Friday,
‘No Plans Yet’ For Kocharian, Sarkisian To Cooperate
• Sargis Harutyunyan
Armenia - President Serzh Sarkisian (L) and his predecessor Robert Kocharian
visit Gyumri, 7 December 2008.
Former Presidents Serzh Sarkisian and Robert Kocharian are not yet considering
jointly challenging Armenia’s current government, a senior representative of
Sarkisian’s Republican Party (HHK) said on Friday.
The HHK has repeatedly condemned as politically motivated Kocharian’s arrest
and prosecution on charges stemming from the 2008 post-election violence in
Yerevan. Sarkisian visited and talked to his predecessor on May 25 one week
after the latter was released from prison pending the outcome of his trial.
“There was no political agenda at that meeting,” insisted Armen Ashotian, the
HHK’s deputy chairman. “Not that I know of. There is no political agenda at the
moment in terms of drawing up programs for cooperation between our teams in the
future.”
“Again, the HHK support for Robert Kocharian has to do with many other
circumstances, not a vision for a common political future. Even Robert
Kocharian has not generated such a process yet,” Ashotian told a news
conference.
“Of course, if we have a common concern, vision or ideas about the future, we
will be ready to talk, cooperate with various political actors,” he said.
Armenia -- Armen Ashotian, deputy chairman of the opposition Republican Party,
speaks at a news conference in Yerevan, June 7, 2019.
Kocharian announced his return to active politics shortly after being indicted
in July last year. He has yet to set up his own party or team up with other
political groups.
Sarkisian and Kocharian are both natives of Nagorno-Karabakh who had played a
major role in the 1991-1994 war with Azerbaijan before holding top government
positions in Armenia. Kocharian handed over power to Sarkisian after completing
his second presidential term in 2008. Relations between the two men worsened in
the following years, with Kocharian increasingly criticizing the Sarkisian
administration’s economic and other policies.
The two ex-presidents and their political allies now share strong opposition to
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian. Pashinian came to power as a result of last
spring’s “velvet revolution” that brought down Sarkisian’s government accused
many Armenians of corruption and mismanagement.
Ashotian reiterated the HHK’s highly negative attitude towards the current
government. He accused Pashinian of seeking “absolute power” and not tolerating
dissent.
Armenian Justice Minister Resigns
• Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia - Justice Minister Artak Zeynalian speaks to journalists, Yerevan,
April 3, 2019.
Armenia’s Justice Minister Artak Zeynalian tendered his resignation on Friday
after just over a year in office.
Zeynalian gave no reason for his decision which he announced on Facebook.
Instead, he thanked Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian for appointing him as
justice minister following last year’s “velvet revolution.” He also thanked
Justice Ministry employees for the “interesting, fruitful and responsible joint
work.”
“I’m sure that everything will be fine … But if it won’t be fine, it will be
very fine,” wrote Zeynalian.
A spokesperson for the Justice Ministry refused to comment on his resignation.
Zeynalian, 49, is a prominent politician and former civil rights campaigner
affiliated with the pro-Western Hanrapetutyun (Republic) party. He retained his
post even after the party challenged Pashinian’s My Step alliance in the
December 2018 parliamentary elections.
My Step’s parliamentary leader, Lilit Makunts, suggested that his resignation
is connected with sweeping judicial reforms planned by the Armenian
authorities. Makunts said some My Step lawmakers are unhappy with the
reform-related work of the Justice Ministry and Zeynalian in particular.
Makunts told reporters that they voiced their “concerns” after government
supporters blocked the court buildings across the country at Pashinian’s urging
on May 20. She insisted, however, that none of them called for Zeynalian’s
resignation.
Speaking to journalists on May 21, Zeynalian pointedly declined to comment on
the court blockade denounced by the Armenian opposition.
Artur Sakunts, a human rights activist, likewise linked the minister’s
resignation with the judicial crisis. Sakunts said that the Justice Ministry
did not initiate “drastic changes” within the judiciary under Zeynalian.
Also resigning on Friday was Gevorg Danielian, the acting head of the Supreme
Judicial Council (SJC), a state body overseeing Armenia’s courts. In a
statement, Danielian said the SJC needs to have a different composition in
order to “really inspire trust” and be able to implement judicial reforms.
The SJC’s previous chairman, Gagik Harutiunian, stepped down on May 24.
Harutiunian attributed the move to “ongoing developments relating to the
judicial authority” and his “concerns expressed in that regard.”
Armenian, Karabakh Leaders Urged To Ease Tensions
• Ruzanna Stepanian
Nagorno-Karbabakh -- Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinin and Karabakh
President Bako Sahakian lead a festive march in Stepanakert, May 9, 2019.
Senior opposition lawmakers in Yerevan on Friday called on Armenia’s and
Nagorno-Karabakh’s leaders to defuse their increasingly visible tensions
through dialogue.
The tensions rose on Wednesday as Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian accused top
Karabakh officials of spreading false claims about significant territorial
concessions to Azerbaijan planned by his government. He also claimed that
unlike his administration, Armenia’s former government never presented details
of its negotiations with Azerbaijan to the authorities in Stepanakert.
Bako Sahakian, the Karabakh president, was quick to deny the claim. He also
dismissed allegations about a “treasonous” conspiracy against Pashinian plotted
in Stepanakert.
Deputies from the two opposition parties represented in Armenia’s parliament
expressed concern over these verbal barbs, citing the lingering risk of a
renewed war with Azerbaijan. Gevorg Gorgisian of the Bright Armenia Party (LHK)
said Yerevan and Stepanakert should find “the right mechanism for communicating
with each other.”
“Any tensions must be overcome because we can solve any issue only with joint
efforts,” Gorgisian told RFE/RL’s Armenian service. “Artsakh (Karabakh) cannot
exist separately, while Armenia, I think, will be in serious trouble if we have
problems with Artsakh.”
Sergey Bagratian, a senior lawmaker from the Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK),
suggested that the tensions stem from Yerevan’s and Stepanakert’s “different
approaches” to resolving the Karabakh conflict. “We have had discussions at our
meetings with Karabakh authorities, and those differences are clear to me,” he
said. “The difference between the approaches is tactical.”
Gorgisian questioned the existence of such differences, however. “I don’t think
that Armenia can have a leader who will try to come up with a variant of the
conflict’s resolution unacceptable to the people of Artsakh,” he said.
Meanwhile, Andranik Kocharian, the pro-government chairman of the Armenian
parliament committee on defense and security, blamed Karabakh leaders for the
row. He said some of them are worried about ongoing reforms in Armenia.
Press Review
“Zhamanak” says Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s statement made at a cabinet
meeting on Thursday amounted to an “ultimatum” to the heads of Armenia’s main
law-enforcement agencies. Pashinian demanded strong action against a “hybrid
war” waged against his government. “If Pashinian voices the same concern or
makes a similar speech some time later it will be hard to understand the logic
behind his not sacking the heads of the security bodies,” comments the paper.
“But there is also another side to the story and perhaps Pashinian’s speech is
not a show of discontent with the efficiency of the security bodies but a
political formulation of their new task … or, in other words, an initiative to
politically and publicly legitimize a toughening of their actions.”
“If there are groups of individuals plotting some crimes they must definitely
be isolated from the society, regardless of the color of their clothes,”
“Aravot” writes in an editorial on Pashinian’s order issued to the police and
the National Security Service (NSS). “But it’s not the country’s number one
official who must talk about that. That must be done by law-enforcement bodies
in a more a more reserved and businesslike manner. These threats take on a
political dimension when they are voiced by politicians, and they may leave the
impression of a [government] campaign against undesirable persons.”
“Unfortunately, a certain segment of the society has a wrong or superficial
idea of a conspiracy or sellout of lands in the Karabakh conflict,” complains
“Haykakan Zhamanak.” “For many years this issue was artificially oversimplified
and as a result a view that there are two types of political forces -- patriots
who send to hell anyone daring to speak of Armenian concessions and those who
would sell out lands -- took hold in the public consciousness. The reality is
much more complex. Let’s just leave aside the talk of ‘land sellers.’ There
were, there are and there will be no such forces in Armenia and Artsakh. We are
talking about mechanisms for not making unacceptable concessions.” That, the
paper says, requires meaningful government efforts to make the country stronger
and able to cope with external pressures.
(Lilit Harutiunian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2019 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
www.rferl.org