Monday,
Armenian Foreign Ministry Says Ukrainian Journalists Had No
Accreditation
Armenia - Tigran Balayan, a spokesperson for the Armenian Foreign
Ministry
The Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stresses that the group of
journalists from Ukraine that was reportedly banned from entering
Armenia last week had no accreditation.
Earlier, producer of the Ukrainian television company, ICTV, Oksana
Dykhnich claimed that their crew was not allowed to enter Armenia
despite "all arrangements made as required". She further claimed that
the entry ban was imposed at the request of Russia.
In a Facebook post Dykhnich said the company's crew went on a business
trip to Armenia, but upon arrival were denied entry because they were
blacklisted in Russia for their work in the east of Ukraine where
government forces are fighting Russian-backed separatists.
"This ban is valid for all countries of the [Russian-led] customs
union," Dykhnich claimed, recommending that her colleagues in Ukraine
consider this circumstance in planning their trips to countries of the
Eurasian Economic Union that besides Russia includes Belarus,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia.
"The Ukrainian TV company did not apply for any accreditation to the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and this fact was publicly admitted by
the producer of the TV station who made an appropriate post on
Facebook," Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesman Tigran Balayan told
RFE/RL's Armenian Service (Azatutyun.am). "Our employee left a comment
to that post and the woman admitted that they did not apply for
accreditation," he added.
Balayan insisted that Armenia has no "black list" of journalists. At
the same time, the Foreign Ministry spokesman did not wish to answer
the question on why the Ukrainian television crew was not allowed to
enter Armenia. "Answering this question is not within my competence,"
he said.
Meanwhile, in a comment to Dykhnich's Facebook post a user named
Hovhannes Igityan (the name of an opposition politician in Armenia)
insists that the lack of accreditation cannot become a reason for
banning a Ukrainian citizen with a valid passport from entering
Armenia, since Armenia and Ukraine have a visa-free regime.
Lavrov Arrives In Yerevan After Talks In Baku
. Aza Babayan
. Gevorg Stamboltsian
Armenia - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visits the Armenian
Genocide Memorial in Yerevan, 20 Nov 2017
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in the Armenian capital
of Yerevan on Monday afternoon as part of his regional tour that
included talks in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Lavrov's two-day visit to Yerevan officially marks the 25th
anniversary of the establishment of Russia's diplomatic relations with
the South Caucasus nation. In Yerevan the Russian foreign minister is
expected to meet with President Serzh Sarkisian and Foreign Minister
Edward Nalandian, with their talks likely to focus on long-standing
efforts to settle the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over
Nagorno-Karabakh.
Lavrov discussed the Nagorno-Karabakh issue with Azerbaijani officials
when he visited Baku on November 19-20. During his meeting with
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Sunday the top Russian diplomat
reportedly reiterated Russia's interest in helping "find a solution
and ensure progress toward the settlement" of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict.
AZERBAIJAN -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (L) meets with
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev (R) in Baku,
Along with the United States and France Russia co-heads the Minsk
Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE), which is the existing international mediation format
pertaining to the conflict.
While in Baku, Lavrov stressed that in the Karabakh settlement issue
Moscow has the same position as Washington and Paris and that the
rather serious differences in the U.S-Russian relations have not
affected the joint mediation efforts in the Armenian-Azerbaijani
conflict.
"The co-chairs meet with the ministers, regularly visit the region. I
hope that the meeting of the presidents [of Armenia and Azerbaijan]
that took place last month will contribute to progress in the
settlement of the conflict," Lavrov said.
Speaking at a joint press conference with his Azerbaijani counterpart
Elmar Mammadyarov following their talks, Lavrov said that a continued
conflict around Nagorno-Karabakh is not in the interest of anyone. "It
is necessary to deal with the resolution of the Karabakh conflict,
especially that the main directions in which it is necessary to
register progress have already been outlined," Lavrov said. He also
said that no enlargement of the OSCE Minsk Group format is on the
cards. "All the states that could contribute to the resolution of the
problem are represented in the Minsk Group," he said.
The foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan met separately with
the Russian, American and French co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group in
Moscow last week after which the international mediators said that
Nalbandian and Mammadyarov agreed to hold a meeting on the sidelines
of an OSCE Ministerial Meeting in Vienna, Austria, next month.
Prior to his regional tour Lavrov told Russian state-run TASS news
agency that while in Yerevan and Baku "we will try to understand at
what stage our efforts on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement are after
the meeting of the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Geneva."
During their talks in the Swiss city on October 16, Armenian President
Sarkisian and his Azerbaijani counterpart Aliyev pledged to intensify
the peace process and bolster the cease-fire regime in the region's
conflict zone.
Parents In Armenian Village Block Road, Demand School Repairs
. Marine Khachatrian
Armenia- Rally in the village of Jrarbi, 20 Nov, 2017
Angry parents in a village in western Armenia briefly blocked a road
passing through their community on Monday morning in protest against
what they described as the lack of elementary conditions at a local
school attended by their children.
Scores of protesters in Jrarbi, a village situated some 30 kilometers
to the west of capital Yerevan, demanded a meeting with Armavir
Governor Ashot Ghahramanian to discuss the matter.
The demonstrators complained that the school attended by more than 260
students lacks a proper heating system and badly needs repairing. In
particular, they said that the windows of the school building are
broken, the walls have large cracks and there are no functioning
toilets. According to the parents, in cold classrooms heated with
kerosene burners children quickly get cold and frequently get sick in
winter.
"We want the government to do something to repair this school," one of
the angry parents told RFE/RL's Armenian Service (Azatutyun.am). "We
don't want land or anything from them, we just want them to replace
the old windows and install a proper heating system, that's not
something big for them."
Most of the students did not attend school today. Their parents say
they won't let them attend classes until proper conditions are ensured
in the school building.
Armavir Governor Ghahramanian arrived in Jrarbi to meet with the
protesters later on Monday. He promised that "changes will be noticed
in the school within 10 days." "We will try to install a heating
system that will heat both the corridors and the classrooms," the
official said.
The newly appointed headmaster of the school, ruling Republican Party
member Narek Zakarian, meanwhile, said he still had no idea about how
the problems of the school will be solved. "We need to do it so as not
to interfere with the classes. I don't know what we are going to do
and how. I have no idea," he confessed.
Soviet-Era Dissident On Hunger Strike In Armenia Over Constitutional
Provision
. Sisak Gabrielian
Armenia - Politician Paruyr Hayrikian on huger strike in front of the
Central Electoral Commision building in Yerevan, 20Nov, 2017
Armenia's prominent Soviet-era dissident Paruyr Hayrikian, who
currently heads an extra-parliamentary political party, has gone on an
open-ended hunger strike in front of the Central Election Commission
(CEC) building in Yerevan over what he described as
"anti-constitutional" behavior of the body.
Hayrikian, the chairman of the Union for National Self-Determination
and a former presidential candidate, claims the CEC acted against the
amended Constitution by refusing to provide him with the necessary
documents for the start of a signature collection campaign for a
constitutional reform.
Article 202 of Armenia's new Constitution adopted in a 2015
referendum, in particular, entitles at least 200,000 citizens that are
eligible voters to initiate the adoption of a new or amendments to the
existing Constitution.
"We received a strange reply, which shows that they either do not
recognize the 2015 Constitutional referendum and therefore do not
accept the new Constitution or challenge the legality of the new
Constitution," Hayrikian claimed.
Not all of the chapters and articles of the amended Constitution have
been enforced yet. The article in question, according to transitional
provisions, is due to take legal force when the newly elected
president of Armenia assumes office next spring.
Still, Hayrikian insists on his right to start the collection of
signatures based on the mentioned article of the Constitution even in
the absence of proper legislation.
CEC Chairman Tigran Mukuchian explained to RFE/RL's Armenian Service
(Azatutyun.am) over the weekend that they did not provide Hayrikian
with the documents necessary for the collection of signatures because
the current law on referendums does not provide for such a procedure.
Hayrikian, who spent about 18 years in Soviet prison and was shot and
wounded during his bid for the presidency in 2013, has for years
sought changes in Armenia's Constitution that he says will enable the
country to switch to "absolute democracy" in which "no vote of a
citizen will be lost because of a faulty electoral system."
This is not the first time Hayrikian goes on hunger strike as a means
to support his political demands. The last time he resorted to this
form of protest was in 2014 when after Armenia's decision to join a
Russian-led trade bloc Hayrikian went on a weeklong hunger strike
demanding President Serzh Sarkisian's resignation and the transition
of power to pro-European forces.
Press Review
In the context of the recent student movement against the restriction
of the right to draft deferments "Hraparak" notes that while not all
of the youth civil initiatives in Armenia have been successful, the
authorities have tended to make some concessions and draw conclusions
from them. "As a result of these movements new civil leaders, people
of new quality and mentally have been born, people who may tomorrow
lead also the political struggle," the paper writes, adding that, in
the meantime, "politicians of the older generation have always tried
to spoil and discredit these young people, to turn them into what they
are themselves."
"Zhoghovurd" notes Armenia's high degree of militarization that has
given it the third rank in the Global Militarization Index for the
sixth consecutive year. "There is an opinion that as a result of the
steps proceeding from the implementation of the recently introduced
Nation-Army model Armenia can mount a serious challenge to Israel,
which is the leader according to this international report. Meanwhile,
according to the 2017 report on Armenia's national competitiveness, a
high degree of militarization limits economic development, draining
scarce resources. It turns out that the Karabakh issue, because of
which Armenia is forced to raise the level of its militarization,
hampers the country's development."
The editor of "Aravot" singles out the "large-scale offensive" of the
Tsarukian Alliance against the prime minister, the government and
especially the chairman of the State Revenue Committee during the
latest four-day session of parliament. He assumes the faction was
given such an assignment by its leader, wealthy businessman Gagik
Tsarukian. Yet, the paper's editor sees some healthy element in this
struggle, which, in his opinion, generally corresponds to the spirit
of parliamentarianism "when different groups in parliament represent
competing businesses." "It would be strange and unnatural if all the
lawmakers in all matters were unanimous. This would mean that there is
no competition in our economy," he concludes.
(Tatev Danielian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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