Wednesday, 

.S. Intelligence Chief Warns Of `Large-Scale' Fighting In Karabakh


U.S. -- National Intelligence Director Dan Coats speaks to reporters
after a swearing-in ceremony at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, March
16, 2017

The unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict could escalate into
"large-scale" fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces, the
U.S. director of national intelligence, Dan Coats, warned late on
Tuesday.

"Tension over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh could devolve
into a large-scale military conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan,
which could draw in Russia to support its regional ally," Coats said
at the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee's annual hearing on
"Worldwide Threats."

"Both sides' reluctance to compromise, mounting domestic pressures,
Azerbaijan's steady military modernization, and Armenia's acquisition
of new Russian equipment sustain the risk of large-scale hostilities
in 2018," he added.

Russian military assistance to Armenia stems from a defense alliance
between the two countries. At the same Russia has been Azerbaijan's
leading supplier of weapons. Moscow and Baku signed arms deals worth
at least $4 billion in 2009-2011.

Armenian officials say those deals contributed to four-day hostilities
around Karabakh that broke out in April 2016 and left at least 180
soldiers from both sides dead. It was the worst fighting in the
conflict zone since a Russian-brokered truce stopped a full-scale
Armenian-Azerbaijani war in 1994.

Together with France, the United States and Russia have long been
spearheading international efforts to end the Karabakh
dispute. Diplomats from the three world powers called on the
conflicting sides on Sunday to take "additional steps" to reduce
tensions on the frontlines.

In a joint statement issued after their latest tour of the region, the
mediators also said Yerevan and Baku have expressed readiness to
continue "intensive" peace talks in the months ahead. The Armenian and
Azerbaijani presidents pledged to intensify the peace process when
they met in Geneva in October.

Coats mentioned Karabakh in the context of Russia's efforts to
maintain a strong influence on other ex-Soviet states. "The Kremlin
will seek to maintain and, where possible, expand its influence
throughout the former Soviet countries that it asserts are in its
self-described sphere of influence," said the U.S. intelligence chief.



Armenian President-In-Waiting Admits Public Skepticism


 . Ruzanna Stepanian


Armenia - Presidential candidate Armen Sarkissian holds a copy of a
once popular video game during a visit to the Yerevan headquarters of
Synopsis Armenia company, .

Armen Sarkissian, the man widely expected to become Armenia's next
president in April, acknowledged on Wednesday that many citizens are
skeptical about his ability to achieve positive change in the country.

"There are different expectations," he said of his ongoing meetings
with Armenian politicians, business leaders, intellectuals as well as
ordinary Armenians. "A large part of the public has an inertia
thinking that that the president is someone who has a top-down
vertical power and can answer all questions. There is also the other
extreme, with people saying that the presidential powers are so modest
that the president cannot do anything."

"Part [of the public] says change is necessary and it will be good if
you can change something within the bounds of your powers," Sarkissian
told reporters. "But there is also a large segment that doesn't
believe in change, regardless of who the president of the republic
will be. And for me this is the most unfortunate phenomenon because
change can occur only if the society or citizens feel like [real]
citizens."

"I do understand the reasons for that," he said. "But I don't think
that is enough of a reason for people to think that nothing can be
done."

"The biggest challenge in our country is to ensure that people again
have hopes and faith," added the former scholar who had briefly served
as Armenia's prime minister and is currently its ambassador to
Britain. He made clear that he believes economic and other
improvements in the country can only be achieved "step by step."


Armenia - Presidential candidate Armen Sarkissian (R) meets with IT
executives at the Yerevan headquarters of Synopsis Armenia company, 14
February 2018.

Sarkissian was offered by the outgoing President Serzh Sarkisian (no
relation) last month to become the next head of state to be elected by
the Armenian parliament on March 2. The former premier, who has lived
in Britain for nearly three decades, said he will decide whether to
accept the offer after holding consultations.

With Armenia switching to a parliamentary system of government, the
next president of the republic will have few executive
powers. Sarkissian has downplayed this fact in his public statements.

Sarkisian said on Wednesday that he will meet with the outgoing
president and announce his decision "in the coming days."

The presidential candidate made the comments during a visit to the
Armenian subsidiary of the U.S. company Synopsis, one of the world's
leading microchip designers which employs hundreds of engineers in
Armenia. Speaking to young Synopsis Armenia staff, he confirmed
reports that he was one of the authors of Tetris, a world-famous video
game designed in the Soviet Union in the 1980s. He presented them with
a copy of Wordtris, a Tetris offshoot released in 1992.

A physicist and mathematician by education, Sarkissian worked at the
Cambridge University before being first appointed as ambassador in
London in 1991.



Police Urged To Investigate Yerevan Council Brawl


 . Anush Muradian


Armenia - Yerkir Tsirani party leader Zaruhi Postanjian argues with
police officers moments after a violent incident at Yerevan's
municipal council, 13 Februay 2018.

The Armenian police have received differing complaints about a bitter
altercation between opposition and pro-government members of Yerevan's
municipal council which turned violent on Tuesday.

The incident occurred during a regular session of the council chaired
by Mayor Taron Markarian. Two female councilors affiliated with the
opposition Yerkir Tsirani party were confronted by their
pro-government colleagues when they tried to give Markarian glass
containers filled with sewage collected from a damaged sewer pipe in
the city's Nubarashen district. They called the foul-smelling
substance a "gift" from Nubarashen residents.

The two sides scuffled and shouted insults at each other. Yerkir
Tsirani's Marina Khachatrian, slapped a male councilor representing
the ruling Republican Party (HHK) after being jostled by him. The
latter slapped her in response. Khachatrian and two other Yerkir
Tsirani members, including the party leader Zaruhi Postanjian, were
then physically forced to leave the council auditorium.

Postanjian sent a "crime report" to the police later on Tuesday. The
police also received a separate complaint from an unnamed official
from the municipal administration.


Armenia - Pro-government members of Yerevan's municipal council wrest
sewage containers from Yerkir Tsirani party's Marina Khachatrian, 13
February 2018.

A national police spokesman told RFE/RL's Armenian service
(Azatutyun.am) on Wednesday that the police department of Yerevan's
central administrative district is "preparing materials" to decide
whether to launch an official criminal investigation. No formal
criminal case has been opened yet, said the official.

"I think that law-enforcement bodies are failing to perform their
duties," said Postanjian. The outspoken opposition politician insisted
that the incident constituted a violent assault on herself and her two
associates that tried to approach the mayor.

For her part, Khachatrian said that she slapped the HHK's Edmond
Kirakosian because he groped her during the fracas. Neither Kirakosian
nor another HHK councilor, who pulled her hair, could be reached for
comment.

Markarian and his aides blamed Yerkir Tsirani for the unprecedented
violence. A statement released by the Mayor's Office accused the
opposition party of trying to discredit the municipal assembly with
actions "not befitting sane persons."

Postanjian also said on Wednesday that Markarian has brought more
police officers into the municipality building and banned a Yerkir
Tsirani car from using an adjacent parking lot. "We consider this to
be a continuation of yesterday's violence," she charged.



Israeli Parliament Rejects Armenian Genocide Bill


 . Artyom Chernamorian


Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L), delivers his speech
next to Israeli President Reuven Rivlin (R), at the opening of the
winter session of the Knesset (Parliament) in Jerusalem, Israel, 23
October 2017.

Israel's parliament voted down on Wednesday an opposition motion to
officially recognize the 1915 Armenian genocide in Ottoman Turkey.

The Knesset rejected the bill introduced by Yair Lapid, the leader of
the Yesh Atid party, by 41 votes to 28 after a first-ever debate on
the sensitive issue held on the Israeli parliament floor.

The bill describes the World War One-era extermination of some 1.5
million Armenians as genocide and calls for its official remembrance
in Israel.

Lapid made a case for the passage of the measure in a 3-minute speech
that preceded the vote. He said an official Israeli recognition of the
genocide is "a matter of conscience for Jews and non-Jews." Also, he
said, the mass killings and deportations of Armenians inspired Adolf
Hitler to mastermind the Jewish Holocaust.

However, Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely voiced the Israeli
government's opposition to the measure during the heated
discussion. She cited the "complexity" of the issue and its
"diplomatic repercussions."

Successive Israeli governments have opposed Armenian genocide
recognition lest it antagonize Turkey, a former security partner of
Israel. Some Israeli politicians have openly challenged this policy in
recent years. The Knesset speaker, Yuli Edelstein, called the Armenian
massacres a genocide and urged the Jewish state to recognize it in
2015.

The Knesset debate on the genocide issue coincided with a visit to
Israel by a delegation of Armenian parliamentarians. The five
lawmakers representing various Armenian political groups were offered
to attend the debate but declined to do that.



Press Review



"Zhoghovurd" condemns pro-government male members of Yerevan's
municipal council for assaulting their female colleagues from the
opposition Yerkir Tsirani party during Tuesday's session of the
legislature. The paper says Mayor Taron Markarian criticized not this
violence but his loyalists' failure to act more quickly against the
three Yerkir Tsirani councilors that tried to "present" him with
sewage collected from a damaged sewer pipe in the capital. "The
behavior of HHK-affiliated female members of the council was the most
disgusting," it says. "In their interviews, they justified the
beatings of their female colleagues."

"Aravot" says, by contrast, that both sides are to blame for the
embarrassing incident. The paper says the Yerkir Tsirani councilors
were well aware what kind of a reaction their actions would provoke
from thuggish HHK members. "These Republican members of the council
don't know and will not know any other way of making a point and
proving their arguments except throwing punches," editorializes the
paper. In that sense, it says tartly, Zaruhi Postanjian and the two
other members of Yerkir Tsirani made a correct political
"calculation."

"Had there been no violence we would have been able to soberly discuss
what Yerkir Tsirani councilor Marina Khachatrian did," writes
"Hraparak." "We might have criticized or mocked that action and
reminded the opposition that the [Yerevan] Council of Elders is not a
circus and that they can't solve issues by spraying it with foul
smell. Nothing kept councilors from raising the problem and achieving
its solution. After all, the problem of cleaning up sewage in
Nubarashen [district] is not about ousting the Republicans from
power." The paper suggests that Yerkir Tsirani deliberately provoked
the incident to gain "the status of victims." At the same time it
strongly disapproves of the HHK councilors' violent reaction.

"Haykakan Zhamanak" looks into a more than 7 percent rise in the
amount of various taxes collected by the Armenian authorities last
year. "This is certainly not a bad indicator, especially given that
this increase in tax revenue was not accompanied by a harassment of
businesses. At least there have been no reports of such systematic
abuses. However, when we examine tax collection from separate
taxpayers the picture is not that rosy." While acknowledging a
"certain" shrinkage of the informal sector of the Armenian economy,
the paper sees no "qualitative" economic growth in Armenia.

(Tigran Avetisian)


Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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