Monday, Armenian Presidential Frontrunner Endorsed By Tsarukian . Ruzanna Stepanian Armenia - President Serzh Sarkisan and Gagik Tsarukian attend an awards ceremony for Armenian athletes near Yerevan, 27Dec2017 Businessman Gagik Tsarukian and his political alliance have thrown their weight behind the man nominated by President Serzh Sarkisian's Republican Party (HHK) for the post of Armenia's president. With the Tsarukian Bloc controlling the second largest faction in the Armenian parliament, the decision means that the presidential candidate, Armen Sarkissian, will almost certainly be elected head of state in the first round of voting slated for March 2. Under the Armenian constitution, Sarkissian needs to be backed by at least 79 members of the 105-seat National Assembly in order to win outright. The HHK and the Tsarukian Bloc hold 65 and 31 parliament seats respectively. The bloc, which is officially in opposition to the government, announced the endorsement of Sarkissian's candidacy after a weekend meeting of its parliamentary faction chaired by Tsarukian. In his televised remarks made at the meeting, Tsarukian praised the former Armenian prime minister, saying that the latter has pledged to help create many jobs and attract "big investments" to Armenia. "He is now saying what we all say, desire and aim for," added the tycoon. As part of his consultations held with various Armenian political groups in recent weeks, Sarkissian has met separately with Tsarukian and senior lawmakers from his bloc. Sarkissian's endorsement by Tsarukian also means that he we will be running for president unopposed. The opposition Yelk alliance moved in December to nominate its own presidential candidate, Artak Zeynalian. It asked the Tsarukian Bloc to support Zeynalian's candidacy. The recently amended constitution stipulates that a presidential hopeful has to be backed by at least 27 lawmakers to have their name included on the ballot. Yelk holds only 9 parliament seats. The next president of the republic will be sworn in on April 9. With Armenia switching to a parliamentary system of government, he will have largely ceremonial powers. Opposition Party Seeking `United Front' Against Sarkisian's Continued Rule . Sisak Gabrielian Armenia - Opposition leader Raffi Hovhannisian, speaks in Yerevan, 22Sep2017 Raffi Hovannisian's Zharangutyun party said on Monday that it hopes to form a coalition of opposition forces that would try to prevent President Serzh Sarkisian from extending his decade-long rule. Zharangutyun's new chairman, Armen Martirosian, told RFE/RL's Armenian service (Azatutyun.am) that it is discussing with various groups and individuals the possibility of forming a "united front" against Sarkisian's perceived plans to become prime minister. "Such discussions have already started and they started some time ago," he said. Martirosian said Sarkisian's presidency has been a failure and he must not be allowed to hold on to power after completing his final term on April 9. "I think that the fight must be not so much against Serzh Sarkisian as for reforms, for radical changes in the country," he said. Martirosian added that Zharangutyun is specifically ready to team up with extraparliamentary opposition forces, including former President Levon Ter-Petrosian's Armenian National Congress (HAK). The HAK's deputy chairman, Levon Zurabian, reacted cautiously to the idea. "Let's talk, let's discuss, let's see whether that is possible, whether the current state of public consciousness is enough for organizing such an outburst," he said. Zurabian indicated last week that the HAK will not join forces with another opposition group, the Yelk alliance. He said Yelk leaders, notably Nikol Pashinian, themselves made things easier for Sarkisian when they refused to campaign against his controversial constitutional changes in 2015. Neither Zharangutyun nor the HAK is represented in the current Armenian parliament elected last April. Zharangutyun contested the last general elections in an alliance with former Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian and former Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian. According to the official election results, their ORO alliance got only 2 percent of the vote. An HAK-led electoral bloc fared even worse. By contrast, Yelk won 9 seats in the 105-member parliament. Pashinian warned earlier this month that the outgoing president could heighten political tensions in Armenia if he becomes prime minister. Still, Yelk has yet to clarify whether it will stage street protests to try to scuttle Sarkisian's continued rule. Martirosian took over as Zharangutyun chairman on Saturday following the resignation of Hovannisian, the party's founder and longtime leader. He insisted that Hovannisian will not retire from politics and will remain a member of the party's governing board. Activists See Environmental Reasons For Armenian Mine Shutdown . Anush Muradian Armenia -- A public discussion in Yerevan: `Insulating mining industry: Who will prevent the disaster of Teghut and rehabilitate the destructed nature?'. 26Feb., 2018 Production operations at a large copper mine in northern Armenia were halted last month because of its faulty waste disposal facilities, environment protection activists claimed on Monday. A private mining company, Vallex Group, sent the vast majority of its 1,200 employees working at the Teghut deposit on indefinite leave on January 12, citing the need for "planned prophylactic repairs." Vallex announced on February 2 that it will lay them off due to what it expects to be a "prolonged stoppage" of mining and ore processing at Teghut. It claimed that it needs time to commission feasibility studies on its plans to significantly boost production there. In the months leading up to the shutdown, Armenian environmentalists repeatedly reported toxic leaks from Teghut's waste disposal reservoir contaminating a nearby river. Vallex denied those reports. Rafael Afrikian of the Union of Informed Citizens (UIC) said on Monday that he and other members of the Yerevan-based civic group traveled to Teghut shortly after the announcement of the mass layoffs. He said they witnessed and documented evidence of Vallex of dumping industrial waste into the Debed river through a pipe during the night hours. Levon Galstian, who leads the non-governmental Armenian Ecological Front, claimed that the pipe was secretly laid seven months ago in breach of the Armenian government's environmental regulations. He insisted that Vallex is not allowed to do that. Artur Grigorian, another environmental activist, echoed the allegations, saying that his Ecological Right group has decided to sue Vallex. Galstian also alleged that the Liechtenstein-registered company temporarily shut down the mine to avoid a bigger environmental disaster. "The company stopped operations because the tailings dump could crumble at any moment," he told a joint news conference with the other activists. Vallex declined to immediately comment on these claims. A spokeswoman said the company would only respond to written inquiries. RFE/RL's Armenian service (Azatutyun.am)already sent such a request for comment earlier this month. Responding to it, Vallex did not clearly explain whether the Teghut shutdown had to do with its tailings dump. Armenia -- President Serzh Sarkisian visits the Teghut mine, 19 April, 2014. Meanwhile, the Armenian Ministry for Environment Protection said it cannot comment on the claims before inspecting the site. A ministry spokesman acknowledged that no environmental inspections have been conducted at Teghut ever since operations there began in late 2014. Lena Nazarian, an opposition parliamentarian who also spoke at the news conference, said that she was not allowed to enter the site when she travelled to Teghut recently. "The lack of transparency in their activities raises many suspicions," she said of Vallex. It remains unclear when Vallex plans to reopen the mine. The Teghut operator said on February 2 that it will keep a skeleton staff of around 300 employees who will guard the site and look after its industrial equipment. It also said that 200 other laid-off workers will be transferred to other mining enterprises belonging to Vallex. Those include a copper smelter in the nearby town of Alaverdi and metal mines in Nagorno-Karabakh. Teghut generated over 42 percent of Vallex's total operating revenue which soared by about 32 percent to $358 million last year. The mining group benefited from increased international prices of copper and other non-ferrous metals. Press Review (Saturday, February 24) "Haykakan Zhamanak" writes on the approaching anniversary of the March 2008 post-election violence in Yerevan which left ten people dead and dozens of others injured. Nobody has since been prosecuted in connection with those deaths. "When Armenia's leader shows an interest in the condemnation of the [Armenian] genocide by other nations so that more genocides are not committed is he also interested in punishing those responsible for the March 1 [violence] on the same grounds?" asks the paper. "There is no hope that the authorities will try to solve the March 1 crime." It also sees no "public demand" for solving the case. "Zhamanak" says that Armen Sarkissian's "smooth" election by the parliament as Armenia's new president is not a forgone conclusion. The paper says that it is not clear what kind of "agreements" he and Gagik Tsarukian reached at their recent unpublicized meeting. "Without mutual concessions, for which the parties are not prepared now, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict cannot be resolved," Konstantin Zatulin, a Russian lawmaker and pundit, tells "168 Zham." "Both sides need to make painful concessions. It has long been said that a settlement will not be possible unless Armenia cedes some districts and Azerbaijan recognizes Nagorno-Karabakh's independence. Karabakh has exercised its right to self-determination and I'm not inclined to think that Karabakh can ever be a part of Azerbaijan # So Azerbaijan should drop that claim [to Karabakh.]" Zatulin also says that Russia is now doing its best to prevent another escalation of the conflict and sustain the military balance between the warring sides. He says large-scale Russian arms supplies to Azerbaijan were a "mistake" which Moscow corrected after the April 2016 fighting in Karabakh. (Tatev Danielian) Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL Copyright (c) 2018 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc. 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org