By Siranush Adamyan
Former Artsakh State Minister and philanthropist Ruben Vardanyan has delivered a sharply worded audio message from a prison in Baku, criticizing Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and warning that Armenia risks becoming “a Turkish vilayet” if it fails to change course.
In the message, released on May 25, Vardanyan’s birthday, the former Artsakh cabinet head compared Pashinyan to Brave Nazar — a cowardly but lucky character from Armenian folklore who accidentally becomes a hero and king despite lacking courage or merit — and accused him of plagiarism, dishonesty, and moral failure.
“It is the people who choose Brave Nazar as king; he does not become king by himself,” Vardanyan said, adding that Armenians “must not forget it.”
Addressing the Armenian prime minister directly as “dear ‘Brave Nazar’ Nikol,” Vardanyan said he had discovered only two Armenian-language books in the prison library during his detention in Baku — one by writer Vardges Petrosyan and another authored by Pashinyan.
“After reading your book, I became convinced that you not only have serious problems with moral and ethical standards, with education, and with other things, but that, in addition, you are also a liar, a fantasist, and a plagiarist,” Vardanyan said. “As a journalist you should know that one must not steal someone else's property — intellectual property, books. But you did so calmly, and more than once.”
Vardanyan also used a metaphor drawn from Indian beliefs about reincarnation, saying that the “greatest punishment” for a sinful person is to be reborn as an earthworm for 84,000 years. “I fear that this is the punishment awaiting you,” he said, referring to Pashinyan.
The former Artsakh state minister argued that Armenia faces an existential geopolitical threat, claiming that the conflict surrounding Artsakh has not ended but has instead shifted into other forms.
“This is not a question of elections. It is a question of the fact that the war is not over,” he said. “The war continues not in the form of military action, but in other forms.”
According to Vardanyan, Armenia risks becoming dependent on a “third force” while being pulled between Russia and the European Union. “That third force is only waiting for the moment when we become fully dependent on it — economically, financially, informationally, technologically, in every way — and become a vilayet of Turkey and Azerbaijan,” he said. “If we do not change our conduct, neither Russia nor the European Union awaits us. What awaits us is becoming a Turkish vilayet.”
Vardanyan also condemned a military parade planned in Yerevan for May 28, Armenia’s Republic Day, calling it “immoral” while Armenian prisoners remain in Azerbaijani custody. “An army is not built on parades, money, weapons, or ranks. Above all, it is built on spirit — moral and patriotic spirit,” he said, urging Armenians not to participate in the parade.
He further criticized the Armenian authorities for failing to support Armenian detainees held in Baku. “I consider it immoral that our boys have been here for six years and have no opportunity to receive photographs, letters, or clothes from their relatives,” he said, adding that “the defeated commander-in-chief does nothing so that these people may at least feel that a state stands behind them.”
In the final part of his address, Vardanyan warned against public apathy.
“The greatest danger is indifference,” he said. “The opposite of love is not hatred, but indifference. The opposite of good is not evil, but indifference.”
Vardanyan, who was detained by Azerbaijan following the September 2023 exodus and ethnic cleansing of Armenians from Artsakh, is currently on trial in Baku alongside several former Artsakh officials. Azerbaijani authorities officially acknowledge holding 19 Armenian detainees.
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