In a reportedly pre-recorded interview with the state-funded radio aired on February 1, Pashinian again took aim at a 1990 declaration of independence cited in a preamble to the Armenian constitution. He claimed that Armenia “will never have peace” with Azerbaijan as long as there is such reference. Accordingly, Pashinian defended his plans to try to enact a new constitution that would presumably make no mention of the declaration.
Khumarian took issue with Pashinian’s comments in an op-ed article published on Public Radio’s website on Monday. The premier, he said, wants to destroy one of the pillars of “our political identity” and to “stop us being who we are.”
“We were told that the Turks are strong and the Armenians weak, the Turks massacre Armenians,” he wrote. “This syllogism should have ended with the deductive conclusion ‘let's get stronger,’ but what was said instead was ‘let's stop being Armenians.’”
Khumarian said that this policy will not prevent Azerbaijani aggression against Armenia. He went on to accuse Pashinian’s government of failing to rebuild the Armenian army since the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Armenia’s Council of Public Broadcaster, which appoints the heads of state of state television and radio, accused Khumarian late on Tuesday of abusing his position to express his personal view on the radio website in an “arbitrary” and “unchallenged” way. The council will “examine the conformity of the actions of the Public Radio Company director with ethical and legal norms,” it said in a statement.
All seven members of the body have been appointed by Pashinian. None of them agreed to comment further on Wednesday.
“I don’t agree with that [statement] and am waiting to see what our company’s lawyers will say,” Khumarian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
The Public Radio chief insisted that he performed his “professional duty” and simply commented on Armenia’s “existential” problems that are “a step above politics.” He noted that he had previously posted about a dozen articles on the same website and none of them got him in trouble with his supervisors.
Pashinian’s plans to change the constitution have also been denounced by his political opponents and other critics. They say that say his appeasement strategy will not lead to a lasting peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan.