Armenia PM: the end of cool

I have a confession to make. When Tigran Sargsyan was appointed PM, I was pleased as he was the most intelligent, well educated, seemingly pro-Western person in the cabinet. And he had a good taste in number of things. Ocean apart from the likes of Galust Sahakyan & co that ruling Republican party is so full of.

I am not going to provide a critical review of his years as head of the government. He looks pretty organic when he plays the music. He looks pretty awkward and out of place when he tries playing ‘macho’ (example).

Unfortunately, he will be remembered most as a PM who turned church related mourning days into national holidays.

Needless to say that being a VIP member of the Republican party whose ideology (if I may use such term in relation to this group) is out of touch with contemporary realities (to put it mildly) is in itself tarnishing the reputation. They are the epitome of uncool and impede Armenia’s moving forward, despite the very slogan they adopted.

What happened to the cool PM I once hoped for (example)? Nothing has left of that image.

Re: Armenia PM’s “Rock Association”

I like that Armenia PM Tigran Sargsyan loves rock music. I like that he blogs about it. But “Rock Association”? Rock should be free, if it is rock, and not a court rock. Rock should not be part of “association” with the head of government, regardless of PM’s - however good or honest - intentions. Meeting with rockers over drinks or something, listening music, discussing stuff... THAT I would understand and quite like to see. But seating on a stage, on a very different level than the rockers seat (picture below, via 517design), this is a big NO. Also, the ‘dress-code’ of quite a few of the rockers in the audience doesn’t not provide with much reasons for optimism (not to mention that I spotted one particular musician there). This is not rock. This is rock-control.

Yerevan diaries: Seatbelts... and more

I knew, I heard and I read it before, but you have to see it to believe it. The sight of Armenian drivers wearing seatbelts was the most striking change in Yerevan. Who knew that it would be possible to see this day coming? Even though I noticed few drivers not using it, but overwhelming majority does so. Despite stories that some taxi drivers (or those in old cars not having seatbelts) instead of wearing actual seatbelts imitate them, despite the fact that still some in Armenia do not comprehend its safety message in full, my first impressions were that for now at least this policy imposed by Armenian government works. I have to commend for that prime minister Tigran Sargsyan. When praise is due, praise is due.

And to cheer you up even more, this hilarious cartoon with an important 'safety message', via Armenian Comedy.

Armenia PM Tigran Sargsyan: Quotes of The Day

Excellent quotes. But... What we need now is to see these quotes transformed into reality.

RFE/RL: Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian bemoaned Armenia’s culture of political intolerance on Thursday, warning that failure to “radically change this atmosphere” could lead to fresh politically motivated assassinations in the country. [...]

“It is the government and the authorities that are primarily responsible for the formation of an atmosphere of solidarity and cooperation for the simple reason that we have serious state levers to form that atmosphere,” he told ministers. “We must be tolerant. We must not burn bridges of cooperation,” added the prime minister.

Sarkisian did not specify just how the Armenian authorities should go about ending their year-long standoff with the country’s main opposition alliance led by former President Levon Ter-Petrosian. He recalled that he himself was a “representative of the radical opposition” during Ter-Petrosian’s presidency.

“I consider myself guilty of many things and I ask our political opponents to forgive our mistakes, my personal mistakes,” he said without elaboration. [...]

Prime Minister of Armenia Tigran Sargsyan writes…

I must confess, other than glancing, I did not have time to read prime minister’s articles, but what a titles, eh?

The End of the State
How to make a revolution happen?!
Challenges of the 21st century

They are available on government’s website:
http://www.gov.am/en/articles

“If we want to build a bright future we must learn to dream!!!” – says Tigran Sargsyan as a conclusion to his article “Challenges of the 21st century”. I am all dreams, prime minister!

Armenia: speaker of parliament and prime minister quarrelled over the “mouse”?

I have no idea if this story is true, but love it nevertheless.

Reports say that relations between speaker of Armenian parliament Hovik Abrahamyan and prime minister Tigran Sargsyan are rather strained. Allegedly, at one of New Year events, a middle-level civil servant of the prime minister office, in the presence of prime minister Tigran Sargsyan himself, said that "the year of mouse ended, it’s now time to get rid of mice." (speaker of Armenian parliament Hovik Abrahamyan is known for his nickname “mouse”)

This was overheard by one of Hovik Abrahamyan’s people and immediately reported back to the speaker. He later demanded from the prime minister to dismiss that employee. Speaker’s demand was swiftly rejected by prime minister, as per pro-opposition Haykakan Zhamanak daily.

PM Sargsyan (informal): guitar, film…

Alkhimik and 517design share their impressions (in Russian) and photos following an informal meeting at friend’s house with Armenian prime minister Tigran Sargsyan.

Apparently, PM’s recent favourite film is Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring by Korean art-house director Kim Ki-duk. Among his favourite authors - Abraham Maslow. And he plays guitar.

Armenia: 'macho' PM

... or shall I say PR, PR till the end?! It seems that our PM's PR machine is working at its full force. This particular news item apparently aimed at toughening PM Tigran Sargsyan image to accommodate our macho loving society preferences.

Armenian Prime Minister hit the "top ten" in the shooting on target

Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan has demonstrated "excellent results" in the shooting on target. According to the "Novosti-Armenia", head of the Armenian Government hit the "top ten", shooting from a pistol "Beretta".

Unsurprisingly, "excellent sniper ability" were demonstrated by Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan, who hit the "top ten" too, using 12.7 mm calibre sniper rifle "Black Arrow".

Armenian PM, accompanied by Minister of Defense Seyran Ohanyan and other members of the government, was visiting our troops and military positions along the North-East borders on 12 July, Saturday.

*photo - via Aravot daily

PM Tigran Sargsyan: 'Armenian soldiers should have the opportunity to study, including use of computers'

Armenian army soldiers should not be separated from the public life, and the first task in this respect is to establish necessary conditions allowing soldiers to continue with their studies, believes prime minister Tigran Sargsyan (ARKA).

"In two years they must return to civilian life and be able to get into universities; that’s why together with the defence minister, we set the task to create conditions so that every soldier in the service had the opportunity to study, including use of computers", PM Sargsyan says. According to him, this will decrease the gap between school graduates and demobilized soldiers, allowing them to be admitted to the universities. "This is an extremely important task, therefore, military units must have special auditoriums for studying."

I am not sure how technically and practically would be possible to organise this, but if PM's quote turns into real, it would be a good contribution to the education field in Armenia and improving morale in Armenian army.

To ensure that this sort of positive changes could happen, more fundamental transformations need to occur in our army. For now, I can’t picture an auditorium within the army units where soldiers would go to study without being mocked by others. For now, this sounds more like a wishful thinking than reality any time soon.

Armenia: fighting corruption… without scapegoats?.. for real?..

I like that prime minister Tigran Sargsyan put ‘fighting corruption’ back to the agenda and headlines. Sacking people who are synonymous of corruption in Armenia is a right thing to do. However… merely changing people will not solve the problem. It is important, but not enough at all. If Alvina Zakaryan, head of Armenia’s notorious government agency issuing passports and visas (OVIR), got sacked due to widespread corruption in her agency, voiced by prime minister himself, why there are no legal proceedings into the case? Is it because she knows many secrets? Will we witness just another scapegoat victim here too, as usual?

Do not get me wrong. I support prime minister’s voiced agenda of fighting corruption in Armenia as “the number one problem” facing the country (there are other ‘number ones’ too, but this is one of the primary ones, for sure). However, unless we witness high rank corrupt officials brought to justice, instead of (or along with) random university lecturers or middle to low rank police officers – usual scapegoats, this will be a virtual fight with corruption, not the real one.

Opposition "Chorrord Ishkhanutyun" newspaper must stop using homophobic references in its attacks on Armenia PM Tigran Sargsyan

Around and immediately after his appointment, I read here and there occasional comments attacking newly appointed PM Tigran Sargsyan with homophobic references for his presumed or perceived homosexuality. I do not care whether our newly appointed PM is gay or not. What I do care is no one has the right to attack others for their sexual orientation, perceived or real. Totally unacceptable tactic, from whatever side it comes. And very, very cheap, aimed at the lowest possible instincts among ‘ordinary’ citizens taking into account widespread homophobia in our society. Ironically, homophobic references and bigotry are becoming a favoured mean for some within the both sides of Armenia’s current political stand-off to make an attention grabbing headlines. This can only be a sign of lack of proper arguments and sensationalism preferred by some, be that individual, blogger, established politician or newspaper.

I was wondering where this ‘gay storyline’ came from. Publications by the opposition “Chorrord Ishkhanutyun” newspaper (CHI) made things clearer (reader of my blogs pointed me out to this). I suppose that its role played also non-macho (cliché) image of PM Tigran Sargsyan.

So what’s the buzz all about?

For details - see Unzipped: Gay Armenia

Unless CHI stops these cheap tactics and campaign, it risks losing any credibility and joining a growing list of potentially boycotted enterprises, with a very clear “yellow” colour sticking on it. I hope that ordinary to higher level opposition representatives who have influence on this newspaper will pass this message to the CHI. Nothing could be more damaging to the opposition movement than having bigotry associated with it.

*photo - via RFE/RL