Tuesday,
Reporter Banned From Armenian Parliament After Row With Lawmaker
• Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia - Journalist Knar Manukian speaks to RFE/RL, .
An Armenian journalist has been stripped of her parliamentary accreditation
after arguing with a senior pro-government deputy who accused her newspaper of
corruption.
The controversial lawmaker, Artur Hovannisian, attacked the Zhoghovurd newspaper
and two other media outlets on December 7 as the National Assembly refused to
reelect Haykuhi Harutiunian as head of an anti-corruption body scrutinizing the
declared incomes of state officials.
The parliament debate and an ensuing vote came several days after Zhoghovurd
reported that several deputies from Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s Civil
Contract party held a confidential meeting with Harutiunian to complain about
the body’s actions taken against them, their relatives or friends.
“For example, somebody may pay the Zhoghovurd daily to commission an article
saying bad things about somebody else, which is a normal practice for Zhoghovurd
or, for example, Asekose.am or Hraparak [daily,]” Hovannisian declared on the
parliament floor.
Following the debate, the paper’s parliamentary correspondent, Knar Manukian,
approached Hovannisian in the parliament lobby and challenged him to “prove what
you just said” by submitting a crime report to law-enforcement authorities. The
lawmaker, who is the number two figure in the ruling party’s parliamentary
group, refused to do that or answer questions from Manukian during the angry
exchange.
On December 15, Zhoghovurd posted on its news website, Armlur.am, a video of its
interviews with journalists and media experts who condemned Hovannisian’s
allegations and accused the Armenian authorities of seeking to silence
independent media. A few hours later the paper received a letter from the
National Assembly saying that Manukian’s press credentials have been revoked
because she tried to interview Hovannisian in an “unauthorized area” before
“chasing” him and making “slanderous” claims.
Armenia - Pro-government deputy Artur Hovannisian (left) attends a paliament
committee meeting, April 4, 2023.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, Zhoghovurd condemned the ban and said it is
preparing a lawsuit against Hovannisian.
Manukian was also unrepentant, saying that she “defended the honor of my media
outlet” and did not break any rules set for parliamentary correspondents. She
argued that security guards witnessed her conversation with the parliamentarian
and did not intervene.
“Many deputies shun journalists who ask them tough questions, and you have no
choice but to run after them with a microphone in your hand and try to get
answers to your questions,” the reporter told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
Pashinian’s party seriously restricted journalists’ freedom of movements inside
the parliament building in 2021, drawing strong condemnation from Armenian media
groups. A year later, it amended an Armenian law on mass media to allow the
parliament, the prime minister’s office and other government agencies to revoke
journalists’ accreditations typically valid for one year. Incidentally,
Hovannisian was one of the authors of those amendments.
Also, Hovannisian was among pro-government lawmakers who shouted in April this
year abuse and threats at an outspoken opposition candidate for the then vacant
post of Armenia’s human rights ombudsman. He pledged to “cut the tongues and
ears of anyone” who would make disparaging comments about the 2018 “velvet
revolution” that brought Pashinian to power.
No One Charged Over Azeri Advance Into Armenian Border Area
• Shoghik Galstian
A new Azerbaijani army position outside the Armenian village of Tegh, March 31,
2023.
Law-enforcement authorities have not prosecuted any of the officials blamed by
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian for Azerbaijan’s seizure last spring of
agricultural lands belonging to an Armenian border village.
Azerbaijani army units redeployed on March 30 to more parts of the Lachin
district sandwiched between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, completing a change in
the route of the Lachin corridor which began in August 2022. Armenia’s National
Security Service (NSS) said hours later that they advanced up to 300 meters into
Armenian territory at five border locations adjacent to the village of Tegh.
As a result, Tegh lost a large part of its agricultural land and pastures,
according to local government officials and farmers. Tensions around the village
escalated on April 11 into a skirmish between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces
which left at least seven soldiers from both sides dead.
The Armenian opposition blamed Pashinian for the fresh territorial gains made by
Azerbaijan. Opposition leaders said he should have ordered the Armenian army or
border guards to take up positions along the Armenian side of the Tegh border
section ahead of the Azerbaijani advance.
Pashinian sought to shift the blame onto other Armenian officials. “Concrete
individuals were given concrete instructions and they failed to carry out those
instructions,” he said on April 12.
The premier did not name any of them. He sacked the commander of Armenia’s
Border Guard Troops, Colonel Arman Maralchian, the same day.
Two days later, military investigators launched an inquiry into possible
“negligence” by military officers or other security personnel, a crime
punishable by between four and eight years’ imprisonment.
In a statement to RFE/RL’s Armenian Service, the Office of the
Prosecutor-General said on Tuesday that they have not charged anyone so far. The
probe is continuing, the office said without giving further details.
Opposition leaders also hold Pashinian responsible for larger swathes of
Armenian territory occupied by Azerbaijan in September 2022 and May 2021. They
regularly accuse him of incompetence and failure to rebuild Armenia’s armed
forces after the 2020 war in Karabakh. Pashinian blames the country’s former
governments for its continuing security woes.
Pashinian Concerned About ‘Artificial Delay’ In Armenia-Azerbaijan Talks
• Astghik Bedevian
Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian promotes transport links with
Azerbaijan and Turkey sought by his goverment during an international forum in
Yerevan, December 14, 2023.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian appears to have suggested that Azerbaijan is
dragging its feet on a peace treaty with Armenia sought by the international
community.
“We remain committed to our peace agenda within the framework of three
principles already agreed upon and hope that recent events in the region and
regional countries will not ultimately mean that the peace process is being
artificially delayed,” Pashinian said late on Monday.
“If there is more basis to this view, it must be cause for very deep concern,”
he added during a year-end reception held at the Armenian Foreign Ministry.
Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said late last month that Azerbaijan is “not
sincerely interested in peace and stability in our region.” He pointed to Baku’s
threats of military action against Armenia and refusal to attend high-level
peace talks organized by the European Union and the United States.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev twice cancelled talks with Pashinian which EU
Council President Charles Michel planned to host in October. Azerbaijani Foreign
Minister Jeyhun Bayramov similarly withdrew from a November 20 meeting with
Mirzoyan in Washington. Baku accused the Western powers of pro-Armenian bias and
proposed direct negotiations with Yerevan.
Meeting with Michel on Monday, Armenia’s new ambassador to the EU, Tigran
Balayan, claimed that the Azerbaijani side cancelled the October summits as part
of its “continuous attempts to derail the peace process.” Balayan was also
reported to urge the EU to help ensure “Baku’s return to the negotiation table.”
James O’Brien, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for Europe and Eurasia,
visited Baku earlier this month in a bid to convince the Azerbaijani leadership
to reschedule the cancelled meeting of the foreign ministers. The conflicting
sides have not yet announce any agreement to that effect.
Armenian officials suggested earlier this year that Aliyev is reluctant to sign
the kind of peace deal that would preclude Azerbaijani territorial claims to
Armenia. The Azerbaijani leader said late last month that Yerevan itself is
“artificially dragging out the process.”
Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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