page_title: Nikol Pashinyan
section_title: Image and reputation
hierarchical_section_title: Nikol Pashinyan / Image and reputation
caption_attribution_description: English: Komitas Avenue, Yerevan
context_page_description: Nikol Pashinyan is an Armenian politician serving as Prime Minister of Armenia since 8 May 2018. He is a former journalist and editor.
  A prominent journalist, Pashinyan first founded his own newspaper in 1998 which was shut down a year later. He was sentenced for one year for defamation against then Minister of National Security Serzh Sargsyan. He edited Haykakan Zhamanak from 1999 to 2012. Sympathetic to Armenia's first president Levon Ter-Petrosyan, he was highly critical of second president Robert Kocharyan, Defense Minister Serzh Sargsyan, and their allied oligarchs. Pashinyan led a minor opposition party in the 2007 parliamentary election, garnering 1.3% of the vote.
  He was an outspoken supporter of Ter-Petrosyan, when the latter made a political comeback prior to the 2008 presidential election. Ter-Petrosyan was defeated by Serzh Sargsyan in an election marred with widespread vote fraud and violence. Noted for his fiery speeches, Pashinyan had a significant role in the post-election protests which were violently put down by government forces on 1 March 2008 resulting in the deaths of 10 people.
context_section_description: Pashinyan has been widely described as charismatic and a revolutionary. The Guardian described him in 2018 as a "fiery political orator who has spent the past decade in street politics." In 2012 RFE/RL noted that Pashinyan is "popular with many opposition supporters for his tough anti-government rhetoric." Shake Avoyan of Voice of America noted that Pashinyan "crusaded against entrenched corruption and oligarchical influence for decades." His years of "street activism earned him the ire of establishment officials and legislators." According to Richard Giragosian Pashinyan has a "unique combination that's rare in Armenia and, in fact, rare in the post-Soviet space: a combination of charisma and tactical expertise." In the aftermath of the 2018 revolution Pashinyan rose to be perceived as a national hero in Armenian society. Pashinyan has gained support from System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian, who co-wrote a ballad called "Hayastane" in 2020.
  He has also been called a populist. Matthew Bodner wrote in The New Republic: "His popularity was built on general populist sound bites." Pashinyan has also been praised as a reformist. David Ignatius, for instance, called the 2018 protest movement a reformist one, praising its nonviolent nature and its broad popular appeal. Armenian-American writer Arto Vaun noted that in the aftermath of the 2018 protest movement Pashinyan grew to an "iconic stature." Emil Sanamyan suggested that the revolution saw Pashinyan "transform from a lonely Don Quixote figure into a warrior-like Santa who managed to 'rescue' Armenia from a corrupt regime."
  In a classified document, released by WikiLeaks, Joseph Pennington, Chargé d'Affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Yerevan, reported in March 2008: "We have long abstained from direct interaction with Pashinian and have not customarily invited him to embassy functions, as we viewed him as an unconstructive radical figure." According to Pietro Shakarian, Pashinyan had a reputation of a "muckraking journalist."
caption: A poster on a car in Yerevan depicting Pashinyan, May 2, 2018. The text reads: "Nikol Prime Minister"
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