EU’s 2026 Report. Double Standard Or willful Blindness?
Less than 24 hours ago, the EU’s “Directorate-General For Enlargement And Eastern Neighbourhood” (DGEEN) released to the international media a report titled “2026 Communication On EU Enlargement Policy.”
The authors of the report expressed serious reservations and concerns about the badly compromised state of democracy in Turkey; a country that formally launched accession negotiations with the EU on 3 October 2005, but reached a deadlock in 2018 due to drastic measures adopted by the Erdogan regime to limit freedom of expression and peaceful political dissent.
The report placed significant emphasis on the following point:
“The gap between Türkiye's declared objective of joining the EU and its backsliding on the fundamental political criteria for EU accession has widened further. The underlying factors that led to the standstill in the accession negotiations in 2018 remain unaddressed.”
In other words, political decision makers in The EU are alarmed by Ankara's "non-adherence to core democratic principles," based on the waves of draconian legal crackdowns, used and abused by Erdogan to silence opposition figures, journalists, dissidents living in Europe. Even elected officials were arrested, detained for lengthy periods without a trial, and shouldered the weight of lengthy sentences based on doctored evidence.
What is surprising to observers, analysts, and advocacy journalists covering the South Caucasus, is the fact that in a neighboring country to Turkey-Armenia, a government under the leadrship of PM Pashinyan wants to join The EU, and happens to be in an identical state of "non-adherence to core democratic principles" like Turkey. Yet, EU officials have NO qualms in propping up the radical measures used by Pashinyan to silence opposition, and undermine casually the very foundations a democracy rests upon.
Let us be more precise, with dates, names, and places reflecting the authoritarian approach adopted by Pashinyan to control his fiefdom called Armenia Inc.
About the rampant corruption withing the ranks of Pashinyan’s Civil Contract Party, and the illegal financial contributions made to the Party, you can find more details here.
About the fact that Pashinyan is not a “Leader” fit to rule Armenia, you can find more details here.
About the fact that Pashinyan purchased several spywares to monitor opposition figures, clerics of The Armenian Apostolic Church, university professors, and journalists who dared to criticize his myopic policies, check here.
Last but not least, a limited sample of individuals arrested and prosecuted for writing on Facebook comments that have badly bruised the ego of PM Pashinyan:
- Anush Hadjyan, a U.S. citizen who resides in California not Armenia. On April 24, 2025, Anush shared someone else’s message criticizing Pashinyan on her Facebook page and added a few words of her own: “Finish off the Turkish puppet of the Nikol clan.”
“More than a year later, on June 13, 2026, Anush was detained at Yerevan airport without explanation after traveling to Armenia. She was taken to a police station in the city and held there for eight hours before being released pending trial. In the meantime, she was prohibited from leaving the country.” For the full painful encounter Anush had with the goons of the Pashinyan regime masquarding as Police officers and prosecutors, read the article titled “Long live Pashinyan’s democracy! Cramming the jails with Facebook critics.“
Anush was not the only person who confronted the ire of Pashinyan. Artur Danielyan, a well-known Pashinyan critic, was arrested last week, just hours after calling him “scum” on Facebook.
Playwright Vahram Sahakyan was arrested on Sept. 29 on charges of inciting “hatred, intolerance and hostility” over a Facebook post he published in January 2025. He was placed under administrative supervision and released on the condition that he refrain from posting on Facebook.
Artak Avetisyan was acquitted last month after being arrested in May. The initial “hate speech” allegation was later replaced with a charge of serious “hooliganism.” He had lashed out at Pashinyan on Facebook during the parliamentary election campaign.
In February, another critic was arrested and charged with hooliganism, two months after posting an offensive video about Pashinyan on TikTok.
Around the same time, a 55-year-old woman from Akhuryan was prosecuted for reportedly making disparaging remarks about the prime minister and his family in a private online message.
Armenian lawyer Aleksandr Kochubayev was detained in 2025 after publishing a social media post criticizing law enforcement and judicial officials.
Gayane Mesropyan from Artsakh was arrested in March 2026 over a Facebook post criticizing Pashinyan. Meanwhile, more than 1,000 posts containing vile comments directed at Artsakh Armenians went uninvestigated by the authorities.
On Oct. 1, outspoken Armenian opposition parliamentarian Edgar Ghazaryan received a suspended two-year prison sentence for strongly criticizing a Constitutional Court ruling issued two years earlier. A Yerevan court convicted him of spreading “defamatory information” about the justices.
His sister, Lilit Ghazaryan, was forced by her boss to resign after 22 years as deputy head of the government’s drug regulatory agency.
“Even academics have lost their jobs for criticizing Pashinyan. Ruben Melikyan, a prominent pro-opposition lawyer who had taught law for 23 years at Yerevan State University (YSU), was fired in July. Two other YSU lecturers who supported the opposition, Alen Ghulyan and Shushan Vardanyan, were also dismissed that month.”
Isn’t it amazing how EU officials have a keen eye for the obvious?
“To sin by silence, when they should protest, makes cowards of men.”
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