Friday, January 12, 2017
Sarkisian, Parliament Leaders Discuss Constitutional Transition
January 12, 2018
Armenia - President Serzh Sarkisian meets with senior members of the
Armenian parliament in Yerevan, 12Jan2017.
With only three months to go before the end of his final term,
President Serzh Sarkisian met with senior lawmakers on Friday to
discuss Armenia's ongoing transition to the parliamentary system of
government.
It was not immediately clear whether Sarkisian shed light on his
political future, which remains a subject of intense speculation in
the country.
"We must successfully complete this transitional period, and the main
criterion for success in this case will be a smooth course free of
upheavals," he told parliament speaker Ara Babloyan, his three
deputies, the chairpersons of the parliament's standing committees and
the leaders of all but one political groups represented in the
National Assembly.
Sarkisian noted "enormous legislative work" that needs to be carried
out in the coming weeks. He cited the need to enact a host of new laws
stemming from Armenia's radically amended constitution that will take
effect immediately after the end of his presidency on April 9.
The new constitution will transfer most of the presently sweeping
presidential powers to the prime minister, the government and the
parliament. It means that the next head of state, who is due to be
elected by March 9, will play a largely ceremonial role.
Sarkisian said that the parliament also has to appoint members of new
state bodies tasked with overseeing the Armenian judiciary and
combatting corruption and pick a prime minister by April. In his
opening remarks at the meeting publicized by his office, he again
declined to say whether he is planning to become prime minister or
take up another top state position.
Sarkisian's Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) controls the majority of
seats in the current parliament. Some senior HHK figures have already
publicly called on the president to stay in power as prime
minister. They have said that he will remain the ruling party's
chairman in any case.
A statement by the presidential office said other participants of the
meeting presented their "views and proposals" on the ongoing
constitutional transition but did not elaborate. The parliamentary
leaders also declined to divulge details after the meeting.
The meeting was boycotted by Nikol Pashinian, the parliamentary leader
of the opposition Yelk alliance. Pashinian claimed earlier this week
that Sarkisian disrespected the parliament by "summoning" its senior
members to the presidential palace.
Estonia First To Ratify EU-Armenia Accord
January 12, 2018
. Sargis Harutyunyan
ESTONIA -- (L-R) President of the European Council Donald Tusk,
Estonia's Prime Minister Juri Ratas and President of the European
Commission Jean-Claude Juncker attend a news conference during the
European Union Tallinn Digital Summit in Tallinn, Estonia,
Estonia has become the first European Union member state to ratify a
landmark agreement that was signed by the EU and Armenia in November.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry told RFE/RL's Armenian service
(Azatutyun.am) on Friday that official Yerevan has received a relevant
notification from the Baltic nation's government.
The Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) must be
ratified by all 28 EU member states as well as the European Parliament
in order to come into force. A senior Armenian lawmaker, Armen
Ashotian, said earlier this week that Yerevan hopes the European side
will complete the process by July 2019.
Ashotian also said that the Armenian parliament will likely ratify the
CEPA by the end of March.
The CEPA is a less ambitious substitute for an Association Agreement
which was nearly finalized by Armenia and the EU 2013. President Serzh
Sarkisian precluded the signing of that agreement with his decision to
make Armenia part of a Russian-led trade bloc of ex-Soviet republics.
The CEPA, which is more than 350 pages long, was signed by Armenian
Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and the EU's foreign policy chief,
Federica Mogherini, in Brussels on November 24. Mogherini said the
agreement "will broaden the scope of our relations."
Armenian Football Chief Again Refuses To Quit
January 12, 2018
. Anush Muradian
Armenia - Ruben Hayrapetian, chairman of the Football Federation of
Armenia, speaks at a news conference in Yerevan, 12Jan2018.
Ruben Hayrapetian, the controversial chairman of the Football
Federation of Armenia (FFA), said on Friday that he will not step down
despite a promise given two years ago.
Hayrapetian faced street protests and resignation calls by angry fans
in Yerevan after the Armenian national team failed to qualify for the
2016 European football championship in France. They held him
responsible for the team's poor performance, pointing to his
interference in the selection of team players and failure to hire a
renowned coach.
Meeting with a group of other soccer fans in November 2015,
Hayrapetian said he will resign if Armenia also fails in the
qualifying campaign for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
The squad captained by the Manchester United midfielder Henrikh
Mkhitaryan lost seven of its ten competitive matches played in 2016
and 2017. It finished fifth in a qualifying group that included six
European teams.
"I want to disappoint those people who are awaiting my resignation,"
Hayrapetian told a news conference. "No, I'm not going to resign."
Armenia - Angry soccer fans demand the resignation of Ruben
Hayrapetian, chairman of the Armenian Football Federation, Yerevan,
24Nov2015.
Hayrapetian insisted that he is not breaking any promises, saying that
his 2015 statement was never valid because he made it during an
unofficial "friendly conversation." "I would ask those who doubt my
keeping my word or my masculine traits to study me thoroughly # I have
never broken any pledges and have always been true to my word," he
declared.
Hayrapetian said he too is unhappy with the national team's
performance but believes its head coach, Artur Petrosian, can turn
things around. "Serious conclusions have been drawn and will be drawn
and there will certainly be changes in the national team," he said.
He further made clear that he intends to continue running the FFA in
the years ahead. "I don't see anyone else who can build on what I have
created or at least not ruin it," he said.
Armenia - Ruben Hayrapetian and attacking midfielder Henrikh
Mkhitaryan talk during a training session in Yerevan, 25Mar2015.
A wealthy businessman and influential government ally commonly known
as "Nemets Rubo," Hayrapetian has long been dogged by controversy
resulting from his reportedly violent conduct. As recently as in
August 2015, he avoided prosecution despite admitting that he beat up
another entrepreneur.
He was subsequently implicated in a violent attack on a member of an
Armenian group critical of the government. He denied any involvement
when questioned by law-enforcement authorities.
In 2012, Hayrapetian was forced to step down as parliament deputy
representing the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) following a
brutal attack on several army medics who dined at a Yerevan restaurant
owned by his family. One of them, Vahe Avetian, died while two others
were seriously injured after arguing with men working at the
restaurant.
Jailed Oppositionist Ends Hunger Strike
January 12, 2018
. Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia -- Armen Bilian (L) and other opposition gunmen occupy a
police station in Yerevan in July 2016.
One of the arrested members of an armed opposition group that seized a
police station in Yerevan in 2016 ended a nearly month-long hunger
strike after being taken to a prison hospital on Friday.
Armen Bilian went on hunger strike in Yerevan's Nubarashen prison on
December 15, demanding his transfer to another, more modern and less
crowded prison located near Armavir, a town 40 kilometers west of the
Armenian capital.
Smbat Barseghian, another gunman kept at Nubarashen, joined the
protest and voiced the same demand on December 21. He continued to
refuse food as of Friday evening.
Bilian and Barseghian stand accused of killing three police officers
during the armed group's July 2016 standoff with Armenian security
forces. The gunmen demanded that President Serzh Sarkisian free the
jailed leader of their Founding Parliament movement, Zhirayr Sefilian,
and step down. They surrendered two weeks after storming a police
compound in the city's Erebuni district.
Bilian's lawyer, Armine Fanian, cited health reasons when she
petitioned the Armenian Justice Ministry's prison department to move
her client to the Armavir prison. The department rejected the request,
saying that the Bilian has not been diagnosed with any illness "not
compatible" with conditions at Nubarashen. It insisted that the
inmates of both penitentiary institutions have access to "identical"
medical assistance.
The department described Bilian's health condition as "satisfactory"
when it announced his hospitalization on Friday. It said he decided to
end the hunger strike immediately after being taken to the prison
hospital in Yerevan.
Fanian insisted, meanwhile, that prison conditions at Nubarashen are
extremely poor. "We are talking about basic prison conditions which
are degrading at the Nubarashen prison," the lawyer told RFE/RL's
Armenian service (Azatutyun.am). "People kept there take turns to
sleep. Overcrowding there is not a secret to anyone."
A human rights activist, Artur Sakunts, said for his part that the two
murder suspects want to be transferred to the Armavir jail because
they are harassed by "criminal elements" at Nubarashen. The latter are
acting on government orders, Sakunts claimed at a news conference.
Press Review
January 12, 2018
Armenian newspapers continue to comment on President Serzh Sarkisian's
emergency meeting with senior state officials that focused on the
latest increases in the prices of some essential products in Armenia.
"Haykakan Zhamanak" again calls the meeting "weird," pointing to
official statistics which show that consumer price inflation in
Armenia remains low. The National Statistical Service (NSS) reported
this week that annual inflation stood at 2.6 percent in 2017. "So
there is supposedly no reason, situation or condition that should make
one worry," writes the paper. "But, as you can see, Serzh Sarkisian
was so concerned that he convened the meeting. It means that either
the statistical data is not credible or there are internal political
issues at play: for instance, an anticipation of mass protests."
"Zhamanak" says what caught observers' attention the most was not
Sarkisian's comments on the need to rein in prices but his calls for
increasing public spending on social programs "in the second half of
the year." "That statement has been construed as yet another
indication of his prime-ministerial ambitions," writes the paper. It
says that this is not the first time that Sarkisian spoke of what the
government should do months or even years after the end of his final
presidential term.
"There was a tradition in Soviet times: if the [Communist Party]
Politburo planned to change something in the country it made sure that
that happened at the urging of the working masses," writes "Chorrord
Ishkhanutyun." "In Armenia, that is done a bit differently. But the
logic is the same. That is why the authorities and the parliamentary
opposition have `coincidentally' been busy doing the same thing since
the beginning of the new year: they are fighting against
corruption. Serzh Sarkisian held a meeting on that issue, while the
Yelk alliance is going to stage a protest rally. In both cases, the
path of achieving the declared goal is uncertain. Yelk is not saying
how the rally will affect prices, while Serzh Sarkisian is not saying
just how he will curb inflation and is only issuing general orders."
(Tigran Avetisian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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