Author: Lara Antonian

                                        Monday, 

Pashinian Coy About Resignation Date

        • Karlen Aslanian
        • Ruzanna Stepanian

Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian kisses an Armenian national flag at an 
event held in Aragatsotn province, 7 October 2018.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said on Monday that he has not yet decided when 
to step down and thus pave the way for snap parliamentary elections sought by 
him and his supporters.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said on Monday that he has not yet decided when 
to step down and thus pave the way for snap parliamentary elections sought by 
him and his supporters.

He insisted only that that the elections must be held in December.

Under Armenia’s constitution, such a vote can be called only if the prime 
minister resigns and lawmakers fail to elect his or her successor in the next 
two weeks.

Pashinian pledged to tender his resignation “in the coming days” when thousands 
of his supporters rallied outside the parliament building in Yerevan on October 
2. They protested against a controversial bill that could complicate the 
dissolution of the National Assembly.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Pashinian was asked whether he has already 
made a decision on his resignation. “No, I haven’t” he replied. “If it was just 
up to me I would have already resigned. But since the public’s reaction is very 
vehement we need to once again think about that scenario.”

“But the pre-term elections must be held in December,” added the premier.

Former President Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), which 
controls nearly half of the parliament seats, made clear, meanwhile, that it 
remains opposed to the holding of the elections in December. The HHK’s 
parliamentary leader, Vahram Baghdasarian, said he can only “guarantee” that it 
will not nominate or back another prime-ministerial candidate if Pashinian 
agrees to delay the vote until next May or April.

Baghdasarian also indicated that the former ruling party is open to compromise 
deals with the popular premier. “We are inclined to resume the negotiation 
process from where it stopped … And a negotiation means consensus, it means 
mutual concessions,” he told a news conference.

The HHK’s stance on the election issue was backed until the end of last week by 
the second largest parliamentary force, the Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK). The 
latter also said that political forces should have more time to prepare for the 
vote and amend the Electoral Code.

But late on Thursday the BHK leader, Gagik Tsarukian, signaled his readiness to 
accept Pashinian’s demands. “If the people want the pre-term parliamentary 
elections to be held in December then so do we,” he said in televised remarks.

Pashinian praised those remarks. He revealed that he and Tsarukian reached a 
“common understanding” at a meeting held on Sunday. He said that they will meet 
again later on Monday.




Russian-Armenian Alliance Still Going Strong, Says Moscow

        • Aza Babayan

Russia - President Vladimir Putin (R) meets with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian in Moscow, 8 September 2018.

Russia and Armenia have continued to deepen their already close relationship 
since the dramatic regime change in Yerevan, a senior Russian diplomat said in 
a newspaper interview published on Monday.

Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin played down the impact on bilateral 
ties of what he described as continuing political instability in the South 
Caucasus state.

“You know that after the political changes in Armenia the traditionally 
intensive Russian-Armenian dialogue continued at the highest and high levels,” 
Karasin told the Moscow daily “Izvestia.” “In a matter of months there were 
three meetings between Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Russian Federation 
President Vladimir Putin and two meetings with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. 
Our leaders spoke by phone for several times.”

“We see the main political result of these contacts in the confirmation of the 
unchanged policy of further strengthening Russian-Armenian allied relations in 
both the bilateral format and within the framework of common integration 
structures: the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), the Eurasian 
Economic Union (EEU) and the CIS.”

“Despite the continuation of certain internal political instability in Armenia, 
a systematic joint effort is underway in concrete directions of 
[Russian-Armenian] cooperation,” added Karasin.

As a lawmaker opposed to the administration of President Serzh Sarkisian, 
Pashinian was very critical of Armenia’s membership in the Russian-led blocs. 
But he swiftly ruled out any change in the country’s traditional foreign policy 
orientation after launching mass protests that forced Sarkisian into 
resignation in late April. Meeting with Putin in Moscow in June, the 
43-year-old premier pledged to make Russian-Armenian ties even “more special.”

However, the new Armenian authorities subsequently provoked a rare diplomatic 
dispute with Moscow when they prosecuted former President Robert Kocharian and 
the CSTO’s current secretary general, Yuri Khachaturov, on charges stemming 
from the 2008 post-election violence in Yerevan.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov denounced the criminal cases as 
politically motivated. For his part, Putin made a point of telephoning 
Kocharian to congratulate him on his 64th birthday anniversary in late August.

Pashinian downplayed the Russian moves before again visiting Moscow and meeting 
Putin on September 8. He declared after those talks that relations between the 
two nations are “brilliant.”




Pashinian, Tsarukian Reach Election Deal


Armenia - Prosperous Armenia Party leader Gagik Tsarukian and Prime Minister 
Nikol Pahinian sign a memorandum in Yerevan, 8 October, 2018

One week after being driven out of Armenia’s governing coalition, Prosperous 
Armenia Party (BHK) leader Gagik Tsarukian committed himself on Monday to 
helping Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian force snap general elections in December.

In a joint memorandum signed after a meeting in Yerevan, the two men said they 
“concur regarding the conduct of pre-term parliamentary elections” before the 
end of this year. The document says that the BHK will therefore not nominate or 
endorse any other candidate for the post of prime minister after Pashinian’s 
widely anticipated resignation.

The Armenian constitution stipulates that that the 105-member National 
Assembly, in which the BHK holds 31 seats, can be dissolved only if lawmakers 
fail to elect another premier in case of that resignation. Pashinian has 
pledged to step down to ensure that fresh polls are held in December.

As recently as on October 2 Tsarukian’s party helped former President Serzh 
Sarkisian’s Republican Party (HHK) push through a bill that could complicate 
the success of Pashinian’s plans. The premier reacted furiously to the 
development, accusing the BHK and another coalition partner, Dashnaktsutyun, of 
involvement in a “counterrevolutionary” conspiracy. He also scrapped his 
power-sharing agreements with the two parties reached in May.

BHK representatives said that the fresh elections should be held in May or 
June, rather than in December. Like HHK leaders, they argued that political 
forces need time to amend the Electoral Code and properly prepare for the 
ballot.

Tsarukian signaled a change of this position in a televised interview aired 
early on October 5. “If the people want the pre-term parliamentary elections to 
be held in December then so do we,” he said.

Pashinian hailed that statement at the start of Monday’s meeting with 
Tsarukian. “It was obvious from the content of your interview that we have 
something to discuss,” he said in remarks publicized by his office.

Tsarukian, who is also a wealthy businessman, stressed for his part that he and 
his party supported the Pashinian-led “revolution” that toppled Armenia’s 
previous government headed by Sarkisian. “Nobody expected that Serzh Sarkisian 
will resign,” the tycoon told Pashinian. “I told the people then that I stand 
with you.”

Sarkisian’s HHK controls around half of the parliament seats. The former ruling 
party remains opposed to holding the elections in December. But it has yet to 
clarify whether it will try to install another prime minister if Pashinian 
tenders his tactical resignation this month.




Armenian Tycoon Arrested

        • Naira Bulghadarian

Armenia - Businessman Samvel Mayrapetian at the official opening of his Toyota 
car dealership in Yerevan, 23 June 2009.

A wealthy Armenian businessman who has benefited from government connections in 
the past was arrested at the weekend for reasons that remained unknown on 
Monday.

“We can confirm that Samvel Mayrapetian was arrested,” a spokeswoman for 
Armenia’s Special Investigative Service (SIS) told RFE/RL’s Armenian service 
(Azatutyun.am). “But in the interests of the investigation we cannot give any 
details at the moment.”

The official, Marina Ohanjanian, would not say what Mayrapetian is accused or 
suspected of.

Under Armenian law, law-enforcement authorities have three days to formally 
charge or free detainees. As of Monday evening, it was not clear if the SIS has 
brought any accusations against Mayrapetian.

The businessman is one of the country’s leading real estate developers who also 
owns a national TV channel and a car dealership. His company was involved in a 
controversial redevelopment of old districts in downtown Yerevan during the 
1998-2008 rule of President Robert Kocharian.

Media outlets critical of the former government for years linked Kocharian’s 
elder son Sedrak to the Toyota dealership officially belonging to Mayrapetian.

Kocharian is currently under investigation over his role in the deadly breakup 
of post-election demonstrations in Yerevan staged during the final weeks of his 
decade-long presidency. Last month, the National Security Service (NSS), a more 
powerful law-enforcement body, launched a separate corruption inquiry into the 
embattled ex-president.

The NSS director, Artur Vanetsian, said on September 11 that investigators are 
scrutinizing what he described as hundreds of millions of dollars worth of 
assets belonging to Kocharian and his family members. Vanetsian promised two 
weeks later that their findings will be made public “soon.”

Kocharian has denied enriching himself or his family while in office and 
accused the current Armenian authorities of waging a political “vendetta” 
against him. He has only admitted that his two sons are engaged in 
entrepreneurial activity.

Sedrak Kocharian reportedly filed a defamation suit against Vanetsian last 
month.




Press Review



(Saturday, September 6)

“Zhamanak” dismisses arguments that fresh parliamentary elections must not be 
held now because in that case Armenia’s parliament will be completely dominated 
by a single political force. The paper says that the freedom and fairness of 
the elections is more important than their outcome. “If the public gives an 
overwhelming mandate to a single force that is not a tragedy at all,” it says, 
adding that many democracies around the world are governed by one party. 
“Democracy doesn’t suffer from that,” continues the paper. “Democracy suffers 
from vote rigging, restrictions on liberties, corruption, a lack of public 
oversight institutions.”

“Before the velvet revolution voters were not allowed to express their opinions 
because the HHK, which had unlimited power, was sure that it would not be 
serious to leave an important issue such as elections to the people,” writes 
“Haykakan Zhamanak.” “Now that voters have an opportunity to freely elect their 
candidate, as was the case in the municipal elections in Yerevan, the HHK makes 
the following argument: the people are euphoric. It would not be fair to say 
that there is no post-revolutionary euphoria. There is euphoria and it will 
persist as long as Armenia’s citizens see the risk of a return [to power] of 
Robert Kocharian or the HHK.”

“Obviously, the Republicans do not want to give up their parliament seats 
because they are well aware that they will not be present in the next National 
Assembly,” writes “Zhoghovurd.” “And so they take every opportunity to speak 
out against holding pre-term elections.” The paper rejects HHK claims that 
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian is violating the Armenian constitution in his 
push for the fresh polls. Pointing to the October 2 rally outside the 
parliament building in Yerevan, it says that such a vote is demanded not just 
by Pashinian but also “the people.” The paper also dismisses HHK calls for a 
multi-party dialogue on the issue. A party that has long violated the 
constitution has no moral right to allege unconstitutional actions by others, 
it says.

(Artur Papian)

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