Friday, 

Pashinian Advocates ‘Fact-Based’ Decision On Amulsar Gold Mine

        • Karlen Aslanian

Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian holds a meeting on the Amulsar mining 
site in Jermuk, 6July, 2018

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian called for a decision on the future of 
a gold mining project at Amulsar that would be “based on facts rather than 
emotions” as he met with all stakeholders in the central Armenian province of 
Vayots Dzor on Friday.

Pashinian arrived in the town of Jermuk on the second day of his two-day tour 
of the southern and central Armenian provinces with the purpose of getting 
firsthand information about a local dispute between some members of the 
community and environmentalists on one side and an international mining company 
prospecting for gold at a nearby deposit on the other.

All roads leading to Amulsar have been blocked since June 23 by a group of 
residents of nearby communities as well as some environmental activists 
protesting against gold mining operations planned there. The protesters claim 
the operations of Lydian International, a U.S.-based mining company, would 
contaminate air and water in the mountainous area. Lydian maintains that it 
will use advanced technology to prevent any damage to the local ecosystem.


Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian meets with protesters at Amulsar, 
6July, 2018
The company, which had won exclusive rights to develop the Amulsar deposit, 
says it has suffered millions of dollars in losses and could take legal action 
if one of the largest business projects in Armenia’s history is disrupted.

More than 1,400 people employed by the company, many of them also local 
residents, have been unable to go to work for days. More than 200 Lydian 
employees demonstrated in Yerevan on July 2 against the blockage of the 
construction site at the gold deposit imposed by the protesters despite Premier 
Pashinian’s call to end the protests.

Pashinian met with representatives of Lydian, the local communities and 
environmental activists in one place to discuss possible ways of resolving the 
situation. In particular, he insisted that an inspection involving all 
stakeholders, including experts, should be carried out to provide credible 
answers to two key questions – whether the operations of the mining site affect 
the quality of water resources and the future development of Jermuk as a resort 
town.

“I believe that decisions of the government concerning the mine must be made on 
the basis of facts rather than emotions. Theoretically, one can also make 
emotional decisions, but we should understand that emotional decisions, 
especially in state governance, are not particularly useful. And secondly, we 
now have a de jure situation and every resolution of this situation has its own 
potential development. If we make any unlawful step in this situation – even 
one that is deemed unlawful not necessarily from our standpoint but at least 
from the point of view of international relations – we may face major 
problems,” Pashinian said.

Both sides appeared to agree on an inspection of Lydian’s compliance with 
environmental norms proposed by the prime minister, but neither agreed to make 
concessions in terms of the current activities on the deposit. Community 
representatives and environmental activists insisted that construction of gold 
mining and smelting facilities at Amulsar should be suspended for the period of 
the inspection, with Lydian’s representative finding such an approach 
unacceptable.

Joao Carrelo, President and Chief Executive Officer of Lydian International, 
said that every day that goes by without activities costs the company about 
half a million dollars that it has to additionally find on the market. He said 
that due to the downtime to date the company has already incurred losses to 
offset which it has to find an additional $14 million.

“There has been an investment from the United States, Canada, the UK to the 
tune of over $400 million. Investors will only invest if they feel secure that 
their investment is secure and the environmental permits have been given to the 
company. As far as I know the company has used the highest standards in the 
industry in the world to ask for permits based on IFC (International Finance 
Corporation) and also EBRD (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development) 
standards. So, the company has a permit to work. And it has responsibility to 
all of the stakeholders to make sure it does the best job possible to the 
highest standards in the world. That includes the investors, our workforce, the 
communities and the government of the country that we are in,” said Carrelo, 
who took up his current job in May.

Lydian’s representative suggested that inspections can be carried out in 
parallel with the mining activities. “For a responsible company every day that 
goes by without activity delays all of the benefits that this project could 
bring to the community, to the country. The international community is watching 
and they want to know whether more investments will come into Armenia,” Carrelo 
added.

In their turn activists present at the discussion said that they will continue 
to stage protests and will not unblock the roads leading to the mining site.


Armenia - Gold mining facilities constructed by Lydian International company at 
Amulsar deposit, 18 May 2018.

Lydian started construction at Amulsar in 2016 after going through a lengthy 
licensing process administered by Armenia’s former government. It pledged to 
invest more than $400 million in the deposit and more than triple Armenia’s 
gold exports which stood at an estimated $100 million last year.

Gold production at Amulsar was due to start before the end of this year. It is 
not yet clear whether the continuing protests there will delay it.

The mining project is strongly supported by the U.S. and British governments. 
The U.S. ambassador to Armenia, Richard Mills, argued last year that it has 
been deemed “fully compliant” with environment protection standards set by the 
World Bank and the EBRD. The EBRD holds a minority stake in Lydian.

Mills apparently expressed concern over the disruptions when he met with Deputy 
Prime Minister Tigran Avinian on June 14. According to Avinian’s press office, 
the U.S. envoy “stressed the importance of the continuation of Lydian Armenia’s 
activities.”

According to the National Statistical Service, Lydian was the main source of 
$246 million in foreign direct investment attracted by Armenia last year.


Armenian PM Sees No Targeted Crackdown On Sarkisian Family

        • Karlen Aslanian

Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian presides over a government session, 
June 21, 2018

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has ruled out that any specific family 
in Armenia is being targeted after a series of high-profile revelations by 
law-enforcement agencies concerning close relatives of the country’s former 
president Serzh Sarkisian.

In separate statements on Thursday the Investigative Committee and the National 
Security Service said that two nephews of Sarkisian, who lost power under the 
pressure of the Pashinian-led protest movement in April, are implicated in 
different crimes. In particular, Hayk Sarkisian was named as a suspect in a 
reopened 2007 attempted murder case and Narek Sarkisian is currently wanted by 
police on suspicion of theft and illegal possession of weapons and drugs.

The statements were made after a search at the residence of Hayk’s and Narek’s 
father, Aleksandr Sarkisian, a controversial brother of the ex-president better 
known to the public as “Sashik.” A video of the search released by the National 
Security Service (NSS) late on Thursday showed large sums of money, expensive 
watches and artworks, numerous gold coins and pieces of jewelry found at 
Aleksandr Sarkisian’s apartment. The NSS said the legality of the items will be 
checked as part of the criminal investigation.

Aleksandr Sarkisian is thought to have made a big fortune in the past two 
decades. Unconfirmed reports in the Armenian press have said that he spent 
millions of dollars buying real estate in Europe and the United States.

Meanwhile, the State Revenue Committee in late June launched a probe against 
another brother of the former president, Levon Sarkisian, and his two children 
on suspicion of ‘illegal enrichment’ after law-enforcement authorities 
discovered nearly $7 million held by them in a commercial bank.

“We are not going after anyone’s family or individual, we follow alerts that 
law-enforcement bodies receive as well as the information that they have,” 
Prime Minister Pashinian told RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am) on 
Friday, commenting on the cases.

Pashinian, who announced a crackdown on corruption after being elected prime 
minister on May 8, excluded ‘political’ solutions to legal cases involving 
crimes.

“There is no certain plan that we follow in terms of exposure. The task is 
formulated differently. Law must be respected in the country and 
law-enforcement bodies should work effectively. Whatever happens within the 
framework of these two principles is not something that we plan, but is a 
matter that comes out of the realities,” the premier said.

Pashinian, who for years spoke about widespread government corruption as an 
opposition member, stopped short of evaluating the extent of corruption exposed 
by Armenia’s law-enforcement agencies so far. He only said that he was shocked 
by “cynicism” in some cases.Pashinian also denied that ex-president Sarkisian 
tried to contact him over the investigations concerning members of his extended 
family.

Serzh Sarkisian, who had been president for 10 years, moved to the newly 
powerful post of prime minister in mid-April but stepped down within less than 
a week after peaceful street protests led by then-opposition lawmaker Pashinian.



Armenia’s Water Operator Vows To Restore Full Service In Yerevan After Shortages

        • Marine Khachatrian

Armenia -- Residents of Yerevan celebrate the festival of Vardavar pouring 
water upon each other (file photo)

Armenia’s water operator has pledged to restore full supply in the nation’s 
capital Yerevan where residents in recent days have complained about water 
shortages amid a midsummer heat wave.

Households in many districts of the city experienced difficulties as Veolia 
Djur, a French company providing maintenance of water supply and sewerage 
nationwide, reported major breakdowns in the system and had to disconnect whole 
neighborhoods from water supply for hours.

Meanwhile, air temperatures in Yerevan and the rest of Armenia in recent days 
stayed at around 40 degrees Celsius, making it more difficult for residents to 
cope with water shortages.

Gor Grigorian, an operations director at Veolia Djur, said on Friday that water 
supply in the whole of Yerevan will be restored already on July 7, incidentally 
the eve of Vardavar, a religious festival in Armenia during which people 
traditionally pour water on each other in the streets.

Grigorian did not deny that the company experienced problems with supplying 
water during the past week due to a major breakdown in the system that the 
water utility manager described as unprecedented for Yerevan.

“Sometimes breakdowns require much time to repair. Here it coincided with hot 
weather, a breakdown of pumps and a breakdown of the water main. We have never 
had such a coincidence,” Grigorian said.

Veolia Djur’s operations director said that 90 percent of the problems have now 
been solved and all problems will have completely been solved by tomorrow after 
which full water supply of Yerevan will be ensured.

The French company worked in Yerevan alone for a decade before becoming a 
nationwide water operator in 2016.


Mayor Of Armenian Town Resigns After PM’s Visit

        • Karlen Aslanian

Armenia - Kapan mayor Ashot Haryapetian stands next to Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian at a public rally in the town's central square, Kapan, 07Jul2018

Ashot Hayrapetian, the mayor of Kapan, has announced his resignation hours 
after the visit of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian to the southern Armenian town.

The information was confirmed to RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am) by 
the mayor’s spokeswoman Armine Avagian.

Premier Pashinian was in Kapan as part of his tour of the Syunik province on 
Thursday. There he got a warm reception as held a public rally in the town’s 
central square where hundreds of local residents had an opportunity to pose 
questions to him. At the same time, Kapan residents booed at the town’s mayor, 
a member of the former ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), who stood next 
to Pashinian during the rally.

“You were installed here by the HHK; your regime is in the past,” Kapan 
residents shouted to Hayrapetian in the square, showing their anger.

After announcing his resignation Hayrapetian wrote in a Facebook post: “My 
ideas about how to continue programs for the community and expectations of the 
public are different.”

Hayrapetian is one of several HHK-affiliated mayors to have resigned since the 
change of government in May.

HHK leader Serzh Sarkisian, who had been president for 10 years, moved to the 
newly powerful post of prime minister in mid-April but had to step down within 
less than a week under the pressure of peaceful street protests led by 
then-opposition lawmaker Pashinian.

Pashinian was voted in as prime minister on May 8 by a parliament still 
dominated by the HHK. The Sarkisian-led party officially lost its parliamentary 
majority in the subsequent weeks as several lawmakers quit its faction.

As the focus of protests shifted to local government bodies, leaders of several 
Armenian communities, including the majors of Armavir, Hrazdan and Echmiadzin, 
resigned in recent weeks.

Activists in Yerevan have also been demanding the resignation of the Armenian 
capital’s mayor Taron Markarian, a senior figure in the former ruling party.

Meanwhile, in an unrelated development the mayor of Masis, Davit Hambartsumian, 
who is also affiliated with the HHK, was arrested on Friday on charges of 
“organizing mass disturbances and committing violence and an act of hooliganism 
with the use of weapons or items used as weapons.”

Hambartsumian was already briefly arrested in May on another criminal charge 
stemming from his alleged involvement in violent attacks against opposition 
supporters who protested against Sarkisian in April.



Press Review



“Zhoghovurd” comments on the statements made by Constitutional Court Chairman 
Hrair Tovmasian on Constitution Day that was marked in Armenia on July 5. “And 
who is now speaking about the protection of the Constitution? It is the person 
who was a key figure in the former Republican government and is the main author 
of the current Constitution that was tailored to the needs of former president 
Serzh Sarkisian and several others so as to ensure their continued stay in 
power… It can be certainly said today that the parliamentary form of government 
is a ticking bomb for the statehood of Armenia,” the paper contends.

In the context of the recent news that investigators have summoned former 
President Robert Kocharian for questioning in connection with a deadly 
post-election crackdown on opposition protesters in Yerevan in 2008 “Zhamanak” 
remembers the ex-leader’s infamous statement made in 1998 that he saw “no man 
in Armenia who could carry out a change of government.” “Talking to journalists 
then Kocharian elaborated on his ‘only man’ principle on the basis of which he 
ruled for 10 years, laying the foundation for two decades of kleptocracy… The 
‘only man’ myth has been busted before everyone’s eyes as Kocharian and his 
successor Serzh Sarkisian found themselves in total isolation. Criminal 
prosecution against them is a matter of days, probably weeks.”

“Hraparak” says Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian continues the “tradition” of 
former heads of government who surrounded themselves with numerous advisors. 
“According to the official website of the prime minister, Pashinian has one 
chief advisor, four advisors and seven advisors who work without a salary – 12 
advisors in total. It is difficult to say what kind of advice they give to the 
prime minister and whether he follows all of them or any of them. Let’s hope 
that he is not guided by the principle laid down in the famous saying that ‘one 
has to listen to all pieces of advice, but move on using one’s own brain’.”

“Haykakan Zhamanak” sees an upward trend in the real estate market, implying 
that it may be the result of the recent change of government implemented 
through peaceful street protests. Invoking the latest official statistics, the 
paper reports that housing prices in May went up in all districts of the 
Armenian capital. “It is difficult to say how far this is connected with the 
‘velvet’ revolution in Armenia, but it is remarkable that during the first 
three months of the year housing prices were going down as compared with the 
corresponding period of last year and in April real estate prices went up 
slightly only in several districts of Yerevan,” the paper writes.

(Anush Mkrtchian)





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