On 4 August, the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan informed through Facebook the public about a “secret report”, adopted by the former government in 2014 which tells about an institutional crisis in the country, reported arka.am.

He said that this report is “very secret”, and therefore he found it wrong to reveal it to the public, but the document is important for the comprehensive description of the situation in the country. The key conclusion of the document is that the country was institutionally paralyzed. “In fact state institutions are deeply paralyzed and ruined. The authors of this document displayed courage when they expressed such an opinion,” he said.

As an example of the desperate state of the country's institutional system, the premier pointed out the road construction area. “Actually, the entire state-governing system of Armenia was based on corruption, and when you remove corruption, you see that the governing system does not exist. And this is the biggest problem to us. Our government faces a challenge - we have to create institutions from zero to solve the country's problems,” he added.

Artur Ghazinyan, professor of international public law at the Yerevan State University and leader of the One Armenia political party, expressed his concerns over the announced secret document, but thinks that it is a false alarm. “The One Armenia party expresses its deep concern over this announcement. Taking into account the fact that the approval of false and misleading agendas has been the political style and script of Nikol Pashinyan, I declare that there is no obstacle to publicize it, and in case of not publicizing it on any grounds, there will be but one conclusion: such a document simply does not exist, and Nikol Pashinyan simply remains true to his style and script,” he said, adding that in the case the document proves to be true his party would be ready to assist the government in overcoming this crisis. 

A similar view shared the Deputy Director of the Transparency International Anti-Corruption Center in Armenia Sona Ayvazyan adding that such statements were not followed by concrete steps of the law enforcement agencies. “No steps follow such statements. At least, the public is not aware of such steps. I think in this case it is the same. We, of course, do not know what document it is… and how far it is possible for the law-enforcement bodies to take steps based on it. But I think it should be followed by corresponding reports to law-enforcement bodies. I think it would be even correct if the document becomes available for the public, as it talks about public interest,” she said.

Representatives of the former ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) challenged the veracity of Pashinyan’s claims, challenging him to publish the document. The former education Minister Armen Ashotyan, wrote on Facebook that Pashinyan is only seeking an excuse for his government’s failures.