RFE/RL Armenian Report – 10/19/2018

                                        Friday, 

Sarkisian Allies Oppose Election Boycott

        • Gayane Saribekian

Armenia - President Serzh Sarkisian speaks at the official launch of his 
Republican Party's election campaign in Yerevan, 5Mar2017.

Senior representatives of former President Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party 
of Armenia (HHK) said on Friday that it should participate in forthcoming snap 
parliamentary elections.

The HHK, which retains the largest faction in the current Armenian parliament, 
has reluctantly dropped its objections to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s 
efforts to hold the elections in December, rather than next May or June. 
Observers believe that it is now too unpopular to make a strong showing in the 
vote.

The HHK’s executive body discussed the matter at a meeting late on Thursday 
chaired by Sarkisian. It announced no final decisions afterwards.

“We have not yet made a decision,” the HHK’s parliamentary leader, Vahram 
Baghdasarian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian service on Friday. “Discussions are 
continuing.”

Baghdasarian said he and most other senior Republicans want their party to 
enter parliamentary race. “I think that participation [in the elections] is the 
right thing to do,” he said.

Baghdasarian cautioned, though, that the HHK leadership needs to evaluate its 
current approval rating and other “resources” before making a final decision.

Eduard Sharmazanov, the HHK spokesman and a deputy parliament speaker, also 
argued against boycotting the snap polls.

“It’s obvious that Pashinian is headed for victory and nobody can doubt it, at 
least at this stage,” Sharmazanov told RFE/RL’s Armenian service. “And our 
state, our parliament, and our state system need a real opposition, not a fake 
opposition.”

“We think that both a strong opposition and a strong government are needed,” he 
said. “Or else, we will have a new political monopoly and no serious checks and 
balances. So we have to take part in the elections in order to be a real 
counterweight.”

Sharmazanov insisted that the HHK, which dominated Armenian politics for more 
than a decade, has been the country’s sole truly opposition force ever since 
Pashinian swept to power in May. “Everyone else applauds Pashinian, either 
overtly or not overtly,” he said.

Sarkisian has made very public appearances and statements since Pashinian-led 
mass protests forced him to resign in April. It is not yet clear whether he 
supports his party’s participation in the December elections and is ready to 
top its list of candidates.




Workers Protest Closure Of Armenian Copper Plant

        • Karine Simonian

Armenia - A poster saying "We demand work" is displayed by workers protesting 
against the closure of a copper smelter in Alaverdi, .

Hundreds of workers of a copper smelter in northern Armenia blocked a major 
highway on Friday in protest against its closure resulting from the 
government’s decision to enforce strict environmental regulations there.

The Soviet-built plant located in the town of Alaverdi was recently fined 
$800,000 for exceeding air pollution quotas set by the government in 2005. The 
former Armenian authorities avoided punishing the plant for that.

Citing financial problems, the plant’s parent company, Vallex Group, said that 
it is unable to pay the fine and comply with the pollution caps. It warned last 
week that it will have to shut down the smelter and lay off more than 600 
people working there unless the government reverses the punitive measures.

Subsequent negotiations between Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinian and the 
Vallex chairman, Valeri Mejlumian, yielded no agreement. Avinian said earlier 
this week that the Alaverdi plant causes serious environmental damage and 
should be replaced by a larger and more modern facility.

As production operations at the plant were brought to a halt on Friday many of 
the workers took to the streets to voice support for Vallex’s demands. They 
blocked a highway passing through Alaverdi.

“Can anyone [from the government] come here explain to these 630 families [of 
workers] what fate awaits them?” said one of the protesters. “All we want is 
jobs.”

Eduard Sharmazanov, an Alaverdi-born deputy speaker of the Armenian parliament 
representing the former ruling Republican Party, voiced support for the 
protesters’ demands in a written appeal to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.

“I am calling on you to do everything possible and impossible so that the 
Alaverdi copper smelter continues to operate,” said Sharmazanov. “Or else, 650 
families could choose the path of emigration.”

The government did not immediately react to the protests.

Vallex is currently in serious financial trouble, having lost control over 
Armenia’s second largest copper and molybdenum mine after failing repay its 
massive debts to a Russian commercial bank. The bank, VTB, had lent Vallex the 
bulk of $380 million which was invested in mining and ore-processing facilities 
at the Teghut deposit also located in the Lori province.

Vallex shut down the mine in January because of being unable to refurbish its 
waste disposal facility. Most of the 1,200 or so people working at Teghut lost 
their jobs as a result. VTB took over the mine in payment for the debt.

Vallex used the Alaverdi plant as collateral when it secured the loan from VTB. 
It could therefore lose control of that facility as well.




Pashinian Defends Controversial Choice Of Provincial Governor

        • Sisak Gabrielian
        • Naira Bulghadarian

Armenia - Police General Hunan Poghosian (C) speaks to protesters in Yerevan, 
18 July 2016.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on Friday defended his decision to appoint a 
retired police general as governor of Armenia’s southeastern Syunik province 
which has prompted criticism from human rights activists.

Lieutenant-General Hunan Poghosian served as first deputy chief of the Armenian 
police during most of former President Serzh Sarkisian’s decade-long rule. He 
resigned immediately after Pashinian came to power in May in a wave of 
anti-Sarkisian protests.

Pashinian explained Poghosian’s appointment as governor when he visited the 
provincial capital Kapan to campaign for a candidate of his Civil Contract 
party running in an upcoming election of the town’s mayor.

Speaking at a campaign rally, Pashinian alleged attempts to “restore the old 
oligarchic logic” in Syunik. The mountainous region bordering Iran should 
therefore be governed by a tough security officer who can “bang his fist on the 
table” and maintain law and order, protect civil liberties and guarantee free 
enterprise, he said.

Human rights activists and even some Pashinian supporters criticized the 
Armenian government after it formalized Poghosian’s appointment on Tuesday.They 
said that the police general was closely linked to the former ruling regime 
accused of corruption and human rights abuses.

Pashinian countered that he faced similar criticism when he appointed two other 
career officers, Valeri Osipinian and Artur Vanetsian, as heads of the police 
and the National Security Service (NSS) respectively in May. He argued that 
both men are now popular with his supporters.

“When I walk in the streets with [Vanetsian] people hail and thank him as well 
as Mr. Osipian,” he said. “Mr. Poghosian, I hope that when I come here next 
time people will welcome you in the same way in Kapan and the other towns of 
Syunik.”

Pashinian also noted that Poghosian was the one who had him rushed to hospital 
when he was injured in an April 16 clash in downtown Yerevan between his 
supporters and riot police.


Armenia -- Political activist Shant Harutiunian (L) clashes with another man 
during an anti-government protest in downtown Yerevan during , 5Nov2013.
The choice of Poghosian proved controversial also because of past allegations 
that he beat up a well-known maverick activist arrested while leading a violent 
anti-government demonstration in 2013. The activist, Shant Harutiunian, was 
subsequently sentenced to six years in prison.

Pashinian himself voiced the torture allegations in a 2013 interview with 
RFE/RL’s Armenian service.

The premier argued on Friday that Harutiunian never gave formal incriminating 
testimony against the police general. Nevertheless, he said, he has instructed 
law-enforcement authorities to again investigate the alleged torture.

“I don’t know what happened in 2013,” said Pashinian. “But I also want to say 
that as prime minister I asked Hunan Poghosian about that incident and got an 
answer which satisfied me. Let the investigation ascertain the rest. In 
Armenia, everyone is equal before the law.”

Meanwhile, Harutiunian’s teenage son Shahen told RFE/RL’s Armenian service that 
Poghosian never personally assaulted his father in custody. He said the jailed 
activist was physically abused by other security officials in the presence of 
Poghosian and Vladimir Gasparian, the then national police chief.

Still, Shant Harutiunian’s lawyer, Inessa Petrosian, insisted that Poghosian 
must be held accountable for the alleged ill-treatment. “Nikol Pashinian must 
scrap the appointment of that governor,” she said.




Kocharian To Shun Snap Elections

        • Emil Danielyan

Armenia -- Former President Robert Kocharian gives an interview to the Russian 
NTV channel, Yerevan.

Two months after announcing his return to active politics, former President 
Robert Kocharian has ruled out his participation in early general elections 
that will likely be held in Armenia in December.

“First of all, the legitimacy of this process is very dubious for me, and 
secondly, I just don’t have time [to prepare for the elections,]” Kocharian 
told the Russian RIA Novosti news agency in an interview published on Thursday.

“Besides, I have had no party affiliation. This means that I have to create a 
party from scratch, rather than restore something that has existed before,” he 
said, adding that he needs time to cobble together a team of “talented, young 
and energetic people.”

Kocharian also complained that most Armenians are now too euphoric about last 
spring’s “velvet revolution” to make rational choices. “People are not ready to 
discuss programs, to get to the bottom of economics or social policy,” he said. 
“This is why the elections will have a superficial character. The dominant 
theme will be defense of the revolution.”

Kocharian admitted Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and his allies will likely 
score a landslide victory in the polls. “Opinion polls show that the country is 
now heading for the formation of yet another political monopoly,” he said. “And 
this is what generated and what was targeted by the ‘velvet revolution’ in 
Armenia in the first place.”

Kocharian himself was accused by critics of systematically stifling dissent, 
tolerating government corruption and rigging elections when he ran the country 
from 1998-2008.He handed over power to his longtime ally, Serzh Sarkisian, 
following a disputed presidential election that sparked anti-government 
protests in Yerevan.

Kocharian ordered security forces to quell those protests on March 1-2, 2008. 
Eight protesters and two police servicemen were killed as a result.

Law-enforcement authorities launched criminal proceedings against Kocharian 
shortly after Pashinian swept to power in May. The ex-president was arrested in 
late July on charges of illegally using the armed forces against protesters and 
overthrowing the constitutional order.

Armenia’s Court of Appeals freed him from custody on August 13, saying that the 
constitution guarantees his immunity from prosecution.

Kocharian announced his political comeback three days later. He accused 
Pashinian’s government of endangering the country’s national security, 
undermining its relations with Russia and lacking economic programs.

Pashinian, who played a key role in the 2008 protests, vehemently defended the 
ongoing criminal investigation at a rally held on August 17. “All murderers 
will go to prison,” he said.

Speaking to RIA Novosti, Kocharian again claimed that the new authorities are 
waging a political “vendetta” against him. He predicted that he will face more 
accusations soon.

“The most curious thing is that I wasn’t in government for ten years,” said the 
64-year-old. “I don’t quite understand what they want from me. I clearly wasn’t 
the target of that revolution. There was a totally different [Sarkisian-led] 
government with which I practically did not communicate and which I criticized. 
But all of a sudden I became an object of scrutiny.”




Press Review



“Zhamanak” quotes former President Robert Kocharian as telling the Russian RIA 
Novosti news agency that he is planning to set up a political party to fill the 
“opposition vacuum” in Armenia. The paper highly critical of Kocharian is sure 
that the move will meet with strong public hostility.

“Zhoghovurd” hails the European Union’s decision to provide Armenia with 
financial assistance meant for the proper conduct of the upcoming fresh 
parliamentary elections. The paper says this development proved wrong those who 
claimed that the West and the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission in 
particular considers the elections too hasty and therefore not quite 
legitimate. What is more, it says, the head of the EU Delegation in Yerevan, 
Piotr Switalski, said on Thursday that the EU could provide additional economic 
aid to Armenia next year.

Lragir.am reports that Kocharian has moved to take advantage of an ongoing 
criminal investigation into leaked phone calls between the heads of Armenia’s 
National Security Service (NSS) and Special Investigative Service (NSS) which 
touched upon criminal proceedings launched against the ex-president. A lawyer 
for Kocharian has demanded that his client be treated as a “victim” in that 
probe. The online publication says that Kocharian is also planning to appeal to 
the European Court of Human Rights.

(Lilit Harutiunian)

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