Month: February 2015

RAFFI HOVHANNISYAN TO BE IN LIBERTY SQUARE ON FEBRUARY 20 DESPITE RALLY CANCELLATION BY PROSPEROUS ARMENIA

YEREVAN, February 18. /ARKA/. Raffi Hovhannisyan, leader of Heritage
opposition party, said Wednesday that he will be in the Liberty Square
in Yerevan on February 20 and will answer journalists’ questions
despite Prosperous Armenia Party’s decision to cancel the rally
scheduled for that day, Novosti-Armenia reports.

Prosperous Armenia released a statement on Wednesday cancelling the
rally Gagik Tsarukyan, Raffi Hovhannisyan and Levon Ter-Petrosyan
(the first Armenian president), leaders of Prosperous Armenia Party,
Heritage Party and the Armenian National Congress, decided to stage
on the mentioned day to outline their further steps amid the tense
political situation in the country.

However, the Yerevan municipality said the rally of these opposition
parties contradicts the assembly freedom law.

Hovhannisyan refrained from commenting on the rally cancellation. He
read out a statement criticizing social and economic things in the
country as well as Armenia’s geopolitical situation.

“This is already two years Armenia stands isolated on the international
arena and an unprecedented regress is seen in the process of Karabakh
conflict settlement with many fatal incidents on the border,” he said.

Hovhannisyan called on President Sargsyan to resign and order early
presidential and parliamentary elections.

One week ago tension between Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan
and Gagik Tsarukyan escalated after the president, speaking at a
meeting of the executive board of the ruling Republican Party of
Armenia President Sargsyan lashed out at his former coalition partner
describing him as ‘a scourge for the country who lacks intelligence,
skills and education to govern Armenia.’

Sargsyan told Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan to instruct corresponding
bodies to thoroughly investigate the veracity of “unverified reports”
implicating Tsarukyan in large-scale tax evasion.

He also stripped Tsarukyan from his membership in the National Security
Council for unjustified absence from the council’s sessions.

In retaliation to Sargsyan’s crackdown, the leader of the Prosperous
Armenia Party said the following day that the current situation in
the country requires solution and ‘the only solution is a complete
change of power through extraordinary presidential elections.’

Gagik Tsarukyan said also he was offered the post of president of the
country but only after constitutional reforms that would turn Armenia
into a parliamentary republic. He claimed that the reform is aimed
at enabling Sargsyan to stay in power after the end of his second
and final presidential term in 2018. Tsarukyan said he declined the
offer causing Sargsyan’s anger.

Prosperous Armenia is the second largest force in the parliament
controlling 36 seats. It was part of coalition governments from 2007
to 2012. According to some estimates, Tsarukyan is the third-richest
person of Armenia. On February 20, the party and its key allies,
the Armenian National Congress and Heritage, plan to hold a joint
rally in Yerevan to press for Sargsyan’s ouster. —0—-

POLITICS V POLITICKING: SARGSYAN-TSARUKYAN STANDOFF REVEALS SCARCITY OF POLITICAL DEBATE IN ARMENIA

ANALYSIS | 18.02.15 | 11:54

By GAYANE MKRTCHYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter

Internal political tensions in Armenia may have subsided a little as
President Serzh Sargsyan and Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) leader
Gagik Tsarukyan reportedly met on Tuesday to end their “war”, but the
debate about “lack of political debate” appears to be only starting.

The ultimate “hot phase” of the conflict between the president and the
millionaire opposition leader began last week when Sargsyan accused
Tsarukyan of being ‘a pseudo-political phenomenon’ and ‘evil’ for the
country and, as a matter of fact, urged his ruling Republican Party of
Armenia (RPA) to exclude him from the country’s political process. In
response to this, Tsarukyan and his opposition allies scheduled a
joint rally for February 20 to demand Sargsyan’s resignation.

Analysts and human rights activists think that recent days’ political
developments in Armenia do not fit the frameworks of “classical
politics”.

Vardan Harutyunyan, head of the Rights and Freedom Center NGO, said
that the PAP leader is not a classical politician and there are only
a handful of classical politicians in Armenia.

“However, as a result of Serzh Sargsyan’s pressure Gagik Tsarukyan,
together with the PAP, is moving into the classical field,”
Harutyunyan said.

Cooperation for Democracy Center NGO Chairman Stepan Danielyan thinks
that just like in Russia, in Armenia as well, it is unclear where
the big business ends and politics begins. These two phenomena are
interwoven in the internal political field of the country.

Under Armenia’s Constitution, “a deputy [member of parliament] may
not be engaged in entrepreneurial activities, hold an office in state
and local self-government bodies or in commercial organizations, as
well as engage in any other paid occupation, except for scientific,
educational and creative work.” However, this provision of the
Constitution seems to remain on paper only. The majority of MPs in
Armenia, in both warring parties, are known to own large enterprises,
‘holdings’ or ‘concerns’, they have their own traffic routes, petrol
stations, etc. Those possessing large businesses use politics in
favor of their personal interests.

In his February 12 speech President Sargsyan also effectively ordered
tax audits of Tsarukyan’s businesses. Some observers say it only proves
that Sargsyan was aware of the situation that a top politician and MP
owns a business against the provision of the Constitution and turned
a blind eye on it.

Human rights activist Harutyunyan said that the speech showed the real
face of the Armenian government, which, according to him, displayed
that laws and the Constitution are not taken into consideration in
Armenia, in their actions the government is led by opportunities
and power.

“Thus, if somebody takes up an oppositional position, they will
be subjected to persecution outside law. The current actions taken
against the PAP is a means for the government to show their muscles,
which aims to spread terror within the PAP,” he argued.

Tigran Yegoryan, lawyer, member of the Europe in Law Association NGO,
said that the axis of this fight is the government’s ambitions.

According to him, the second term of presidency is coming to its end
and that legal obstacle creates changes in the political field. Thus,
the first objective for the government is constitutional changes which
will result in drastic changes in the country’s administrative system.

“The president’s speech showed that there are no state constitutional
self-administered institutions in the country, and everyone is
subjected to their will. At the same time, I must say that these are
not necessary and sufficient preconditions for constitutional changes,
but rather a necessary and sufficient condition to get rid of the
person who has usurped that government and the people running the
state institutions who administer those constitutional institutions
as subjects,” Yegoryan said.

ANALYSIS: SARGSYAN-TSARUKYAN “HOT WAR” ENDS, POLICY ON PAP’S OUSTER WILL CONTINUE

ANALYSIS | 18.02.15 | 11:18

By NAIRA HAYRUMYAN
ArmeniaNow correspondent

Internal political tensions in Armenia appear to be subsiding and even
if it takes place on February 20 the opposition rally is unlikely
to have the potential to grow into clashes or lead to a change of
government.

The key opposition elements appear to be seeking peace with President
Serzh Sargsyan. The first step was admittedly made by the second
President Robert Kocharyan, who is believed to be the political
patron of Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) leader Gagik Tsarukyan. In
an interview published by his unofficial website, Kocharyan addressed
the persecutions of Tsarukyan, but stopped short of openly condemning
Sargsyan for his actions. He only warned that further steps could
lead to escalation.

Then, it was the first president of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan
who published an open letter addressed to Sargsyan and offering to
meet “at any convenient time”. Ter-Petrosyan linked the necessity
of such a meeting with the upcoming events commemorating the 100th
anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. He proposed the establishment
of a commission and even expressed willingness to personally take
part in the preparation of an all-national document that will be
addressed to the heads of all international organizations.

Later on Tuesday reports suggested that Sargsyan and Tsarukyan held a
meeting that was reportedly mediated by Russian billionaire of Armenian
descent, owner of the Tashir group Samvel Karapetyan. Sources at the
Armenian Revolutionary Federation confirmed the fact of the meeting
between Sargsyan and Tsarukyan and that the two have reconciled.

Nevertheless, the “peace” deal is unlikely to mean the return of the
PAP to the active political arena. Four members have already left the
party’s parliamentary faction, prosecutions of several PAP members have
been launched, and Tsarukyan himself was deprived of a number of posts.

Analysts say that Sargsyan has agreed to stop the persecution, not
going as far as the arrest and prosecution of Tsarukyan. But he has
refused to stop the “de-actualization” of the PAP and the current
policies aimed at achieving the disorganization of the PAP faction
and the party itself will continue.

Experts link the possible reconsolidation of the “three Armenian
presidents” (the incumbent president, Serzh Sargsyan, and his two
predecessors, Levon Ter-Petrosyan and Robert Kocharyan) with the
upcoming Centennial of the Armenian Genocide to be marked on April 24,
when Armenia will become the scene of important international events.

At the hottest time of the domestic strife Sargsyan withdrew from the
parliament the Armenian-Turkish protocols, thereby declaring that he
is not going to deviate from the path of claims to Turkey.

The three Armenian presidents do not have the experience of joint
participation in events, they have no joint photograph. And the
100th anniversary of the genocide may become the most natural
occasion when the interests of the three presidents will meet. The
presidents themselves surely understand that. They themselves know
that no internal arguments can justify their refusal to participate
in all-national events.

From: A. Papazian

NEW BILLBOARDS IN BOSTON COMMEMORATE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE CENTENNIAL

15:04, 18 Feb 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

On Feb. 14, Peace of Art, Inc. added three new billboards in
commemoration of the centennial of the Armenian Genocide in the Boston
area. The new digital billboards are different from the others in
design but similar with concept. All the billboards commemorate the
centennial of the Armenian Genocide and pay tribute to the victims.

Two digital billboards are located in Foxboro, and the third one is
located in Peabody, Mass, Asbarez reports.

Against a black background, one billboard reads “1915-2015 the
Centennial of the Armenian Genocide.” The letters “O” and “C” in the
word “Genocide” are combined to form a red heart with a bite. The
heart symbolizes the heart of a nation, and the bite symbolizes 1.5
million innocent lives carved off a nation, whose wounds are still
bleeding through generations.

The other digital billboard reads “I Remember and I Demand 1915-2015
the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide.” The letter “O” in the word
“Genocide” is a purple forget-me-not, the official Armenian Genocide
centennial symbol. The flower has five petals which represent the five
continents where genocide survivors settled and rebuilt their lives.

Also represents the pain shared by Armenians around the world united
with their demands for recognition and justice.

“Since January 2015, Peace of Art, Inc., has displayed ten billboards
in the United States. Chicago, Seattle, Peabody, Sharon and Foxboro,
and will continue to display electronic billboards throughout the
United States during the year 2015,” said Peace of Art founding
president Daniel Varoujan Hejinian.

RUSSIAN PROSECUTOR HAS NOT RECEIVED A LETTER REGARDING PERMYAKOV’S TRANSFER

02.18.2015 13:53 epress.am

Russian Prosecutor General has not received a document from Armenian
Prosecutor General about transferring Valery Permyakov’s case to
Armenian law enforcement, notes an official response from the Russian
Prosecutor’s office to Zhoghovurd daily. Days earlier, the paper had
applied to the Russian Prosecutor General about the fate of Armenia’s
Prosecutor General’s alleged letter.

“According to the existing information, the Russian Prosecutor General
has not received a letter from the Republic of Armenia’s relevant
entities regarding the issue of transferring V.P. Permyakov to the
Armenian law enforcement” stated the response.

The Armenian Prosecutor General had released a statement on February
3rd of this year stating that he, RA Prosecutor General Gevorg
Kostanyan, had appealed to the Russian Prosecutor General Yury Chaika.

Five days earlier, the Union of Informed Citizens NGO applied to the
Administrative Court in order to receive a copy of the Prosecutor
General’s letter to their Russian colleague. The NGO claimed that
they had initially asked the Prosecutor’s office for the copy but
were left without unanswered.

GAGIK TSARUKYAN NOT ONLY POLITICAL FIGURE, BUT PERSON RESPECTING THE STATE – ARAM HARUTYUNYAN

14:30 / 18.02.2015

The situation in the country was really explosive and the interview of
second president Robert Kocharyan was really important in this regard,
leader of National Consent party Aram Harutyunyan told the reporters
on Wednesday.

“It was a really speech of the president which showed that he is not
on the side of anyone. He showed that not being on the side of the
authorities or opposition, he is just concerned with the fate of the
country and calls for calmness,” he said, adding that he does not
understand the aim of Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s letter to the president.

“I cannot say whether it was really written before the Republican
party’s Executive Body’s sitting or after the interview of Robert
Kocharyan he tried to come up with the same stance,” he said.

“The authorities are scared and stepped back, seeing the trust of the
people toward Tsarukyan. Of course there will always be kamikaze like
Ashotyan who not seeing the water yet hurry to wear swimming suits.

Such people lose in the end,” he stressed, noting that the country
really needs figures concerned with its fate.

As to Serzh Sargsyan-Gagik Tsarukyan meeting, Harutyunyan said that
even during the wars leaders of countries meet. “I do not think that
the initiator of the meeting is Gagik Tsarukyan. The important thing
here is to transfer the dispute to the political platform,” he said.

Harutyunyan stressed that the ARF-D did not have any role in the
process of reconciliation and today’s statement of Tsarukyan proved
that he is not only political figure but the one who respects the
state. “It is not Tsarukyan who must forgive the Republicans, the
people will not forgive them,” he noted. “There are few political
victims as a result of it, one of them is Ashotyan. Tsarukyan is the
winner in this situation, he is always opposition,” he said.

GARNIK ISAGULYAN ABOUT THE US STATE SECRETARY ASSISTANT. “NULAND PERHAPS COMES TO DISTRIBUTE PIES”

February 18 2015

“I do not know why Nuland is coming, perhaps, some people still need
pies and she will be distributing pies in the streets”, so commented
Chairman of “National Security” party Garnik Isagulyan, referring
to the question of Aravot.am of how he will estimate the US State
Secretary Assistant Victoria Nuland’s visit to Armenia.

Note that according to the press release issued by the US State
Department, Victoria Nuland will arrive in Armenia on February 18.

Here, she will meet with government officials, civil society
representatives and the youth representatives to discuss issues related
to Armenia-US political, economic and democratic ties. They will
address the issue of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Garnik Isagulyan
assured that if people in the United States hope that all of this in
Armenia may look like Maidan, then they are strongly mistaken, and
continued, No one will allow them to interfere in Armenia’s domestic
political processes. Perhaps, they want to create an impression,
but I think it would also be the biggest mistake by them.”

In response to our question of whether they are expecting unexpected
developments in normalization of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Mr.

Isagulyan replied, “You should refer this question to the government
authorities of Armenia. They are the ones who lead the country to
destabilization, while we are doing everything for the situation not
to be destabilized.” To our question of whether Serzh Sargsyan’s
speech dated February 12 was preventive, or on the contrary, it
also contributed to destabilization of the situation, Mr. Isagulyan
replied, “It definitely destabilized. Isn’t it noticeable that the
situation is more destabilized? This means that now I am to decide
the standards, for example, your hair is black, you cannot practice
journalism. His speck was within this style and even worse. Who
decides these qualifications? What examination did they pass? Did
they pass tests? Eventually, no one should go beyond the limit.”

Tatev HARUTYUNYAN

Read more at:

BORIS NAVASARDYAN. “LEVON TER-PETROSYAN’S OPEN LETTER SHOULD HAVE STARTED WITH THE PROPOSAL TO DIALOGUE.”

February 18 2015

“I expected more of the president than an article, a note. I would
have expected from the First President of what specific solutions he
sees”, said the President of the Yerevan Press Club Boris Navasardyan,
in the conversation with Aravot.am, referring to the first President
Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s open letter. In his opinion, the author of this
open letter could be a person who has a smaller impact on domestic
political developments but not the first president. “In this regard,
questions arise as to what extent it is agreed with other opposition
forces and their leaders so that the proposal that Levon Ter-Petrosyan
is ready to make to Serzh Sargsyan, if not agreed, then to the extent
it is serious. This suggests that there are questions where Levon
Ter-Petrosyan is ready to have a bipartite separate dialogue with the
government authorities, without agreeing it with the partners of the
Parliamentary Trio. Most importantly, these questions would be answered
prior to further domestic political development.” Boris Navasardyan
considers that it would be better to voice the proposal and enter
into a dialog, and then criticize the Pan Armenian Declaration. “The
criticism of the Declaration happened earlier than the proposal to
dialogue, it’s weird, because you first strongly criticize and then
offer to enter into a dialogue. Naturally, the dialogue, moreover,
the constructive dialogue becomes more difficult.

If there were ideas, thought and other opinions, the open letter should
have started from the proposal to dialogue rather than the criticism.”

Ami CHICHAKYAN

Read more at:

ARMENIA – A FOOTHOLD FOR GEOPOLITICAL INTERESTS?

February 18 2015

Eric Rubin’s “turning” interview “The United States gives a great
importance to development of relations with Armenia. Our primary goal
is to ensure economic growth and increased investments in Armenia.

That is what Armenia really needs, and we are not satisfied with
the current level of our bipartite partnership, we would like to
see growth of American investment into Armenia’s economy,” said the
US State Secretary Assistant for European and Eurasian Affairs Eric
Rubin, yesterday, in his interview to the “Voice of America” radio
station. The US official’s statement is quite remarkable in the sense
that it is voiced when Armenia’s membership to the Eurasian Economic
Union has been officially launched.

In the conversation with “Aravot”, commenting the American diplomat’s
messages, Chairman of “Free Democrats” party Khachatur Kokobelyan
said that this interview is a turning point for the relations between
Armenia and the West. “This interview officially speaks of not only
deepening the economic partnership with Armenia, but also military
partnership between Armenia and the US, as well as key terms generating
from Armenia’s security components.” Khachatur Kokobelyan is sure
that the most important consideration is that the West no longer
considers the fact of Russian military base deployed in Armenia as a
barrier. “All the Western powers, particularly the United States, in
my opinion, clearly vision that the existence of the Russian military
base in Armenia is a situational solution, and neither this nor the
imposed, in my opinion, membership to the EaEU should not be barriers
for the development of our partnership. In partnership with the US is
clear that it will substantially increase Armenia’s security component.

In the current day by day changing and developing world, Armenia a day
before needs to realize the practical and substantial relationship,
which will shift from the level of statements to more practical steps.

The dangerous challenges related to Russia-Ukraine confrontation are
enough for Armenia to be strongly consistent for adding its security
element to the West component,” said Khachatur Kokobelyan, highly
signifying the references made by the US State Department official.

“These are strongly necessary preconditions for Armenia to be able
to correctly build its military-political and economic ties with the
Western powers, including pertaining to the investments.”

In this context, Khachatur Kokobelyan considers the message of
the newly appointed US Ambassador to Armenia Richard M. Mills,
which clearly indicated the development of economic cooperation with
Armenia, the issue of adding the security component, which is primary
for us, and the US active participation in Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
and resolution thereof. So far, European officials were also talking
about future relations with Armenia with reservations, but yesterday,
the head of the EU delegation to Armenia Traian Hristea also announced,
“We (the EU – N.G.) will not leave from here and we will continue
supporting Armenia’s modernization.”

Given the US and the EU “combat” sentiments, whether there is
no danger that Armenia may become a foothold for the US-EU-Russia
interests, Khachatur Kokobelyan is sure that it cannot. “If you closely
follow these statements, they clearly state that we should consider
such developments of relations that are possible at the level of
compatibility. I think that our Western partners, even though often
not speaking about it loud, simply understood and realized that it
was a choice imposed to Armenia. In the development of relationships,
it is very important not to become a center for confrontation. Armenia
does not have such resource for resistance given the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict, the weak state of our economy and the geopolitical position,
in which Armenia is,” said our interlocutor. No matter how much
imposed, however, it is a fact that Armenia today is a member of the
Eurasian Economic Union. On the other hand, there are real potentials
to develop military and political relations with the US and the
EU, too.

We asked Khachatur Kokobelyan whether Armenia’s current government
has so much courage. “The authorities of Armenia are obliged to
demonstrate this courage, because it directly generates from the
benefit of Armenian state and the security and economic development of
every citizen living in Armenia. It is the only window today, which
provides a chance to add Armenia’s security component and ensuring
development. Hence, it should be not a desire by our state, but a
required process,” said our interlocutor. Comparing the American
and European officials’ statements, Chairman of “Free Democrats”
party comes to the conclusion that “it is a systematic policy towards
Armenia rather than good wishes.”

Nelly GRIGORYAN

Read more at:

VICTORIA NULAND VISITS ARMENIAN GENOCIDE MEMORIAL

February 18, 2015 13:33

Yerevan /Mediamax/. U.S. Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian
Affairs Victoria Nuland visited the Armenian Genocide Memorial at
the beginning of her visit to Armenia.

Victoria Nuland and the delegation she heads lay flowers to the eternal
fire of Tsitsernakaberd Memorial paying tribute to the victims of
the Armenian Genocide.

Afterwards, Victoria Nuland walked around the memorial accompanied
by Director of Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute Hayk Demoyan.

From: A. Papazian