Friday, Pashinian Says Ready For Snap Elections ARMENIA -- A participant addresses Armenian law enforcement officers during an opposition rally outside the government office to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, Yerevan, . Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on Friday expressed readiness to hold fresh parliamentary elections next year and offered to negotiate with Armenia’s leading political groups for that purpose. “I am not clinging to the post of prime minister, but I also cannot adopt a careless attitude towards power and the post of prime minister entrusted to me by the people,” Pashinian said in a statement posted on Facebook. “The fate of that post and the country’s further political leadership must be decided by the people through a free expression of their will and I … consider myself a guarantor of that free of expression of their will. “I can give up the post of prime minister only if the people decide so,” he said. “Should the people reaffirm their trust I am also ready to continue leading the Republic of Armenia in these difficult times. There is only one way to answer these questions: the conduct of pre-term parliamentary elections.” “Based on that, I am inviting parliamentary and interested extraparliamentary forces to consultations on holding pre-term parliamentary elections in 2021,” concluded Pashinian. Armenia -- Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian emerges from the main govenment building in Yerevan to lead a procession to the Yerablur Military Pantheon, December 19, 2020. Virtually all Armenian opposition parties have blamed Pashinian for the Armenian side’s defeat in the recent war in Azerbaijan and demanded his resignation. Their demands have been backed by President Armen Sarkissian, the Armenian Apostolic Church and many public figures. An opposition coalition uniting more than a dozen parties has been holding anti-government demonstrations in Yerevan and other parts of the country in a bid to force Pashinian to hand over power to an interim government. Its leaders maintain that only that government must hold the snap elections. Citing what he described as a poor attendance of the continuing anti-government rallies, Pashinian said on Friday that the opposition campaign has not won popular support and is fizzling out. The beleaguered prime minister earlier dismissed the protests as a revolt by the country’s traditional “elites” that lost their “privileges” after he swept to power in 2018. Opposition Party Seeks Parliamentary Probe Of Karabakh War • Artak Khulian Armenia -- Deputies from the opposition Bright Armenia Party attend a parliament session, Yerevan, May 26, 2020. The opposition Bright Armenia Party (LHK) has called for a parliamentary inquiry into the causes and the outcome of the recent war in Nagorno-Karabakh. “Ever since the war ended with the November 9 ceasefire the most important questions preoccupying the Armenian people have been: why did diplomacy fail to prevent the war, why did the war break out … and why did we lose?” LHK leader Edmon Marukian said on Friday. Marukian’s party wants these questions to be answered by a “fact-finding group” that would mostly consist of deputies from the three political groups represented in the Armenian parliament: the ruling My Step bloc, the LHK and the opposition Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK). Each of them would appoint four members of the group. Three other members would be named by other forces which finished fourth, fifth and sixth in the 2018 parliamentary elections and failed to win any seats in the National Assembly. They include the former ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun). “The group must work and draw up conclusions regarding the pre-war period and the war,” said Marukian. “The parents of our heroes, our soldiers and everyone must know what happened … Until we answer these questions we cannot carry on with our lives and build a strong Armenia.” My Step, which is headed by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, and the BHK said they will discuss the LHK proposal and respond to it. The BHK, Dashnaktsutyun and the HHK are part of a coalition of more than a dozen opposition parties that has been holding anti-government protests in a bid to force Pashinian to resign over his handling of the war. Although Marukian’s LHK is not involved in the protests it too has blamed Pashinian’s administration for the Armenian side’s defeat in the six-week war. The prime minister has repeatedly rejected opposition demands for his resignation. “I consider myself the number one person responsible [for the defeat] but I don’t consider myself the number one guilty person,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on December 16. Armenian Ban On Imports From Turkey Set To Take Effect Armenia -- A commercial truck enters Armenia from Georgia through the Gogavan border crossing, November 29, 2018. (Photo by the Armenian State Revenue Committee) Armenian tax authorities said on Friday that they will start enforcing next week a government ban on the import of all Turkish goods to Armenia which was imposed during the recent war in Nagorno-Karabakh. The Armenian government cited Ankara’s “inflammatory calls,” arms supplies to Azerbaijan and “deployment of terrorist mercenaries to the conflict zone” when it approved the ban on October 20. It said the measure is meant to not only hurt Turkey financially but also neutralize “various kinds of dangers” relating to imports of goods from the “hostile country.” The ban will come into effect on December 31 and remain in force for six months. Government officials have said that it could be extended. In a statement, the State Revenue Committee (SRC) warned importers to “strictly comply” with the ban, saying that “enhanced customs controls” will be put in place at Armenian border checkpoints. The SRC said they must be prepared to produce documents indicating the “country of origin” of goods imported by them. The statement also stressed that Turkish-manufactured products cannot be re-exported to Armenia from Georgia, Russia or any other country. According to government data, Armenia imported $178 million worth of Turkish goods, including clothing and machinery, in January-October 2020. The imports from Turkey were down by 15 percent year on year. Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigorian expressed confidence in October that Armenian businesspeople will not have trouble importing the same types of goods from other countries or manufacturing them in Armenia. He said the government plans to subsidize loans designed for such import substitution. Turkey has refused to establish diplomatic relations with Armenia and kept the border between the two states closed since the early 1990s out of solidarity with Azerbaijan. It has also banned all imports from Armenia. Another Anti-Pashinian Mayor Avoids Arrest • Ruzanna Stepanian Armenia - Kajaran Mayor Manvel Paramazian. An Armenian court blocked on Friday the arrest of another town mayor who has demanded Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s resignation and backed protests against his rule. Armenia’s Investigative Committee asked the court on Wednesday to remand Manvel Paramazian in pre-trial custody immediately after charging him with kidnapping and beating up another man in April this year. Paramazian denies the charges. His lawyer, Yervand Varosian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service that the court found no legal grounds to allow his arrest. Paramazian has run Kajaran, an industrial town in southeastern Syunik province, since 2016. He was among the heads of more than a dozen provincial communities who issued earlier this month statements condemning Pashinian’s handling of the war with Azerbaijan and demanding his resignation. They accused him of putting Syunik’s security at grave risk with Armenian troop withdrawals completed over the weekend. The mayors encouraged hundreds of local residents who blocked a regional highway to disrupt Pashinian’s visit to Syunik on Monday. One of the mayors, Arush Arushanian, was detained hours before the protest. A Yerevan court ordered the Investigative Committee to free Arushanian on Tuesday. Nevertheless, the law-enforcement agency leveled a string of criminal charges against the 29-year-old mayor of the town of Goris and demanded a court permission to arrest him again. The court rejected the demand on Thursday. Paramazian and Arushanian have led some of the government-backed local militias that were set up in October to defend Syunik against advancing Azerbaijani troops. Armenian President, PM Discuss Political Crisis Armenia -- President Armen Sarkissian (L) and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian meet in Yerevan, November 12, 2020. President Armen Sarkissian and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian met late on Thursday to discuss lingering political tensions in Armenia resulting from the recent war in Nagorno-Karabakh. “The meeting focused on the situation in the country, the emerging challenges, the safety and defense of Armenia’s border communities, ongoing efforts to restore normal life in Artsakh and the Government’s support measures,” Pashinian’s office said in a short statement. The presidential press service issued an identical statement on the meeting held amid continuing opposition protests against Pashinian’s rule. With no other details reported, it was not clear if the two men reached any understandings on how to end the political crisis. Sarkissian held earlier a series of consultations with the leaders of various Armenian political groups, including members of a coalition of more than a dozen opposition parties staging the protests in a bid to force Pashinian to step down. The president, who has largely ceremonial powers, has repeatedly backed opposition demands for Pashinian’s resignation and the formation of an interim government that would hold snap general elections within a year. He has said that Armenia is in a “deep crisis.” The prime minister has rejected these demands, dismissing the anti-government protests as an “elite revolt” not supported by most Armenians. Some Pashinian allies have said that the ruling political team is ready to discuss with the opposition the possibility of snap elections. Opposition leaders insist that the vote must be held by the transitional government. They blame Pashinian’s administration for the Armenian side’s defeat in the war with Azerbaijan and say it is not capable of meeting security challenges facing Armenia. Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL Copyright (c) 2020 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc. 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.