Tuesday,
Karapetian Quitting Leadership Post In Former Ruling Party
Armenia - Acting Prime Minister Karen Karapetian holds a cabinet meeting in
Yerevan, 3 May 2018.
Former Prime Minister Karen Karapetian has decided to resign as first deputy
chairman of the former ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), it was
announced on Tuesday.
The HHK spokesman, Eduard Sharmazanov, said Karapetian feels that he must
resign from the party leadership because he is no longer “actively involved in
political processes.”
“I find that very normal,” Sharmazanov told reporters. “Karen Karapetian is a
mature politician. It’s up to him to decide whether or not to be the first
deputy chairman. I respect that decision by Karen Karapetian.”
Asked whether Karapetian will also end his membership in the HHK altogether,
Sharmazanov said: “There is no such decision at this point. There has been no
talk of leaving the party.”
Karapetian took up the number two position in the HHK hierarchy in November
2016 two months after then President Serzh Sarkisian appointed him as Armenia’s
prime minister. He ran the government until Sarkisian served out his final
presidential term and controversially became prime minister on April 17.
Karapetian remained in government as first deputy prime minister serving under
a new, parliamentary system of government. The former business executive took
over as acting prime minister on April 23 immediately after Sarkisian resigned
amid mass protests against his continued rule.
The HHK-controlled parliament reluctantly chose the protest leader, Nikol
Pashinian, as the country’s new leader on May 8. Karapetian has made no public
statements since then. Some Armenian media outlets have claimed that he is
considering setting up his own party.
In Sharmazanov’s words, it is not yet known whom the party, still headed by
Sarkisian, will pick as its new first deputy chairman.
Earlier this month, the HHK lost its majority in the parliament following a
series of defections from its ranks.
More Cash Seized From Sarkisian’s Former Security Chief
• Astghik Bedevian
Armenia - Vachagan Ghazarian empties his bag filled with cash after being
arrested by the National Security Service in Yerevan, .
Law-enforcement authorities confiscated a further $1 million worth of cash from
a man who has long been former President Serzh Sarkisian’s chief bodyguard when
they arrested him on Monday.
Vachagan Ghazarian was detained by the National Security Service (NSS) five
days after other law-enforcement bodies raided his apartment in Yerevan and
found $1.1 million and 230,000 euros ($267,000) in cash there. The money was at
least deposited with the Central Bank of Armenia pending investigation into its
origin.
Investigators said on Friday that Ghazarian and his wife failed to disclose it
in their income and asset declarations submitted to an anti-corruption state
commission. Such declarations are mandatory for Armenia’s high-ranking state
officials and their close relatives. Ghazarian was among them until Prime
Minister Nikol Pashinian dismissed him last month as first deputy head of a
security agency providing bodyguards to the country’s leaders.
An NSS video released late on Monday showed masked officers arresting the
formerly powerful general outside a commercial bank in Yerevan. He was then
shown emptying his bag, filled with stacks of banknotes, in an interrogation
room.
An NSS statement said the bag contained $120,000 and 436 million drams
($900,000) in cash he withdrew from one of his bank accounts. It said Ghazarian
claimed that he was going to give the money to its “real owner” but refused to
identify that person.
The NSS said Ghazarian was also planning to withdraw another 1.5 billion drams
($3.1 million) kept by him and his wife at another Armenian bank. According to
it, he claimed that he “forgot” to add these large sums to his official income
declarations.
Despite being placed under arrest, Ghazarian was not formally charged with any
crime as of Tuesday afternoon. Under Armenian law, he cannot be kept in custody
without charge for more than three days.
Ghazarian is the first person in Armenia who could be prosecuted on charges of
“illegal enrichment” and/or false asset disclosure carrying up to six years in
prison. He headed Sarkisian’s security detail for more than two decades.
Armenia’s new government was instrumental in a series of high-profile
corruption inquiries launched against former officials and other individuals
linked to the former Armenian leader. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has
repeatedly pledged to “root out” endemic corruption in the country since taking
office on May 8.
Pashinian discussed his anti-graft drive on Tuesday with the heads of the NSS,
the Armenian police and other law-enforcement bodies. He told them to make sure
that “this process continues more effectively” while “strictly” complying with
laws and respecting human rights. According to Pashinian’s press office, they
briefed the premier on their respective agencies’ “ongoing and upcoming works
towards combatting corruption.”
Aliyev Again Threatens Military Action Against Karabakh, Armenia
Azerbaijan - President Ilham Aliyev speaks at a military parade in Baku, 26
June 2018.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev talked tough at a military parade in Baku on
Tuesday, threatening military strikes against “strategic” Armenian targets and
saying that Azerbaijan will "reinstate its control" over Nagorno-Karabakh.
"We are for the peaceful resolution of the [Nagorno-Karabakh] conflict but
[Armenia] has to understand that there is no military or strategic object that
the Azerbaijani Army is unable to destroy," Aliyev said.
"The war is not over. Only its first phase has ended," he said, calling
Karabakh "primordially Azerbaijani territory."
Armenia was quick to condemn the threats. “War mongering and saber rattling are
irrelevant, deplorable, if not preposterous,” Foreign Minister Zohrab
Mnatsakanian wrote on his Twitter page. “Inconsistency of language for internal
consumption and at negotiations doesn’t work. Need a more responsible and
sensible negotiating party across the table.”
Aliyev spoke at a major military parade marking what his government considers
the 100th anniversary of Azerbaijan's armed forces. He stressed that Baku will
continue to buy weapons abroad to strengthen its army.
Some 4,000 military personnel took part in the parade and 240 pieces of
military equipment, including Belarusian-made Polonez and Israeli-made LORA
missiles, were on display.
Senior military officials in Yerevan and Stepanakert say that the Azerbaijani
military has deployed more troops along the “line of contact” around Karabakh
since April. They have warned Baku against launching offensive operations
there, saying that the Armenian side is prepared for any scenario.
There have been no high-level Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiations since the
recent dramatic change of Armenia’ government. U.S., Russian and French
mediators indicated their intention to organize a meeting of Armenia’s and
Azerbaijan’s foreign ministers soon when they visited Yerevan two weeks ago.
Press Review
“Zhamanak” wonders why former President Serzh Sarkisian’s brother Aleksandr was
freed on Monday several hours after being detained on suspicion of illegal arms
possession. The paper suggests that law-enforcement bodies may content
themselves with prosecuting only Sarkisian’s former chief bodyguard, Vachagan
Ghazarian, for now. “It must be concluded that serious processes are underway
in the country which on one hand provide answers to questions that have long
preoccupied the public but on the other hand raise new ones,” it says. “One of
those questions is as follows. The law-enforcement system is doing its job but
what about the judiciary?”
“Haykakan Zhamanak” reports that the cost of various procurements made by the
Armenian Defense Ministry is going down amid the ongoing crackdown on
corruption in the country. The paper says this is particularly true for food
supplies to the army. “This is noteworthy because the supplies are carried out
as part of contracts signed before,” it says. “In other words, a number of
suppliers have started delivering the same products to the Defense Ministry at
lower prices.” Those prices have fallen by around 8 percent, it says.
Stanislav Tarasov, a Russian political analyst, tells “168 Zham” that foreign
powers must act fast to prevent a possible escalation of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict. “The dangerous thing is that I see no efforts by any foreign player
to get the parties to the negotiating table,” he says. “Waiting [and seeing
what happens] could prove more dangerous.”
“Zhoghovurd” says Armenian politicians and pundits broadly agree that any
improvement of Turkish-Armenian relations will remain unlikely after Turkey’s
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was reelected in a weekend presidential ballot.
The paper argues that Ankara continues to make normalization of its relations
with Yerevan contingent on a resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
(Tigran Avetisian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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