Empty Talk and Demagoguery: Levon Kocharyan on Pashinyan's Speech in the U.S.

Levon Kocharyan, the son of the second President of Armenia, Robert Kocharyan, wrote on his Facebook page: “I sadly note that the person who has found himself in the position of Armenia’s Prime Minister is capable of nothing other than delivering empty speeches at rallies and making baseless accusations against us. He still does not understand what position he is in.

Empty talk and demagoguery are now taking place before the whole world—from Los Angeles to Yerevan, Stepanakert to Sochi. Cheap emotional outbursts and making trivial statements to divert people’s attention from the real issues of our country remain Nikol's modus operandi. He threatened from America that he would restore the status quo that existed before 1998. True, he said this by slandering our family and singing his favorite 'song,' but his words actually mean something else.

Restoring the status quo that existed before 1998 means condemning our country’s economy and returning to a phase of the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue that has long been rejected. After 1998, during my father's ten years of presidency, the state budget increased eightfold, and the economy grew sixfold with double-digit growth rates. By the way, Nikol also benefited from this, as his newspaper business thrived during those years, allowing him to acquire expensive movable and immovable property. Kocharyan also did not allow Nagorno-Karabakh to fall under the notorious phase-out plan proposed by Nikol’s political father.

Now, if he wants to return to this status quo, we will not allow it. The only status quo that must be restored is to throw it into the dustbin of history and definitively close the chapter of defeatism, along with its founders and remnants.”