Tuesday, June 7, 2022
Armenian, Karabakh Oppositionists Meet In Yerevan
June 07, 2022
• Astghik Bedevian
Armenia - Karabakh flags on empty seats of opposition lawmakers boycotting a
session of the Armenian parliament, Yerevan, May 25, 2022.
Leaders of Armenia’s and Nagorno-Karabakh’s main opposition groups met late on
Monday amid continuing anti-government protests in Yerevan sparked by Prime
Minister Nikol Pashinian’s conciliatory policy towards Azerbaijan.
An Armenian opposition statement on the meeting said they discussed security
challenges facing Armenia and Karabakh and agreed to strive to “expand” the
opposition campaign in Yerevan.
“We agreed to jointly fight for an Armenian future for Artsakh and Armenia,”
Davit Galstian, who leads one of the three opposition parties represented in the
Karabakh parliament, said on Tuesday.
“This was the kind of a meeting which the Armenian authorities refuse to hold,”
Galstian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “That is to say that there is no
cooperation between the two parliaments and other state bodies.”
He said that Karabakh’s opposition forces are not staging “large-scale protests”
in Stepanakert because the authorities there continue to reject any settlement
that would restore Azerbaijani control over the territory. By contrast, he said,
the Armenian government is reluctant to make clear that “Artsakh was, is and
will remain Armenian.”
Pashinian declared on April 13 that the international community is pressing
Armenia to “lower the bar on the question of Nagorno-Karabakh’s status” and
recognize Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. He signaled Yerevan’s intention to
make such concessions to Baku.
Armenian opposition leaders portrayed the statement as further proof that
Pashinian has agreed to Azerbaijani control over Karabakh. The authorities in
Stepanakert also deplored it. In a resolution, the Karabakh parliament demanded
that the Armenian authorities “abandon their current disastrous position.”
Pashinian insisted afterwards that he will not cut any peace deals with
Azerbaijan without consulting with the Karabakh leadership.
Armenian Opposition Blasts EU’s ‘Double Standards’
June 07, 2022
• Robert Zargarian
Armenia - Opposition supporters demonstrate outside the EU Delegation in
Yerevan, June 7, 2022.
Armenian opposition leaders accused the European Union on Tuesday of turning a
blind eye to the excessive use of force by police against protesters demanding
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s resignation.
They singled out the failure of the EU Delegation in Yerevan to condemn security
forces for firing stun grenades during violent clashes with opposition
supporters which broke out on Friday at a street intersection adjacent to the
diplomatic mission.
Dozens of protesters and police officers were injured in the clashes. The two
sides blamed each other for what was the worst violence since the country’s main
opposition groups launched on May 1 a “civil disobedience” campaign aimed at
ousting Pashinian.
Lawmakers representing those groups condemned the EU Delegation’s “silence” as
they led several hundred opposition supporters demonstrating outside the
delegation building. One of them, Aram Vartevanian, said the EU was far more
concerned about police actions during the 2018 mass protests that brought
Pashinian to power.
“But it is silent now,” Vartevanian told the crowd. “And with this silence it is
encouraging the police brutality.”
“You must make a choice in Armenia,” another lawmaker, Anna Grigorian, said,
appealing to the EU mission. “Do you support European values, democracy and the
rule of law or Nikol’s rule?”
Armenia -- Andrea Wiktorin, head of the EU Delegation in Armenia, attends a
seminar in Yerevan, March 6, 2020.
The head of the EU Delegation, Andrea Wiktorin, said last month that Armenian
riot police should “follow rules” and not be allowed to “operate with impunity.”
Wiktorin also said: “There can be different perceptions of what peaceful
gatherings are, and if there are provocations I would personally ask myself
where does it end.”
The U.S. ambassador to Armenia, Lynne Tracy, also expressed concern over the use
of force against protesters in Yerevan. Still, Tracy was condemned by the
opposition after she effectively welcomed on May 18 the outcome of last year’s
parliamentary elections won by Pashinian’s party.
Vartevanian was asked by journalists why the opposition does not voice similar
criticism of Russia, which has not publicly commented on the Armenian
authorities’ response to the protests. He argued that unlike the Western powers,
Moscow does not portray Armenia as a democracy or claim to promote democratic
reforms in the country.
Both Tracy and Wiktorin addressed on May 20 a “forum for democracy” in Yerevan
attended by Pashinian and other senior government officials. Opposition
representatives were not allowed to participate in the event.
Armenian Government Seeks Tighter Control Of Army Top Brass
June 07, 2022
• Nane Sahakian
Armenia - Defense Minister Suren Papikian and General Kamo Kochunts, acting army
chief of staff, hold a meeting in Yerevan, May 30, 2022.
Defense Minister Suren Papikian has indicated that the post of Armenia’s top
military general will remain vacant until the government makes sure that its
next holder is directly subordinate to him.
“We are going to have a new model whereby the chief of the [army’s] General
Staff will be the first deputy minister of defense,” Papikian told Armenian
Public Television in an interview aired late on Monday.
“The armed forces will deal only with the country’s defense and military
training,” he said, adding that the General Staff will no longer be in charge of
arms procurements and rear services.
The last chief of the General Staff, Artak Davtian, and six other senior
generals were sacked in February through presidential decrees initiated by Prime
Minister Nikol Pashinian.
The sackings came one year after Davtian’s predecessor, Onik Gasparian, and four
dozen other high-ranking officers accused Pashinian’s government of incompetence
and misrule and demanded its resignation. The unprecedented demand was welcomed
by the Armenian opposition but condemned as a coup attempt by Pashinian.
Pashinian has still not handpicked a new army chief of staff. Opposition leaders
regularly express concern at this fact, saying that it is having adverse effects
on national security and defense.
Armenia - Armenian soldiers taking part in a military exercise are pictured
against the backdrop of Mount Ararat, May 26, 2022.
Papikian again dismissed the opposition concerns, reiterating that the acting
head of the General Staff, Kamo Kochunts, is in a position to properly lead the
armed forces for now.
The minister made clear that the country’s next top general will be installed
after the structural changes planned by the government are approved by the
Armenian parliament. He did not specify when a relevant government bill will be
submitted to the National Assembly.
Pashinian promised a major reform of the military shortly after Armenia’s defeat
in the 2020 war with Azerbaijan. He has replaced three defense ministers since a
Russian-brokered ceasefire stopped the six-week hostilities in November 2020.
Opposition forces blame Pashinian for the disastrous war that left at least
3,800 Armenian soldiers dead. They also say that his administration is doing
little to rebuild the armed forces.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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