follows the journey of Riverdance founder John McColgan

‘This Is Palestine’ follows the journey of Riverdance founder John McColgan through the West Bank and Gaza as he explores the impact of ongoing conflict and military occupation on the people who live there. The documentary features powerful interviews with people who have lost their homes, land and family members as a result of the conflict. As well as meeting communities under threat, McColgan also spent time with Israeli and Palestinian peace activists working to bring this long-standing conflict to an end. ‘This Is Palestine’ was co-produced by Tyrone Productions and Trócaire to mark the 50th anniversary of the military occupation of the West Bank.
Donate to Trócaire’s work in Gaza: trocaire.org/donate/romero/gaza

By Harut Sassounian,

Whether I like Armenia’s Prime Minister or not, I want to be fair to him. I praise him when he does something right and criticize him when he does something wrong.

For example, I wrote an article in April 2019 praising Nikol Pashinyan for his speech at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Strasbourg, France. I wrote here: “Pashinyan gave an impressive speech to the representatives of 47 European countries. Even more impressive were the Prime Minister’s answers to their dozen questions. While his speech was prepared in advance, the questions were impromptu and the answers had to be delivered on the spot.”

Pashinyan posted my article on his Facebook page which has over one million followers. Here is the comment he added: “I am happy that one of the most prestigious Diaspora newspapers, The California Courier, has appreciated my speech at PACE.” My article received 4,000 Likes, 197 Shares and 185 comments.

I will now comment on Pashinyan’s speech at the European Parliament on October 17, 2023, in Strasbourg, France.

In his speech, Pashinyan used the word ‘democracy’ or ‘democratic’ 21 times to describe Armenia’s current government. He emphasized that democracy provides “security, peace, unity, well-being and happiness?” Regrettably, Armenia does not enjoy these attributes since Artsakh was lost, and Azeri troops have been stationed inside Armenia’s borders since 2021. Armenia’s problems are mostly due to the incompetence of its leader. Pashinyan came to power under the guise of promoting democratic values but ended up violating the basic principles of democracy. What we have in Armenia now is one-man rule. Pashinyan listens to no one, whether ministers, advisers, his party members, the Parliamentary majority or the President. He makes all the decisions by himself. He claimed in his speech that Armenia “would have simply been paralyzed, would have lost its independence and sovereignty if it were not democratic.”

Pashinyan falsely said that his government “did not violate any principle of democracy.” The fact is that Pashinyan has turned Armenia into a police state. When he first came to power, he used to go to the Prime Minister’s office on a bicycle. Now, he hides behind hundreds of policemen before he puts one foot out the door. The policemen, who receive big salaries and bonus payments, beat up and arrest demonstrators. Pashinyan’s political opponents face trumped up charges in court. He has threatened to squash his critics on the asphalt and slam them to the wall. Unbelievably, while campaigning for the parliamentary elections in June 2021, he waved a hammer in the air, threatening to smash the heads of his domestic opponents. Is that democracy?

Even Diaspora Armenians are not immune from the long arm of Pashinyan’s dictatorial regime. Anyone who criticizes him from outside Armenia is banned from entering the country after arriving at the Yerevan Airport. What happened to the democratic principle of freedom of expression?

Pashinyan described Azerbaijan’s May 12, 2021 attack on Armenia as a “provocation that took place before the parliamentary elections… to fail the upcoming parliamentary elections and paralyze the statehood of Armenia, or at least its government.” The fact is that Azerbaijan’s attack on Armenia was unrelated to the Parliamentary elections. Such attacks have taken place before and after the elections. Furthermore, Pres. Aliyev has no reason to topple Pashinyan since he is making endless concessions to Azerbaijan on Artsakh and Armenia.

Pashinyan bragged in his speech that Armenia was able to settle the 100,000 refugees from Artsakh. He claimed that thanks to democracy in Armenia, “We did it honorably.” The fact is that despite the persistent indications for years that Azerbaijan intended to occupy the remainder of Artsakh and force out its inhabitants, the Armenian government made no preparations to settle the refugees in Armenia. Many of them spent days in their cars, deprived of food, water and shelter. As a result, several thousand Artsakhtsis have already left Armenia.

In his speech, Pashinyan explained his readiness to allow Azeri cargo, vehicles, people, pipelines and electricity lines to traverse Armenia’s territory from Azerbaijan proper to its exclave of Nakhichevan. Even though such access is supposed to be reciprocal, as mentioned in the Nov. 9, 2020 agreement, Azerbaijan has never indicated its willingness to allow similar transit for Armenians through Azerbaijan. The same disparity applies to Pashinyan’s recognition of Azerbaijan’s territory as 86,600 square kilometers, without Pres. Aliyev agreeing to Pashinyan’s proposed size of Armenia’s territory as 29,800 square kilometers. Pashinyan also conceded that the former Azeri-inhabited enclaves within Armenia belong to Azerbaijan, without Pres. Aliyev accepting a reciprocal exchange.

Finally, Pashinyan repeated his offer to sign a peace treaty with Azerbaijan by year-end even though there is no necessity for such a treaty as Armenia and Azerbaijan had not declared war on each other. The peace treaty will only serve as an opportunity for Azerbaijan to extract further concessions from Armenia.

Pashinyan concluded his 45-minute speech by repeating the word ‘democracy’ two more times: “I am convinced that democracy can provide peace, security, unity, prosperity and happiness. Let’s prove this together. Long live democracy!”

The European Parliament members were extremely pleased with Pashinyan’s remarks. Why shouldn’t they? Pashinyan is going along with the interests of the West, Russia, Azerbaijan and Turkey, which is the abandonment of Artsakh, to facilitate the flow of Azerbaijan’s natural gas (partly bought from Russia) to Europe. Besides offering supportive words, European Parliament members are not willing to do anything concrete for Armenia.

I am sure Pashinyan will not post this article on his Facebook page.

TIGRAN GRIGORYAN,

Recently, we had a working lunch with a group of experts from one of the most influential European analytical centers with several Armenian experts, during which we exchanged thoughts on the latest regional developments and the impressions the group members received during their visit to Armenia.

During the discussion, one of the members of that expert group, who is a well-known theoretician of international relations, raised a logical question: why is there no visible dissatisfaction with the RA authorities in Armenia after the foreign political and security failures of this scale?

The most obvious answer to this question is, of course, that the parliamentary opposition is discredited and legitimizes the disastrous policy of the current authorities with its existence and with its unrealistic approaches. In the absence of a real political alternative, the passive majority of the Armenian society, which, according to various social polls, does not support any of the forces present in the political field, does not become an active majority.

However, this phenomenon, which surprises even foreign experts who have spent a few days in Armenia, has other reasons.

Months after the defeat in the 44-day war, the RA authorities began to think about the creation of a network of loyal experts and public figures, through which an opportunity would be created to control internal Armenian discourse. This idea was discussed for the first time months before the 2021 parliamentary elections.

However, it took on a more objective appearance during 2022, when a format consisting of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and various experts, journalists, public figures and Facebook activists was created, within the framework of which the head of the country presented to this group the ideas and approaches of the ruling power regarding the current processes.

Meetings with the Prime Minister in this format began to have a periodic character from some stage. In the course of them, Pashinyan and other officials presented various official messages to that group. A large part of the participants of those meetings later spread these stories through their interviews and publications. Of course, it would be incorrect to claim that all the participants of those meetings are engaged in spreading government propaganda, but it is obvious that a certain core has formed among them, which does not see any problem in performing such a function.

Over time, an informal network has been formed from figures performing such a role, through which the authorities are able not only to spread their own words in the media field, but also to successfully distribute the responsibility for their own failures among other actors. The government’s control over public television allows all those propaganda speeches to be delivered to the general public through this network of “independent” experts and public figures, controlling the public discourse in Armenia. These propaganda stories are also spread through these people’s social networks and their public speaking activities in other media.

This informal network created by the authorities succeeds in instilling in a significant part of the Armenian public the idea that the unprecedented foreign political and security failures of the last period were patterns that could not be avoided. Moreover, these groups create an illusion among the public that Armenia is achieving continuous foreign policy successes, weakening its dependence on Russia and strengthening the country’s sovereignty.

However, it should be noted that these figures who actually engage in government propaganda sometimes have different motives. Some are convinced that their ideas about the ongoing processes correspond to reality, others are convinced that with similar steps they are protecting Armenia’s sovereignty, rather than serving narrow governmental interests. However, many are consciously involved in these processes, expecting certain benefits from them (position, status, recognition).

However, figures with different motives are united by one circumstance. they create a distorted picture of reality, which does not allow the general public to correctly assess the ontological dangers threatening Armenia and the factors that aggravate them. In fact, the authorities have created an alternative reality, a bubble, with this community serving them.

In that sense, the establishment of a truly independent expert field and civil society in Armenia is a serious security issue. The above-mentioned formats and networks, which are useful for internal political purposes, are already becoming a serious problem for the existence of sober discussions about the security, sovereignty and future of Armenia within the country.

The meeting between Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) President Samvel Shahramanyan and a group of displaced Artsakh residents ended a little while ago at the Artsakh representation in Armenia.

“The main questions have been answered. Most of the questions were social questions, related to work, related to placement. All questions have been answered to the best of our authorization. We are also ready to inventorize your questions and submit [them] to the appropriate place. Not everything depends on us,” said Artsakh President Samvel Shahramanyan after the meeting, addressing the displaced Artsakh citizens protesting outside the Artsakh representation in Armenia.

He noted that two rooms will be provided to the displaced Artsakh residents in the building of the Artsakh representation in Armenia, and those who want to inventorize the issues on a voluntary basis will have that opportunity.

Shahramanyan said, however, that there are matters that he does not want to speak about because they may contain great dangers.

“Please, let’s be satisfied with this, our doors are open, we will try to solve your daily problems,” he added.

The President of Artsakh called on the displaced people of Artsakh to be clear-headed and not to resort to provocations.

“This is not typical for us. We do not have the right to manifest such practice among ourselves. Please go, deal with your daily concerns, you will get answers to your questions. We are in a difficult situation, we only need unity. We must do everything not to jeopardize Armenia and the future fate of Artsakh,” emphasized Samvel Shahramanyan.

As reported earlier, a protest started outside the building of the Artsakh representation in Armenia Friday morning, after which the situation became tense and a group  of demonstrators stormed into the building, demanding a meeting with Samvel Shahramanyan.

The President of Artsakh agreed to come out of the building and answer the questions of those gathered outside. Shahramanyan told them that he cannot talk about many issues there because by doing so, he will endanger the interests of Armenia and Artsakh. Also, he stated that no one can dissolve the Artsakh Republic created by the people.

But since the protesters kept interrupting, Samvel Shahramanyan suggested meeting with several dozen displaced Artsakh residents inside the building.

The special police units are guarding the building of the Artsakh representation in Armenia and not allowing persons to enter it. Nevertheless, a group of displaced Artsakh residents entered and had a meeting with President Samvel Shahramanyan.

Artsakh information headquarters issued a statement.

“Dear compatriots,

The false information spread by some mass media and social networks that after the military operations of September 19, the government of the Republic of Artsakh bought apartments or property from various citizens, and provided loans or cash, does not correspond to reality. We urge the citizens who have such information to contact the RA law enforcement agencies, and submit appropriate reports about the crime. Dear compatriots, Especially in this difficult time, we urge you not to pay tribute to false and unverified information for various purposes. We inform you that President Samvel Shahramanyan will address these and a number of other issues in his public speech in the near future.”