Thursday, May 24, 2018 | 2 a.m.
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View more of the Sun's opinion section
It has been only 27 years since the Republic of Armenia gained independence from the former Soviet Union. Armenia is a landlocked country in the South Caucasus.
Two of its four neighboring countries, Turkey and Azerbaijan, have closed their borders with Armenia, leaving Georgia and Iran as its only two open borders to the outside world.
In recent weeks, tens of thousands of young demonstrators took to the streets of Yerevan, Armenia, in a mostly jubilant and joyful atmosphere, demanding government change and the resignation of the prime minister, who stepped down after being in office for only a few days. On May 8, the parliament elected the 42-year-old opposition leader, Nikol Pashinyan, as the country’s new prime minister.
It is remarkable that the transition of power from the ruling party, which was in place for 10 years, to the popular movement happened without bloodshed despite several days of intense protests and demonstrations.
This is a great democracy lesson to be shared around the world, and I hope it will have a ripple effect in the region particularly, with Armenia’s neighbors that have thousands of their citizens in jails for their political activism.
