Do Not Bother Hnchaks

DO NOT BOTHER HNCHAKS

Lragir.am
17/12/09

The developments inside the Social-Democratic Hnchakyan party
appeared in the centre of the attention of the Armenian media. As
we know, a group fights against another one within the party, the
one accuses the other of breaking the party’s order, of weakening
the party, of fulfilling a governmental order and of other mortal
crimes. The attention of the Armenian media is focused on these
happenings which became a topic of active discussion. These events
in the Social-Democratic Hnchakyan party pretend to compete with the
Armenian and Turkish relations from the point of their media covering.

There are a number of circumstances which justify the attention towards
what is happening in the Hnchakyan party. One of them is that the party
is a component of the oppositional Armenian National Congress, and the
other is that the government is said to have its share in the events
happening in the party. There seems not to be anything else for what
to pay attention to the inner-Hnchakyan events even if it is considered
one of the Armenian traditional parties, one of the first ones.

But is being a member of the HAK and a target of the government enough
to appear in the centre of the public attention? Hardly. After all,
the power of the Armenian National Congress is not in having or not
having the Hnchakyan party as a member, and the guarantee of the
government success is not the splitting of the party, as some people
presume. The point is that if Congress succeeded, it is because only
those who leave it are harmed but not the HAK itself. Of course,
there can be a critical point beyond which if parties leave the
Congress, it will also be harmed. But this point perhaps is still
too far and there is nothing worrying the Congress, moreover, the
Congress-society connection is based on completely other perceptions,
rather than numeral ones.

The Hnchakyan splitting can hardly be a guarantee of security for
the government. Maybe the government thinks that by splitting the
Hnchakyan party, it may harm the HAK. This may be a justified strategy
– to divide the Congress little by little leaving there only three
parties in the end. But the government is likely to know that the
number of parties does not determine the public perceptions. If it
was so, the victory of the government in all national elections had
to be instant because every time several decades of parties and NGOs
support it. But all the same, it makes no sense for the society,
and the government again has to rig the election. The government is
likely to have understood this simple truth.

What is happening in reality? It is not so essential because in
Armenia there are many other essential issues which need attention
and a solution. And the members of the Hnchakyan party solve their
problems. Let them do that. All those parties which can split, will
split. It only promotes the revelation of the situation. What can we
do if in Armenia the situation is so sad that the more you reveal it
the more it is to be revealed?