The Fourth Republic: Pashinyan's Plan to Kill Armenian Identity
He's trying, at least conceptually, to follow the French way of moving from one republic to another. He's starting from scratch.
Pashinyan’s government program articulates a radical ideological break: replacing what he calls the ‘failed Third Republic’ with a new Fourth Republic that he terms ‘Real Armenia.’ This is not a mere administrative reorganization but rather an attempt to rewrite Armenian national identity and foreign policy to align with foreign powers.
According to Martirosyan, Pashinyan views the Third Republic as fundamentally flawed because it was built on what he considers false premises: the belief that Artsakh should be part of Armenia, that the Armenian Genocide should anchor foreign policy, and that Armenia should maintain strong diaspora ties. The Fourth Republic, by contrast, would purge these elements and create a nation that exists happily ever after with its Turkish and Azerbaijani neighbors. This echoes Atatürk’s transformation of Turkish identity after Ottoman collapse, though Martirosyan questions whether Pashinyan understands the parallel or consciously admires it.
The irony is stark: Pashinyan frames this as a break from the corrupt Third Republic, yet he controls all three branches of government and has appointed sympathetic judges. His claim that the judiciary failed him rings hollow. More fundamentally, if he must act authoritatively to remake Armenian identity, then there is no republic and no democracy. Martirosyan argues Pashinyan has made his choice: authoritarianism in service of identity remaking. This agenda extends to rewriting history textbooks, purging any mention of Artsakh from public discourse, and weakening the Armenian Apostolic Church as an independent institution tied to the diaspora. These moves are neither accidental nor merely political-they represent a systematic effort to isolate Armenia from diaspora influence and align it with the geopolitical vision of Turkey and Azerbaijan.
Transcript
Asbed Bedrossian: with this thing he calls the Real Armenia. And he's already shopping this Fourth Republic idea. I'll go to the others a little more in a moment, but I'll give you a chance to talk to us. Why does Pashinyan need to kill the Third Republic?
Arthur Martirosyan: Well, I think he's trying, at least conceptually, to follow the French way of moving from one to another, from one republic to the Fifth Republic. So he thinks that he is starting from scratch. He's starting from scratch. We know the First and the Second Republic, the Soviet and the Democratic First Republic, but then the Republic that existed from 1991 to date, it's a failed Republic, according to him, although he's part of that Republic still. It's a failed Republic because it was based on a false notion. On a false notion that we need Karabakh, that we have claims of genocide and it should be part of our foreign policy, all of that needs to be removed so that we can create a republic that can live happily ever after with Turks and all our neighbors and Georgians. He often adds that too.