The public atmosphere of this spring will determine Armenia’s perspective. Vahe Hovhannisyan, a member of the “Alternative projects” group, wrote about this.

“If the investigator can ban the departure of the Catholicos of All Armenians from Armenia and his visit to Georgia, and the Armenian society is not upset by it, then something very important is wrong with us. We all understand that the decision-maker is not the investigator, but that is not the point. If the opposition political forces conducting an election campaign do not see in the ugliness of Vehapar a united revolt, a pressing problem of sending a united message to the people, a demand for a united reaction, then what is the value of that election campaign? If the intellectual circles of the country do not revolt, then what is it about? If the atmosphere in the country is like this 2.5 months before the elections, what kind of perception and impact should our best, competently prepared programs have? The government creates a new ugly reality every day, and the opposing political systems are always one day behind.

With such logic, we will realize what is happening after the known date. In such conditions, the society will understand what they are warning about today only in the fall. In the spring-summer phase of 2020, there were at most 15-20 people in public life who warned about the inevitable war. Everyone already knows what happened that fall, but they didn’t learn a lesson. No consequences. Now there is an acute problem: to change today’s indifferent atmosphere. The public atmosphere of April-May will determine the long-term perspective of Armenia.

Developing and presenting programs is very important, but what is crucial is the public atmosphere in which these programs are presented. And today’s atmosphere in Armenia depicts an unclear, uncertain perspective for Armenia. Let’s change the atmosphere, involve new layers in this work, get out of team or personal egocentrism, and the atmosphere will change, bringing with it success,” he wrote.

—