Author: Ani Kharatian

                                        Wednesday, 

Ruling Party Vague On Armenian PM's Future


 . Ruzanna Stepanian


Armenia - Prime Minister Karen Karapetian speaks at the ruling
Republican Party's election campaign rally in Kotayk province,
29Mar2017.

The ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) on Wednesday declined to
clarify whether Karen Karapetian will remain the country's prime
minister after President Serzh Sarkisian completes his final term in
office next April.

"We are not prepared today to talk about developments in 2018," the
chief HHK spokesman, Eduard Sharmazanov, told RFE/RL's Armenian
service (Azatutyun.am).

"The difference between the parliamentary and semi-presidential or
presidential systems is that it is political parties, rather than
individuals, who come to the fore," he said. "And regardless of who
will be prime minister in 2018, the Republican Party's political
responsibility will not diminish."

"This is not uncertainty," insisted Sharmazanov.

Karapetian has repeatedly indicated his desire to retain his post
after the end of Sarkisian's decade-long tenure, which will be
followed by Armenia's transition to the parliamentary system of
government. He was appointed as prime minister in September last year.

Karapetian told reporters on May 9 that he does not "see" preparations
by Sarkisian take his place at the helm of the government. The
president himself has not publicly ruled out such a possibility.

In a March 25 speech delivered in Nagorno-Karabakh, Sarkisian said he
would like to "play a role, in some capacity, in ensuring the security
of our people" after April 2018. He did not shed more light on his
political future when he addressed Armenia's newly elected parliament
on May 18. Instead, Sarkisian set long-term socioeconomic development
targets for the country's current and future governments.



EU Lauds Armenian Constitutional Reform


Belgium - The EU foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, meets with
Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian in Brussels, 28Feb2017.

The European Union has praised President Serzh Sarkisian's sweeping
constitutional changes that will transform Armenia into a
parliamentary republic.

Senior EU representatives mentioned the constitutional reform,
denounced by the Armenian opposition, during an annual "human rights
dialogue" with Armenian officials held in Brussels this week. The
Armenian delegation at the meeting was headed by Deputy Foreign
Minister Karen Nazarian and the state human rights ombudsman, Arman
Tatoyan.

"The European Union and Armenia welcomed the continued progress on
human rights in Armenia," the bloc's European External Action Service
(EEAS) said in a statement issued late on Tuesday.

"The EU concurred with the Venice Commission [of the Council of
Europe] that the new Constitution represented a positive development
and underlined the importance of its prompt and effective
implementation," it added.

The constitutional amendments enacted in a disputed December 2015
referendum call for Armenia's transition from a semi-presidential to
parliamentary system of government. Most Armenian opposition groups
objected to the reform, saying that it is primarily aimed at allowing
Sarkisian to extend his decade-long rule.

The president and his allies have denied the opposition claims. They
have at the same time made clear that Sarkisian will not retire from
the political arena after serving out his final presidential term in
April 2018.


The EU foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, and Armenian Foreign
Minister Edward Nalbandian shake hands after a joint news conference
in Brussels, 23May2017.

The EEAS statement said the Brussels meeting also touched upon the
conduct of Armenia's recent parliamentary elections and the situation
with human rights in the country. "The Dialogue highlighted the
importance of a free and pluralistic media environment, and political
pluralism as a prerequisite for the conduct of democratic elections,"
it said.

The EU gave a largely positive assessment of the April 2 elections,
while expressing concern over vote buying reported by European
monitors. Its foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, said through a
spokesperson on April 4 that the official vote results, which gave a
landslide victory to Sarkisian's Republican Party of Armenia, reflect
"the overall will of the Armenian people."



Armenian Activist Briefly Detained By Police


 . Karlen Aslanian


Armenia - Civic activist Argishti Kivirian is confronted by riot
police during a demonstration in Yerevan, 4Apr2014.

A well-known civic activist accused Armenian law-enforcement
authorities of attempting to fabricate criminal charges against him
after spending about an hour in police custody on Wednesday.

Argishti Kivirian, an outspoken critic of President Serzh Sarkisian's
administration, was detained by police officers on a street in Yerevan
after refusing to allow them to search his pockets on the grounds that
he may be carrying a knife. He did not resist the arrest.

"I just demanded that they don't get too close to me," Kivirian told
reporters after his release. "I also held on to my pockets."

The 44-year-old activist agreed to empty his pockets at a police
station in the city center in the presence of his lawyers.

In a statement on the incident, the Armenian police acknowledged that
that he was not found to possess any sharp objects. The statement
described the police actions as an "honest mistake."

Kivirian insisted, however, that the police planned to prosecute him
on trumped-up charges in retaliation against his anti-government
activities and statements. "They clearly did not manage to plant
something in my pockets and they were very upset with that," he
claimed.

Kivirian, who currently manages a Yerevan law firm, has long actively
participated in anti-government demonstrations organized by Armenian
opposition and civic groups. He has been briefly detained and even
sued by the police on a number of occasions.

Kivirian took legal action against the chief of the national police,
Vladimir Gasparian, and one his deputies more than a year ago. A
Yerevan court is still holding hearings on the case.

In 2009, Kivirian was beaten up and severely injured by two men
outside his home. The activist, who ran two online news publications
at the time, subsequently accused the ethnic Armenian police chief of
the Akhalkalaki district in neighboring Georgia of masterminding the
attack.



Dashnak Ministers Reappointed


Armenia - Leaders of the Republican and Dashnaktsutyun parties sign a
coalition agreement in Yerevan, 11May2017.

Three weeks after extending his power-sharing agreement with the
Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), President Serzh
Sarkisian reappointed on Wednesday the three government ministers
affiliated with the party.

The corresponding presidential decrees completed the formation of
Prime Minister Karapetian's new cabinet following the April 2
parliamentary elections won by the ruling Republican Party of Armenia
(HHK). All of its members except Justice Minister Davit Harutiunian
served in the previous cabinet.

The Dashnaktsutyun-affiliated Education Minister Levon Mkrtchian,
Minister for Territorial Administration Davit Lokian and Environment
Protection Minister Artsvik Minasian retained their posts in
accordance with a new coalition deal that was signed by their party
and the HHK on May 11.

A joint declaration adopted by the two parties calls for better
governance and "new impetus to the fight against corruption." Aghvan
Vartanian, a Dashnaktsutyun leader who signed the document on behalf
of his party, spoke of their "joint resolve to effect radical and
qualitative changes" in the country.

Dashnaktsutyun received three ministerial portfolios as well as a
number of other senior government posts after reaching a similar
power-sharing agreement with Sarkisian's party in February 2016. The
HHK expressed readiness to extend that deal after the April elections
in which it won 58 of the 105 parliament seats that were up for
grabs. Dashnaktsutyun controls 7 seats in the new National Assembly.



Press Review


"Zhamanak" speculates that only a "psychological barrier" can keep
President Serzh Sarkisian from continuing to govern Armenia after the
end of his final term in April next year. The paper points out that
none of Sarkisian's predecessors, Robert Kocharian and Levon
Ter-Petrosian, stayed in power for more than ten years. It says that
despite amending the Armenian constitutional in his own interests,
Sarkisian "has not yet completely overcome the psychological barrier
to exceeding a ten-year tenure."

"Zhoghovurd" says that a new anti-corruption body that will be set up
by the Armenian government soon will hardly make a difference. The
paper argues that corruption in Armenia has a systemic character and
that Armenian courts remain subordinate to the government. "In this
regard, there is not much room for optimism about the creation of the
new body," it says. "It is certainly good that the authorities are at
least speaking of their political will to combat corruption. The
problem is that the existence of such a will was also emphasized by
them during the establishment of the [government's] Anti-Corruption
Council three years ago.

"Aravot" condemns the Armenian police for refusing to prosecute a
member of a precinct election commission in Yerevan who insulted and
threatened to beat up one of its female reporters during the recent
parliamentary elections. "With such a stance, the police give the
green light to new attacks on journalists by hooligans," editorializes
the paper. "Acting in the name of the authorities, the police are
telling neighborhood thugs that they are free to do anything during
elections."

"Haykakan Zhamanak" heaps praise on the annual Aurora Prize for
Awakening Humanity created by three prominent Diaspora Armenians in
memory of the victims of the 1915 Armenian genocide in Ottoman
Turkey. "One should hope that the Aurora initiative will gain more
international recognition and prestige each year," writes the
paper. "Armenia would benefit from that more than it has benefited
from all the financial assistance from Diaspora Armenian
philanthropists that has been provided to date."

(Tigran Avetisian)


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