Tuesday,
Pashinian Decries ‘Media Campaign Against Government’
Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian addresses supporters through Facebook,
.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian accused Armenian media on Tuesday of
systematically trying to discredit him and his government at the behest of the
country’s former leaders.
Pashinian claimed that many media outlets are keen to make Armenians believe
that the current authorities are no different from former President Serzh
Sarkisian’s “corrupt” administration and Republican Party (HHK). He seemed to
blame Sarkisian and another former president, Robert Kocharian, for the
“propaganda campaign waged against my family and my political team.”
“Ninety percent of the media scene [in Armenia] is controlled either by the two
entities representing the former authorities or [other] forces opposed to us …
Most media outlets controlled by forces opposed to us are in the hands of
representatives of the former regime,” Pashinian said in a live Facebook
transmission.
“Why is this important?” he went on. “For the simple reason that the following
process is now underway in the media scene: representatives of the former
regime … are trying to ‘republicanize’ our government and say that there is no
difference, that this government is the same as the Republican one was.”
Pashinian insisted that his government is fundamentally different from the
previous authorities first and foremost because it “does not plunder the people
and the state.” “This is the kind of change which we had dreamed about for many
years,” he said.
The prime minister did not name any media outlets involved in the alleged smear
campaign. He said only that they frequently show his, his family members’ and
political allies’ private lives in a bad light.
On Sunday, Pashinian took to Facebook to lambaste a scathing newspaper report
about a restaurant dinner organized by him for around 90 newly elected members
of Armenia’s parliament representing his My Step alliance.
“Hraparak,” a Yerevan daily critical of both the current and former
governments, drew parallels between the My Step get-together and Republican
leaders’ notorious love of lavish parties.
Pashinian charged that the paper is “nostalgic about the corrupt Republican
regime.” The “Hraparak” editor, Armine Ohanian, dismissed the criticism.
Ohanian Denies Coup Charges
Armenia - Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian (R) and chief of the Armenian army
staff, General Yuri Khachaturov, at a meeting in Yerevan, 28May2015.
Former Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian on Tuesday angrily denied coup charges
brought against him as part of a criminal investigation into the 2008
post-election unrest in Armenia.
Ohanian also deplored the same accusations of “overthrow of the constitutional
order” that have been leveled against two other retired army generals, Mikael
Harutiunian and Yuri Khachaturov, as well as former President Robert Kocharian.
Armenia’s Special Investigative Service (SIS) claims that the four men
illegally used the armed forces against opposition supporters who demonstrated
in Yerevan against alleged electoral fraud. It says Kocharian ordered troops
into the Armenian capital before declaring a state of emergency late on March
1, 2008 amid deadly clashes between security forces and opposition protesters.
Eight protesters and two police servicemen died in what was the worst street
violence in the country’s history.
Harutiunian, who now lives in Russia, served as defense minister while Ohanian
was the chief of the Armenian army’s General Staff at the time. The latter
replaced Harutiunian as defense minister in April 2008.
Ohanian rejected the accusations as “baseless.” “Justice cannot be administered
on order or under the influence of the street,” he wrote on Facebook.
The former minister also posted audio of this summer’s secretly recorded phone
conversations between the SIS chief, Sasun Khachatrian, and Artur Vanetsian,
the National Security Service (NSS) director. He said it shows that the ongoing
investigation is not objective and fair.
In that audio, Vanetsian can be heard saying that he told a Yerevan judge to
sanction Kocharian’s arrest in July. The NSS chief claims that it was doctored
and that he never put pressure on the judge.
Ohanian also said that on December 20 law-enforcement authorities “illegally”
restricted his freedom of movement without any explanation. He did not specify
whether they prevented him from leaving the country.
“Do those trampling the constitution under foot have a right to administer
justice against the colonel-generals, the [former] president and others who
have made considerable contributions to the security of Armenia and Artsakh
(Nagorno-Karabakh)?” said Ohanian.
The Karabakh-born general challenged Armenia’s former government after being
sacked as defense minister in October 2016. He teamed up with two opposition
politicians, Vartan Oskanian and Raffi Hovannisian, to run in parliamentary
elections held in April 2017. Their ORO bloc failed to win any seats in
Armenia’s parliament.
Unlike Kocharian, Ohanian and Khachaturov have not been placed under pre-trial
arrest.
Parliament Majority Denounced For Backing Tsarukian Ally
• Astghik Bedevian
• Tatevik Lazarian
Armenia -- Newly elected speaker Ararat Mirzoyan (second from left) and his
deputies Vahe Enfiajian (right), Alen Simonian (second from right) and Lena
Nazarian at a parliament session in Yerevan, .
The opposition Bright Armenia party condemned the pro-government majority in
the National Assembly on Tuesday for not electing one of its leaders as a
deputy speaker of the parliament.
Deputies representing Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s My Step alliance voted
instead for a senior lawmaker from businessman Gagik Tsarukian’s Prosperous
Armenia Party (BHK).
The Armenian constitution reserves one of the three posts of vice-speaker for a
representative of the parliamentary opposition. Pashinian and his associates
made clear last week that My Step will back the BHK candidate for the post,
Vahe Enfiajian. They argued that the BHK is the second largest parliamentary
force that controls 26 seats in the 132-member legislature, compared with 18
seats held by Bright Armenia.
Bright Armenia leaders dismissed that explanation, saying that the constitution
says nothing about the size of an opposition faction nominating a vice-speaker.
They hoped that many My Step deputies will back their party’s candidate, Mane
Tandilian, in Tuesday’s parliament vote.
The parliament majority remained unconvinced, however. Speaker Ararat Mirzoyan
said it will “respect” the results of the December 9 parliamentary elections in
which the BHK finished a distant second.
Accordingly, only 19 parliamentarians voted for Tandilian, who served as labor
minister in Pashinian’s cabinet until last month. The BHK’s Enfiajian was
elected vice-speaker with 108 votes.
Edmon Marukian, Bright Armenia’s top leader described the vote results as
“disgraceful.”
Armenia - Mane Tandilian (C) and other election candidates of the Bright
Armenia party campaign in Yerevan, November 26, 2018.
Also, Marukian hit out at the BHK during a debate that preceded the vote,
prompting Tsarukian’s first-ever speech on the parliament floor.
“As long as we are not insulted or attacked we won’t say anything to anyone.
But if someone tries to insult us I will respond to that with documents and
video materials,” said the BHK leader.
Bright Armenia and the BHK traded bitter accusations following the December
elections. In particular, Marukian said that Tsarukian should leave the
political arena because of his extensive business interests. The tycoon has
held a parliament seat for nearly 16 years but has rarely attended parliament
sessions.
The two other newly elected vice-speakers, Lena Nazarian and Alen Simonian, are
senior members of Pashinian’s bloc who actively participated in last spring’s
“velvet revolution.”
Despite the controversy, the three factions reached consensus on who will chair
the new parliament’s 11 standing committees. Mirzoyan announced that eight of
them, including the committees on foreign relations, defense and economy, will
be headed by My Step lawmakers.
BHK representatives will run two other panels, while the remaining post of
committee chairperson was given to Bright Armenia.
Press Review
“Zhamanak” suggests that President Armen Sarkissian’s welcoming address to the
new National Assembly was the most “memorable” episode of its inaugural session
held on Monday. “What is more, Sarkissian set a high political bar for the work
of the parliament with which one could measure the extent of the political
content and the capacity of the parliament,” writes the paper. It also singles
out Sarkissian’s remark that Armenians are a “global nation” despite the small
size of their state.
“Many have started discussing personal merits and shortcomings of the National
Assembly speaker and his deputies but that is a secondary issue,” writes
“Aravot.” “It doesn’t matter who was elected speaker of the National Assembly.
What matters is that the parliament speaker, let along the deputy speakers,
have long stopped deciding anything. Public expectations are not from [speaker]
Ararat Mirzoyan or [his deputy] Vahe Enfiajian or any minister or regional
governor but only from Nikol Pashinian. And the majority of our citizens expect
that the prime minister will make some miracles within several months.” The
paper believes that opposition parties and civic groups could and should strive
to change these public attitudes.
“Zhoghovurd” reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin was quick to
congratulate Pashinian on being reappointed as prime minister on Monday. The
paper says this fact is “noteworthy” given Putin’s failure to congratulate
Pashinian on his My Step bloc’s victory in the December 9 parliamentary
elections, which fuelled talk of Moscow’s discontent with the current Armenian
leadership. It seems to suggest the Russian president’s congratulatory letter
disproved that speculation.
(Lilit Harutiunian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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