Thursday,
Sarkisian’s Party Seeks Election Alliance With Former Security Chief
• Artak Khulian
Armenia -- Former President Serzh Sarkisian holds a news conference in Yerevan,
August 19, 2020.
Former President Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party (HHK) announced on Thursday
its decision to seek an electoral alliance with another opposition party led by
former National Security Service (NSS) Director Artur Vanetsian.
The HHK and Vanetsian’s Hayrenik (Fatherland) party have been affiliated with
the Homeland Salvation Front, a coalition of opposition forces that have tried
to toppled Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian over his handling of last year’s war
in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Unlike Hayrenik, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) and
other members of the alliance, the HHK until recently signaled its desire to
boycott snap parliamentary elections expected in June, saying that they could be
rigged by Pashinian.
But the former ruling party eventually decided against an election boycott at a
meeting of its governing body headed by Sarkisian. In a statement, it cited the
“vital need” to oust Pashinian.
“Given the existing political realities, we believe that the Hayrenik party’s
possible political cooperation is the most effective way to dethrone the
capitulator [Pashinian,]” Armen Ashotian, the HHK’s deputy chairman, told a news
conference.
The HHK thus chose not to team up for now with Robert Kocharian, another former
president who is expected to join forces with Dashnaktsutyun. Kocharian again
said earlier this month that he will be Pashinian’s main challenger.
Hayrenik did not immediately react to the HHK announcement. Vanetsian founded
the party a year ago after being relieved of his duties in September 2019r.
Vanetsian, 42, was appointed as head of the NSS immediately the 2018 “Velvet
Revolution” that toppled Sarkisian and brought Pashinian to power. He quickly
became an influential member of Pashinian’s entourage, overseeing high-profile
corruption investigations into former government officials and Sarkisian’s
relatives.
Ashotian downplayed this fact and said the former security chief has cooperated
with various opposition forces since his resignation.
Iran’s Khamenei Notes ‘Common Interests’ With Armenia
Iran -- Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei delivers a speech in Tehran, March
20, 2021.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has reaffirmed support for closer
relations with Armenia sought by the Islamic Republic.
Khamenei wrote to President Armen Sarkissian on Wednesday in response to the
latter’s recent message congratulating him on Nowruz, the ancient Persian New
Year.
According to Sarkissian’s office, Khamenei said he hopes that the two
neighboring states will deepen their “long-standing” relationship for the sake
of stability in the region, “global justice” and other “common interests.”
Visiting Yerevan in late January, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Zarif
likewise reaffirmed Tehran’s desire to continue seeking closer relations with
neighboring Yerevan after the autumn war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Zarif expressed strong support for Armenia’s territorial integrity when he
discussed regional security and bilateral ties with his Armenian counterpart Ara
Ayvazian. The two countries are concerned about the “presence of terrorists and
foreign fighters” in the region, he said, seemingly alluding to the widely
documented participation of Middle Eastern mercenaries in the six-week war on
Azerbaijan’s side.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian met with Khamenei during an official
visit to Tehran in February 2019.
Khamenei reportedly urged Pashinian at the time to strengthen Armenian-Iranian
relations “contrary to what the United States desires.” “Iran and Armenia have
never had any problems with each other,” he said.
Minister Offers Rosy Outlook For Armenian Economy
• Robert Zargarian
Armenia -- Armenian Economy Minister Vahan Kerobian attends a cabinet meeting in
Yerevan, January 14, 2021.
Economy Minister Vahan Kerobian said on Thursday that he will resign if the
Armenian economy does not grow at a double-digit rate this year.
Kerobian insisted that this is a realistic target despite the continuing
coronavirus pandemic that plunged Armenia into a recession last year.
“True, I’m not quite happy with month-on-month economic growth in March,” he
told reporters. “Instead of 7-7.5 percent projected by us, only 3.8 percent
[growth] was registered, according to preliminary data. But that will still be
enough to ensure our double-digit economic growth by the end of this year.”
The Armenian Finance Ministry expects the country’s GDP to increase by only 3.2
percent in real terms after shrinking by 7.6 percent last year. The Armenian
Central Bank has forecast an even lower 2021 grow rate: 1.4 percent.
Both the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have offered similar
outlooks. “The recovery will be slow; the economy is unlikely to return to
pre-COVID output levels until 2023,” the bank said in a report released late
last month.
“I will resign if Armenia does not have double-digit economic growth,” Kerobian
declared after a weekly cabinet meeting in Yerevan.
The 44-year-old businessman joined the government in November 2020 in a cabinet
reshuffle initiated by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian. He was the chief
executive of Armenia’s largest food delivery company until then.
Kerobian spoke to journalists as he faced protests against his decision to lay
off about 70 employees of the Armenian Ministry of Economy for cost-cutting
purposes. The latter have worked at nationwide ministry divisions providing
counseling to farmers and monitoring the use of the government’s agricultural
subsidies.
Many of the affected officials gathered outside the government headquarters in
Yerevan to demand that Kerobian annul his decision.
“Imagine a wheat farming program subsidized by the state. Shouldn’t we verify
whether public funds have been used efficiently and whether the wheat was
actually planted?” said Artak Khachatrian, the acting head of one such division
based in northwestern Shirak province.
Kerobian said these monitoring functions must be outsourced to banks and
financial institutions working with the government. “We are trying to spend
taxpayers’ money as efficiently as possible,” he said.
Pashinian Decries Slow Pace Of COVID-19 Vaccination In Armenia
• Nane Sahakian
Armenia - Armenian Health Minister Anahit Avanesian is vaccinated against
COVID-19 in Yerevan,
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian complained on Thursday about a lack of progress
in the Armenian government’s vaccination campaign against COVID-19, telling his
ministers to get vaccine shots and thus set an example to skeptical citizens.
Pashinian said that only about 2, 700 people making up less than 0.1 percent of
Armenia’s population have been vaccinated since the campaign was launched on
April 13. “This is a shamefully low figure,” he told a weekly cabinet meeting in
Yerevan.
Pashinian said the vaccination is critical for not only minimizing coronavirus
infections and resulting deaths but also accelerating the country’s recovery
from a recession caused by the pandemic.
“If we don’t register a significant vaccination rate over the next month our
tourism industry may have very serious problems this year as well,” he warned.
Armenia received 24,000 doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine on March 28 and
43,000 doses of Russia’s Sputnik V jab in the following weeks. The government
plans to import more vaccines in the coming weeks.
The campaign was initially limited to medical workers, seniors and people
suffering from chronic diseases. With few of them apparently showing an interest
in the vaccines, Health Minister Anahit Avanesian allowed medical centers late
last week to administer AstraZeneca shots to all adults willing to take them.
Many Armenians remain wary of doing so because of recent reports linking the
Astra Zeneca vaccine to a rare blood clotting disorder. Both Pashinian and
Avanesian insisted on Thursday that the risk of serious side-effects is minimal.
Avanesian and Deputy Minister Tigran Avinian publicly took AstraZeneca shots on
Wednesday in an effort to allay the fears and encourage Armenians to follow
their example.
“I’m feeling very well and hope that this example will be contagious,” the
health minister told fellow cabinet members. She urged them to also get
vaccinated.
Pashinian said in this regard that all government members must receive vaccine
injections within a week.
Armenia has been hit hard by the pandemic, with a total 215,528 infections and
almost 5,090 coronavirus-related deaths officially confirmed to date. The
Armenian Ministry of Health reported on Thursday that 20 more people infected
with COVID-19 have died in the past day.
An ongoing third wave of infections in the country of about 3 million began in
late February. Critics blame the resurgence of COVID-19 on the authorities’
failure to enforce their physical distancing and sanitary restrictions.
EU Urges Release Of Armenian Prisoners Held In Azerbaijan
• Susan Badalian
Belgium - European Union flags flutter outside the European Commission
headquarters in Brussels, August 21, 2020.
The European Union has called on Azerbaijan to free all Armenian soldiers and
civilians held by it more than five months after a Russian-brokered ceasefire
stopped the war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
In a statement released late on Wednesday, the EU welcomed the “consolidation of
the ceasefire on the ground,” repatriation of the remains of people killed
during the fighting and humanitarian aid provided to civilians in the conflict
zone.
“The European Union reiterates, however, that renewed efforts are necessary to
build confidence between both countries and make progress towards sustainable
peace,” read the statement submitted to the Council of Europe.
“This includes refraining from hostile and offensive rhetoric, finalizing, as
soon as possible, the return of all remaining prisoners of war and detained
persons, regardless of the circumstances of their arrest, and cooperating also
on other important issues such as demining,” it said.
The truce agreement calls for the unconditional release of all prisoners held by
the conflicting sides. The Russian peacekeepers stationed in Karabakh arranged
several prisoner swaps in December and early this year. No Azerbaijani prisoners
are known to be held in Armenia or Karabakh at present.
A total of 69 Armenian prisoners of war (POWs) and civilians have been freed to
date. More than 100 others are believed to remain in Azerbaijani captivity.
Azerbaijan says that they are not covered by the truce accord because they were
captured after it took effect on November 10. Azerbaijani officials have branded
them as “terrorists” and said Baku does not intend to release them.
In recent months, Baku has also reportedly refused to provide the European Court
of Human Rights (ECHR) with information about the whereabouts of the remaining
Armenian prisoners.
The EU statement stressed that the Azerbaijani authorities are obliged to comply
with relevant “interim measures” issued by the ECHR in response to lawsuits
filed from Armenia. “We call on Azerbaijan to provide the outstanding
information requested by the Court,” it said.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian hailed the “very important” EU statement
during a weekly session of his cabinet on Thursday. He said the growing
international pressure on Baku “increases our optimism about achieving concrete
results on this issue.”
“We need to be as united, patient and consistent as possible,” added Pashinian.
The U.S., Russian and French mediators co-chairing the OSCE Minsk Group also
called for the release of the Armenian POWs civilians earlier this month.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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