On 5 September, the members of “Adekvad” an Armenian civic movement announced their intention to form a political party in the country.
The movement’s leader Artur Danielyan said that the purpose of the party would not be to participate in the national elections, but to lead a real revolution. Describing the past 30 years' political developments in Armenia as episodes of just a ‟decorative show,” the activist said their mission is to make ‟absolutely everything reachable to the public″.
‟I am confident an international revolution is inevitable, and what's… more, it will not take place in China - where theaters have been reduced to a minimum - or the United States, which is facing an “overdose” of theater houses. Our desire is to start that revolution from Armenia, which has all the necessary preconditions…,” he said. Danielyan added that the prerequisite for the ”revolutionary” activities of his party would be… social networks.
He also spoke ironically about Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and the milestones the “velvet revolution” set to Armenia. “But there is a blessing in disguise. If not Nikol Pashinyan, I do not think Armenia would have any prerequisite to lead the global revolution,” he said, adding that Armenia still needs Pashinyan’s government for the people to still learn lessons. The party’s program is yet to be revealed.
The Adekvad Facebook page was launched in June 2018 and quickly became popular, with more than 27,000 followers, and known for its nationalist, anti-Western and right-wing stances. It has called the on fact that many of Armenia’s young elite have been educated or trained in the United States “the second stage of the genocide.” Other favorite targets include Armenia’s LGBT minority, financier and philanthropist George Soros, and especially Pashinyan, who according to Adekvad opened the doors for such influences in the country.
The movement recently began to expand their activities from social media to the streets. They launched a campaign to get supporters to spray-paint “#SutNikol” – “#LiarNikol” – around Armenia, and organized a contest, “Who can present the prime minister's biggest lie through art!?”
On 8 June 2019, eight Adekvad members were detained by Armenian authorities after Pashinyan indirectly accused the group for violent intentions. On 6 June, Pashinyan said at a cabinet meeting that “there were groups of men clad in black walking menacingly around the center of Yerevan to create an atmosphere of fear” and that they were linked to “the former corrupt system.” He also called on law enforcement to “give a very strong counter-blow to all such occurrences,” and that “those people should be should be caught and changed into flower-patterned clothes, given bowties and sent back to the civilized way of life.”
