Power Does Not Come Through the Streets: Armenia is Not the State of the Catholicos and Kocharyan, Says MP

“Power does not come through the streets; in 2018, a peaceful, velvet, popular revolution took place.” This was stated by ruling faction MP Artur Hovhannisyan during a parliamentary briefing, responding to a journalist's question about why the government fears the streets so much.

“In 2018, the people came to power in Armenia. In 2018, the people elected Nikol Pashinyan as Prime Minister. He has been elected multiple times by the people as the legitimate Prime Minister, and the ruling bloc has been elected multiple times as the legitimate ruling party. The only way for power to change in Armenia is through constitutional means—through elections. They can go and create a new party, even naming it the Armenian Apostolic Party; it is no longer possible to change power in Armenia through undemocratic means,” he said.

According to Hovhannisyan, it is always possible to change power through pressure from the people. “The people can do whatever they want in Armenia; Armenia is the state of the people, not the state of the Catholicos or Kocharyan,” he stated.