They Use My Active Engagement Against My Husband: Anna Hakobyan

Anna Hakobyan, the wife of the Prime Minister of Armenia, has addressed her active engagement on her Facebook page, stating that the opposition is using her activities against her husband. She emphasized, "In Armenia, there is still no understanding that the wife of the country’s Prime Minister should be actively engaged, as I am now. This is very difficult because I am under constant pressure.

I know that people love me and appreciate the work I do. I see this in my daily interactions with people. I often visit different towns and villages and witness their warm attitude towards me. However, the political opposition uses my active engagement against my husband with the aim of harming him, because there is still a mentality in Armenia that 'it’s very bad that your wife is active' or 'maybe you are not such a good husband if your wife is active' or 'your wife should stay at home with the children,' and so on.

They use these stereotypes to hurt my husband. It is very difficult to continue my activities under this pressure, but I continue my work because I believe in women, I believe in my work, and I believe in the role I have today. I do not want to retreat because that is not correct. My understanding is that my husband is the Prime Minister, and he is in a difficult situation right now, as governing a country is very complicated.

I am confident that governing any country is difficult; however, Armenia has its unique characteristics—historical, geographical, and so on. My viewpoint is that I cannot stay at home and continue my life while my husband has enormous work to do. If I am half of him, then I must also be useful to him, to my children, to my society, and to my country. Yes, it is difficult, but in our lives, we go through challenging periods, and I am convinced that this is just one of those periods."