Author: Bedik Zaminian

RFE/RL Armenian Report – 03/26/2018

Bedik Zaminian 
                                        Monday, 

Ruling Parties ‘Untroubled’ By Opposition Protests


        • Ruzanna Stepanian


Armenia - Civic activists protest against President Serzh Sarkisian's continued 
rule outside the ruling Republican Party's headquarters in Yerevan, 24 March 
2018.

The ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) and its junior coalition partner, 
Dashnaktsutyun, said on Monday that they are not worried about opposition plans 
to stage street demonstrations against President Serzh Sarkisian’s apparent 
plans to extend his rule.

Sarkisian is widely expected to become prime minister and thus remain Armenia’s 
most powerful man after serving out his final presidential term on April 9. 
Various opposition groups, notably Nikol Pashinian’s Civil Contract party, have 
pledged to rally supporters next month in a bid to scuttle his perceived plans.

Pashinian indicated last week that the focal point of his and his allies’ 
campaign will be the period between April 9 and April 17, the anticipated date 
of the new prime minister’s election by the Armenian parliament. He claimed 
that Sarkisian will be particularly vulnerable to popular pressure during that 
time because he will have no formal control over the government, the military 
and security agencies.

“I don’t take that seriously,” Vahram Baghdasarian, the leader of the HHK’s 
parliamentary faction, said, commenting on Pashinian’s statement. “Power is not 
a box which they can pick up. You need grounds to take power.”

“We have had many cases where the president of the republic was abroad or on 
vacation,” Baghdasarian told reporters. “He was substituted for during those 
times.”

Dashnaktsutyun’s Aghvan Vartanian also dismissed Pashinian’s plans. “During 
that period [from April 9-17] power won’t be lying on the street,” he said. 
“Every state body will be performing their functions.”

Pashinian’s Civil Contract is one of the three opposition parties making up the 
Yelk alliance which finished third in last year’s parliamentary elections. 
While also opposing Sarkisian’s continued rule, the two other Yelk parties have 
refused to back his plans. They say that anti-Sarkisian protests are unlikely 
to attract big crowds.

Also campaigning against Sarkisian’s “reproduction” is the For the Armenian 
State coalition of more radical opposition groups and activists, including 
Raffi Hovannisian’s Zharangutyun party. The grouping pulled a small crowd for 
its most recent rally held in Yerevan on Friday. It hopes to team up with Civil 
Contract.

“I can understand when extraparliamentary forces try to use the street,” said 
the HHK’s Baghdasarian. “It’s just a bit unclear to me why there are 
parliamentary forces willing to leave the parliament and opt for street 
protests.”

“I think that there are no grounds [for doing that,] but as I said, it’s up to 
a political force to choose its method of political struggle,” added the 
pro-government lawmaker.




Russian Official Plays Up Fresh Arms Supplies To Armenia


        • Artak Hambardzumian


Armenia - Konstantin Zatulin, deputy chairman of a Russian State Duma 
committee, speaks to reporters in Yerevan, .

Russia has supplied Armenia with more weapons and other military equipment in 
response to the April 2016 fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh, a senior Russian 
lawmaker said during a visit to Yerevan on Monday.

“We do realize that after the 2016 escalation, which was initiated by one of 
the parties, Armenian public opinion showed serious discontent with Russia 
regarding arms supplies to Azerbaijan on the part of Russia,” Konstantin 
Zatulin told reporters. “We very much regret that Azerbaijan found no use for 
them other than violating the ceasefire agreement on the [Karabakh] Line of 
Contact reached in 1994 with our help.”

“We have drawn conclusions regarding the breach of the military balance in the 
region and provided Armenia with state-of-the-art defense equipment which we 
had a chance to see at the [September 2016] military parade organized on the 
occasion of [Armenia’s] Republic Day,” said the deputy chairman of a Russian 
State Duma committee on relations with former Soviet republics.

Despite its military alliance with Armenia, Russia signed an estimated $5 
billion worth of defense contracts with Azerbaijan in 2009-2011. Many in 
Armenia feel that the resulting deliveries of hundreds of Russian tanks, 
artillery systems and combat helicopters to Baku encouraged the latter to 
launch the April 2016 offensive in Karabakh.

The four-day hostilities, which Moscow helped to halt, left at least 180 
soldiers from both warring sides dead.It was the worst escalation of the 
Karabakh conflict since 1994.

Visiting Yerevan earlier this month, another senior Russian lawmaker, 
Konstantin Kosachev, indicated that Moscow will scale down its future arms 
dealings with Baku. “Of course, we are reacting to what occurred in April 
2016,” said Kosachev, who chairs the foreign relations committee of the 
Federation Council, the Russian upper house of parliament.


Armenia - The Armenian military demonstrates Iskander missile systems during a 
parade in Yerevan, 21Sep2016.

The fresh Russian arms supplies to Armenia mentioned by Zatulin stem, in part, 
from a $200 million Russian loan allocated in June 2015. The Armenian military 
has used that money for buying, among other things, Smerch multiple-launch 
rocket system, thermobaric and anti-tank rocket systems and shoulder-fired 
surface-to-air missiles.

At its September 2016 parade in Yerevan, the military also demonstrated 
medium-range Buk air-defense systems and, more importantly, Iskander tactical 
missiles. Armenia most probably received the precision-guided missiles shortly 
before or after the four-day war in Karabakh.

In October 2017, the Armenian government announced that Moscow will provide it 
with a further $100 million loan that will be spent on the purchase of more 
Russian weapons at internal Russian prices set well below international 
market-based levels. Deputy Defense Minister Artak Zakarian said in December 
that the Armenian side has already finalized three defense contracts with 
Russian arms manufacturers as part of the loan agreement.

Zatulin, who is known for his pro-Armenian views on the Karabakh conflict, on 
Monday also denounced Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s recent pledge to 
“return Azerbaijanis” to Yerevan and other parts of Armenia which he called 
“historic Azerbaijani lands.” “It’s just not clear how anyone can take such a 
statement seriously,” added the veteran lawmaker.

The Russian Foreign Ministry also criticized Aliyev’s remarks last month. 
Nevertheless, the Azerbaijani leader repeated his claims last week.




Former German Envoy Again Visits Karabakh


Nagorno-Karabakh - Hans-Jochen Schmidt (R), a former German ambassador to 
Armenia, meets with Masis Mayilian, the Karabakh foreign minister, in 
Stepanakert, .

Germany’s former ambassador to Armenia, Hans-Jochen Schmidt, met with senior 
officials in Stepanakert on Monday during yet another private visit to 
Nagorno-Karabakh.

Schmidt, who headed the German diplomatic mission in Yerevan from 2009-2012, 
was reported to discuss with Arayik Harutiunian, Karabakh’s state minister 
primarily responsible for economic policies, the socioeconomic situation in the 
Armenian-populated territory.

A Karabakh government statement said Harutiunian briefed him on recent economic 
developments and “a number of investment projects.”The retired German diplomat, 
for his part, “presented details of his visit and forthcoming plans.”

The two men also spoke about “prospects for cooperation between Karabakh and 
Germany in some sectors of the economy,” the statement added without 
elaborating.

Schmidt also had a separate meeting with Masis Mayilian, the Karabakh foreign 
minister. According to Mayilian’s press office, they discussed international 
efforts to resolve the Karabakh conflict and the unrecognized republic’s 
contacts with the outside world.

Schmidt is known to have also visited Karabakh on at least two occasions in the 
past, most recently in September 2016. Bako Sahakian, the Karabakh president, 
awarded him a “medal of gratitude” at the time. Schmidt reportedly called for 
more political and people-to-people contacts between the European Union and 
Karabakh.

“I always thought that it is impossible to be informed about Karabakh without 
visiting it,” he told the local Artsakhpress news agency. In that regard, he 
criticized Azerbaijan for blacklisting non-Armenian foreign dignitaries 
travelling to the region.

Schmidt, 70, is one of the founding members of the German-Armenian Forum (DAG), 
a group set up in Berlin in 2015 to “promote mutual understanding between 
Germans and Armenians and safeguard the interests of Armenians living in 
Germany.”




Press Review



(Saturday, March 24)

Interviewed by “Haykakan Zhamanak,” opposition leader Nikol Pashinian defends 
his decision in 2015 not to campaign against President Serzh Sarkisian’s 
controversial constitutional changes that eventually enabled the latter to 
prolong his rule. Pashinian insists that now is a better time to fight against 
Sarkisian’s continued rule. “We are capable of organizing a struggle and 
creating a platform for the people and winning,” he says. “If there is an 
expression of popular will, it will be easier to effect regime change under the 
current constitution than the previous one. Why? Because Serzh Sarkisian will 
not be president during the political processes envisioned by us.”

“Zhamanak” disagrees with Pashinian’s view that the period between the end of 
Sarkisian’s presidential term on April 9 and his anticipated appointment as 
prime minister on April 17 represents a unique opportunity for the Armenian 
opposition to seize power. The paper believes that Pashinian and his Civil 
Contract party cannot topple the ruling regime on their own. It says they are 
extremely unlikely to cobble together a broad-based opposition coalition for 
that purpose. Armenia needs a smooth and lawful transition of power, rather 
than revolutionary upheavals, it says.

A German political analyst, Susan Stewart, tells “168 Zham” that she expects 
only minor “technical” obstacles to the ratification of the European Union’s 
Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with Armenia. She also 
notes that Russia did not react negatively, at least in public, to the signing 
of the CEPA in November.

“Zhoghovurd” comments on serious problems with the implementation of an 
ambitious government project to refurbish Armenia’s main highways stretching to 
the Iranian and Georgian borders. “Right from the beginning it was evident that 
this project is not cost-effective for Armenia,” writes the paper. “On the 
contrary, it will mean a waste of financial resources, part of them loans.” It 
accuses senior government officials of using the project to enrich themselves.

(Tatev Danielian)


Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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Stepantsminda-Lars road shut down

Bedik Zaminian
| 13:37 | March 9 2018
Category
Society

All roads and highways are passable as of 12:00, the Armenian ministry of emergency situations said.

Scattered showers and thunderstorms are forecast for March 9 and overnight March 10 in most areas of the country.

Clear weather is expected March 10-13.

Georgian authorities said the Stepantsminda-Lars road has been shut down for all types of vehicles.

The Stepantsminda-Lars road is the only land connection between Armenia and Russia, which runs through Georgia. Stepantsminda is a small town in north-eastern Georgia. The road is used for both passenger and cargo transportations and is of major significance. Vehicles pass through the Verkhni (Upper) Lars customs checkpoint into Russia.

‘Sarkissian’s citizenship shouldn’t have been subject of discussion’ – Vice Speaker

Bedik Zaminian
| 13:27 | March 2 2018
Category
Politics

Vice Speaker of Parliament Arpine Hovhannisyan says the citizenship issue of President-elect Armen Sarkissian shouldn’t have become a subject of discussion because he had presented all required information.

Speaking to reporters in the parliament, Hovhannisyan stressed that the president-elect had presented all basis, in accordance to which his citizenship matter shouldn’t have become a subject of such great discussion.

“Under the British law, the citizenship is renounced immediately upon request for dual citizenship holders in case of non-native Brits,” she said.

Commenting on arguments that the opposition is demanding Sarkissian to present the documents proving that he has indeed renounced his British citizenship and is holding solely Armenian citizenship, Hovhannisyan said: “Whether or not Mr. Sarkissian will find it appropriate to publish those documents and at what phase he will find it appropriate are questions which are addressed not to me, but to Mr. Sarkissian”.

Armen Sarkissian was elected by the Parliament of Armenia on March 2. 90 lawmakers voted in favor, while 10 voted against his candidacy.

He is of no relation to incumbent President Serzh Sargsyan.

Paylan for President

Bedik Zaminian
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Garen Yegparian

BY GAREN YEGPARIAN

Unfortunately, we can’t have Garo Paylan as president of the Republic of Armenia, he would be just the kind of decency the doctor ordered for the grossly afflicted political-electoral, economic, and perhaps even societal life of the RoA. But for now, let’s set aside the pending parliamentary-presidential election in Yerevan and move to…

… Ankara, Turkey, the country he could be the president of, since he is a citizen there, a member of parliament, a leading figure in his political party, and a modest human being.

Paylan is rational, inclusive in his worldview, proud of his heritage and himself (you can see it in the way he carries himself), has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, and is fundamentally a good citizen. Most importantly, he is not afraid to speak truth to power, and inspires hope that he would continue his principled ways once in office.

Should he run and in a very unlikely turn of events get elected, he would be the first Armenian in over 110 years (there are rumors that Bloody Sultan Abdul Hameed II was the child of an Armenian in his father’s harem) to hold that type of executive position in the part of the world where Armenians used to be heads of state for centuries on end before the arrival of the Turkic invaders.

Garo Paylan could bring peace, integrity, and international respect to Turkey for the first time in … EVER. He would be well positioned to implement his party’s (HDP) fairly enlightened policies given Erdoğan’s power grab in the form of constitutional “reform” the centralized much power in the office Turkey’s president.

You may think that it is far too soon to discuss Turkey’s presidential election, 20 months out (November 3, 2019, with a runoff two weeks later between the top two vote-getters if no one secures 50%+1 of the vote). Currently, only one candidate has formally declared his candidacy, Tuna Bekleviç, with Erdoğan himself and Meral Akşener widely expected to run as well. The latter, described as the grandmother who could unseat the sultan, is perceived as a real threat to the incumbent, Erdoğan. For a more extensive list and discussion of candidates, see the wikipedia article about this topic.

Given that there is great turmoil in Turkey’s polity, why not Garo Paylan? Imagine the good he would do for all citizens of Turkey, the improved relations that would follow with neighboring countries when Turkey ceases its Ottoman-based delusions of grandeur and overlordship, and the doors that would open for restoring justice to Armenians, Assyrians, Greeks, Kurds, and all other nations which have suffered at the belligerent hand of Turkish rulers for centuries.

Think about the alternatives mentioned above. One, Erdoğan, is a proven egomaniac who has wrought much havoc in the whole region and upon his own citizens, never caring about the bloodshed he has caused. Another, Akşener, hails from the right wing sector of Turkey’s political spectrum (although in fairness, there are Armenians involved in her party, too). The third and only formally declared candidate, Bekleviç, has an interesting political history, and, to the very limited extent I could learn about him (not much seems available in English), an interesting possibility, but one who probably won’t get very far.

So, why not Garo Paylan? He would be the best president at this time for Turkey, the world, and Armenians.

Does anyone know how we might go about constituting a “Draft Garo Committee” with the legal confines of Turkey’s electoral system?

Azerbaijani Press: Armenian provocation to blame Azerbaijanis in Sumgayit events – senior investigator

Bedik Zaminian
AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Feb 22 2018
18:00 (UTC+04:00)

By  Trend

Armenians tried to burn down their homes in Azerbaijani city of Sumgayit, and blame Azerbaijanis in that, senior investigator of the Investigative Directorate for Serious Crimes under the Azerbaijan’s Prosecutor General’s Office Nadir Mirzayev said addressing the meeting dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the Sumgayit events of 1988.

The investigation ascertained that although former members of security agencies had been discharged from the investigations concerning the Sumgayit events, their analysis showed that a diversion group consisting of 20—25 people and pretending to be “Azerbaijanis expelled from Gaphan” had been acting in the city, Mirzoyev said touching upon the diversion groups’ involvement in the Sumgayit events.

“Some suffered Armenians told them [investigators] about that. Even though the information had been submitted to operative-investigative group of USSR Prosecutor General’s Office, for some reason it wasn’t inspected and was gone fruitless. It was also determined that a group of persons was speaking on the meetings calling to expel Armenians from the city. The persons weren’t residents of Sumgayit and were speaking in Armenian among themselves,” Nadir Mirzayev said.

It was revealed that on the eve of the Sumgayit events a number of cars with Armenian registration numbers had been detected in the city. Moreover, many Armenian individuals had been staying in Baku and Sumgayit hotels and left out right after the events.

It was also determined that Armenians living in Sumgayit tried to provocatively burn down their homes and property and blame Azerbaijanis in that. The investigation ascertained that Armenians knew about the mass disorder in advance.

The day before the mass disorder special video filming equipment, tripods for video cameras etc., were installed on the rooftops of numerous buildings in different parts of Sumgayit. During the events, robbery of Armenians’ homes, as well as the actions of a naked woman in the street, was recorded with soviet servicemen’s consent by an individual, who presented himself as Armenian.

These facts prove that the mass disorder in Sumgayit was orchestrated by Armenian nationalists and sympathetic provokers from the Soviet government, the senior investigator said.

Mirzoyev noted that an investigative group conducted a search in the office of USSR’s former Interior Minister Boris Pugo in the framework of the August 1991 coup d’état attempt case. Among the documents found were folders with data on exile of Meskhetian Turks from Uzbekistan, the events in Nagorno-Karabakh etc.

The data in the documents revealed that the Soviet Interior Ministry was being comprehensively informed about the “Krunk” organization, operating in Nagorno-Karabakh, its members and activity. The data included information both from the interior ministries of Armenia and Azerbaijan and from the respective agencies of the Soviet Interior Ministry. The Soviet government had known about the events since the very first day but purposely stayed idle.

The criminal case on murder of D.Khudatov, D.Orujov, Y.Gasymov, S.Aliyev and V.Babayev during the mass disorder caused by actions of servicemen and other persons, was closed on Dec. 30, 1988 by Military Prosecutor’s Office of Baku Garrison. It was later merged with the current case No. 60206 [on the Sumgayit events] to continue the investigation.

The investigation determined that Valery Markaryan, an Armenian resident of Baku with extremist ideas, brought soldiers to Sumgayit and used the highly-dangerous situation to drive a bus into civilians, ultimately killing five Azerbaijanis. Markaryan’s connection with Armenian extremist organizations of Sumgayit was also established, Mirzoyev said.

Many Armenians were saved by Azerbaijani neighbors and friends, who had hid them in their homes from robbery, raids and other violence.

“In spite of the propaganda from dashnak-communist groups creating an image of “wild and bloodthirsty Azerbaijanis”, Armenians exposed to violence from Armenians was saved by their Azerbaijani neighbors. These facts along with the materials of the criminal case were also included in the decisions of the Russian Federation’s special courts,” the senior investigator said.