Enjoy Your High Pension and Low Reputation: Armen Ashotyan's Farewell Letter to the EU Ambassador

Armen Ashotyan, the Vice President of the Republican Party of Armenia, has written a farewell letter to the EU Ambassador to Armenia, Andrea Wiktorin, as reported by 168.am.

“Dear Madam Ambassador (regardless of the content of my letter, I find it necessary to maintain diplomatic politeness), subjected to political persecution by the management of a democratic bordello in the region and illegally imprisoned, I received a kind and encouraging piece of news that slipped through the thick, damp walls of the correctional facility and reached my humble ears: you are finally concluding your diplomatic work in Armenia and will soon be leaving our country (after reading my letter to the end, you will understand how much I wish this moment to come as soon as possible).

When you were appointed as the head of the European Union (EU) mission in Armenia, I must confess that I hoped your service in this important position would contribute to the legal development of Armenia-EU relations. It was already the distant year of 2019—the unprecedented Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement between Armenia and the EU was already 80% in legal cooperation, the entire agreement needed quick ratification by EU members, and the visa liberalization dialogue initiated back in November 2017 under Serzh Sargsyan was waiting for its launch, while the need to strengthen stability in the South Caucasus was evident.

Today, at the end of your tenure, years later, I can bitterly state that you, Madam Ambassador, have completely failed your fundamental mission. It has become a reality that during the accountable period, no one has discredited the image and reputation of the European Union in Armenia as much as you have. No one has caused as much damage to Armenian-European relations as you have.

Some in Brussels thought that Armenia was under the influence of the Russian media space, which constantly talks about how ‘bad’ European values are. Oh, naïve ones! What Kiselyov, what Simonyan, what Solovyov. You performed cynicism, duplicity, and bias better than anyone else in associating with the EU!

Moreover, while you didn’t lift a finger to expedite the ratification of CEPA (which finally came into effect in 2021), you showed no interest whatsoever in the disgraceful failure of the action plan stemming from that agreement. Furthermore, you made absurd efforts to conceal the real situation from both the Armenian people and the EU headquarters. And there was no word even about the start of the visa liberalization dialogue. What happened to the 2.6 billion euros promised to Armenia through the EU economic and investment instrument?

However, all this was just the tip of the iceberg. During your tenure, you unswervingly embodied the well-known eastern trifecta often depicted as the ‘see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil’ monkeys. You, Madam Ambassador, turned a blind eye, deaf ears, and sealed lips to the disgraceful manifestations of anti-democratic trends that started during Nikol Pashinyan’s tenure, the flagrant violations of people's rights and freedoms, the constitutional crisis in the country, the takeover of the judiciary, political terror, unprecedented restrictions on freedom of speech and press, and police brutality, as well as the falsified elections. Why am I surprised? My friends in Brussels told me that during your time as ambassador to the EU in Minsk, you even managed to find common ground with Lukashenko. Who was Nikol that you wouldn’t engage with?

But this is still not a complete list of your misdeeds; the charm of your activities became even more apparent during the 44-day war and the subsequent ongoing Azerbaijani aggression against Armenia and Artsakh. At this time, you were deaf, blind, and mute to thousands of casualties, crimes against humanity, torture of prisoners of war, bombed schools and hospitals, desecrated churches, human pain, sorrow, suffering, and injustice. You were completely absent during the war, and afterwards… it would have been better if you had not been around at all.

Of course, Madam Ambassador, you are not the sole perpetrator of all this. Both the failure of European policy and the flourishing repression and corruption in Armenia, as well as Azerbaijan's audacity are primarily the fault of Nikol Pashinyan. That Nikol, who makes you bend twice in his presence. That Nikol, whom you openly supported, grossly violating diplomatic ethics and intervening in internal political life. That Nikol, whom you praised and exalted more than the ruling party's fakes. Because your activity was a fake, your loyalty to European values was a fake, you—you were a fake as an EU ambassador, Madam Ambassador.

As someone who has devoted the last 15 years of my activities to foreign policy, including strengthening Armenia-EU relations and promoting genuine European civilizational values, I must emphasize that there are many principled, value-driven, honest, and fair figures in both Brussels and the political, public, and social life of EU member countries who do not hesitate to speak and act according to their beliefs, conscience, and morality, and I am deeply grateful to them, both acquainted and unacquainted, the true Europeans. You, Madam Ambassador, are not among them. And I take comfort in the inevitable fact that you will remember this bitter yet honest assessment of your activities for a very long time… Enjoy your high pension and low reputation.

I sincerely wish success to the next EU ambassador, who, thanks to you, has a vast amount of work to do to restore the tarnished moral authority of European institutions in Armenia.

P.S. Madam Ambassador, I hope you do not perceive this harsh letter as an inappropriate remark from a rough man to a soft woman. It’s gender equality, remember?”