Whose “directed instruction” did the NSS consider to raid the American University?
Yesterday, the American University of Armenia (AUA) was in the target of the CC, against its will.
The reason was the uproar following the post by university lecturer Samvel Farmanyan and, therefore, the development of events with a snowball effect.
Samvel Farmanyan’s post, was about the ruling couple Nikol Pashinyan-Anna Hakobyan, which had stabbed the CC group. And although in response to the group attack and the massive political targeting of the American University, Samvel Farmanyan said in a subsequent post that his posts expressed absolutely his own point of view and had nothing to do with the American University of Armenia, the rumours continued to heat up.
This was followed by a statement from the American University, in which the university said that its professors are free to express their positions as long as they are not done on behalf of AUA.
“However, Dr. Farmanyan’s post, in which he criticized the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, went beyond the bounds of political discussion and included personal insults towards the Prime Minister and his family, including offensive comments about their appearance. Although Dr. Farmanyan included in his post the university’s recommended disclaimer for social media posts (“The views expressed here are my own and do not in any way reflect the views of the American University of Armenia”), such content clearly falls outside the scope of the AUA internal policy on “Political and Religious Activities,” and the university unequivocally condemns it as inappropriate,” the AUA statement said.
The university’s announcement, however, deeply disturbed Taguhi Ghazaryan, a former university lecturer and CC MP, who dedicated a lengthy post to the AUA statement, hinting at the same time that the reason for not renewing her contract months ago was political.
But what had actually happened, and what was the reason for Taguhi Ghazaryan’s concern?
According to 168.am, the reason for not extending Taguhi Ghazaryan’s employment contract is the students’ protest over her turning class hours into a CC propaganda.
According to our information, Taguhi Ghazaryan entered the auditorium for the specific purpose of political propaganda, in particular, trying to constantly preach the madness of a peace treaty as the only and unique solution to the students and convince them that this is the right thing to do. This one-sided political propaganda was not accepted by the students, whose numerous complaints were eventually heeded by the University administration. This is exactly what the CC MP cannot accept in any way.
However, the events that followed the non-renewal of Taguhi Ghazaryan’s employment contract are more noteworthy.
The CC MP has complained everywhere, using his personal and political connections. And there is no doubt that the latter has such. Otherwise, Nikol Pashinyan’s wife, Anna Hakobyan, would not have gone to Zemfira’s Yerevan concert with Taguhi Ghazaryan and would not have published a video. There is information that even the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Higher Education, Zhanna Andreasyan, was involved in the crackdown against the American University, so that she could inspect the activities of the university.
However, the situation is getting so tense that, according to our information, about 2 months ago, NSS officers paid a visit to the American University of Armenia regarding the issue of Taguhi Ghazaryan, with the intention of specifically showing force and intimidating the university. University officials say that not only in the history of the university, but also in the history of Armenian universities in general, there has never been such an extraordinary case where NSS officers dressed in black would meet the leadership and ask questions about the incident related to Taguhi Ghazaryan.
In other words, the academic environment, organized by the government, has become the subject of interest of the NSS for specific political reasons, and this has not worried anyone.
This is, in fact, a normal practice for the CC and its leader, when they involve the NSS in solving their personal and political issues. This was the case during the all-front attack against the Armenian Apostolic Church, when Pashinyan announced at YSU that he had instructed the NSS to collect information about His Holiness, and it is the same now, in fact, when the NSS is being used to solve Taguhi Ghazaryan’s personal issues. We are dealing with a systemic problem, the bitter fruits of which we will still reap. In fact, the constitutional right to self-government of universities and academic freedom, enshrined in Article 38 of the Constitution, is being grossly violated for the sake of the personal interests and revenge of the CC MP.
Thus, the pangs of Taguhi Ghazaryan, the CC ragtag team, and the “human rights defenders” surrounding them has a clear diagnosis, and its name is Nikolian propaganda, in order to infiltrate this university and engage in their political propaganda.
Armine Vardanyan
