.
The Dashnaks – indeed all Armenians here, in Karabakh, and abroad – are right to worry over whether the blood-earned sovereignty of Karabakh is being encroached by recent negotiations that may (or may not) stipulate giving back land reclaimed by death and suffering through three years of war and ongoing contact-line skirmishes despite a 15-year “cease fire”.
“For the purpose of eliminating the negative consequences that have emerged in the foreign policy domain and restoring the national-state course, we demand the resignation of Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian, who is immediately responsible for the sphere,” said ARF Supreme Council of Armenia chairman Armen Rustamyan at a press conference Thursday.
“Immediately responsible”? What is Nalbandian but a mouthpiece? What good would sacking him achieve?
The unlikely dismissal would, of course, notify all parties that the Dashnaks remain a powerful influence, capable of shaping government policy even after resigning (in April), their ministerial positions in the Sargsyan administration.
Firing his foreign minister would also signify President Sargsyan’s willingness for a “do-over” of re-thinking how far Armenia might de-normalize herself in an effort to normalize relations with Turkey. Now would be a late but better-than-never time to make such a move, with the anticipated flurry of attention focused on the Karabakh-Azerbaijan/Armenia-Turkey situation coming in October (when Football Diplomacy II takes place in Turkey).
And what message would it send to Turkey, to Azerbaijan, to the OSCE Minsk Group negotiators?
Maybe a good one, depending on perspective – a message that says President Sargsyan recognizes that consent should trump dictation in navigating a path to peace and prosperity for his country and its neighbors.
It would also, however, be an admission of fault on Sargsyan’s part. He is not a man known for saying “oops, my bad”. And for that reason, we would be most surprised if the president conceded to Dashnak wishes.
This president sits in power on a seat propped up by the fraud, the unknown deals, the support of Mother Russia, and the spineless acquiescence of the US and Europe who helped put him there (if only by their pathetic estimations of his “mostly democratic” election).
To admit weakness (by dismissing his link to countries with whom he has few other representations) would likely raise, again, questions of Sargsyan’s legitimacy. With a diminished but yet active opposition licking its chops in the wings, the president can hardly afford to show a crack in his resolve as the chief of all Armenians.
For the latter reason, the call from the Dashnaks is not about Foreign Minister Nalbandyan. It is not about Serzh Sargsyan, directly. It is about Levon Ter-Petrosyan.
Were a more believable/reliable/trusted opposition leader in place, it is likely the Dashnak demand would have been for the resignation of Sargsyan, rather than for one of his lieutenants.
Such a call would have had less teeth than even this one, but the fact that the target of the Dashnak discontent is a government ambassador rather than the government leader says much about the ineffectiveness of Armenia’s opposition to groom a figure to offer alternative leadership. Simply put: The Dashnaks (or any others) know that should they dethrone Sargsyan, their action would be a de facto validation of Ter-Petrosyan. And nobody – save radical oppositionists whose brains are in their adrenal glands – should want that.
That the Dashnaks would bother with such a grandstanding stunt, illustrates the frustration of a political society in which choices are limited and trustworthiness at a premium. Calling for Nalbandian’s resignation is akin to Diaspora’s demand that any US Ambassador admit the Genocide.
Like an ambassador, the Foreign Minister is a fallguy for the policy of his government. Demanding that he be sacked reduces a legitimate debate to pettiness.
And Armenia politics has seen too much of that.