Armenia: Thousands of Pashinian Opponents Demonstrate One Year After Defeat in Nagorno-Karabakh
Audio 01:27
Armenians opposed to Prime Minister Nikol Pachinian gathered in Yerevan on November 8, 2021, a year after the defeat in the war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
AFP - KAREN MINASYAN
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
Almost a year to the day after the end of the war in Nagorno-Karabakh and the victory of Azerbaijan, the opposition to Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pachinian gathered its sympathizers Monday evening November 8 in Yerevan.
The few thousand people, in a square in the city center, have a hard time making themselves heard by the rest of the population after elections which have restored legitimacy to power.
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With our special correspondent in Yerevan,
Anissa El Jabri
Nationalist songs and a small crowd, even the police officers who supervise the gathering seem idle: we are far from the crowd drunk with anger at the news of the defeat
in the war in Nagorno-Karabakh
.
But among some of those who had to lay down their arms, bitterness remains pervasive.
"
I am here, because I am standing with my nation against the traitors and thieves who sell our country to our enemies, they only deserve one punishment
: to be thrown from where they are
", launches a present.
No need to try to remind them that
the elections which gave legitimacy to Nikol Pachinian
went through this: “
Are you kidding me
?
These elections are like playing in the casino and the casino wins all the time.
"
Described as a "
cheater in the elections
" and a "
traitor
", the name of the Prime Minister loops in all the speeches of the leaders of the opposition on the platform.
Like that of the former mayor of Yerevan, Kamo Areyan:
“
When we ask why prices are rising, the government replies '
it's the same everywhere in the world, there's nothing we can do about it
'.
The Azeris enter Armenian territory, and the government hides behind the Russian army by responding, again, "
we can't do anything
,
" he said.
This government is useless, what is it still doing in power
?
"
These words seem to fly over the heads of the people of Yerevan.
On this autumn evening with mild temperatures, they seem to prefer to eat ice cream or go for a walk, as far as possible from war and political divisions.
►
See also:
Freedom of the press, politics and corruption in Armenia
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Armenia
Nagorno-Karabakh
Nikol Pachinian