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    Categories: 2018

RFE/RL Armenian Report – 10/26/2018

                                        Friday, 

Former Ruling Party Set To Run In Snap Elections

        • Ruzanna Stepanian

Armenia - Vahram Baghasarian of the Republican Party of Armenia speaks at a 
news conference in Yerevan, .

Former President Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) gave more 
indications on Friday that it will participate in early parliamentary elections 
expected in December.

A senior HHK figure, Vahram Baghdasarian, said the party will hold a conference 
“in the coming days” to finally decide whether to enter the parliamentary race.

“Our aim is to form a parliament befitting a parliamentary republic,” he told 
reporters. “We are entering the [new] National Assembly to show and restore our 
face. We will be a radical-constructive opposition force.”

Baghdasarian said the conference will also decide who will top the list of the 
HHK’s candidates in case of its participation in the elections. He declined to 
specify whether Sarkisian would the party’s top candidate.

Sarkisian, who ruled Armenia from 2008-2018,has made very few public 
appearances and statements since mass protests led by Nikol Pashinian, the 
country’s current prime minister, forced him to resign in April.

According to some media reports, the HHK’s electoral list will likely be headed 
by former Defense Minister Vigen Sargsian, a U.S.-educated protégé of the 
ex-president.

The HHK won Armenia’s last parliamentary elections held in April 2017. 
Observers believe that it is now too unpopular to make a strong showing in 
December. Some of them say that it would fail to win any parliament seats.

Earlier this month, the HHK leadership tried unsuccessfully to delay the snap 
polls until next May or June.

Baghdasarian and another leading HHK member, Eduard Sharmazanov, argued against 
an election boycott when they spoke to RFE/RL’s Armenian service last week. 
Sharmazanov said the former ruling party is now Armenia’s sole genuine 
opposition force and must therefore be represented in the new parliament.




Bolton Satisfied With ‘Productive’ Talks In Armenia


Armenia - U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton speaks at a news 
conference in Yerevan, .

John Bolton, U.S. President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, described 
Armenia on Friday as an “important friend” of the United States after visiting 
the country and meeting with its leaders.

“Yesterday I had a nice visit to Armenia, an important friend in the region,” 
Bolton wrote on his Twitter page. “I enjoyed productive conversations with the 
Prime Minister [Nikol Pashinian] and his national security team.”

Bolton also retweeted a U.S. Embassy post that quoted him as telling Pashinian 
that the U.S. supports the new Armenian government’s “efforts to address 
corruption, increase judicial transparency and enhance the government’s 
accountability to its citizens in ways that strengthen democracy, rule of law 
and regional stability.”

Speaking in Yerevan, Bolton said he discussed with Pashinian a “very wide range 
of subjects,” notably the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. He said Washington expects 
the Armenian leader to take “decisive steps” towards a compromise peace deal 
with Azerbaijan after his widely anticipated victory in upcoming general 
elections.

Bolton also indicated that the Trump administration is ready to allow Yerevan 
to buy U.S. weapons and thus reduce Russia’s “excessive influence” on Armenia.

The Trump adviser noted that Russia has been the principal arms supplier of 
both Armenia and Azerbaijan. That has given Moscow “enormous leverage” against 
the two warring nations but “not contributed to the resolution” of the 
conflict, he said.

Together with France, the U.S. and Russia have long been jointly spearheading 
international efforts to broker a Karabakh settlement.


Azerbaijan -- U.S. National security adviser John Bolton, second left, and 
Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev, right, during talks in Baku, Azerbaijan, 
Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2018.

Armenian officials have not yet publicly commented on Bolton’s surprise offer. 
One of them said earlier this month that Yerevan is seeking yet another Russian 
government loan for more arms acquisitions from Russian manufacturers.

The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), a Washington-based lobbying 
group, voiced concern at some of Bolton’s statements later on Thursday.

“Bolton expressed openness to U.S. arms sales to Armenia, which - almost 
certainly - would happen in the context of such sales to Azerbaijan,” it said 
in a statement. “The danger here is that Azerbaijan, given the size of its 
military budget, can afford significantly more advanced U.S. arms than Armenia 
- leading to imbalances both on the battlefield and in terms of political 
relationships.”

Armenia’s relations with neighboring Iran and renewed U.S. sanctions against 
Tehran were another major theme of Bolton’s talks in Yerevan.

In an interview with RFE/RL’s Armenian service, Bolton said he told Pashinian 
that the Trump administration will enforce those sanctions “very vigorously.” 
For that reason, he said, the Armenian-Iranian border, one of Armenia’s few 
conduits to the outside world, is “going to be a significant issue.”

“Obviously, we don’t want to cause damage to our friends in the process,” added 
the U.S. official.

The ANCA said in this regard that it “will work with key government 
stakeholders to ensure that regional sanctions do not improperly or unduly 
impact Armenia.”




Jailed Armenian General Offers Land To State

        • Naira Bulghadarian

Armenia - General Manvel Grigorian attends an event organized by the Yerkrapah 
Union, 5 March 2018.

Manvel Grigorian, a retired Armenian army general arrested in June on 
corruption charges, has offered to donate vast land holdings to the state, it 
emerged on Friday.

Grigorian’s lawyer, Levon Baghdasarian, said the 330-hectare plot owned by him 
is part of a beaver fur farm located in a village about 40 kilometers west of 
Yerevan.

“Real estate experts estimate its minimum market value at about $10 million,” 
Baghdasarian told RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am).

Baghdasarian claimed that the offer extended to the Armenian government is a 
gesture of good which is not aimed at pleasing the public or ensuring his 
lenient treatment by the authorities. He argued that his client continues to 
deny the grave accusations levelled against him.

Grigorian was arrested when security forces raided his properties in and around 
the town of Echmiadzin on June 16. They found many weapons, ammunition, 
medication and field rations for soldiers provided by the Armenian Defense 
Ministry.

They also discovered canned food and several vehicles donated by Armenians at 
one of Grigorian’s mansions. A widely publicized official video of the raids 
caused shock and indignation in the country.

The Armenian parliament, of which Grigorian is a member, was quick to allow 
investigators to keep him under arrest him on charges of illegal arms 
possession and embezzlement. The once powerful general denies the accusations.

Grigorian’s lawyers have repeatedly demanded his release from pre-trial 
custody, saying that the 61-year-old is suffering from a number of serious 
illnesses. Armenian law-enforcement bodies and courts have ignored those 
demands so far. It remains unclear when he will go on trial.

Grigorian served as Armenia’s deputy defense minister from 2000-2008. Until his 
arrest he was also the chairman of the Yerkrapah Union of Karabakh war 
veterans, an organization which was particularly influential in the 1990s and 
the early 2000s. He was reelected to the parliament last year on the ticket of 
then President Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party.




Press Review



“Zhamanak” describes as sensational U.S. National Security Adviser John 
Bolton’s effective offer to Armenia to buy U.S.-manufactured weapons and other 
military hardware. The pro-Western paper says Washington has never expressed 
readiness to supply weapons to Yerevan before. It says this development 
underlines the need for Armenia to be “sovereign,” rather than heavily 
dependent on Russia.

Lragir.am also comments on Bolton’s “surprise” statement on possible arms 
supplies to Armenia. The publication is also encouraged by his remarks on the 
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, speculating that Washington is not forcing Armenia 
to accept a peace deal with Azerbaijan not favorable to the Armenian side. 
“They know in the United States that any coercion on the Artsakh (Karabakh) 
issue makes Armenia more dependent on Russia and isolated from the 
international community,” it says. “Besides, it strengthens pro-Russian 
circles’ positions in Armenia.”

“Zhoghovurd” reports that some of Armenia’s leading medics and healthcare 
professionals have appealed to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian to take action 
against the recently appointed head of Armenia’s state-run Center for Mental 
Health, Narek Vanesian. The latter reportedly behaved in a rude, offensive and 
even violent way at an event in the Yerevan State Medical University (YSMU) 
attended by two Nobel Prize winners visiting Armenia.

“His impudent behavior is hardly accidental,” comments “Zhoghovurd.” “Vanesian 
is a friend of Health Minister Arsen Torosian and therefore enjoys the latter’s 
support. What is more, Vanesian has hinted in many places that he played a 
large role in Torosian’s appointment as minister.” The paper says the 
government’s failure so far to hold him accountable makes mockery of Prime 
Minister Nikol Pashinian’s claims that there are no longer privileged 
individuals enjoying impunity in Armenia.

(Lilit Harutiunian)


Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
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