Political theatre of Yerevan's former Teatralnaya Square

All the world's a stage, and all the men and women players. This remark by Shakespeare absolutely applies to the political situation in Armenia, where politicians give performances on Yerevan's Teatralnaya Square every day. The square was renamed Freedom Square. However, neither the square nor the people of Armenia have gained liberty.

After the tragic events of March 1st, 2008, the square was closed to demonstrations. So when the first president of Armenia, Levon Ter-Petrosyan, conducted a meeting on the former Teatralnaya Square, he proclaimed that the square had been regained by people. No political statements or suggestions for the rehabilitation of the economy were made. The opposition gathered people, let them dance and sing, and then let them go home. The meeting seemed to be a performance, not a reasonable political action.

One more interesting fact is that Ter-Petrosyan declared the intention to begin a civilized dialogue between the government and society, based on awareness of the national interests. Ahead of this statement, the president of Armenia, Serge Sargsyan, spoke several times about the readiness of the authorities for cooperation with the opposition. According to rumours, the government promised Ter-Petrosyan 20 places in the parliament of 2012 for calming down the dissatisfied section of society.

Another political activist, Raffi Ovannisyan, went on hunger strike on the former Teatralnaya Square from March 15, with the motto “Hunger strike for liberty.” The politician had stated that his idea of the aim of the hunger strike was to demand the resignation of the president.

Ovannisyan has been visited by one more opposition supporter, Tigran Karapetyan. After failure on another favourite opposition square in Yereven, Matenadaran Square, he came to Teatralnaya Square and urged Ovannisyan’s supporters to come to Karapetyan’s meeting.

The ruling forces of Armenia gave their own performance too, but not on Teatralnaya Square. They did it in the parliament, the government and the presidential palace, froth about the necessity of caring about people instead of real activity.

On the background of all these performances, which are called the internal political life of Armenia, there are still a lot of unsolved social problems in the country, among them corruption, absence of justice, unskilled managers of administration and social contradictions.

Thus Freedom Square can be renamed back to Teatralnaya Square, as both the authorities and the opposition can only give performances, they are not able to make the transfer from something in mind to something in kind.

David Stepanyan, Yerevan. Exclusively to VK