Friday,
German Leader Visits Armenian Genocide Memorial In Yerevan (UPDATED)
Armenia - German Cancellor Angela Merkel lays a wreath at the Armenian genocide
memorial in Yerevan, .
German Chancellor Angela Merkel laid flowers at the Armenian genocide memorial
in Yerevan at the start of her visit to Armenia on Friday.
Merkel arrived in the Armenian capital on the second leg of her tour of the
three South Caucasus states.
Immediately after being welcomed by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian at Yerevan’s
Zvartnots airport, Merkel headed to the Tsitsernakabert memorial to some 1.5
million Armenians that were massacred by the Ottoman Turks during the First
World War. She laid a wreath by its eternal fire and planted a symbolic tree in
an adjacent park.
Germany’s parliament, the Bundestag, recognized the massacres as genocide in a
resolution overwhelmingly adopted in June 2016. It also acknowledged that the
German Empire, then a military ally of Ottoman Turkey, did nothing to stop the
killings.
Germany -- Lawmakers vote to recognise the Armenian genocide after a debate
during the 173rd sitting of the Bundestag, the German lower house of
parliament, in Berlin, June 2, 2016
The resolution was drafted by lawmakers representing the main parliamentary
factions, including Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Although the
German leader did not take part in the vote, she reportedly backed the measure
in an internal party straw poll.
Turkey reacted furiously to the resolution, recalling its ambassador in Berlin.
Successive Turkish governments have for decades vehemently denied a
premeditated effort to exterminate the ethnic Armenian population of the
crumbling Ottoman Empire.
By contrast, Armenia’s leadership and main political groups thanked Germany for
recognizing the genocide. Then President Serzh Sarkisian sent what his office
described as “letters of gratitude” to Merkel, German President Joachim Gauck
and Bundestag speaker Norbert Lammert.
A senior CDU figure told fellow German lawmakers in September 2016 that Merkel
is not distancing herself from the Bundestag resolution despite the angry
Turkish reaction.
At a joint news conference with Pashinian held later on Friday, Merkel stressed
the importance of her visit to the Tsitsernakabert memorial, saying that it was
in tune with the Bundestag resolution. But she stopped short of uttering the
word “genocide” and referred instead to the “terrible events that befell the
Armenian people in 1915.”
Government Criticized For Seeking Extra Water From Vital Lake
• Ruzanna Gishian
Armenia - A view of Lake Sevan, 24 July 2018.
Environment protection groups on Friday denounced the Armenian government for
moving to increase the amount of water from Lake Sevan that can be used for
irrigation this year.
The vast mountainous lake, which is vital for Armenia’s entire ecosystem, is a
key source of irrigation water supplied to the fruit-growing Ararat Valley west
and south of Yerevan through the Hrazdan river flowing out of it.
An Armenian law allows the government to use no more than 170 million cubic
meters of Sevan’s water annually for irrigation and power generation purposes.
A bill approved by the government on Thursday would raise that cap by 40
million cubic meters for the current irrigation season.
The measure was proposed by the Ministry of Agriculture. Agriculture Minister
Artur Khachatrian warned of water shortages that could have “devastating”
consequences for tens of thousands of farmers.
“This solution may not be desirable but it has no alternative,” Khachatrian
said at a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian. “We
arrived at it as a result of lengthy joint discussions.”
Pashinian said that the government is agreeing to the proposal “with a heavy
heart.” It has no choice but to address farmers’ urgent needs, he said.
Armenia -- An irrigation canal in the southern Armavir region.
The bill, which the Armenian parliament will debate next week, was approved
just a few weeks after a coalition of environment protection groups called SOS
Sevan urged Pashinian to block any extra use of Sevan’s water. It claimed that
the bulk of that water would only benefit hydroelectric stations and fish farms
operating in the Ararat Valley. Accordingly, SOS Armenia urged the parliament
to block measure.
Inga Zarafian, a representative of the grouping, said that the level of Sevan
has dropped in the past year and this process will continue if the bill is
passed by the National Assembly. That would only worsen the quality of the
lake’s water, she said.
Zarafian complained that unlike former authorities in Yerevan Pashinian’s
cabinet did not consult with environmentalists before making the controversial
decision.She also pointed out that as recently as one year ago Pashinian and
his political allies opposed a similar measure taken by Armenia’s previous
government.
Evelina Ghukasian, the director of the state-funded Institute of Hydroecology
and Fish Breeding, echoed the environmentalists’ concerns. “Water resources are
badly mismanaged,” she said. “We oppose the constant use of Lake Sevan as a
water reservoir.”
Merkel Praises Armenia’s Delicate Balancing Act
Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian greets German Chancellor Angela Merkel
at Yerevan airport, .
German Chancellor Angela Merkel praised Armenia on Friday for developing
relations with the European Union while remaining allied to Russia during her
first-ever official visit to the South Caucasus country.
“Armenia is a good example of how one can simultaneously cooperate with Russia
and the European Union,” she said after talks with Prime Minister Nikol
Pashinian.
Merkel arrived in Yerevan as part of a regional tour four months after
Pashinian-led mass protests brought down Armenia’s previous government.
Pashinian’s press office quoted her as saying at the start of the talks that
the “big changes” were unexpected to the German government and “positive” for
Armenia.
“Our relations are very good but can deepen further,” Merkel told an ensuing
joint news conference with the Armenian premier. She said Germany would
specifically welcome closer commercial and cultural ties with Armenia.
Merkel also pledged to help Yerevan implement its landmark Comprehensive and
Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with the EU signed last November.
Pashinian said that just like the former Armenian government his administration
is committed to stepping up cooperation with the EU while remaining part of the
Russian-led alliances and the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) in particular. The
Armenian foreign policy strategy is “totally understandable” to Berlin, he said.
Armenia - German Chancellor Angela Merkel visits the TUMO Center for Creative
Technologies in Yerevan, .
At his meeting with Merkel, Pashinian was reported to renew his calls for the
EU to reward the new Armenian government’s ambitious reform agenda and
anti-corruption efforts with greater financial assistance. Earlier this summer
he criticized the EU for not rushing to do that.
Merkel said she discussed with Pashinian domestic Armenian politics and
“anti-corruption issues.” But in her public remarks she said nothing about the
possibility of greater EU or German aid to Yerevan.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said in late June that Berlin stands ready
to help Armenia’s new government carry out sweeping reforms. “We have followed
social change in the country with great interest and will support its reform
efforts,” Maas said after talks with his visiting Armenian counterpart Zohrab
Mnatsakanian.
Germany has already been Armenia’s number one EU donor. Pashinian emphasized
the fact that it is also his country’s third largest trading partner.
Armenians, he said, have “great respect for Germany, the German people and
Angela Merkel personally.”
The German leader, who also met with President Armen Sarkissian on Friday, was
noncommittal on the lifting of the EU’s visa requirements for Armenian
nationals sought by both the current and former authorities in Yerevan. She
noted that she spoke with Pashinian about scores of Armenians seeking asylum in
Germany. “We cooperate in this area quite well but more can be done,” she said
without elaborating.
The unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was also on the agenda of the talks,
with both leaders calling for its peaceful resolution. Merkel will proceed to
Baku on Saturday for talks with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev.
Press Review
“Zhoghovurd” reports that Varuzhan Avetisian, the newly freed leader of the
armed group that seized a police station in Yerevan in 2016, on Thursday made
alarming statements about his and his supporters’ possible recourse to violence
in the future. “At first he said [at a news conference] that the new party to
be set up [by him and Zhirayr Sefilian] will not be a successor to the armed
group and that that group … has turned the page of armed struggle,” writes the
paper. “At the same time, Avetisian also said that the Sasna Tsrer group must
not be on trial and that if they are tried after all it will mean that Serzh
Sarkisian did not quit power.” This leads the paper to assert that Avetisian
and the other freed militants are “entering politics with weapons” and “not
renouncing armed methods of struggle.”
“They are just not loudly talking about that for the moment,” continues
“Zhoghovurd.” “They will resort to such methods not immediately but when they
are defeated in the parliamentary elections. And this despite the fact that
they were freed during the [Nikol] Pashinian government’s tenure.”
“Haykakan Zhamanak” puts German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s visit to the South
Caucasus in the context of the European Union’s relations with Iran. “In all
likelihood, Germany will not join, along with other European countries as well
as Russia and China, a new wave of [U.S.] sanctions against Iran that will come
into force in November,” writes the paper. It speculates that Merkel’s trip
could facilitate the creation of new transport corridors connecting Europe to
Iran via the South Caucasus. “But that could happen in the long run,” it says.
“This particular visit has an introductory character.”
“Aravot” accuses environmental activists of exaggerating negative environmental
consequences of additional water from Lake Sevan which the Armenian government
will use for irrigation purposes this and next month. “Once again pumping
additional water from Sevan is certainly worrying and there will be no need for
that when the problem of ‘water mafia’ is solved,” says the paper.
“Hraparak” reports that many current and former Armenian judges are concerned
over Prime Minister Pashinian’s stated plans to set up “bodies of transitional
justice” in the country. “But many of them are wary of making public statements
about that,” writes the paper. It quotes one of those judges, who asked not to
be identified, as saying that Pashinian’s plans “contradict a number of
international conventions signed by Armenia.” “There can be no transitional
justice in a Council of Europe member state,” says the judge. “If we do such a
thing we will simply be kicked out of the Council of Europe. After all, we are
a signatory to the European Convention [on Human Rights.]”
(Tigran Avetisian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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