Thursday,
Opposition Bloc Moves To Field Presidential Candidate
. Astghik Bedevian
Armenia - Artak Zeynalian of the opposition Yelk bloc at a parliament
session in Yerevan, 12Dec2017.
The opposition Yelk bloc announced on Thursday plans to nominate one
of its senior members as a candidate for the post of Armenia's
president who will be elected by the parliament in March.
The candidate, Artak Zeynalian, is a parliament deputy and prominent
civil rights campaigner.
Under the Armenian constitution controversially amended in 2015, the
next head of state must be chosen one month before President Serzh
Sarkisian completes his second and final term in early April. The end
of his decade-long rule will be followed by the country's transition
to a parliamentary system of government. It means that Sarkisian's
successor will have largely ceremonial powers.
The constitution stipulates that only those individuals who are backed
by at least 26 members of the 105-seat National Assembly can run for
president. Yelk holds 9 parliament seats.
One of the bloc's leaders, Nikol Pashinian, said Yelk will start in
the coming days "consultations on this theme" with businessman Gagik
Tsarukian's alliance represented in the parliament by 31 deputies. He
said Yelk hopes that the Tsarukian Bloc will back Zeynalian's
candidacy.
The ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) controls the majority of
parliament seats, putting it in a position to install the next
president. It can also count on the backing of the Armenian
Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), its junior coalition
partner holding 7 seats. The HHK, which is headed by President
Sarkisian, has still not clarified who its presidential candidate will
be.
"It's obvious that such initiatives cannot lead to success," Aghvan
Vartanian, a Dashnaktsutyun leader, said of Yelk's plans. "But
political struggle is a show. Let them nominate [a presidential
candidate.]"
Pashinian seemed to acknowledge that the Yelk candidate is extremely
unlikely to get elected. "We just want to show our people and voters
that had they voted [in the April 2017 parliamentary elections]
otherwise the turn of events would have also been different," he told
RFE/RL's Armenian service (Azatutyun.am).
Echoing statements by other Yelk leaders, the oppositionist again
claimed that the HHK won the elections primarily as a result of vote
buying.
U.S. Citizen Accused Of Plotting Terror Attacks In Armenia
Armenia - The National Security Service headquarters in Yerevan.
Authorities in Armenia have issued an arrest warrant for a
U.S. citizen of Armenian descent who they claim plotted "terrorist
attacks" against the South Caucasus nation's senior state officials.
According to Armenia's National Security Service (NSS), they have
asked security services in the United States to help them prevent the
crimes allegedly planned by the unnamed individual residing in
America.
In a statement released on Thursday, the NSS said the individual whom
it identified as "R. K." opened in September a Facebook account to
promote a radical group campaigning for a violent overthrow of
Armenia's government. It said the account user posing as "Martin
Avagyan" posted messages calling for bombings, arson attacks and even
assassinations of Armenian government and law-enforcement officials
that would destabilize the situation in the country and thus put
"illegal pressure" on its government.
The group called Fighters for Justice (MHA) has also sought to recruit
through the social media platform disgruntled Armenians willing to
carry out such attacks, according to the NSS.
The security agency claimed that R.K. also actually "prepared for
terrorist acts" through "accomplices" in Armenia. It said it is now
taking measures to identify them.
The suspect has been formally charged under corresponding articles of
the Armenian Criminal Code. A Yerevan court has allowed the NSS to
arrest him or her pending investigation, said the statement.
"Given that the suspect is a U.S. citizen, resides in the U.S. and
their place of residence has been established, Armenia's Office of the
Prosecutor-General has forwarded this information to relevant
U.S. bodies in order to prevent the planned crimes," it added.
The Facebook page cited by the NSS contains numerous posts and reposts
extremely critical of Armenia's political leadership. One of them is a
purported September 24 statement by Fighters for Justice (MHA) saying
that the nationalist group will use "guerilla methods" to "punish the
pillars of the ruling regime." It said separately that senior figures
of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia and police officers guilty
of human rights abuses will be the "targets" of the campaign.
In a December 6 post, "Martin Avagyan" declared that the MHA has
embarked on "the second phase of the armed struggle" launched by three
dozen gunmen that seized a police station in Yerevan in July
2016. "Join the guerilla struggle, follow MHA statements and act
accordingly," it said.
The gunmen demanded that President Serzh Sarkisian free the jailed
leader of their Founding Parliament opposition movement, Zhirayr
Sefilian, and step down. They laid down their arms after a two-week
standoff with security forces which left three police officers dead.
Later on Thursday, the Yerevan daily "Haykakan Zhamanak" identified
the accused man as Robert Koorkian and posted an interview with him on
its website. Koorkian did not deny opening the "Martin Avagyan"
account but insisted that he never plotted any violence.
"I did not and do not have any group," said the California
resident. "What I have is thoughts which people like and which have
terrified the authorities."
"They say that they have a monopoly on beating up and torturing
people, while I say no,"
Koorkian also told the paper that U.S. law-enforcement officers have
already questioned him in connection with the Armenian arrest
warrant. "Yes, they came and interrogated me, and I explained in
detail the conditions of total dictatorship in which the people of
Armenia live now," he said, adding that the officers took no further
action "for now."
Official Denies Russian Obstruction On Armenian-Iranian Border
. Sargis Harutyunyan
Armenia/Iran - The Arax river separating Armenia and Iran.
A senior official claimed on Thursday that Russian border guards did
not block construction work on Armenia's border with Iran which was
commissioned by an Armenian government agency earlier this year.
The State Committee on Water Resources contracted an Armenian
construction company in April to reinforce a 40-meter section of the
northern bank of the Arax river separating the two countries. Ahead of
its latest weekly session in Yerevan, Prime Minister Karen
Karapetian's cabinet publicized a draft decision allowing the
committee to annul the contract.
An explanatory note posted on the government website said that the
construction firm has failed to reach an "agreement" with Russian
border guards deployed in the area. It said the Russians' consent to
any construction on the border is necessary for security reasons.
Opposition figures and media commentators were quick to criticize the
statement, saying that the border guards cannot challenge Armenia's
sovereignty.
The head of the State Committee on Water Resources, Arsen Harutiunian,
insisted, however, that there was a "typo" in the government statement
and that in fact it was the Iranian side that prevented the planned
works.
"The Russian side has nothing to do with that," he said after
Thursday's cabinet meeting. "We are talking about the Iranian side #
We have no problems with the Russian side."
Harutiunian said that Iranian authorities also have a say on such
matters because the planned measure to guard against floods could
change the river bed and affect Iran as well. "We are now negotiating
with the Iranian side to sort out the issue," he told reporters.
Despite these assurances, a parliament deputy from the opposition Yelk
alliance, Gevorg Gorgisian, raised the matter on the parliament floor
later in the day. "I consider this a very serious issue and think that
the government must give explanations so that we can understand why we
can't repair that section of the extremely important border and what
we should do to stop being dependent on the whims of that Russian
security unit," he said.
Russian border guards are deployed along Armenia's frontiers with
Turkey and Iran in line with Russian-Armenian agreements signed in the
early 1990s. Armenian conscripts make up a considerable part of their
personnel.
U.S. Envoy Sees Continued NATO Assistance To Armenia
. Hovannes Movsisian
Armenia -- U.S. Ambassador Richard Mills speaks to journalists in
Yerevan. 13Sept., 2017
The United States and other NATO member states stand ready to continue
their assistance to an Armenian army unit contributing troops to the
NATO-led missions in Afghanistan and Kosovo, U.S. Ambassador Richard
Mills said on Thursday.
Mills said NATO's Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller will make
this clear when she arrives in Yerevan on Monday for talks with
President Serzh Sarkisian and other Armenian leaders. Gottemoeller
will reaffirm the U.S.-led alliance's readiness to provide Armenian
peacekeepers with more "support, assistance and training they need to
carry out their work," he told reporters.
Over 120 Armenian soldiers are deployed in Afghanistan and 35 others
in Kosovo at present, highlighting Armenia's increase cooperation with
NATO.
"We greatly appreciate Armenia's participation in international
peacekeeping operations and NATO-led and other multinational
exercises," U.S. President Donald Trump said in a September letter to
his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sarkisian.
Mills likewise said that Armenians should be "very proud" of their
soldiers serving in Afghanistan. He said they are helping NATO forces
boost peace and security in the war-torn country and prevent it from
becoming a "safe haven for terrorists."
The soldiers serving there are part of the Armenian army's
peacekeeping brigade that has received considerable assistance from
the U.S. and other NATO militaries. As recently as on October 31,
senior Armenian and U.S. military officials inaugurated the brigade's
newly renovated training center near Yerevan.
Armenia has pledged to join more multinational peacekeeping missions
abroad with specialized medical and demining units in the near
future. They will undergo U.S. training before such deployment.
In October 2016, Mills and Defense Minister Vigen Sargsian inaugurated
a new paramedic school of the Armenian armed forces. U.S. military
instructors trained the first group of Armenian teaching personnel for
the school in August 2015.
Mills said in July this year that Armenia's military and political
alliance with Russia does not prevent it from forging closer security
ties with the U.S.
Press Review
"Zhamanak" says that the still unanswered question of who will be
Armenia's prime minister after April 2018 is not as important as many
think. The paper says the question of "who will be in opposition in
Armenia" then is at least just as important. "Will there be any
opposition at all?" it asks. "Will the opposition camp in Armenia
manage to reset itself and present itself with a new structure, logic
and agenda to the public?"
"Hraparak" says that President Serzh Sarkisian's political allies
claim that he is keen to hold on to power because he is only motivated
by an altruistic desire "not to leave the country without a master."
The paper says even assuming that they are telling the truth this
notion is not a convincing one. It says that what Sarkisian has
created in the last ten years is not a well-functioning "system" but a
"hierarchy" of individuals who care first and foremost about their
status and remuneration.
"Zhoghovurd" criticizes Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian for stating
during a visit to Greece that Armenia's accession to the Russian-led
Eurasian Economic Union opened up "new opportunities" for commerce and
investments. Nalbandian also argued that foreign investors can now use
Armenia as a platform for tariff-free access to Russia's market. The
paper dismisses that argument, saying that Armenian exports remain
modest despite the EEU membership.
"Aravot" suggests that most people who have emigrated from Armenia do
not have accurate and objective information about the situation in
their country of birth. "It's not that they are unable to get such
information," editorializes the paper. "Thank God, information flows
are abundant and diverse these days. It's just that they and perhaps
also their relatives and friends in Armenia filter information and the
picture becomes one-sided and not objective." Most emigres, it says,
have a strong demand for only negative information about Armenia.
(Tigran Avetisian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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