The Hammer is Not Just a Hammer, It's a Mechanism: Armen Galjyan

Relevant legal regulations and a legal framework have been established for the use of this hammer, and I believe that the hammer is not just a hammer in its appearance; it is a mechanism, it is a state system that should have been formed and applied. I believe we have formed it, and we are in the core phase of its application.

This was stated by Armen Galjyan, the leader of the Yerevan City Council’s My Step faction, during a conversation with reporters at the Yerevan Municipality, in reference to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan once again mentioning the steel mandate and showcasing a hammer dubbed the 'steel mandate.' He noted that there are quite a few people against whom this 'steel mandate' can be applied.

Commenting on Samvel Karapetyan's situation where he ended up in detention for saying, 'We will participate in defending the church in our way,' while Nikol Pashinyan declared, 'I will interfere, you liar,' Galjyan mentioned, 'Political statements are one thing, legal procedures are another. Now in the statement of the opposition figure you pointed out, for example, I see a problem because besides political forms, it’s impossible for me to imagine what other forms this might entail. In the statement, he says that if it cannot be done politically, it will be done in another way; there are no other forms to solve political issues aside from political ones. If he has said, 'in our way,' let him provide the answer for that,' he said.

When asked what the My Step faction understood from those words that led to a criminal case, he responded, 'There is no problem of understanding in the My Step faction; these are legal procedures that have taken place.'