Monday, Prominent Armenian General’s Rank Restored • Marine Khachatrian Armenia -- Former Defense Minister Vagharshak Harutiunian, Yerevan, 14Jun2016 Vagharshak Harutiunian, a former Armenian defense minister, has been reinstated to the rank of lieutenant-general which had been controversially revoked by former President Robert Kocharian. Harutiunian served as defense minister for almost a year from 1999-2000. He was among senior Armenian government officials who challenged Kocharian in the wake of the October 1999 deadly terrorist attack on the country’s parliament. Virtually all of those officials, including Prime Minister Aram Sarkisian, were sacked when Kocharian prevailed in the power struggle in May 2000. Harutiunian subsequently joined Sarkisian’s opposition Hanrapetutyun (Republic) party. Kocharian stripped him of his military rank in 2002 in a presidential decree which was condemned as illegal by Harutiunian and opposition leaders. President Armen Sarkissian annulled that decree late last week. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said on Friday that the decision was requested by him. Speaking to RFE/RL’s Armenian service, Aram Sarkisian said he personally asked Pashinian to help “redress the injustice” committed by Kocharian. Another senior member of Hanrapetutyun, Hovik Arsenian, also welcomed the resulting decisions. “[Harutiunian] is a worthy son of our state and I am sure that he will continue to fight for our people and our country’s security,” he said. Harutiunian, who is known as a strong advocate of Armenia’s close military ties with Russia, himself declined to comment. He said he will hold a news conference soon. EU Envoy Praises Armenian Government • Harry Tamrazian Armenia -- Piotr Switalski, head of the European Delegation in Armenia, at a news conference in Yerevan, July 22, 2019. The outgoing head of the European Union Delegation in Yerevan, Piotr Switalski, heaped praise on Armenia’s current government on Monday, saying that it is successfully combatting corruption and pursuing a “responsible” foreign policy. “I believe that the [government] efforts to fight against corruption and to remove the gray zones from economic activities have been successful,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian service in a farewell interview. “I think that the most important element in combatting corruption is the political will. The leadership of the country, the government has demonstrated very clearly that they have the political will to combat corruption.” Switalski said Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s government, which took office following last year’s “Velvet Revolution,” is also enacting legislation and creating institutions necessary for a “system of combatting corruption at different levels.” The fight against corruption, he went on, enjoys strong popular support. “I think that Armenians do not want to go back to the previous times when corruption, nepotism were part of their life. They now understand what life without corruption is much better,” said the diplomat who has headed the EU mission in Yerevan for the last four years. Switalski also spoke of a broader change in public mood in Armenia which he said has occurred since the 2018 revolution. “The main difference that I can see when meeting and talking with Armenians is … this feeling of freedom in their eyes,” he explained. “The fear which sometimes in the past was visibly present in their statements and conversations today is gone. They behave like free people and they enjoy this freedom.” Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian meets with Piotr Switalski in Yerevan, 21Aug2019. The envoy cautioned, though, that this freedom has also led to increased “hate speech” in the country “We encourage Armenia, including the government, to deploy additional efforts to combat hate speech until it is not too late,” he said without citing concrete examples of such intolerance. Switalski further reiterated that the EU’s relationship with Armenia is “excellent.” He said Pashinian’s administration is committed to implementing the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) signed by Brussels and the former Armenian government in November 2017. The 350-page CEPA offers Armenia closer partnership with the EU in return for major political and economic reforms. It was negotiated as a less far-reaching alternative to the Association Agreement which was nearly finalized by the two sides in 2013. Then President Serzh Sarkisian precluded the signing of that agreement by unexpectedly deciding to make his country part of the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). Armenia’s subsequent accession to the EEU was strongly criticized by some opposition leaders, including Pashinian. Nevertheless, ever since he swept to power Pashinian has repeatedly ruled out Armenia’s withdrawal from the EEU or the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), another alliance of ex-Soviet states. “I believe that Armenian foreign policy is pursued with a sense of responsibility and balance and open horizons,” said Switalski. He commended the current authorities in Yerevan for ensuing “strong continuity” in EU-Armenia ties and trying to be “open to opportunities offered from any direction, including the European direction.” Amulsar Mining Risks ‘Manageable,’ Insists Top Investigator • Susan Badalian Armenia -- Yura Ivanyan, a senior official from the Investigative Committee, at a news conference in Yrevan, . A major gold mining project launched in Armenia by a Western company poses only “manageable” environmental risks, a senior law-enforcement official who has investigated it insisted on Monday. The official, Yura Ivanian, also stood by the investigators’ conclusion that the Armenian Ministry of Environment Protection did not break any laws or regulations when it formally allowed the company, Lydian International, in 2016 to develop the Amulsar gold deposit. “The assessment of the environmental and social impact on the mine’s exploitation received a positive conclusion from the Ministry of Environment Protection without any violation of the law,” Ivanian told a news conference. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian told Armenia’s Investigative Committee to look into the legality of Lydian’s mining license shortly after he came to power in May last year. The law-enforcement agency was specifically supposed to find out whether ministry officials misled people living near Amulsar about "dangerous risks" posed by the project. The Investigative Committee chief, Hayk Grigorian, said on August 15 that it has no grounds to indict anyone as a result of its inquiry led by Ivanian. Grigorian cited the findings of an environmental audit of the Amulsar project commissioned by the Armenian government and conducted by a Lebanese consulting firm, ELARD. In its final report submitted to the investigators, ELARD concluded that toxic waste from the would-be mine is extremely unlikely to contaminate mineral water sources in the nearby resort town of 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. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian pointed to these conclusions when he indicated on August 19 his intention to enable Lydian to the restart the multimillion-dollar project disrupted by protesters more than a year ago. Armenian environmental activists denounced that statement. They said that in fact ELARD gave a negative assessment of the project’s impact on the environment. This led Pashinian to announce on August 23 that he will seek additional explanations from the ELARD at a video conference that will be held this week. Visiting communities surrounding Amulsar, said he will press the Lebanese environmental consultants to give “clear-cut answers” to lingering questions about the safety of Lydian’s operations. “Although the [ELARD] audit refers to a number of shortcomings and omissions [in the Lydian’s project] its overall conclusion must be put into context,” said Ivanian. The investigator stressed the importance of the 16 safety measures recommended by ELARD and essentially accepted by Lydian. “The mitigating measures are reasonable and adequate, and if they are implemented along with additional measures the environmental risks will be manageable,” he said. Asked what will happen if those risks turn out to be serious after the start of open-pit mining at Amulsar, Ivanian said Armenia’s laws allow authorities to monitor and ensure Lydian’s compliance with environmental regulations. Armenia ‘Unlikely’ To Ratify Contentious European Treaty In 2019 • Ruzanna Stepanian Armenia - Riot police confront anti-LGBT protesters outside the parliament building in Yerevan, April 8, 2019. Justice Minister Rustam Badasian said on Monday that Armenia’s government is unlikely to seek parliamentary ratification before the end of this year of a European treaty strongly opposed by the Armenian Apostolic Church and other groups championing traditional family values. The treaty signed in 2011 and known as the Istanbul Convention commits Council of Europe member states to combatting violence against women. Armenia has still not ratified the convention despite being among its signatories. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s government indicated this summer its intention to ensure the treaty’s quick ratification by the parliament. It immediately met with resistance from socially conservative groups and individuals, including the chairman of Armenia’s national bar association. While supporting the protection of women, opponents object to the Istanbul Convention’s definition of gender as “social roles, behaviors, activities and characteristics that a particular society considers appropriate for women and men.” They say this paves way for introducing transsexual or transgender as separate categories and legalizing same-sex marriage. The top clergymen of the state-backed Armenian Apostolic Church added their voice to these objections in late July, urging the authorities not to ratify the convention. In a joint declaration, they said it poses a threat to traditional marriage defined by Armenian law as a union between a man and a woman. Armenia -- Catholicos Garegin II (C) and other senior clergymen celebrate Christmas Mass at the Echmiadzin Catheral, January 6, 2015. The outcry appears to have at least slowed down the ratification process, with the government deciding earlier this month to ask a Council of Europe body, the Venice Commission, for an advisory opinion on the treaty’s conformity with Armenia’s constitution. Badasian said the commission will present its arguments in October. The government will then have to discuss the matter in detail before sending the convention to the National Assembly for ratification, he said, adding that a parliamentary debate on it this year is therefore “not realistic.” Badasian at the same time continued to dismiss the critics’ arguments and insist that the convention’s ratification could not obligate the Armenian authorities to legalize same-sex marriages or adoption of children by LGBT people. He said he too is too opposed to such marriages. “A family must continue to be a union of a man and a woman,” the minister told reporters. “Only members of a family recognized by the state, namely a man and a woman, can adopt children. This is my position.” Badasian also argued that neighboring Georgia has not scrapped or amended its legal provisions against same-sex marriage as a result of ratifying the Istanbul Convention. For the same reasons the convention has also sparked controversy in several other Council of Europe member states. Two of them, Bulgaria and Slovakia, rejected it last year. In Croatia, the parliament ratified the treaty in April 2018 amid protests by local social conservatives. To placate them, the Croatian government adopted a separate statement saying the treaty will not change Croatia’s legal definition of marriage as a union between man and woman. 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