Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) Vice Chairman Armen Ashotyan said the current crisis in Armenia's higher education system is reflected in international assessments, urging the public to examine the V-Dem Institute's Academic Freedom Index, particularly its indicator on the politicization of universities. Ashotyan made the remarks in a message published from Vardashen Penitentiary.

He commented on recent personnel changes at Yerevan State University (YSU), alleging that the university's leadership had dismissed Ruben Melikyan and many other lecturers for political reasons.

Drawing a historical parallel with events in France in 1307, Ashotyan recalled that theologians at the University of Paris had supported King Philip IV's position on the Knights Templar under political pressure, despite understanding that the accusations against them lacked merit. In his view, that episode reminded him of the current situation surrounding academic freedoms in Armenia.

"The leadership of the country's leading university has dismissed Ruben Melikyan for obvious political reasons. Before him, Khachik Galstyan, Anush Sedrakyan, Alen Ghvondyan, and many other lecturers were also removed from their positions.

During my tenure as minister, some of the criticism directed at me concerned the politicization of universities. While acknowledging that certain problems existed, I must say that, compared with today's developments, the university system under our administration was an oasis of liberalism. There were university rectors with opposition political affiliations, opposition politicians and lecturers serving on governing boards, an exceptionally high level of academic freedom, efforts to avoid dismissals on political grounds, and rapid internationalization.

I was also accused of politicizing student councils. Yet today's 'liberals,' including the minister who was once regarded as a liberal during my tenure and the current YSU rector, whom I have known since 2002 as a vocal advocate of freedom of conscience, have completely dismantled student self-governance as a system.

Following the latest legislative amendments, university autonomy has likewise become little more than an illusion, while violations of academic freedom are visible not only in personnel decisions over who may teach, but also in determining what may be taught, particularly in the humanities and Armenian studies.

The current crisis in higher education is also reflected in international reports. Check the V-Dem Institute's Academic Freedom Index, particularly the indicator measuring the politicization of universities.

It hardly needs reminding that YSU, although I am not one of its graduates, served not only during the Third Republic but also during the Second Republic as a sanctuary for free thought and people of conscience.

I also recalled another incident.

During one period of political tensions while I was minister, I learned that the rector of one university had dismissed an opposition politician from his academic post. I immediately called that politician and told him there had been no political instruction and that he would return to work. My subsequent conversation with the overzealous rector ended with that individual being reinstated. I will not reveal his name unless he chooses to do so himself.

I wonder whether today's 'liberal' minister will call the 'liberal' rector regarding Anush Sedrakyan, Khachik Galstyan, Ruben Melikyan, or any other person dismissed for political reasons.

P.S. Jacques de Molay, the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, did not mention the University of Paris theologians whom he considered responsible for his execution in his famous final curse as he was burned at the stake. Perhaps he spared them, perhaps he forgot them, or perhaps he simply chose not to dwell on them.

Yet in that bloody chapter of history, the good name of the University of Paris as a beacon of knowledge and conscience was preserved by an anonymous theologian whose open letter, 'The Lament of the Templars,' defending the unjustly persecuted knights, became one of France's leading topics in February 1308," Ashotyan wrote.