DERISION AT “SERVILE” PUTIN FAN CLUB IN ARMENIA
By Arpi Harutyunyan, Hayhuki Barseghyan
Institute for War & Peace Reporting
IWPR CAUCASUS REPORTING SERVICE, No. 634
March 20, 2012
UK
Comic turn, or nefarious plot to project Russian power?
The first thing to catch the visitor’s eye on entering the
club, located in the centre of Armenia’s capital Yerevan, is a
floor-to-ceiling portrait of Russian president Vladimir Putin. Other
walls have more images of Putin, who was recently re-elected for a
fresh six-year-term.
Such portraits might be common in Russia, but in Armenia they are
a rarity. This is the Putin Club, set up in honour of the Russian
leader by Ararat Stepanyan, who argues that Armenians could learn a
lot from his hero.
“We see in him a leader who keeps his word in every situation,”
Stepanyan said.
The club, which opened its doors on February 2, is clearly well-funded,
and Stepanyan says it was paid for personally by Andranik Nikoghosyan,
an Armenian living in Moscow who heads a youth association of the
former Soviet states.
Armenia retains close political and economic ties to Russia, but
many here are offended by idea of honouring a living politician,
especially one from another country.
“They could at least have opened a club in honour of an Armenian
national figure like Aram Manukyan, founder of the [1918] First
Republic,” Levon Shirinyan, who holds the chair of politics and history
at Yerevan’s teacher-training university. “If you open a club for
Putin, you might as well open an Obama club or an Ahmedinejad club.”
The venture, Manukyan said, was an “exercise in servility”.
Officials in Armenia are at best ambivalent about the Putin Club. When
Education Minister Armen Ashotyan, from the ruling Republican Party,
was asked about it on his Facebook page, he replied, “It’s a matter
of choice for the individual, but I would not join such a club.”
Web users have mostly mocked the concept. The Armcomedy group made a
spoof film of an opening ceremony complete with vodka. Some Armenian
media outlets missed the joke and reported it as if it were real,
to the delight of the comedians.
Armcomedy member Sergei Sargsyan said the hoax was meant to show the
“absurdity and servility of the real club, and the way it brings
shame on the whole country”.
The joke was lost on Stepanyan, who promised to open branches of his
club in all major towns of Armenia. The next one will open in Ararat
region in the south, he said.
There is no formal procedure for joining the Putin Club – anyone
interested can sign up to its newsletter to get information about
upcoming events.
The club has held three discussion events in the last month, focusing
on the Commonwealth of Independent States, Putin’s proposed Eurasian
Union, and the state of Russian-Armenian relations.
Arman Ghukasyan, 20, is head of a youth movement called International,
and took part in all three discussions, although he is not a particular
fan of the Russian president.
“If there’s an interesting idea, you can use the club as a venue to
discuss it,” he said. “I can’t see anything wrong with it. All they
have done so far is hold round-table meetings.”
Analysts say the Putin Club reflects the careful balancing act of
Armenia’s foreign policy. With no diplomatic ties with one neighbour,
Turkey, and a hostile relationship with another, Azerbaijan, the
room for manoeuvre is limited, and Russia is a key guarantor of both
security and economic survival.
At the same time, many Armenians are keen to avoid total reliance on
Moscow. According to Abraham Gasparyan, a politics lecturer at Yerevan
State University, Russian influence over major sectors like energy
and communications has prevented Armenia from expanding its horizons.
Despite this, Gasparyan said, “there are now attempts to gradually
move away from Russian authoritarian political traditions, by means
of European-style reforms”.
Arpi Harutyuyan is a correspondent for Armnews television. Hayhuki
Barseghyan reports for the Ankakh daily and its website ankakh.am.