Armenia’s politics may be rough and tumble, but its democratic revolution is well-consolidated. While President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan consolidates increasing control over all aspects of life in Turkey and the countries he occupies, Turks descend ever more deeply into dictatorship. Azerbaijanis, meanwhile., have lacked any semblance of freedom for decades. Armenians were always freer and democracy-minded than any of the peoples around them. In the first decade of the 20th century, Armenian thinkers and journalists provided the intellectual engine behind Persia’s Constitutional Revolution. Eight decades later, Armenian assertion of rights began the cascade of protest that brought down the Soviet Union.
Armenia’s neighbors have long begrudged its success. Turks, Azerbaijanis, and those in Washington and London who receive their largesse besmirch Armenian democracy or the sincerity of its turn toward the West. Many describe as a mantra that Armenia is a tool of Russia, Iran or both. This is a calumny. Armenia trades with Russia and Iran out of necessity due to Turkey’s illicit blockade and Azerbaijani sanctions, while Turkey and Azerbaijan trade with both out of greed. Meanwhile, some Armenian partisans confuse the forest through the trees, diminishing the quality of Armenia’s democracy because they do not like the last election’s victors.
Repeating a lie may convince the ignorant, but volume and truth are not synonymous. Every year, Reporters Without Borders publishes press freedom rankings. Freedom House, Transparency International, and Reporters Without Borders’ rankings are art rather than science — human judgments ultimately make the call and they can at times be arbitrary. Freedom House, for example, long denied or downplayed Turkey’s turn under Erdoğan. Still, they do adjust as reality becomes undeniable and the trends do not lie.
Armenia ranks increasingly high in each. Freedom House, for example, whose annual rankings measure democracy and freedom, calls Armenia “partly free,” albeit with a steady increase over the past decade. Armenia’s internet freedom, meanwhile, ranks as completely free. It considers Azerbaijan as among the world’s most autocratic dictatorships and measures Azerbaijan’s internet freedom as not free and still declining. This is important because a frequent Azerbaijani talking point to foreign visitors is how free Azerbaijanis are online. Freedom House also confirms Turkey’s dictatorship and measures Turks as even less free online. Turks and Azeris enjoy little more freedom online than Venezuelans do. In contrast, Armenia’s internet freedom is on par with Australia, France, and the United States.
Corruption rankings are also telling. Armenia ranks 63rd out of 180 countries and territories in perception of corruption. Turkey ranks 107th, and Azerbaijan is tied with Russia at 154th. Armenians may not relish being in 63rd place, but they measure alongside Slovakia and Croatia, both states with rule-of-law that now complete their transformation from Eastern bloc culture to Western liberal democracy. Azerbaijan, meanwhile, ranks not only below Russia but also below Iran and only marginally better than Haiti.
The starkest contrast, however, now comes in press freedom. Armenians not only enjoy freer press than any of its neighbors, but also the freest press between Poland and Australia. Put another way, Armenia has the second freest press in Asia after Taiwan; no other country aside from Taiwan is freer.
