Author: Talar Tumanian

                                        Tuesday, 

Armenian, Azeri FMs Trade Accusations In Fresh Talks


Switzerland -- Foreign Ministers Zohrab Mnatsakanian of Armenia and Elmar 
Mammadyarov of Azerbaijan and international mediators meet in Geneva, January 
30, 2020.

Armenia and Azerbaijan accused each other of hampering a resolution of the 
Nagorno-Karabakh during a fresh video of conference of their foreign ministers 
and international mediators held on Tuesday.

Foreign Ministers Zohrab Mnatsakanian and Elmar Mammadyarov spoke with each 
other and the U.S., Russian and French mediators co-heading the OSCE Minsk Group 
for the second time in two months.

Mnatsakanian was quoted by his press office as condemning Azerbaijani leaders’ 
latest “bellicose and unconstructive” statements. He said that they “damage” 
international efforts to end the conflict.

Mnatsakanian apparently referred to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s June 25 
remarks made at a meeting with Azerbaijani army officers. Aliyev described 
Armenia’s post-Soviet history as “shameful,” saying that his country’s arch-foe 
was for decades ruled by “criminals and thieves.” He also said that the 2018 
popular protests that brought Nikol Pashinian to power were not a democratic 
revolution.

An Armenian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman hit back at Aliyev, saying that he 
leads one of the world’s most corrupt and repressive regimes which feels 
threatened by “democratic changes taking place in Armenia.”

Mammadyarov was reported to say during the video conference that the recent 
“aggressive rhetoric” deplored by the mediators is the result of Armenia’s 
provocative actions” taken in the “occupied territories of Azerbaijan.” Those 
include illegal “infrastructure changes” carried out there, he said in an 
apparent reference to the planned reconstruction of another road connecting 
Karabakh to Armenia.

According to the Armenian Foreign Ministry, Mnatsakanian stressed the importance 
of ensuring Karabakh residents’ “free and safe movements.” This is an important 
element of Karabakh’s “comprehensive security,” he said.

In a joint statement on the talks, the Minsk Group co-chairs said they “noted 
with concern that recent provocative statements, inflammatory rhetoric, and 
possible steps intended to change the situation on the ground in tangible ways 
could undermine the settlement process.”

“The Co‑Chairs stressed that there is no military solution to the conflict,” 
read the statement. “They urged the sides to take additional steps to strengthen 
the ceasefire and to prepare the populations for peace.”

“The Co‑Chairs and Foreign Ministers‎ agreed to hold another joint video 
conference in July and to meet in person as soon as possible,” concluded the 
mediators.

Prime Minister Pashinian criticized Aliyev in unusually strong terms as he 
chaired a meeting of Armenia’s and Karabakh’s top security officials on June 19. 
He said that Aliyev is sticking to “maximalist” demands instead of reciprocating 
his repeated calls for an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace deal that would satisfy all 
parties to the conflict.




Parliament Passes More Amendments On Constitutional Court

        • Naira Nalbandian

Armenia -- A session of the National Assembly, Yerevan, June 24, 2020.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s My Step bloc pushed through the parliament on 
Tuesday more legal amendments meant to complete the controversial dismissal of 
three of the nine members of Armenia’s Constitutional Court.

The parliament already approved on June 22 constitutional changes calling for 
their replacement by other judges to be appointed by its pro-government majority.

The changes require the gradual resignation of seven members of the high court 
installed before April 2018. Three of them are to resign with immediate effect. 
Also, Hrayr Tovmasian must quit as court chairman but remain a judge.

Tovmasian and the three judges refused to step down, however. In a joint 
statement issued last week, they argued that the authorities have not made 
similar changes to a separate Armenian law on the Constitutional Court.

The National Assembly did just that on Tuesday. Another amendment passed by it 
made the ousted justices eligible for a state pension.

The parliament controlled by My Step also altered a legal procedure for the 
appointed of the new Constitutional Court members. They will be nominated by the 
Armenian government, President Armen Sarkissian and an assembly of the country’s 
judges. The high court will pick its new chairperson shortly after the three 
vacancies are filled by the parliament.

The latest amendments were passed after a short debate that was boycotted by the 
two opposition parties represented in the parliament. One of them, the 
Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK), says that the constitutional changes contradict 
other articles of the Armenian constitution and were enacted with serious 
procedural violations.

The BHK as well as two other, extraparliamentary opposition parties -- the 
Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) and Hayrenik (Fatherland) -- 
demanded on Tuesday a criminal investigation into what they called a “usurpation 
of power.” In a 9-page “crime report” submitted to the Office of the 
Prosecutor-General, they claimed that Pashinian’s political team has illegally 
seized control of the Constitutional Court.

Tovmasian and the three ousted judges -- Alvina Gyulumian, Felix Tokhian and 
Hrant Nazarian -- also challenge the legality of the constitutional changes. 
Gyulumian has pledged to ask the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to 
reinstate her.


Armenia -- Supporters of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian block the entrance to 
the Constitutional Court buildin in Yerevan, May 20, 2019.

Pashinian and his political allies maintain that the constitution was amended in 
a lawful manner. A senior My Step lawmaker said last week that the amendments 
will eventually result in a Constitutional Court “enjoying the public’s trust.”

Tovmasian and most other court justices have been under strong government 
pressure to step down over the past year. Pashinian has accused them of 
maintaining close ties to the country’s former government and impeding his 
judicial reforms.

Tovmasian and opposition figures have dismissed Pashinian’s claims and in turn 
accused the prime minister of seeking to make the Constitutional Court loyal to 
the current government.

In a written opinion made public on June 22, the Venice Commission of the 
Council of Europe largely backed the constitutional amendments drafted by the 
Armenian authorities. But it criticized the authorities’ refusal to introduce a 
transitional period that would “allow for a gradual change in the composition of 
the court in order to avoid any abrupt and immediate change endangering the 
independence of this institution.”

The Strasbourg-based body also said that the authorities should not rush to have 
Tovmasian replaced by another Constitutional Court chairman.

In a letter to Tovmasian publicized by the Constitutional Court on Friday, 
Venice Commission President Gianni Buquicchio reiterated that the amendments are 
“not in line” with the commission’s recommendations.




Tsarukian Also Infected With Coronavirus

        • Astghik Bedevian

Armenia -- Prosperous Armenia Party leader Gagik Tsarukian arrives for a court 
hearing in Yerevan, June 21, 2020.

Gagik Tsarukian, the leader of the main opposition Prosperous Armenia Party 
(BHK), said on Tuesday that he has been infected with the coronavirus.

Tsarukian posted on his Facebook page a short video of him saying jokingly 
earlier this year that “the coronavirus doesn’t hit good people.”

“So the coronavirus does not bypass good people either,” he wrote. “Quick 
recovery to all carriers of the virus!”

Speaking to RFE/RL’s Armenian service, Iveta Tonoyan, Tsarukian’s spokeswoman, 
confirmed that he has caught the disease.

It was not immediately clear whether the 63-year-old businessman and former 
arm-wrestler, who also heads Armenia’s National Olympic Committee, is receiving 
treatment at home or in hospital.

Several other members of the Armenian parliament affiliated with the BHK tested 
positive for the virus late last week. At least seven deputies representing 
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s My Step bloc also reportedly got infected and 
had to self-isolate in recent days.

The Armenian health authorities have registered 25,542 coronavirus cases in the 
country of about 3 million so far. They said on Tuesday that 14 more people 
infected with COVID-19 have died in the past 24 hours.

According to the Ministry of Health, the virus was the main cause of 10 of those 
deaths. The official death toll from the epidemic thus rose to 443.

Despite the reported infection of at least a dozen lawmakers, Armenia’s 132-seat 
parliament convened in the morning for an emergency session initiated by My Step.

The BHK’s 25-strong parliamentary group has boycotted parliament sessions for 
the last two weeks in protest against its pro-government majority’s June 16 
decision to lift Tsarukian’s immunity from prosecution. The BHK leader is facing 
accusations of vote buying which he rejects as politically motivated.

On June 21, a Yerevan court refused to allow law-enforcement authorities to 
arrest Tsarukian pending investigation. Prosecutors appealed against the ruling.




France Offers Emergency Loan To Armenia



France -- French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during the annual dinner of 
the Co-ordination Council of Armenian organisations of France (CCAF), in Paris, 
February 5, 2019

France has expressed readiness to lend Armenia up to 80 million euros ($90 
million) in emergency funding designed help the South Caucasus state tackle the 
coronavirus crisis and its severe economic fallout.

French President Emmanuel Macron offered the low-interest loan in a letter to 
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian publicized on Tuesday.

Macron voiced “solidarity” with the Armenian authorities’ efforts to contain the 
spread of the coronavirus and said that a third team of French medics will fly 
to Yerevan later this week to help their Armenian colleagues struggling to cope 
with the deadly pandemic.

He went on to inform Pashinian that the French Development Agency (AFD) stands 
ready to allocate a loan worth between 50 million and 80 million euros that 
would partly cover Armenia’s “needs for additional budgetary funding” and 
strengthen the country’s crisis management capacity.

The French government agency would provide this assistance in collaboration with 
the World Bank and other multilateral lending institutions, added Macron.

The Armenian government announced in late April plans to borrow more than $500 
million to cushion the impact of an unfolding recession resulting from the 
pandemic. The government subsequently amended its 2020 budget to take account of 
150 billion drams ($310 million) in coronavirus-related relief measures financed 
by it and a shortfall in tax revenues which is projected to total 170 billion 
drams this year.

In May, the International Monetary Fund disbursed a $280 million emergency loan 
to the authorities in Yerevan. The authorities announced afterwards that they 
will receive a separate $30 million IMF loan later this year.

The Armenian economy expanded robustly from 2017 through the first quarter of 
this year. It is now on course to contract by at least 2 percent in 2020.


Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2020 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

 

                                        Monday, 

Authorities Move To Arrest Tsarukian

        • Ruzanna Stepanian

Armenia -- Prosperous Armenia Party leader Gagik Tsarukian speaks to reporters, 
Yerevan, February 11, 2020.

Law-enforcement authorities on Monday asked the Armenian parliament to allow 
them to arrest Gagik Tsarukian, a wealthy businessman leading its largest 
opposition group, on charges which he and his allies reject as politically 
motivated.

Parliament speaker Ararat Mirzoyan said he received a relevant motion from 
Prosecutor-General Artur Davtian and included it on the agenda of a National 
Assembly session scheduled for Tuesday.

In the motion publicized by his office, Davtian claimed that Tsarukian “created 
and led an organized group” that bought more than 17,000 votes for his 
Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) during parliamentary elections held in April 2017.

The chief prosecutor said the vote bribes were handed out to residents of the 
Gegharkunik province. Each of them received 10,000 drams ($21), he said, adding 
that the National Security Service (NSS) has collected documents and testimony 
corroborating these accusations.


Armenia -- A supporter of Armenian opposition leader Gagik Tsarukian holds its 
portrait during a unauthorised rally close to National secuirury service 
headquarter in Yerevan, 

Davtian made no mention of two other Tsarukian-related criminal cases opened by 
the NSS. The security service accused companies owned by the leader of the 
opposition Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) of large-scale fraud after raiding his 
villa outside Yerevan on Sunday. It then interrogated him for more than eight 
hours.

In a written statement issued several hours before the announcement of the 
authorities’ decision to seek his arrest, Tsarukian again denounced the 
crackdown as government retribution for his demands for Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian. He stood by his claims that Pashinian’s government has mishandled 
Armenia’s worsening coronavirus crisis and failed to mitigate its severe 
socioeconomic consequences.

“Instead of solving problems and doing difficult but real work, the authorities 
are terrorizing their opponents,” he said.

“I am prepared for any scenario,” the BHK leader added, alluding to his possible 
arrest. “I am appealing to my fellow citizens: don’t get depressed, everything 
will be fine, and we will overcome this crisis even if the authorities and Nikol 
Pashinian personally do everything to aggravate the situation.”

Tsarukian met with BHK parliamentarians earlier in the day. One of them, Arman 
Abovian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian service that the tycoon was “in very high 
spirits.”

Another senior BHK figure, Naira Zohrabian, claimed in the morning that the 
authorities have made a “political decision” to lift Tsarukian’s parliamentary 
immunity from prosecution. “Prosecutor-General Artur Davtian still has a chance 
not to execute the political order,” she said.

Davtian’s spokesman, Gor Abrahamian, countered that Tsarukian cannot be 
prosecuted for political reasons.


Armenia -- Prosperous Armenia Party leader Gagik Tsarukian is surrounded by 
supporters outside his house in Arinj, .

Pashinian and senior representatives of his My Step bloc also denied any 
political motives behind the crackdown. Some of them posted on their Facebook 
pages supposedly confidential details of the criminal investigations which they 
said substantiate the NSS allegations.

Tsarukian’s party was officially in opposition to then President Serzh Sarkisian 
when it ran for the parliament in the April 2017 elections. One year later, it 
backed the “Velvet Revolution” that toppled Sarkisian, helped Pashinian become 
prime minister and joined his first cabinet formed in May 2018.

Pashinian fired his ministers affiliated with BHK in October 2018, accusing 
Tsarukian of secretly collaborating with the former regime.

The BHK came in a distant second in the December 2018 parliamentary elections 
and won 26 seats in Armenia’s 132-member parliament.

Pashinian’s My Step controls 88 parliament seats, putting it in a position to 
give the green to Tsarukian’s arrest and prosecution.




Pashinian Calls For New Constitution


Armenia -- Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian speaks at a referendum campaign rally 
in Vayk, March 12, 2020.

Armenia should adopt a new constitution that could abolish the country’s 
Constitutional Court, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said on Monday.

Pashinian insisted that wants to establish an “organic connection between the 
state order and the will of the people,” rather than cement his hold on power.

Most Armenians, he said, do not feel such a connection because they played no 
part in the enactment of their country’s post-Soviet constitution and numerous 
amendments to it made by their former governments.

“I’m not one of those people who think that the country’s constitutions should 
frequently undergo changes,” he told a government commission on constitutional 
reform formed early this year. “But I must also say that especially at this 
juncture I am of the opinion that we need to not just enact constitutional 
changes but to adopt a de jure new constitution.”

Pashinian stressed that the commission should not try to reverse Armenia’s 
transition to the parliamentary system of government which was controversially 
engineered by former President Serzh Sarkisian. It should work on other changes 
mostly relating to the judicial system, he said.

In particular, Pashinian suggested that the ad hoc panel “very seriously” 
consider drafting constitutional provisions that would merge the Constitutional 
Court with the Court of Cassation, Armenia’s highest body of criminal and 
administrative justice. He said that the two courts have offered different 
interpretations of Armenian laws on a number of occasions.

Over the past year, Pashinian has been at loggerheads with seven of the nine 
members of the Constitutional Court, accusing them of being linked to the former 
regime and impeding judicial reforms. The Constitutional Court chairman, Hrayr 
Tovmasian, has rejected those accusations, saying that the prime minister is 
simply seeking to gain control over the court.

In February, Pashinian’s government decided to hold a referendum on 
constitutional amendments that would replace Tovmasian and the six other judges. 
The referendum scheduled for April 5 was subsequently postponed due to the 
coronavirus pandemic.

With no end in sight to the pandemic, the government is expected to cancel the 
vote altogether. Last month it asked the Venice Commission of the Council of 
Europe to help it end the standoff with the high court.

The government commission on constitutional reform was formed in January before 
Pashinian’s political team decided to hold the controversial referendum. It 
consists of 15 members, including Armenia’s justice minister, human rights 
ombudsman, a representative of the country’s judges, members of the three 
political forces represented in the parliament and legal scholars chosen by the 
Justice Ministry.

The commission chairman, Yeghishe Kirakosian, said in February that the panel 
will come up with a package of amendments and initiate “public discussions” on 
it by September 2020.

Kirakosian indicated on Monday that the process will take more time. He told 
Pashinian that the commission expects to draft “constitutional reforms” by June 
2021.




Opposition Parties Condemn Crackdown On Tsarukian

        • Ruzanna Stepanian
        • Anush Mkrtchian

Armenia -- Riot police detain a supporter of Prosperous Armenia Party leader 
Gagik Tsarukian outside the National Security Service headquarters in Yerevan, 
.

Several other opposition forces have joined the Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) 
in condemning as politically motivated criminal proceedings launched against its 
leader Gagik Tsarukian.

The National Security Service (NSS) interrogated Tsarukian for more than eight 
hours on Sunday after searching his home and announcing the launch of three 
separate criminal investigations into the wealthy businessman heading Armenia’s 
largest parliamentary opposition party.

Tsarukian and his associates denounced the crackdown as government retribution 
for the BHK leader’s recent strong criticism of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian 
and demands for his resignation.

The Bright Armenia Party (LHK), the second opposition group represented in the 
parliament, likewise said on Monday that the country’s political leadership 
ordered the criminal proceedings in a bid to “silence” a key political opponent.

“The Bright Armenia Party strongly condemns criminal prosecutions resulting from 
political expediency and carried out through a selective enforcement of the 
law,” read a statement issued by the party leadership.

The LHK also criticized the Armenian police for detaining at least 252 BHK 
supporters who protested against the NSS actions against Tsarukian outside the 
NSS headquarters in Yerevan. The police argue that the demonstration was illegal 
because it was held during a coronavirus-related state of emergency in the 
country.

Other opposition groups, which are not represented in the National Assembly, 
condemned the crackdown in even stronger terms. The Armenian Revolutionary 
Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) claimed that it is part of Pashinian’s attempts to 
“establish dictatorship.” The recently formed Hayrenik (Fatherland) party of 
former NSS Director Artur Vanetsian accused the authorities of “fabricating” the 
cases against Tsarukian.

A Dashnaktsutyun leader, Ishkhan Saghatelian, confirmed that he hosted on Sunday 
a meeting with senior representatives of the BHK, Hayrenik and two other 
opposition parties that discussed the latest developments in Armenia. The LHK 
did not take part in the talks.

Saghatelian told RFE/RL’s Armenian service that despite their overall “mutual 
understanding” the participants did not reach any concrete agreements. “We will 
meet again if need be,” he said.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Office of Prosecutor-General insisted on Monday 
that the controversial investigations into Tsarukian’s business activities are 
not politically motivated. Pashinian also denied through his press secretary 
issuing any orders to the investigators.




French Coronavirus Doctors Arrive In Armenia


Armenia -- French doctors pose for a photograph on their arrival at Zvartnots 
airport, Yerevan, . (Photo by the French Embassy in Armenia)

A team of French medics has arrived in Armenia to help Armenian colleagues 
increasingly struggling to cope with the coronavirus crisis.

The seven doctors were greeted by Armenia’s Diaspora High Commissioner Zareh 
Sinanyan, Deputy Health Minister Anahit Avanesian and the French and U.S. 
ambassadors in Yerevan when they arrived at Zvartnots airport late on Sunday.

Sinanyan’s office said it has organized the emergency mission “in close 
collaboration” with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

“The doctors who had already undertaken the COVID-19 fight in France are in 
Armenia for the first time and will invest all their experience and knowledge in 
this crucial mission to save human lives,” it said in a statement.

According to French Ambassador Jonathan Lacote, they will stay in Armenia for 10 
days.

“I want to thank all our partners for organizing their mission,” Health Minister 
Arsen Torosian said on Monday. “It will be really useful for us.”


France -- Medical workers tend to a patient infected with COVID-19 at the 
intensive care unit of the Lariboisiere Hospital of the AP-HP in Paris on April 
27, 2020.

In a Facebook post, Torosian also said that the French medics have already 
“gotten down to work” at the intensive care units of three Yerevan-based 
hospitals treating COVID-19 patients.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Torosian confirmed that a similar medical team 
from Lithuania will arrive in Armenia in the coming days. The decision to send 
it was made by the Lithuanian government.

Torosian revealed that about 50 Russian doctors have also expressed a desire to 
work at the Armenian hospitals on the front lines of the coronavirus epidemic. 
He gave no dates for their arrival.

The minister made no mention of similar assistance that was offered by 
neighboring Georgia. Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia said on Thursday 
that his government is discussing details of the proposed aid with the Armenian 
side.

Torosian warned on June 4 that Armenia’s healthcare system is now so 
overstretched that hospitals may soon be unable to admit all infected citizens 
in need of urgent treatment. He said afterwards that the health authorities will 
set up soon 350 new hospital beds to treat the increased number of people 
infected with the virus.

The minister insisted on June 11 that Armenian hospitals are still able to give 
life-saving treatment to all patients that are in a serious condition.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases registered in the country of about 3 
million continued to grow rapidly over the weekend. The Armenian Ministry of 
Health said on Monday that they rose by 397 to 17,064 in the past day.


Armenia -- Healthcare workers wearing protective gear are seen outside the Nork 
Hospital for Infectious Diseases, Yerevan, June 5, 2020.

The ministry also reported the deaths of 19 more people infected with the 
disease. It said 16 of those deaths were primarily caused by the coronavirus. 
They were added to the official COVID-19 death toll which rose to 285.

According to the health authorities, 94 other infected people have died as a 
result of other, pre-existing diseases. Three of these fatalities were recorded 
on Sunday.

The number of new COVID-19 infections hit a new daily high of 723 on Friday.

“With regard to the coronavirus we are not doing well,” Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian admitted on Saturday morning. He again complained that many Armenians 
are not practicing social distancing, wearing face masks in public and taking 
other precautions recommended by the authorities.

The Armenian government cited the high infection rates last week when it 
extended a coronavirus-related state of emergency in the country by another 
month, until July 13.

The state of emergency was declared on March 16. A few days later, the 
government issued stay-at-home orders and banned most types of business 
activity. It began relaxing those restrictions already in mid-April and lifted 
virtually all of them by May 10 despite the growing numbers of coronavirus cases 
and deaths.

Critics say that the government never properly enforced the lockdown and lifted 
it too soon. Some of them have called for a renewed lockdown. Pashinian and 
other senior government officials have opposed such a measure so far.


Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2020 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.