RFE/RL Armenian Report – 09/14/2018

                                        Friday, 

Pro-Pashinian Candidate In Yerevan Elections ‘Ready’ For Televised Debate


Armenia -- My Step Alliance candidate Hayk Marutian (in the center) is leading 
supporters on a campaign rally in Yerevan streets, 13Sep2018

For the first time in years a pro-establishment candidate running in a major 
election in Armenia has agreed to participate in a televised debate with his 
rivals.

Hayk Marutian, a popular actor and producer who is running for the office of 
Yerevan’s mayor in September 23 elections, said on Thursday that he supported 
the idea after RFE/RL’s Armenian Service offered to host such a debate.

Under Armenian election law, candidates are not required to participate in 
televised debates. No senior incumbent official or government-backed candidate 
has participated in such a debate since 2003 when then President Robert 
Kocharian clashed in a historic live show on television with his principal 
rival Stepan Demirchian ahead of a presidential run-off.

Marutian, who is a member of the Civil Contract party of Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian and leads the My Step alliance consisting of active participants of 
last spring’s street protests that brought Pashinian to power, believes that 
all candidates should participate in a televised debate. “This is a civilized 
option and we should do that. I am the first to say yes, I am ready, but on 
condition that all 12 [mayoral] candidates running in the current elections are 
present, all are given equal time and participate on equal terms,” he said.

Official campaigning in the elections to Yerevan’s Council of Elders kicked off 
on September 10 and will continue through September 21.

Residents of the Armenian capital will go to the polls on September 23 to elect 
the 65-member body according to party lists. The Council of Elders will then 
elect a new mayor of Yerevan. Under Armenian election law, if any of the 
political parties and alliances manages to gain more than 40 percent of the 
vote, the top candidate on its list will be elected mayor automatically.

Three of the political parties and blocs contesting the elections are also 
represented in the Pashinian government. These are the Prosperous Armenia Party 
of tycoon Gagik Tsarukian, which fielded lawmaker Naira Zohrabian as its 
mayoral candidate, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), 
whose list is topped by Mikael Manukian, and the Luys alliance led by Justice 
Minister Artak Zeynalian.

Among other major candidates running for mayor in the current elections are 
also former lawmaker Zaruhi Postanjian of the Yerkir Tsirani party and former 
foreign minister Raffi Hovannisian representing the Heritage party.

The former ruling Republican Party of Armenia is not participating in the 
current elections. Its senior member Taron Markarian resigned in July after 
serving as Yerevan mayor for seven years. The Council of Elders could not elect 
a new mayor, triggering early elections by popular vote.

The current election campaign in Yerevan is focused on a number of issues, 
including transportation, waste management, the improvement of city 
infrastructure, kindergartens and others.

Prime Minister Pashinian has vowed to ensure free, fair and democratic 
elections. Many analysts believe the Yerevan vote will become the first major 
test for the reformist leader and his political team head of early 
parliamentary elections expected at some time before next summer.




Operator Vows To Solve Waste-Disposal Crisis In Yerevan


Sanitek company director Nicholas El Tawil at a press conference in Yerevan, 14 
September, 2018

After months of criticism over poor garbage collection in Yerevan the city’s 
private operator has vowed to solve the issue shortly.

“In the next couple of days citizens will see that the waste management will be 
regulated,” Nicholas El Tawil, the director of the Lebanese-run Sanitek 
company, said at a press conference on Friday.

Residents of the Armenian capital held several protests in front of the Sanitek 
office in recent weeks, demanding that the company, which entered Yerevan in 
2014 and has worked as a monopolist in waste management since, do proper work 
to “clean up the mess” in the city.

Piles of garbage have been seen in virtually all districts of Yerevan as 
Sanitek garbage trucks did not show up for days to collect them.

Angered residents have complained about bad smell and poor sanitary conditions 
created in the city during the summer months because of the poor service 
offered by the private operator.

The problem of Sanitek’s poor waste disposal has repeatedly been raised by 
Armenian authorities lately. In recent weeks the Yerevan municipality imposed 
fines amounting to over $50,000 on the company and warned it about stricter 
sanctions ahead unless the situation improved.

In explaining the deterioration of its work Sanitek referred to the shortage of 
garbage trucks that it said frequently broke down because of bad roads leading 
to the landfill site. The company also claimed excessive damage to its trash 
cans caused by residents that increases overall costs for garbage collection.

Speaking at a press conference today Sanitek’s manager admitted that his 
company did not duly fulfill its obligations during the last three months. “But 
we haven’t run away from our responsibilities,” he added.

Earlier, the company said it had purchased some new garbage trucks that were on 
their way to Armenia.

Ahead of September 23 elections to Yerevan’s Council of Elders many of the 
political parties and blocs participating in the campaign promise to attract 
more waste management operators for the city.

In this view El Tawil said that any other investor or operator would still face 
the same problems. “We look forward to coordinate [our work] with the new 
municipality. We believe and hope that the new government will make a master 
plan for waste collection not only for Yerevan, but also for the entire 
country,” Sanitek’s representative said, denying that the company’s problems 
began after the resignation of former mayor Taron Markarian.

El Tawil said they will discuss with the city authorities the possibility of 
having an international company supervising Sanitek as a contractor. “Because 
waste management is a very complicated and delicate issue,” El Tawil concluded.




Two Armenian Children Allowed To Stay In Netherlands


NETHERLANDS -- Two Armenian teens, Howick (right), 13, and Lili, 12, pose in 
The Hague, August 13, 2018

Two Armenian children who went into hiding last week to avoid deportation from 
the Netherlands will continue to live in the country, an Armenian ombudsman 
confirmed on Friday.

Arman Tatoyan, according to his office, had a telephone conversation with Dutch 
Ombudsperson for children Margrite Kalverboer over the matter.

The report quoted Kalverboer as saying that the decision to allow Lili and 
Howick to stay was taken in the children’s best interest.

Dutch Justice Ministry spokesman Maarten Molenbeek said on September 8 that the 
two minors went missing from the foster home where they were staying during the 
night, hours after an Amsterdam court rejected their final bid to stop their 
deportation.

The children, aged 12 and 13, came to the Netherlands with their mother in 2008.

Their asylum claim was rejected by Dutch courts that ruled Armenia is a safe 
country.

The children’s mother, Armina Hambartsjumian, was deported to Armenia in 2017.

The case has attracted mass public attention, with the children appearing on 
national television to plead their case.

The children have never been to Armenia and do not speak Armenian.

Their lawyers argued unsuccessfully that their mother was unable to care for 
them properly.




Macron, Pashinian Meet In Paris

        • Karlen Aslanian

France -- Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian meets with President of 
France Emmanuel Macron, Paris, 14Sep2018

French President Emmanuel Macron met with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian in Paris on Friday for talks focused on an upcoming summit of 
Francophonie nations to be held in Yerevan next month.

According to the Armenian prime minister’s spokesman, Macron and Pashinian also 
discussed issues pertaining to the business form to be organized within the 
framework of the Francophonie summit in the Armenian capital.

Greeting Pashinian, Macron reportedly highlighted the importance of the 
Armenian leader’s visit to France, expressing conviction that “it will promote 
and give a new impetus to the further development of friendly relations between 
the two countries.”

The French president underlined that his country is ready to continue the 
efforts aimed at “expanding close cooperation with friendly Armenia in 
different spheres.”

The French leader reportedly expressed confidence that the upcoming 
Francophonie summit in Yerevan will be held at a high level. The Armenian prime 
minister, for his part, said: “I am convinced that our meeting will give a new 
quality to our privileged relations based on centuries-old historical 
friendship.” He stressed the importance of Armenia’s hosting the 2018 
Francophonie Summit, describing it as one of the most important events in 
Yerevan since the South Caucasus country gained independence in 1991. Pashinian 
reaffirmed his government’s commitment to ensure a successful holding of the 
summit and expressed confidence that “it will contribute to the further rise of 
the reputation and influence of the Francophonie.”

The French president is due to visit Yerevan for the events on October 11-12.

During the meeting at the Elysee Palace the two leaders also addressed the 
Nagorno-Karabakh issue, the spokesman, Arman Yeghoyan, said to RFE/RL’s 
Armenian service.

Along with the United States and Russia, France co-chairs the Organization for 
Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) Minsk Group, an international 
format promoting a peaceful resolution of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.

According to the information posted on the prime minister’s official website, 
Pashinian praised the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries, 
including France’s efforts aimed at ensuring peace and stability in the region. 
The prime minister underlined that Armenia is committed to continue 
negotiations to reach a peaceful settlement of the conflict.

“The Armenian prime minister and the French president attached importance to a 
peaceful settlement of the problem through the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group 
co-chairs,” Pashinian’s spokesman added.

The two leaders reportedly agreed to discuss the agenda of the French-Armenian 
relations in more detail during Macron’s state visit to Armenia next month.

During his two-day visit to Paris the Armenian prime minister also held 
meetings with representatives of the French-Armenian community as well as with 
business circles of France.

Addressing members of the French Enterprise Movement today, Pashinian, in 
particular, called for French investments in the Armenian economy.

“I want to assure you that all investors will have dialogue-based relations 
with the Government of Armenia within the limits of honesty and legitimacy. 
Those who engage in economic activity will not have competitors in the 
government, since business and politics should be separated, and those who are 
engaged in politics should not engage in business. The Armenian government has 
been able to enforce this condition within a short period of time because it 
enjoys full confidence of the Armenian people,” Pashinian said, as quoted by 
his press service.





Press Review



“Zhamanak” comments on the silence of ousted prime minister and former 
president Serzh Sarkisian regarding the latest political developments in 
Armenia. “So far Serzh Sarkisian has not in any way commented on the 
prosecution and arrest of former president Robert Kocharian and, in general, 
about his return to active politics,” writes the paper, referring to 
Kocharian’s recent interview to the Mediamax news agency in which he says that 
he did not think about Sarkisian’s “silence”. “But the very question and his 
answer to it reveal that Kocharian in reality thinks about it,” the paper 
suggests.

“Haykakan Zhamanak” poses a question about “why Robert Kocharian’s intensive 
self-promotion fails to bring him any essential popularity rating, but only 
aggravates the negative attitude that exists towards him.” “The answer is very 
clear – in his interviews he speaks about things about which everyone knows the 
whole truth, and this truth is contrary to what Kocharian cites as facts,” the 
paper says.

Commenting on the latest prosecutions against senior former officials in 
Armenia “Hraparak” suggests that it is only natural that “pressure against them 
causes resistance.” “When you bring a criminal case against people who have 
money, surroundings, a certain track record and some intellect it is unlikely 
that like chickens they will allow you to cut their throats without putting up 
some struggle… So, don’t be surprised if these people resort to self-defense, 
start giving interviews, discrediting the new authorities, even seeking help 
from outside,” the paper writes.

(Tigran Avetisian)

Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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Emil Lazarian

“I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” - WS