Friday,
Ter-Petrosian Ally Critical Of Armenian Government
• Gayane Saribekian
Armenia -- Aram Manukian, a senior member of the Armenian National Congress, at
a news conference in Yerevan, .
A senior member of former President Levon Ter-Petrosian’s Armenian National
Congress (HAK) party on Friday criticized the current government’s domestic and
foreign policies, saying that they are not “clear” enough.
Aram Manukian also claimed that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s administration
is too slow in implementing major reforms promised by it.
“The current authorities do not clearly express their positions on the Karabakh
issue, foreign policy, and relations with Russia,” Manukian told a news
conference. “[Their policies] are not clear.”
“That may have been justified during the first few months [of Pashinian’s] rule
when there was a revolutionary euphoria,” he said. “That was only natural. But
that wave has gone away and the authorities must their express their position
on these issues in a clear and understandable way and without tricky terms.”
Pashinian ruled out any changes in Armenia’s traditional foreign policy and, in
particular, close relationship with Russia when he swept to power in last
year’s “Velvet Revolution.” Ter-Petrosian and his party, which is not
represented in the current Armenian parliament, also support the alliance with
Russia.
Manukian also complained he sees no “revolutionary steps” in the Pashinian
government’s handling of the domestic economy and justice system. “The longer
they delay reforms, especially painful reforms, the fewer possibilities of
implementing those reforms they will have,” he said.
Pashinian played a prominent role in Ter-Petrosian’s opposition movement that
nearly brought the latter back to power after a disputed presidential election
held in February 2008. The former journalist spent about two years in prison as
a result of a post-election government crackdown on the Ter-Petrosian-led
opposition.
Armenia - Former President Levon Ter-Petrosian (L) and Nikol Pashinian greet
supporters at a rally in Yerevan, May 31, 2011.
Pashinian fell out with Ter-Petrosian after being released from prison in 2011.
In February 2018, the HAK’s deputy chairman, Levon Zurabian, scoffed at
Pashinian’s plans to try to stop then President Serzh Sarkisian from extending
his decade-long rule.
Even so, the HAK welcomed the subsequent Pashinian-led protests that led to
Sarkisian’s resignation. Ter-Petrosian, who had served as Armenia’s first
president from 1991-1998, and Pashinian met in July 2018 for the first time in
years.
Senior HAK representatives also hailed criminal charges that were brought
against former President Robert Kocharian and other former Armenian officials
shortly after the “Velvet Revolution.” The charges stem from the March 2008
breakup of the post-election protests in Yerevan which left eight protesters
and two policemen dead.
In February this year, Ter-Petrosian defended Pashinian against the country’s
former “kleptocratic regime” which he said is waging a smear campaign against
the new government.
The 74-year-old ex-president also dismissed opposition claims that Pashinian
has embraced his conciliatory approach to resolving the Karabakh conflict. He
said that unlike himself and the two other former Armenian presidents,
Pashinian has so far shed no light on his views about how to resolve the
conflict.
Government Eyes Phased Payment Of Heavy Court Fine
• Ruzanna Stepanian
FRANCE -- The building of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg,
January 24, 2018.
The Armenian government will pay an elderly resident of Yerevan 1.6 million
euros ($1.8 million) worth of compensation ordered by the European Court of
Human Rights (ECHR), a senior official said on Friday.
Yeghishe Kirakosian, Armenia’s representative to the ECHR, said the government
at the same time hopes that the massive payment resulting from a property
dispute can be made in several installments.
The ECHR set the amount of “just satisfaction” for the 83-year-old Yuri
Vartanian last month nearly three years after ruling that Armenian authorities
violated his rights to property ownership and a fair hearing in court.
Vartanian and his family used to own a house and a plot of land in an old
district in the center of Yerevan which was slated for demolition in the early
2000s as part of redevelopment projects initiated by then President Robert
Kocharian. A real estate agency authorized by the state estimated the market
value of the 1,400 square-meter property at more than $700,000 in May 2005.
A few months later, Yerevan’s municipal administration and, Vizkon, a private
developer cooperating with it, challenged Vartanian’s land ownership rights in
court. The claim was accepted by a district court but rejected by Armenia’s
Court of Appeals.
According to ECHR documents, the municipality and Vizkon expressed readiness to
settle the case when it reached the higher Court of Cassation in 2006. They
offered to give Vartanian $390,000 in cash as well as a 160-square-meter
apartment and 40-square-meter office premises in the city center.
Vartanian rejected the offer before a panel of three Court of Cassation judges
ruled against him. He appealed to the ECHR in 2007.
The resulting compensation ordered by the Strasbourg-based court exceeds the
total amount of damages awarded by the ECHR to all other Armenian plaintiffs
combined.
Kirakosian confirmed that the current government will pay Vartanian the large
sum when the ECHR verdict comes into force in October. “This is the kind of
obligation which the Republic of Armenia must fulfill immediately,” he told
RFE/RL’s Armenian service. “It’s an unconditional obligation.”
“As it stands, various variants of easing that heavy [financial] burden on the
state budget are being discussed in the government. Maybe it could be paid in
parts over a certain period of time,” he said, adding that government officials
intend to negotiate with Vartanian for that purpose.
Kirakosian admitted that the government will have no choice but to pay the sum
at once if Vartanian refuses a phased payment.
The ECHR has previously also ruled in favor of nine other Yerevan residents who
had lost their properties in similar circumstances. The former Armenian
government had to pay them a total of 324,581 euros in damages.
The hefty fines have for years triggered calls in Armenia for administrative or
financial penalties against those government officials and judges whose
decisions fall foul of the ECHR. In Kirakosian’s words, the authorities in
Yerevan are now “thinking” about the possibility of putting in place legal
mechanisms for such sanctions.
“This is a complex and multi-layered issue because I don’t think that only one,
two or three individuals are to blame [for ECHR verdicts against Armenia,]”
said the official. “It’s a systemic problem that requires a comprehensive
examination.”
Pashinian Tours Communities Close To Blocked Mining Site
• Narine Ghalechian
Armenia -- Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian visits Jermuk, .
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian sought to reassure residents of the resort town
of Jermuk and two villages located close to the Amulsar gold deposit in
southeastern Armenia as he visited their communities on Friday.
Pashinian told them that the British-registered company Lydian International
will not be allowed to launch mining operations there if they are deemed to
pose a serious threat to the environment. He also announced that he will seek
additional explanations from the Lebanese consulting firm ELARD that has
conducted an independent environmental audit of the Amulsar project.
ELARD’s final report submitted Armenia’s Investigative Committee was made
public two weeks ago. According to its key conclusions presented by the
law-enforcement body, toxic waste from the would-be mine is extremely unlikely
to contaminate mineral water sources in Jermuk or rivers and canals flowing
into Lake Sevan.
The 200-page report says that gold mining poses greater environmental risks for
other rivers in the area. But it says they can be minimized if Lydian takes 16
“mitigating measures” recommended by ELARD. Lydian has expressed readiness to
take virtually of all those measures.
Pashinian cited these conclusions when he indicated on Monday his intention to
enable Lydian the restart the multimillion-dollar mining project disrupted by
protesters more than a year ago. Yerevan-based environmental activists
denounced that statement. Some of them claimed that in fact ELARD gave a
negative assessment of the project’s impact on the environment.
Pashinian cited the conflicting interpretations of the ELARD report when he
addressed about 200 people who gathered in a Jermuk square to voice their
strong opposition to gold mining at Amulsar.
“I have decided that next Thursday or Friday we will hold a video conference
with ELARD’s team of experts during which we will say that ‘there is a big
debate in Armenia over what you wrote [in the report] and that you yourself
must now present your conclusions,” he said. “All that conversation will be
filmed and made public.”
Pashinian said he will press the Lebanese environmental consultants to give
“clear-cut answers” to lingering questions about the safety of Lydian’s project.
“If it emerges that our water, our air, our soil and our grass will indeed be
polluted then the mine will not be allowed to operate,” he declared. “But if it
emerges that the only problem is that one will see some rooftop from their
window then it will be a different situation which we will discuss.”
Armenia -- Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian talks to a woman in Jermuk, August
23, 2019.
Several dozen protesters have blocked all roads leading to Amulsar since June
2018, disrupting the construction of Lydian’s mining facilities which was due
to be completed by the end of last year. The protesters say that gold mining
and smelting operations would severely damage the local ecosystem.
Lydian, which has invested at least $350 million in the project, dismisses
these concerns, saying that it will use modern and safe technology. The company
headquartered in the U.S. state of Colorado has repeatedly demanded that the
Armenian government end what it regards as an illegal road blockade.
The government contracted ELARD early this year. Pashinian and other officials
said then that Lydian’s renewed operations in Armenia will depend on the
results of the ELARD audit.
While in Jermuk, Pashinian also discussed the Amulsar issue with other ordinary
residents of Armenia’s most famous mineral water resort. In particular, we went
into the apartment of a middle-aged woman who claimed to have lived in the
United States for about 27 years and returned to her hometown recently. She
urged Pashinian to pull the plug on the mining project.
“I came back to live in an ecologically clean place,” she said. “I want this
clean and untouched nature to be really preserved. Watching this nature gives
me great pleasure.”
Armenia -- Residents of Gorayk village meet with Prime Minister Nikol
Pashinian, .
After meeting separately with a group of local activists campaigning against
the project, Pashinian headed to the nearby villages of Gorayk and Saravan.
In Gorayk, the prime minister inspected a Lydian lab designed for water
analysis and recycling and held an indoor meeting with village residents.
Many of the villagers voiced support for the project, saying that they trust in
Lydian’s environment-related assurances and are eager to work for the company
due to a lack of other employment opportunities in the area.
“Mr. Prime Minister, the mine must definitely work,” said one man. “It’s good
for the economy. We are a country at war. Our budget needs revenues. We are all
young and need jobs.”
Lydian and its Armenian building contractors employed more than 1,000 people
until the start of the Amulsar blockade. Many of them were residents of the
surrounding communities.
Press Review
Lragir.am says that the dispute over the Amulsar gold mining project marks the
start of a “new political phase” in Armenia which will lead to realignments in
the Armenian police scene. “There is talk of the formation of new opposition,
including from within the authorities,” writes the publication. “How
substantiated are these assertions? A lot depends on further developments over
the Amulsar issue.” It says the issue is exploited not only by Armenia’s former
leadership and its political allies.
1in.am says that although some members of the pro-government majority in the
Armenian parliament make no secret of their opposition to the Amulsar project
it is still too early to say whether this could cause a serious rift within
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s My Step alliance. “The issue has become a
subject of courteous, polite and respectful but still public debates among
members of that majority,” writes the publication. “They go as far to trade
subtle accusations and rebukes. In all likelihood, it’s about time that all
deputies from My Step’s parliamentary faction expressed a position on not only
Amulsar but also chances of snap parliamentary elections.”
“The fact is that the people gave Nikol Pashinian and his political team a
mandate to be guided not by personal or partisan but national interests when
governing the country,” writes “Haykakan Zhamanak.” “It is evident that the
reopening of Amulsar [mine] does not stem from his personal interests. Nor does
it stem from the interests of the political force headed by him. They even
speak about the possibility of a split within that force.” The paper linked to
Pashinian insists that “state interests” are the most important factor behind
his current and future decisions relating to Amulsar. It says the prime
minister is mindful of those decisions’ negative impact on his approval ratings.
(Lilit Harutiunian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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