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    Categories: 2019

RFE/RL Armenian Report – 09/27/2019

                                        Friday, September 27, 2019

Kim Kardashian Reveals ‘Big Plans’ For Armenia
September 27, 2019

U.S. -- Kim Kardashian arrives for the 2018 Met Gala on May 7, 2018, at the 
Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

American reality TV star Kim Kardashian has pledged to explore the possibility 
of manufacturing her new shapewear line in Armenia and other business 
opportunities during her upcoming trip to the country.

Kardashian has been invited to participate as a “special keynote speaker” and 
panelist in the World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT) that will be 
held in Yerevan on October 6-9. The forum is expected to bring together 2,500 
tech professionals from more than 70 countries.

“I will be visiting Armenia in the next 2 weeks and hope to seek ways I can 
help increase trade and hopefully create jobs for Armenians which includes 
@skims production there in the future,” Kardashian said late on Thursday.

“I’ve been working extremely hard on this matter and hope my trip to Armenia 
will bring some amazing news because I have big plans!” the Armenian-American 
celebrity added in a series of tweets.

She was responding to a September 25 appeal from the Armenian National 
Committee of America (ANCA) posted on Twitter. The lobby group praised 
Kardashian for championing U.S. recognition of the 1915 Armenian genocide in 
Ottoman Turkey.

The ANCA also said: “We saw that you are making some @skims products in Turkey. 
Please consider making them in Armenia which is known for great craftsmanship & 
service.”

“We consulted with experts and searched globally for the best in class options, 
some which was found in Turkey,” replied Kardashian. “We believe strongly 
against discrimination of any kind; against anyone or any nation based on the 
past.”

She stressed that she remains “very passionate” about Armenian genocide 
recognition.

The ANCA appeared satisfied with her response. “We look forward to your 
upcoming trip to Armenia,” it said.

It will be Kardashian’s second trip to Armenia. The 38-year-old first visited 
her ancestral homeland in April 2015 together with her husband and rapper Kanye 
West and sister Khloe.




EU Reaffirms Support For Judicial Reforms In Armenia
September 27, 2019
        • Naira Nalbandian

Armenia -- European Union Ambassador Andrea Wiktorin speaks at a conference on 
judicial reform in Yerevan, September 27, 2019.

The new head of the European Union Delegation to Armenia reaffirmed on Friday 
the EU’s readiness to assist the Armenian government in reforming the country’s 
judicial system.

Ambassador Andrea Wiktorin said EU officials look forward to seeing and 
evaluating a final government plan for judicial reforms.

“I think it is impressive and we have to welcome the fact that the Armenian 
government is really active to introduce a judicial strategy and to implement 
reforms,” Wiktorin told reporters. “This is work in progress. They are 
finalizing the strategy. The strategy will be seen by experts.”

“You are in a very difficult phase and you are tackling one of the most 
difficult problems. Ten years ago I saw what it means if normal people have no 
confidence in the judicial system and judges,” said the diplomat who had served 
as Germany’s ambassador in Yerevan from 2007-2009.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian vowed judicial reforms and urged supporters to 
block court buildings across Armenia in May after a Yerevan court released from 
prison his bitter foe and former President Robert Kocharian, who is facing 
serious criminal charges. He demanded a mandatory vetting of all Armenian 
judges, saying that many of them remain linked to the country’s former 
leadership.

Pashinian has since repeatedly stated that he wants to make the Armenian 
judiciary “truly independent.” His critics say, however, he is on the contrary 
seeking to gain control over the courts.

Wiktorin declined to comment on the opposition allegations about government 
pressure on the judiciary. “The EU is in direct contact [with the government,]” 
she said. “If we have [critical] things to deliver we will do this directly.”

Donald Tusk, the outgoing head of the European Union’s top decision-making 
body, welcomed the Armenian authorities’ “focus on creating an independent, 
efficient and accountable judicial system” when he visited Yerevan in July.

The reform process is also closely monitored by the Council of Europe and its 
Venice Commission in particular. According to an internal Venice Commission 
report, Armenian and Council of Europe officials agreed later in May that a 
general vetting of all judges “would be neither necessary nor useful.” Instead, 
the Armenian authorities will expand legal mechanisms for disciplinary 
proceedings against judges and anti-corruption asset declarations filed by 
them, said the report.




Minister Backs Parliament Bid To Oust Constitutional Court Head
September 27, 2019
        • Naira Nalbandian

Armenia -- Justice Minister Rustam Badasian speaks at a conference on judicial 
reform, Yerevan, September 27, 2019.

Justice Minister Rustam Badasian on Friday voiced support for the Armenian 
parliament’s plans to urge the Constitutional Court to replace its chairman, 
Hrayr Tovmasian.

The National Assembly will debate and almost certainly adopt early next month 
an appeal to the court drafted by senior lawmakers representing Prime Minister 
Nikol Pashinian’s My Step alliance. The document denounces Tovmasian’s handling 
of Robert Kocharian’s appeals against the legality of coup charges brought 
against the former Armenian president.

The Constitutional Court partly accepted one of those appeals on September 4. 
It declared unconstitutional an article of the Armenian Code of Procedural 
Justice used against Kocharian.

The draft parliamentary resolution accuses Tovmasian of committing serious 
procedural violations during the consideration of the case. It says he should 
not have dealt with the case also because of his personal ties to one of 
Kocharian’s lawyers and past membership in the former ruling Republican Party 
of Armenia (HHK).

“I consider the appeal substantiated,” Badasian told reporters. The minister 
also effectively echoed Pashinian’s recent allegations that Tovmasian became 
the Constitutional Court chairman in March 2017 as a result of a dubious 
political deal cut with HHK leader and then President Serzh Sarkisian.

Tovmasian rejected Pashinian’s verbal attacks in July. But he has yet to 
publicly react to the pro-government parliament majority’s efforts to oust him.

Although the anticipated parliament resolution is not binding, the high court 
has to meet and discuss it. Tovmasian will lose his post if most of the court’s 
eight other judges vote against him.He is not allowed to attend the discussion 
and vote on his future.

One of the judges, Alvina Gyulumian, on Friday declined to comment on the 
parliament measure. “A single word uttered by me could be interpreted in a 
certain way and preclude my participation in the court’s consideration of the 
issue,” she explained to journalists.

Gyulumian earlier denounced as offensive a Justice Ministry bill offering her 
and her colleagues financial incentives to resign.

The idea of such a bill was first floated by Vahe Grigorian, another 
Constitutional Court judge who was elected by the government-controlled 
parliament in June. Grigorian claimed that only he and another judge, Arman 
Dilanian, can make valid decisions because they were installed after sweeping 
amendments to the Armenian constitution took effect in April 2018. The court’s 
eight other members, including Dilanian, dismissed those claims.




Iran’s Rouhani To Attend Eurasian Union Summit In Yerevan
September 27, 2019

Iran - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian inspect an Iranian honor guard at a welcoming ceremony in Tehran, 
February 27, 2019.

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has accepted Armenia’s invitation to attend 
next week’s summit of the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) in Yerevan, 
the Armenian government announced on Friday.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s office also confirmed the participation of the 
presidents of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan in the summit 
scheduled for October 1. It said the leaders of the five EEU member states will 
be joined at a separate session by Rouhani as well as Moldova’s President Igor 
Dodon and Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

Pashinian announced his decision to invite Rouhani to the summit in early 
August. He said it was agreed with Russian President Vladimir Putin and the 
other EEU heads of state.

Iran and the EEU signed a preferential trade agreement in 2018. The deal was 
strongly backed by Armenia, the only member of the trade bloc that has a land 
border with the Islamic Republic. The current and former Armenian government 
said it will boost Armenian-Iranian trade.

Pashinian made clear last year that despite renewed U.S. sanctions against Iran 
his government will “deepen not only economic but also political relations” 
with Tehran. He paid an official visit to Iran in February this year.

In a magazine interview published earlier this month, Pashinian insisted that 
the United States is not pressuring Armenia to curtail Armenian-Iranian ties.




Press Review
September 27, 2019

“Zhoghovurd” says that contrary to opposition claims the current Armenian 
government has achieved positive changes “in many fields.” In particular, says 
the paper, the government decided on Thursday to raise the salaries of 
firefighters and other employees of the Ministry for Emergency Situations by 
almost 30 percent. It also approved a six-fold rise in one-off payments to 
families having their first child and a 41 percent increase in the monthly 
benefits of working mothers of young children. “Low salaries have always one of 
the main sources of complaints in our county,” writes the pro-government daily. 
“This probably explains why the problem is at the center of the government’s 
attention.”

“Haykakan Zhamanak” comments on criminal charges brought against former Defense 
Minister Vigen Sargsian and a former chief of the Armenian police, Alik 
Sargsian. “Naturally, opposition propaganda construed these facts as the start 
of a new phase of political persecution and vengeance, an attempt to 
‘dismantle’ security agencies and so on,” writes the paper controlled by Prime 
Minister Nikol Pashinian. It denies those claims, saying the new authorities 
are simply uncovering abuses and corrupt practices that were the norm under the 
former ruling regime. It seems to agree with suggestions that virtually all 
former senior officials committed such abuses.

“Short-term interests presuppose that it is not worth digging into the past of 
former senior security officials because that is fraught with a certain 
internal political destabilization. But long-term interests oblige [the current 
authorities] to thoroughly cleanse security agencies from those officers who 
have been involved in some corruption schemes in the past, are now nostalgic 
about those times and would use the first opportunity to restore the past,” 
concludes “Haykakan Zhamanak.”

Lragir.am says that Pashinian never expected his latest trip to the United 
States to be “decisive or fateful.” The publication says that the visit was 
focused on “pan-Armenian” issues. “Official Washington regards the Armenian 
community as a channel of interstate relations,” it says, adding that 
Pashinian’s meeting with Armenian American organizations were very important 
for U.S.-Armenian relations.

(Lilit Harutiunian)


Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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Emil Karabekian: