Wednesday, Ruling Party Vague On Armenian PM's Future . Ruzanna Stepanian Armenia - Prime Minister Karen Karapetian speaks at the ruling Republican Party's election campaign rally in Kotayk province, 29Mar2017. The ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) on Wednesday declined to clarify whether Karen Karapetian will remain the country's prime minister after President Serzh Sarkisian completes his final term in office next April. "We are not prepared today to talk about developments in 2018," the chief HHK spokesman, Eduard Sharmazanov, told RFE/RL's Armenian service (Azatutyun.am). "The difference between the parliamentary and semi-presidential or presidential systems is that it is political parties, rather than individuals, who come to the fore," he said. "And regardless of who will be prime minister in 2018, the Republican Party's political responsibility will not diminish." "This is not uncertainty," insisted Sharmazanov. Karapetian has repeatedly indicated his desire to retain his post after the end of Sarkisian's decade-long tenure, which will be followed by Armenia's transition to the parliamentary system of government. He was appointed as prime minister in September last year. Karapetian told reporters on May 9 that he does not "see" preparations by Sarkisian take his place at the helm of the government. The president himself has not publicly ruled out such a possibility. In a March 25 speech delivered in Nagorno-Karabakh, Sarkisian said he would like to "play a role, in some capacity, in ensuring the security of our people" after April 2018. He did not shed more light on his political future when he addressed Armenia's newly elected parliament on May 18. Instead, Sarkisian set long-term socioeconomic development targets for the country's current and future governments. EU Lauds Armenian Constitutional Reform Belgium - The EU foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, meets with Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian in Brussels, 28Feb2017. The European Union has praised President Serzh Sarkisian's sweeping constitutional changes that will transform Armenia into a parliamentary republic. Senior EU representatives mentioned the constitutional reform, denounced by the Armenian opposition, during an annual "human rights dialogue" with Armenian officials held in Brussels this week. The Armenian delegation at the meeting was headed by Deputy Foreign Minister Karen Nazarian and the state human rights ombudsman, Arman Tatoyan. "The European Union and Armenia welcomed the continued progress on human rights in Armenia," the bloc's European External Action Service (EEAS) said in a statement issued late on Tuesday. "The EU concurred with the Venice Commission [of the Council of Europe] that the new Constitution represented a positive development and underlined the importance of its prompt and effective implementation," it added. The constitutional amendments enacted in a disputed December 2015 referendum call for Armenia's transition from a semi-presidential to parliamentary system of government. Most Armenian opposition groups objected to the reform, saying that it is primarily aimed at allowing Sarkisian to extend his decade-long rule. The president and his allies have denied the opposition claims. They have at the same time made clear that Sarkisian will not retire from the political arena after serving out his final presidential term in April 2018. The EU foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, and Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian shake hands after a joint news conference in Brussels, 23May2017. The EEAS statement said the Brussels meeting also touched upon the conduct of Armenia's recent parliamentary elections and the situation with human rights in the country. "The Dialogue highlighted the importance of a free and pluralistic media environment, and political pluralism as a prerequisite for the conduct of democratic elections," it said. The EU gave a largely positive assessment of the April 2 elections, while expressing concern over vote buying reported by European monitors. Its foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, said through a spokesperson on April 4 that the official vote results, which gave a landslide victory to Sarkisian's Republican Party of Armenia, reflect "the overall will of the Armenian people." Armenian Activist Briefly Detained By Police . Karlen Aslanian Armenia - Civic activist Argishti Kivirian is confronted by riot police during a demonstration in Yerevan, 4Apr2014. A well-known civic activist accused Armenian law-enforcement authorities of attempting to fabricate criminal charges against him after spending about an hour in police custody on Wednesday. Argishti Kivirian, an outspoken critic of President Serzh Sarkisian's administration, was detained by police officers on a street in Yerevan after refusing to allow them to search his pockets on the grounds that he may be carrying a knife. He did not resist the arrest. "I just demanded that they don't get too close to me," Kivirian told reporters after his release. "I also held on to my pockets." The 44-year-old activist agreed to empty his pockets at a police station in the city center in the presence of his lawyers. In a statement on the incident, the Armenian police acknowledged that that he was not found to possess any sharp objects. The statement described the police actions as an "honest mistake." Kivirian insisted, however, that the police planned to prosecute him on trumped-up charges in retaliation against his anti-government activities and statements. "They clearly did not manage to plant something in my pockets and they were very upset with that," he claimed. Kivirian, who currently manages a Yerevan law firm, has long actively participated in anti-government demonstrations organized by Armenian opposition and civic groups. He has been briefly detained and even sued by the police on a number of occasions. Kivirian took legal action against the chief of the national police, Vladimir Gasparian, and one his deputies more than a year ago. A Yerevan court is still holding hearings on the case. In 2009, Kivirian was beaten up and severely injured by two men outside his home. The activist, who ran two online news publications at the time, subsequently accused the ethnic Armenian police chief of the Akhalkalaki district in neighboring Georgia of masterminding the attack. Dashnak Ministers Reappointed Armenia - Leaders of the Republican and Dashnaktsutyun parties sign a coalition agreement in Yerevan, 11May2017. Three weeks after extending his power-sharing agreement with the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), President Serzh Sarkisian reappointed on Wednesday the three government ministers affiliated with the party. The corresponding presidential decrees completed the formation of Prime Minister Karapetian's new cabinet following the April 2 parliamentary elections won by the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK). All of its members except Justice Minister Davit Harutiunian served in the previous cabinet. The Dashnaktsutyun-affiliated Education Minister Levon Mkrtchian, Minister for Territorial Administration Davit Lokian and Environment Protection Minister Artsvik Minasian retained their posts in accordance with a new coalition deal that was signed by their party and the HHK on May 11. A joint declaration adopted by the two parties calls for better governance and "new impetus to the fight against corruption." Aghvan Vartanian, a Dashnaktsutyun leader who signed the document on behalf of his party, spoke of their "joint resolve to effect radical and qualitative changes" in the country. Dashnaktsutyun received three ministerial portfolios as well as a number of other senior government posts after reaching a similar power-sharing agreement with Sarkisian's party in February 2016. The HHK expressed readiness to extend that deal after the April elections in which it won 58 of the 105 parliament seats that were up for grabs. Dashnaktsutyun controls 7 seats in the new National Assembly. Press Review "Zhamanak" speculates that only a "psychological barrier" can keep President Serzh Sarkisian from continuing to govern Armenia after the end of his final term in April next year. The paper points out that none of Sarkisian's predecessors, Robert Kocharian and Levon Ter-Petrosian, stayed in power for more than ten years. It says that despite amending the Armenian constitutional in his own interests, Sarkisian "has not yet completely overcome the psychological barrier to exceeding a ten-year tenure." "Zhoghovurd" says that a new anti-corruption body that will be set up by the Armenian government soon will hardly make a difference. The paper argues that corruption in Armenia has a systemic character and that Armenian courts remain subordinate to the government. "In this regard, there is not much room for optimism about the creation of the new body," it says. "It is certainly good that the authorities are at least speaking of their political will to combat corruption. The problem is that the existence of such a will was also emphasized by them during the establishment of the [government's] Anti-Corruption Council three years ago. "Aravot" condemns the Armenian police for refusing to prosecute a member of a precinct election commission in Yerevan who insulted and threatened to beat up one of its female reporters during the recent parliamentary elections. "With such a stance, the police give the green light to new attacks on journalists by hooligans," editorializes the paper. "Acting in the name of the authorities, the police are telling neighborhood thugs that they are free to do anything during elections." "Haykakan Zhamanak" heaps praise on the annual Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity created by three prominent Diaspora Armenians in memory of the victims of the 1915 Armenian genocide in Ottoman Turkey. "One should hope that the Aurora initiative will gain more international recognition and prestige each year," writes the paper. "Armenia would benefit from that more than it has benefited from all the financial assistance from Diaspora Armenian philanthropists that has been provided to date." (Tigran Avetisian) Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL Copyright (c) 2017 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc. 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org