PHOTO: He addressed me exclusively as 'Mr. Pashinyan jan,' 'Mr. Prime Minister jan' - Pashinyan presents facts about Hrayr Tovmasyan

The Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, has shared a photograph on his Facebook page and wrote: 'This is Hrayr Tovmasyan's pen. For a long time, I was contemplating whether to throw it in the trash or not. Eventually, I decided to keep it as a testimony of the strangest flattery and sycophancy I have ever seen.'

'I first met Hrayr Tovmasyan after being elected Prime Minister at the board meeting of the 'Armenia' All-Armenian Fund in May 2018. He was sitting next to me. I found Mr. Tovmasyan's obvious sycophantic behavior towards me rather peculiar, especially considering that just days prior, his long-term political team had been defeated immensely. He addressed me exclusively as 'Mr. Pashinyan jan,' 'Mr. Prime Minister jan.' Those 'jans' continue to echo in my ears even now. By the way, throughout our entire interaction, he never addressed me differently—only with 'jan.'

'Later on, he suddenly remembered and deemed it important to highlight that he is the son-in-law of the Ijevan mayor. Then, I needed to make a note, and I couldn't find my pen; I don't remember if I wanted it, or he noticed that I was looking for a pen and offered me this 'elite' pen of his. I made my notes, delivered my speech, and my attempts to return the pen to him became a story in their own right. He insisted, saying, 'That's your pen, please take it back, what will happen, etc.' It was becoming an awkward situation in front of the cameras.'

'In short, this pen has remained with me as a 'testimony of loyalty'. Now I think that at that time, when taking the pen, my subconscious was working to have a 'material fact' today. Anyway, afterwards, requests started coming in for acceptance meetings with me. I did not accept them. Then the 5th of July approached. I began receiving 'message-requests' asking me to participate in an event at the Constitutional Court on that day. I declined several times because I understood that the person occupying the Constitutional Court wanted to gain legitimacy in this manner.'

'Later, we met at the Christmas liturgy in 2019. He started flattering Anna, saying, 'Thank you for giving my daughter a scholarship.' When I saw that the level of flattery was crossing the line, I said, 'They didn't know who she is.' Though it turned out that they indeed didn't know (I should also mention that knowing or not knowing would not matter for the decision; it is clearly a matter of criteria). Afterwards, several times, the person he recently referred to came and reported to me that 'Hrayr says that I wrote this Constitution, why isn't the Prime Minister using my capabilities?' In response, I suggested he go to a far-away place.'