Formulation “There was no revolution” cut out of context

On February 14, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, speaking in his closing speech about the criticism from the Bright Armenia faction, said: “They say there was no revolution.” This statement of the prime minister was also reported by the state-run Armenpress news agency. However, let us try to understand who used the formulation and in what context.

The prime minister devoted a considerable portion of his speech to countering the speeches of the Bright Armenia faction, during which, among others, he said: “… They say no, there was no revolution. If there was no revolution, what are you doing here with a faction of 18 people?”

The formulation “There was no revolution was also attributed to Bright Armenia by some media outlets, including the state-run Armenpress agency.

Addressing the sections referring to foreign policy and defense, Deputy from Bright Armenia parliamentary faction Arman Babajanyan stated: “If we look at the government plan as an outcome of revolution, we will have to regretfully conclude that no revolution has taken place in the deep, value-related, ideological and civilizational senses of the word.”

The aforementioned formulation was extracted from this very speech, and an impression has been created that the Deputy from Bright Armenia faction does not accept April events and rejects the occurrence of the revolution. Meanwhile, Arman Babajanyan meant that the government program should have been revolutionary; however, it does not reflect the values adopted by the new government.

“Armenpress” state agency has referred to the phrase “There was no revolution” as a factual approach by the Bright Armenia faction, without introducing the context. It is worth noting that as a rule, other media outlets simply cited the prime minister, and refrained from attributing the formulation to the opposition party without introducing the context.

It should be added that “Armenpress” agency operates under state funding and only in 2018, the agency received about 150 million AMD from Armenian taxpayers.