Wednesday, Students Protest Ouster Of Armenian University Chief • Gayane Saribekian Armenia - Student of Brusov State University boycott classes, Yerevan, March 15, 2023. Hundreds of students of a state-run university in Yerevan boycotted classes on Wednesday to protest against the Armenian government’s decision to effectively depose its recently reelected rector. The board of trustees of Brusov State University (BSU) voted to reappoint Karine Harutiunian as BSU rector on December 9. Harutiunian defeated another candidate for the post, Davit Gyurjinian, who enjoyed government support. Armenia’s Deputy Prime Minister Hambardzum Matevosian, who headed the BSU board, and Education Minister Vahram Dumanian were sacked three days later. Media reports suggested that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian thus punished Dumanian and Matevosian for their failure to install the government-backed candidate. Later in December, Armenian prosecutors opened two criminal cases in connection with the BSU vote. For its part, Pashinian’s government refused to validate Harutiunian’s reelection, alleging vote irregularities strongly denied by the rector and other BSU board members. The board was dissolved as a result. Armenia - BSU rector Karine Harutiunian and Davit Gyurjinian. The government announced on Wednesday that Gyurjinian, the defeated candidate, has been appointed as acting head of the university specializing in the teaching of foreign languages. Many university professors and students expressed outrage at the decision. Tigran Torosian, a former parliament speaker heading BSU’s Political Science Chair, condemned it as illegal. “Their move today proves that they are doing everything to replace Karine Harutiunian by Davit Gyurjinian,” Torosian said during an emergency meeting of the university faculty. “We want to be run by the rector who was elected by us and the faculty,” said one of the students boycotting classes. Gyurjinian, who is also the chief of the Armenian Education Ministry’s Language Inspectorate, and Education Minister Zhanna Andreasian met with the university staff later in the day. The two officials were escorted by dozens of police officers as they made their way into the university building in downtown Yerevan. “I expect support from all of you,” Gyurjinian told the staff. Tsolak Akopian, a BSU deputy rector, argued with Andreasian during the meeting, saying that he will challenge Gyurjinian’s appointment in court. The minister responded by warning that the government will scrutinize the legality of decisions made by the university administration. Armenia - Students of Brusov State University protest outside the prime minister's office in Yerevan, October 17, 2022. Representatives of the protesting students said, meanwhile, that the boycott will continue on Thursday. They as well as Akopian claimed that the government decided to arbitrarily install Gyurjinian because it wants to to press ahead with its controversial plans to merge BSU with two other state-run universities. Those plans triggered angry street protests by BSU students last fall. Harutiunian, the deposed rector, backed the protesters. Pashinian and his associates pledged to give universities more freedom from the government when they swept to power in 2018. But in 2021, they pushed through the parliament a bill that empowered the government to appoint most members of university boards. Armenia’s Constitutional Court declared the bill unconstitutional a few months later. Armenian Military Reports Arms Acquisitions In 2022 • Ruzanna Stepanian • Nane Sahakian Armenia - Defense Minister Suren Papikian inspects an Armenian army post on the border with Azerbaijan, March 10, 2023. Armenia’s armed forces received significant amounts of new weapons and ammunition last year, Defense Minister Suren Papikian said on Wednesday. Papikian said that they included mortars, air defense and anti-tank rocket systems, drones as well as demining, communication and night-vision surveillance equipment. He declined to reveal the sources, quantities or monetary value of the arms acquisitions. “I can’t tell where we bought them from. It’s a secret,” Papikian told the Armenian parliament committee on defense and security. In an apparent reference to Russia, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian complained last September that “our allies” have failed to deliver weapons to Armenia despite contracts signed with them in the last two years. At around the same time, Armenia reportedly signed contracts for the purchase of $245 million worth of Indian multiple-launch rocket systems, anti-tank rockets and ammunition. Papikian explored the possibility of more such deals when he visited India in October. Indian media reported afterwards that the two sides signed in November a $155 million deal to supply Indian 155-milimeter self-propelled howitzers to the Armenian army in the coming years. Yerevan has not officially confirmed that either. UAE - Armenian Defense Minister Suren Papikian visits IDEX arms exhibition in Abu Dhabi, February 20, 2023. Armenia’s military spending is projected to rise by over 40 percent to 506 billion drams ($1.3 billion) this year. Earlier in September, the Armenian military suffered serious casualties and territorial losses in border clashes with Azerbaijani forces. Armenian opposition leaders portrayed them as further proof of Pashinian’s incompetence and inability to protect the country’s borders. They said that his administration has done little to rebuild the armed forces since the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh. Former President Serzh Sarkisian said last week that Russia donated “enormous” amounts of military hardware to Armenia in the past but stopped that “military-technical assistance” when Pashinian came to power in 2018. Pashinian dismissed that claim on Tuesday, suggesting that Sarkisian referred to outdated “free weapons” sent by Moscow. “Armenia purchased more weaponry in 2018-2020 than during the previous ten years combined,” he told a news conference. A senior member of Sarkisian’s opposition Republican Party, Hayk Mamijanian, hit back at Pashinian, saying that the allegedly outdated weapons still account for a large part of the Armenian military arsenal. Mamijanian also argued that Russia is using many of those Soviet-era weapons in the ongoing war with Ukraine. Pashinian also described as “unserious” the ex-president’s claim that the Armenian side did not use its “most powerful weapons” during the disastrous war with Azerbaijan. During the parliament committee’s meeting with Papikian, an opposition lawmaker, Anna Grigorian, expressed serious concern over the state of Armenian army fortifications along the volatile border with Azerbaijan. The minister acknowledged that “things on the frontlines are not as we would all like them to be.” But he insisted that “everything is being done” to strengthen Armenian military positions. “There is a great deal of work to be done in the army and … I will bring that work to its successful completion,” added Papikian. Pashinian Again Denies ‘Systemic Corruption’ In Armenia • Narine Ghalechian Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian arrives for a news conference in Yerevan, . Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has again claimed to have eliminated “systemic” corruption in Armenia amid continuing allegations about illicit enrichment of members of his government and political team. “There is no systemic corruption in Armenia,” Pashinian insisted during a news conference held on Tuesday. He said this is evidenced by a large number of corruption cases investigated by law-enforcement authorities. “Had there been systemic corruption there would not have been these [corruption] revelations,” he said. “Systemic corruption would mean that I have a share in [corruption schemes.]” Daniel Ioannisian of the Yerevan-based Union of Informed Citizens disputed Pashinian’s claim. He said that while corrupt practices in the country are not as “systemic” as they were before the 2018 “velvet revolution” they remain widespread and involve the higher echelons of government as well. “We can see, for example, that a person, who had received taxpayers’ money for bogus business trips lasting for hundreds of days and then had to return that money [to the state,] is appointed as chairman of the [recently established] Anti-Corruption Court,” argued Ioannisian. “Instead of putting him on trial, they appoint him as chairman of the Anti-Corruption Court.” “We can see a very tolerant treatment of many [corrupt] practices,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. Armenia - Daniel Ioannisian is interviewed by RFE/RL, November 28, 2022. Together with Romania, Armenia ranked 63th out of 180 countries and territories evaluated in Transparency International’s 2022 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) released in January. It occupied 58th place in the previous CPI released a year ago. The Berlin-based watchdog said that the downgrade reflects “worrying signs” in the South Caucasus country. Its Armenian branch pointed to “selective” enforcement of laws and regulations, controversial appointments of senior officials as well as growing questions about integrity in public procurement. Pro-opposition and independent media outlets increasingly accuse members of Pashinian’s entourage of enriching themselves or their cronies. In particular, the investigative publication Hetq.am reported recently that Defense Minister Suren Papikian acquired last summer another apartment in Yerevan which is now worth an estimated at $412,000. Papikian, who is also a leading member of Pashinian’s Civil Contract party, paid only $168,000 for the apartment located in an exclusive residential district. The district is being constructed by a company belonging to Ashot Arsenian, a wealthy businessman who was, at least until recently, very close to former President Serzh Sarkisian. Arsenian’s son Vahagn was investigated for draft evasion before being elected mayor of the town of Jermuk on the Civil Contract ticket last year. Armenia - Defense Minister Suren Papikian, January 19, 2023. Ioannisian noted that Papikian received from Arsenian a significant discount to buy the expensive property. “Will they give you or any of your radio listeners a discount of 50-100 million drams ($128,000-$256,000)?” he said. “They won’t. Cheese is free only in the mousetrap.” Pashinian defended his defense minister and close political ally during his news conference, questioning the market value of the apartment cited by Hetq.am. He said that just like tens of thousands of other Armenians, Papikian obtained a mortgage to buy real state and will repay it with his legal incomes. The mortgage was provided by a commercial bank owned by the family of Khachatur Sukiasian, a pro-government businessman and parliamentarian. Sukiasian and his extended family have reportedly expanded their business interests since Pashinian came to power in 2018. As recently last month, an insurance company controlled by them won another government contract without a tender. Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL Copyright (c) 2023 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc. 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.