Monday, 

Another Armenian Lawmaker Quits Former Ruling Party


Armenia -- Parliament deputy Arman Sahakian.

Another parliament deputy defected from the parliamentary faction of Serzh 
Sarkisian’s Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) over the weekend, further 
reducing its majority in the National Assembly.

The wealthy lawmaker, Arman Sahakian, gave no clear reason for the move when he 
announced it on Facebook. He said only that he will now concentrate on problems 
facing his constituency encompassing the country’s second largest city, Gyumri, 
as well as Armenia’s broader economic development.

“I am ready to actively support all initiatives by both the current authorities 
and my opposition comrades aimed at development,” wrote Sahakian.

It was not immediately clear whether he will also formally terminate his 
membership in the HHK.

Sahakian, 40, is a businessman who has held a seat in the parliament since 
2012. He reportedly owns companies importing alcohol, tobacco and foodstuffs to 
Armenia as well as one of the country’s leading football clubs based in Gyumri.

At least two other deputies quit the HHK’s parliamentary faction just a few 
days before Sahakian announced his decision. One of them, Artur Gevorgian, is 
the son-in-law of Vladimir Gasparian, the former chief of the Armenian police. 
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian fired Gasparian two days after taking office on 
May 8 following mass protests that forced Serzh Sarkisian to resign as premier.

After Sahakian’s exit, the HHK technically controls 55 of the 105 parliament 
seats. One of the remaining nominal members of its faction, Felix Tsolakian, 
twice broke ranks to vote for Pashinian’s premiership in early May.

The HHK leadership reprimanded Tsolakian but stopped short of expelling him 
from the party ranks as a result. His continued loyalty to the former ruling 
party now seems in serious doubt.

Some Armenian newspapers reported in recent days that several other wealthy 
parliamentarians are also poised to defect to from the HHK faction.

The faction leader, Vahram Baghdasarian, admitted last week that Sarkisian’s 
party now risks losing control over the parliament. He claimed at the same time 
that it is “not desperate to retain our majority.”

A loss of that majority would mean that the HHK can no longer block key 
government bills. It would also stop being in a position to thwart Pashinian’s 
plans to force fresh parliamentary elections later this year. Those plans are 
supported by the parliament’s three minority factions represented in 
Pashinian’s cabinet.




‘Violent’ Mayor Charged But Freed For Now

        • Marine Khachatrian

Armenia - Masis Mayor Davit Hambardzumian speaks to RFE/RL after being set free 
by a court in Yerevan, 2 June 2018.

The mayor of an Armenian town affiliated with the former ruling Republican 
Party (HHK) and three other men were controversially released from custody on 
Saturday one day after being charged with assaulting protesters in Yerevan in 
April.

The incident took place in the city’s southern Erebuni district just hours 
after Nikol Pashinian, the main organizer of mass protests against HHK leader 
Serzh Sarkisian’s continued rule, was detained on April 22. Hundreds of 
Pashinian supporters demonstrating there were attacked by several dozen men 
wearing medical masks and wielding sticks and even electric shock guns.

Five individuals were arrested on Thursday in connection with the violence. 
They included Davit Hambardzumian, the mayor of Masis, a small town about 10 
kilometers south of Yerevan, and his deputy Karen Ohanian.

Armenia’s Investigative Committee charged Hambardzumian with organizing the 
“mass riots” on Friday before asking a court in Yerevan to sanction his and the 
four other suspects’ pre-trial arrest. The latter stand accused of 
participating in the attack.

The court rejected all but one of those petitions, however. The presiding 
judge, Tatevik Grigorian, ordered the immediate release of Hambardzumian, 
Ohanian, the mayor’s cousin Gevorg and another suspect pending investigation.

Hambardzumian rejected the criminal case as “false” and said he will not resign 
as Masis mayor when he walked free in the courtroom. “What should I resign 
for?” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am).


Armenia - A screenshot of a video of thugs beating up an opposition protester 
in Yerevan's Erebuni district on 22 April 2018.

The Investigative Committee insisted that it has sufficient video and other 
evidence of the mayor’s and the other freed suspects’ involvement in the 
Erebuni attack. A spokesperson for the law-enforcement body said it will ask a 
prosecutor overseeing the probe to appeal against Grigorian’s ruling.

The 30-year-old judge presided over the recent high-profile trial of Zhirayr 
Sefilian and other radical opposition figures convicted of plotting to 
overthrow former President Serzh Sarkisian. She repeatedly refused to free 
those defendants pending a verdict in the case.

Grigorian’s decision to have Mayor Hambardzumian freed for now caused outrage 
among many Armenian civil society members and other supporters of the new 
government in Yerevan. They were quick to accuse her of acting on orders issued 
by Sarkisian’s HHK or other state elements loyal to the former Armenian 
government.

Incidentally, eight senior parliamentarians representing the HHK last week sent 
a joint letter to Prosecutor-General Artur Davtian and the Investigative 
Committee head, Aghvan Hovsepian, calling for the release of Hambardzumian and 
the other suspects.

The mayor’s arrest sparked street protests by his supporters in Masis. Some of 
them also demonstrated outside the Yerevan court before the ruling.

Hambardzumian, 32, is an HHK member who was elected mayor in 2016 with the help 
of the then ruling party. He is reportedly related to the chief bodyguard of 
Vladimir Gasparian, the former head of the Armenian police sacked by Pashinian.

Law-enforcement authorities have also made at least three other arrests in 
connection with similar incidents that occurred in two other parts of Yerevan 
during the Pashinian-led protest movement. Some Armenian media outlets have 
accused Yerevan Mayor Taron Markarian and Mihran Poghosian, a controversial 
parliamentarian, of orchestrating those attacks on protesters. Both men 
affiliated with the HHK deny that.




New Armenian Police Chief Claims To End Corruption

        • Ruzanna Stepanian

Armenia - Valeri Osipyan, chief of the Armenian police, speaks to reporters, 4 
June 2018

Less than one month after being appointed as chief of the Armenian police, 
Valeri Osipian claimed on Monday to have practically eliminated bribery and 
other corrupt practices among fellow police officers.

“I can announce with confidence that there are now no corrupt elements in the 
police,” he told reporters. “I can announce with confidence that I have taken 
concrete steps.”

“I don’t exclude that one or two of my colleagues [may be corrupt] but I can 
say for sure that corruption does not exist [as a systemic problem.]”

Nikol Pashinian named Osipian to run the national police service on May 10 two 
days after being elected Armenia’s prime minister following weeks of 
anti-government protests led by him.

Osipian was until then a deputy head of Yerevan’s police department responsible 
for public order and crowd control. He has been personally present at just 
about every major anti-government rally staged in the Armenian capital in the 
past decade. He frequently warned and argued with Pashinian during the protests 
which the former opposition leader launched on April 13 in a successful attempt 
to topple Serzh Sarkisian.

Introducing Osipian to high-ranking police officials on May 11, Pashinian said 
one of his main tasks will be to crack down on corruption in the police ranks 
which is believed to have long been endemic. Osipian replaced virtual deputy 
chiefs of the police in the following days.




Armenia To Retain Close Ties With Russia, Insists FM

        • Harry Tamrazian

Armenia - New Russian Ambassador Sergey Kopirkin (L) hands copies of his 
credentials to Armenia's Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanian, Yerevan,4June 
2018.

The new Armenian government will maintain Armenia’s “very deep” ties with 
Russia while trying to “complement” them with closer cooperation with the 
European Union and other world powers, according to Foreign Minister Zohrab 
Mnatsakanian.

In a weekend interview with RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am), 
Mnatsakanian ruled out major changes in Armenia’s traditional foreign policy 
orientation. He said the recent dramatic events that led to a change of 
government in Yerevan were an “Armenian process that totally fitted into the 
Armenian reality.”

“Our foreign policy will also be the same,” Mnatsakanian added, commenting on 
some Russian commentators’ fears that Armenia may drift away from Russia under 
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.

“We have very deep and very important relations with Russia and they will 
continue,” stressed the recently appointed minister. “Our strategic 
cooperation, strategic relations with Russia have a very strong, logical and 
explicable basis.”

Armenia will at the same time continue to seek closer ties with the EU, 
including through the implementation of the Comprehensive Enhanced Partnership 
Agreement (CEPA) signed last November, Mnatsakanian went on.

“That agreement was not signed and is not implemented to the detriment of other 
directions [of Armenian foreign policy,]” he said. “Instead, it complements 
what we have been doing for our national interests. And if we need to give more 
explanations, then we are going to do that.”

Russia closely watched the mass protests in Armenia sparked by former President 
Serzh Sarkisian’s attempt to extend his decade-long rule. In their public 
statements, Russian officials avoided taking sides in the standoff that led to 
Sarkisian’s resignation on April 23.

Pashinian has since repeatedly stated that he will not pull Armenia out of the 
Eurasian Economic Union and the Collective Security Treaty Organization. He 
assured Russian President Vladimir Putin on May 14 that Armenia will remain 
allied to Russia during his tenure.

Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksandr Pankin said late last month that 
regime change in Armenia has not had a negative impact on Russian-Armenian 
relations. “The vector and the dynamics [of bilateral ties] remain the same,” 
he told the TASS agency.

Incidentally, Mnatsakanian discussed those ties with Russia’s new ambassador in 
Yerevan, Sergey Kopirkin, at a meeting held on Monday. According to the 
Armenian Foreign Ministry, the minister expressed hope that the 
Russian-Armenian relationship will grow even closer.

Mnatsakanian is scheduled to visit Moscow and meet with Russian Foreign 
Minister Sergey Lavrov later this week.




Pashinian Urges End To Protests In Karabakh

        • Sisak Gabrielian

NAGORNO-KARABAKH -- Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian kisses a baby 
after a news conference in Stepanakert, May 9, 2018. Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on Monday called for an end to 
anti-government protests in Nagorno-Karabakh sparked by a violent dispute 
between security officers and other local residents.

Pashinian made what he described as a “brotherly request” as about 200 people 
demonstrated in Stepanakert for a fourth day to demand the resignation of the 
heads of Nagorno-Karabakh’s two main law-enforcement agencies blamed for the 
violence.

The brawl broke outside a Stepanakert car wash on Friday, with two groups of 
men bitterly arguing and pushing and punching each other for still unclear 
reasons. Several of them turned out to be officers of Karabakh’s National 
Security Service (NSS). They reportedly seriously injured at least one of the 
other, civilian participants of the fight.

The incident triggered a demonstration by angry Stepanakert residents who say 
that it is symptomatic of what they see as impunity enjoyed by members of 
security forces and their relatives. They blocked the town’s main avenue, 
demanding the resignation of the NSS and police chiefs. The street section has 
since been the scene of daily anti-government rallies.

Karabakh law-enforcement authorities arrested several individuals, including 
two NSS officers, in the immediate aftermath of the incident. Karabakh’s 
political leadership pledged to ensure an objective criminal investigation.

These assurances failed to satisfy the protesters, however. Their 
representatives twice met with Bako Sahakian, the Karabakh president, over the 
weekend. Sahakian is said to have told them late on Sunday that he is ready, in 
principle, to sack senior law-enforcement officials but will refrain from doing 
that now.

“The people will not leave until their demands are met,” one of the protest 
leaders said after the demonstrators decided to keep the Stepanakert street 
closed to traffic on Monday morning.


Nagorno-Karabakh - The parliament building in Stepanakert, 2Sep2016.

Meanwhile, Karabakh’s parliament set up a multi-party “investigative 
commission” at an emergency session held later in the day. The ad hoc 
commission is tasked with monitoring the probe of the brawl and other abuses 
allegedly committed by law-enforcement officials.

Pashinian appealed to the protesters late on Monday, saying that “any violence 
is unacceptable regardless of who resorts to it” and calling for “concrete 
conclusions” to be drawn from the June 1 incident. In a live Facebook 
broadcast, he praised Sahakian for meeting representatives of the protesters 
and reaching “concrete agreements” with them. He hinted that the Karabakh 
leader agreed to make personnel changes in the local security apparatus after 
the ongoing criminal inquiry is over.

The protests should therefore end, said the Armenian premier. “In a 
conversation with me, the president of Artsakh (Karabakh) reaffirmed his 
determination to implement those agreements and it is imperative to enable him 
to do that,” he added.

Pashinian’s appeal followed serious concerns voiced by some politicians and 
public figures in Armenia. They warned that a destabilization of the political 
situation in Karabakh could tempt Azerbaijan to attack Karabakh Armenian 
positions along “the line of contact” around the disputed territory.

“What happened in Armenia is inadmissible, to put it mildly, for Karabakh,” 
former President Levon Ter-Petrosian said in a weekend statement. “I mean mass 
protests and pressures on the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic’s authorities. They 
could have disastrous consequences for a country which is in a state of war.”

Ter-Petrosian alluded to the recent mass protests in Armenia that brought 
Pashinian to power. He said Pashinian must publicly call for an end to the 
Stepanakert protests.

The Karabakh leader’s spokesman, Davit Babayan, sought to allay such fears 
earlier on Monday. “The situation is not critical. This is a form of dialogue,” 
Babayan told RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am).

Babayan also warned against attempts to “politicize” the June 1 incident and 
urged the protest leaders to drop their “ultimatums” issued to the authorities 
in Stepanakert.




More Armenian Lawmakers Quit Former Ruling Party

        • Emil Danielyan

Armenia - Parliament deputy Felix Tsolakian, 4 April 2018.

Two more parliament deputies have defected from the parliamentary faction of 
Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), putting it on the verge of 
losing its majority in the National Assembly.

One of them, Arman Sahakian, gave no clear reason for his move when he 
announced it on Facebook over the weekend. He said only that he will now 
concentrate on problems facing his constituency encompassing the country’s 
second largest city, Gyumri, as well as Armenia’s broader economic development.

“I am ready to actively support all initiatives by both the current authorities 
and my opposition comrades aimed at development,” wrote Sahakian.

Sahakian, 40, is a businessman who has held a seat in the parliament since 
2012. He reportedly owns companies importing alcohol, tobacco and foodstuffs to 
Armenia as well as one of the country’s leading football clubs based in Gyumri.


Armenia -- Parliament deputy Arman Sahakian.

The other lawmaker, Felix Tsolakian, announced his exit from the HHK faction on 
Monday. He said his affiliation with it “effectively ended” after he twice 
broke ranks to vote for Nikol Pashinian’s becoming Armenia’s prime minister in 
early May. In a Facebook post, he said he will now be acting as an independent 
deputy.

The HHK leadership reprimanded Tsolakian for voting for Pashinian but stopped 
short of expelling him from the party ranks last week.

Tsolakian, 66, was a career KGB officer in Soviet times and a deputy director 
of Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS) from 2007-2013. He headed the 
national tax service from 2003-2007. Tsolakian governed the northwestern Shirak 
province when he was elected to the parliament from a local constituency in 
2017.

At least two other deputies quit the HHK’s parliamentary faction last week. One 
of them, Artur Gevorgian, is a son-in-law of Vladimir Gasparian, the former 
chief of the Armenian police. Pashinian fired Gasparian two days after taking 
office on May 8 following mass protests that forced Serzh Sarkisian to resign 
as premier.


Armenia - Deputies from the ruling Republican Party of Armenia at a parliament 
session in Yerevan 28 February 2018.

After the latest defections the HHK technically controls 54 of the 105 
parliament seats. Some Armenian newspapers reported in recent days that several 
other wealthy parliamentarians are also poised to defect to from its 
parliamentary faction.

The faction leader, Vahram Baghdasarian, admitted last week that Sarkisian’s 
party now risks losing control over the parliament. He claimed at the same time 
that it is “not desperate to retain our majority.”

A loss of that majority would mean that the HHK can no longer block key 
government bills. It would also stop being in a position to thwart Pashinian’s 
plans to force fresh parliamentary elections later this year. Those plans are 
supported by the parliament’s three minority factions represented in 
Pashinian’s cabinet.



Press Review


(Saturday, June 2)

“Haykakan Zhamanak” reports that the prices of fruits, vegetables and meat sold 
in Armenian supermarkets have gone up sharply following accusations of 
large-scale tax evasion levelled against the country’s largest retail chain 
owned by parliament deputy Samvel Aleksanian. The paper close to the new 
Armenian government assures readers that there is “nothing terrible” about the 
price hikes because the cost of these foodstuffs sold in smaller shops and 
markets remains unchanged. It also argues that the government needs to put an 
end to corporate tax fraud.

“Hraparak” says that the retail “oligarchs” are retaliating against the 
crackdown launched by Nikol Pashinian’s government. “On the one hand, this is 
blackmail directed at the authorities that have breached ‘rules of the game,’” 
writes the paper. “On the hand, it’s a slap in the face of the society that has 
carried out a democratic revolution.” It hopes that the price hikes will be 
more than offset by extra tax payments to the state budget.

“Aravot” reports that the supermarket managers have sent a collective letter to 
Pashinian. The paper says their message to the prime minister can be summed up 
as follows: “If we stick only to the law we will go bankrupt and food prices 
will rise.” It says that while public anger about large businesses evading 
taxes is legitimate “government officials and experts have something to think 
about.” “Maybe relevant laws were really written in such a way that it was very 
hard not to circumvent them,” it says.

“Zhamanak” reports on a corruption scandal surrounding activities the Armenian 
Youth Fund, a state-funded structure that has long been effectively controlled 
by the youth wing of Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party (HHK) headed by Karen 
Avagian, a parliament deputy. Avagian alleged on June 1 that the fund’s 
executive director has embezzled over 326 million drams ($680,000) from the 
fund. Law-enforcement authorities have launched a criminal investigation into 
the allegation. The paper wonders if Avagian’s allegation is a further 
indication of mounting friction within the HHK.

(Tigran Avetisian)


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