The Armenian News Network-Groong carries a very interesting and unexpected account from Noyan Tapan Highlights by Garin K. Hovannisian, a student at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the founder and editor-in-chief of The Bruin Standard. That most people in Armenia have had enough of sky-rocketing corruption, the lack of the rule of law and democracy, I knew. However, I had no idea that it had spread to one of the city’s most “exclusive” hangouts.

At the table to your left, for instance, you might find a couple of university students prodding the case of Yektan Turkyilmaz, the Turkish historian who was locked up for two months in a National Security cell without trial. Or maybe it’s a group of tourists who’ve come to see with their own eyes that mythic bathroom where the president’s bodyguards beat and killed an impious citizen. “Privet, Rob,” he’d said. It could be a circle of brute-businessmen with appetites as big as their villas or it
could be a group of unsuspicious girls lavished in the latest Louis Vuitton. But they talk about the same things: October 27, Armen Sargsyan, rigged elections, and Northern Avenue.

Unlike the musings of the past, however, today’s sizzling political discussions are not mere laments and longings anymore. In the people’s sarcasm and metaphor, you hear clearly (for they are no longer in whispers) the sure notes of revolution.

Democracy. Freedom. Human rights. The Apricot Revolution. These are the roots of Paplavok’s intellectual lexicon–the trendiest echoes from the lakeside. With the excited company, the far-fetched music, the lush cuisine, and the romantic possibilities of night, the fiery exchanges convince us that a movement is being born.

Anyway, I agree with the conclusion. Unless the government cleans its act up by 2007, and if it attempts to falsify those parliamentary elections, there will be “revolution” in Armenia. The imminent local elections and constitutional referendum will be a first test but even so, many other issues such as corruption, the rule of law and the obscene wealth and political power of the oligarchs needs to be immediately tackled as well.

The full item can be read online here.

However, because Groong’s postings are only online for one week, I’m now including the full text of the article below:

Noyan Tapan Highlights” N37
September, 2005

September 12, 2005

PAPLAVOK’S REVOLUTIONARY SITTING

By Garin K. Hovannisian

Yerevan–I’d like to think that it used to be just cigarettes, coffee, and jazz. But our own time is a bit more complicated than this. The tables unfurled at Paplavok are now stacked with pyramidal fruit platters, French pastries, and glamorous cocktails. Instead of Vahagn Hayrapetian’s classic quartet, we are more likely to hear Aramo’s doo-bop improvisations. And the characters that nightly enliven Yerevan’s famous caf� have kindled there a colorful and brave revolutionary culture.

At the table to your left, for instance, you might find a couple of university students prodding the case of Yektan Turkyilmaz, the Turkish historian who was locked up for two months in a National Security cell without trial. Or maybe it’s a group of tourists who’ve come to see with their own eyes that mythic bathroom where the president’s bodyguards beat and killed an impious citizen. “Privet, Rob,” he’d said. It could be a circle of brute-businessmen with appetites as big as their villas or it could be a group of unsuspicious girls lavished in the latest Louis Vuitton. But they talk about the same things: October 27, Armen Sargsyan, rigged elections, and Northern Avenue.

Unlike the musings of the past, however, today’s sizzling political discussions are not mere laments and longings anymore. In the people’s sarcasm and metaphor, you hear clearly (for they are no longer in whispers) the sure notes of revolution.

Democracy. Freedom. Human rights. The Apricot Revolution. These are the roots of Paplavok’s intellectual lexicon–the trendiest echoes from the lakeside. With the excited company, the far-fetched music, the lush cuisine, and the romantic possibilities of night, the fiery exchanges convince us that a movement is being born.

But it’s already four in the morning, and even the most passionate provocateurs must go home now. As Paplavok’s revolutionaries disperse and fall asleep, the new day’s first minibuses begin their rounds. As the sun casts its first rays onto reality, the people who need the revolution most prepare for the day ahead. After all, they cannot afford nocturnal fantasies. They have families to feed and jobs to fight for.

And that’s precisely Paplavok’s revolutionary paradox. On the one end, the fly-by-night caf� is perfect for revolutionary beginnings. It’s where the endless discussion of corruption and redemption has become an art, fashion, and profession. It’s where the corruption itself has turned up. In character, Paplavok is the ultimate spark of political change. On the other end, it’s so far removed from and so incapable of solving Armenia’s problems. For Paplavok’s post-midnight personalities don’t really need and so will not join the revolution at all. They’ll design it. They’ll sell it. They’ll claim it their own. But when in that final push their commitment is tested, they will back down. The break between the dreamers and the doers is simply too wide.

Yet revolutions are not built and achieved in one night. In regard to America’s epic defiance in 1776, John Adams observed that “the Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people.” In this important sense, Armenia ’s own revolution is well on its way. Which doctor or school teacher is not ready for a complete recognition of his own freedom and citizenry? Who now is unprepared to accept a tolerant, liberal democracy? Even Arsen, an old Soviet-friendly cabbie who drives drunken tourists to their hotels on summer nights, agrees that if a sincere liberal democracy were set up, it would beat the communist regime he felt so comfortable in. This seems obvious to him.

The tougher question is: When will the collective wish become a popular ultimatum? When will the revolution in the mind and heart of people mean a revolution in their government? One more time. One more instance of mass corruption; one more serious scandal; one more catastrophe. Something big. Or, failing that, iconic. Then, then the people will snap! This is what the Paplavok intellectuals always have claimed. Just one more time, and mark my words. But this time, it looks more serious. This time, the present leadership is informed of the pressure. Hence, we have ongoing deliberations of constitutional reform to which we are all urged to contribute so that we might feel counted and proud. Hence, we have the release of Turkyilmaz.
Hence, in one day, the 30-dram increase in mini-bus prices is quashed.

But where the government can hold seminars, issue clean verdicts, and manage its own unworkable fee hikes, it cannot lose elections. If the government makes the right moves in public–as it seems to be doing–it will survive for another couple of years. But by the next elections, Armenia’s spiritual revolution will be far too developed. The authorities will decide on the means. But the end will not be theirs to negotiate. A revolution will have taken place, one way or the other.

Much to the distress of its nightly romantics, Paplavok will have had little to do with it.

Garin K. Hovannisian is a student at the University of California, Los Angeles and the founder and editor-in-chief of The Bruin Standard.