Friday, Pashinian Speaks Against Creating ‘Fake’ Oppositions • Naira Nalbandian Acting Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian (C) during a meeting with ethnic Armenians in Astana, Kazakhstan, 9Nov, 2018 Fake oppositions have eroded Armenia’s political landscape in the past two decades, acting Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said at a meeting in Astana with representatives of the Armenian community of Kazakhstan. According to the Armenian leader, his government will not be taking that way. “For quite a long time Armenia has not had a government and an opposition with a mandate from the people, that’s why in Armenia people did not believe any one,” said Pashinian, who on November 8 attended a summit of Collective Security Treaty Organization member states in Kazakhstan’s capital. “We are not going to create an artificial opposition, because it is up to the opposition to establish itself as a viable force. In the upcoming parliamentary elections the people will decide who will be the government and who will be the opposition,” he added. Political analyst Armen Baghdasarian believes that it is only pseudo-governments that need pseudo-oppositions. In Armenia, he thinks, there is no such risk at the moment. Moreover, according to the analyst, the real struggle will be within the opposition field, as the Pashinian-led My Step alliance will be a clear winner. “The former ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) claims that it will be the only opposition. I think they are not quite honest and right, because the opposition is not those who deliver critical speeches. The opposition is the power that can really be a counterbalance and with which the public dissatisfied with the government will connect its hopes. Now it is obvious that no one in Armenia pins any hopes on the HHK,” Baghdasarian said. The HHK has not yet made a formal decision regarding its participation in the snap parliamentary elections scheduled for December 9. The party’s spokesman Eduard Sharmazanov told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on Thursday that the HHK will hold a meeting on November 11 during which this issue will be discussed. Political parties and alliances have until November 14 to submit their documents for registration in the elections. Snap general elections were appointed in Armenia after the country’s popular Prime Minister Pashinian forced the parliament’s dissolution with his tactical resignation and two straight tactical votes in parliament that failed to elect a new prime minister. Pashinian’s political team, which came to power on the wave of anti-government protests last spring, is tipped to win in the coming polls by a wide margin and form the next government. The pro-Pashinian My Step alliance polled over 80 percent of the vote in September municipal elections in capital Yerevan, which is home to more than a third of Armenia’s population. Syunik Governor Vows ‘Unprecedented’ Elections • Gayane Saribekian Newly appointed governor of Syunik Hunan Poghosian addresses a rally in the province, 19Oct2018 Hunan Poghosian, a recently appointed governor of one of Armenia’s most crime-ridden provinces, has promised to ensure the holding of “unprecedented elections” in Syunik next month. Poghosian served as first deputy chief of police during most of former President Serzh Sarkisian’s decade-long rule and resigned immediately after the change of government brought about by peaceful demonstrations in April-May. Nikol Pashinian, the leader of the demonstrations who ousted Sarkisian to become Armenia’s next, prime minister, appointed Poghosian as Syunik’s governor in October. The appointment prompted criticism from some human rights activists and even some Pashinian supporters, who accused the police general of corruption and human rights abuses during the previous administration. Pashinian, however, repeatedly defended his decision, alleging “attempts to restore the old oligarchic logic” in Syunik. “The mountainous region bordering Iran should therefore be governed by a tough security officer who can bang his fist on the table and maintain law and order, protect civil liberties and guarantee free enterprise,” he said at an October 19 rally in Kapan ahead of local mayoral elections. The candidate from Pashinian’s Civil Contract party was narrowly defeated in the subsequent vote, with the prime minister blaming “criminal forces” for the election loss. Poghosian, who unlike other provincial governors who are members of Pashinian’s political team, is not going to run in individual races in the December 9 snap parliamentary elections, said his job was to ensure a proper conduct of the polls in the province notorious for electoral violations. “There must be legitimate, transparent and, in all senses, unprecedented elections in which any eligible voter will have the opportunity to go to the polls and vote for the party and candidate he or she prefers,” the Syunik governor told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on Friday. Poghosian said he was never a party member and was not going to become one. “I will be of use here by ensuring that the law is observed,” he stressed. Armenian PM To Visit Paris For WWI Armistice Centennial Events Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian (L) and French President Emmanuel Macron attend the national homage to French-Armenian singer-songwriter Charles Aznavour in Paris, October 5, 2018 Armenia’s acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian will pay a working visit to France on November 10-11, his press office said on Friday. In the French capital Pashinian is due to attend a ceremony dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the armistice in World War I and take part in a session of the Paris Peace Forum. The events will be hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron and will bring together a number of world leaders, including United States President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Armistice of November 11, 1918 put an end to fighting on land, sea and air in World War I between the Allies [France, the United Kingdom, the United States and others] and their opponent, Germany. It marked a victory for the Allies, with previous armistices eliminating Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire from the war. Around 40 million soldiers and civilians were killed in the four-year war waged by the world’s leading powers of the time. Armenians, then a people divided between two opposing empires – Ottoman Turkey and Russia – suffered severe consequences of the war. Some 1.5 million Armenians were exterminated by the Ottoman authorities during the years of World War I in what many historians and more than two dozen governments of the world today recognize as the first genocide of the 20th century. Pashinian’s visit to Paris will be his third since assuming the post of Armenia’s prime minister in May. In September, Pashinian went to France for talks with Macron ahead of the summit of Francophonie nations that was held in Yerevan the following month and was attended by the French leader. On October 5, the Armenian leader visited Paris for a national homage to Charles Aznavour, a world-renowned French-Armenian crooner who had died at the age of 94. Pashinian attended that ceremony jointly with Macron. Press Review “Zhamanak” writes that the November 8 summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in Astana, Kazakhstan, in fact, confirmed the media publications that at least some of the members of the Russian-led security grouping do not want Armenia to retain its rotational post of the organization’s secretary-general until 2020 and want to transfer it to Belarus, which is next in line in alphabetical order. “This position, in particular, was expressed by Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who reasoned that ‘in any case Armenia’s quota has only one year to go and the new secretary-general will not even have enough time to visit all the member states in order to fully get down to work.’ This reasoning may seem logical, but considering the real nature of the CSTO, the expression ‘fully get down to work’ sounds rather ridiculous. The organization itself is more a formality than a military-political bloc, and, therefore, the post of its secretary-general is also a formal post,” the paper says. On the same subject “Zhoghovurd” writes: “After Armenia recalled Yuri Khachaturov from the post of the CSTO secretary-general, Belarus wants to take over the senior leadership post at the organization. In this matter it enjoys the support of Kazakhstan. And Russia, whose opinion in the bloc is decisive, has not expressed its clear position yet. In any case, in this structure decisions are made in accordance with a collegial principle. And if one member vetoes a certain option, then the decision will not be made.” The paper says that while formally Armenia has the right to retain the post, “there some political nuances.” Lragir.am writes: “In a new Facebook post former Defense Minister Vigen Sargsian suggested that [acting Prime Minister] Nikol Pashinian needs a strong opposition in parliament so as to be able to withstand growing pressure in the Nagorno-Karabakh issue. According to Sargsian, it is only possible ‘through a debate with a serious and experienced team to achieve supra-party consensus.’ Vigen Sargsian is right that it is very important when the state’s system is composed not only of a strong government with strong legitimacy, but also of a strong opposition with strong legitimacy. He is also right when he speaks about the need for a debate with an experienced team, implying the former ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK). In this sense, the HHK has no competition, however hard it may be for some to admit. While retaining power through usurpation for nearly two decades, simply due to being a governing party the HHK naturally had more knowledge of foreign-policy and security issues than others.” (Lilit Harutiunian) Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL Copyright (c) 2018 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc. 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org