The Incident with the EU Flag in Yerevan has No Political Overtones

• 07.04.2015, 22:24
• Greta Avetisyan
•  Europe,  "Insight" Analytical Center ,  World,  Armenia

The recent incident, when Armenian protesters against electricity price hike demanded the head of the National Unity Party of Armenia, Paruyr Hayrikyan, to put down the raised EU flag on Baghramyan Avenue, has become a topic of hot discussions. Many started to ask a question, why the Armenian protesters did this. Was it something especially against the EU? Of course, no. Since the beginning of the protests in Armenia, the protesters have many times stated that their complaints have only social nature, not a political one. The reason why the protesters demanded to put down the EU flag was this. They have many times said that no other flag than the Armenian tricolor should be there. This means that no matter what flag there was, the reaction would be the same.

Armenia has never had any problems with the EU. The same refers to its citizens. No one can remember that there have been any social protests against the cooperation between Armenia and the EU. Just vice versa, Armenians have always been for deepening these relations. And this is happening right now. After receiving a mandate from the EU Member States, Armenia and the EU will start negotiations for signing a new document defining the legal basis for the EU-Armenia cooperation. This, as we have witnessed, has been welcomed in Armenia.

To come again to the incident, then frankly speaking, the fact that the protesters remained loyal to their word and kept the protests for so many days as purely a social one and corrected any "mistake," that would put the nature of the protests under danger, makes me feel proud. The only demand of the protesters was only to cancel the increase in electricity price. Now their demand is partially met. The authorities of Armenia decided to start an audit for understanding whether the increase in electricity price was really objective or not and till the end of the audit, the RA Government will take up the burden of the price increase. The way, this was perceived by many of the protesters, showed that the civil society in Armenia is much more mature than we thought. Though they declared that their demand is not fully met, they accepted that a step was done by the government. Among all those what happened during the days of the protests, the most important thing was that Armenia showed that there is civil society there, it is strengthening day by day and there is a government, which is ready to listen to its citizens and try to meet their demands as much as it is possible…