Month: February 2015

FRENCH PRESIDENT SENDS LETTER TO HIS HOLINESS ARAM I

16:03, 16 Feb 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

French President Francois Hollande has sent a letter to His Holiness
Aram I, the Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia, in response to
the latter’s message of condolences over the terrorist acts in France.

The letter reads, in part:

“I would like to express gratitude to you for your sympathy,
support and friendship offered at a time France’s heart was hit by
an indescribably terrible and dreadful terrorist attack.

France will not give in to obscurantism and will continue to be the
flagman of our fundamental values – freedom, tolerance, justice and
peace on both national and international level.”

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

MANAGEMENT EXPERT WARNS OF ATTEMPTS TO DESTABILIZE ARMENIA

15:00 * 16.02.15

Last week saw changes in Armenia’s domestic politics.

Specifically, President Serzh Sargsyan spoke of Prosperous Armenia
party leader Gagik Tsarukyan at a meeting of the Council of the ruling
Republican Party of Armenia (RPA).

The president’s speech was followed by Mr Tsarukyan’s statement. He
announced his intention to have an early presidential election held
in Armenia.

Management expert Harutyun Mesrobyan commented on the situation in
an interview with Tert.am.

Mr Mesrobyan., what’s your opinion if the Armenian president’s speech
and Gagik Tsarukyan’s response?

I do not view it as confrontation between the RPA and Prosperous
Armenia because they have almost equally been in power for a rather
long period. When prosperous Armenia was established it was in
power, and the RPA reached power at one moment. This suggests deep
disagreements within the ruling camp.

Foreign forces are naturally involved in the disagreements. Since
last summer foreign forces have been seeking to cause instability
in Armenia. Six months have seen a number of incidents involving our
weak points.

The first was the downing of the Armenian helicopter on the
Nagorno-Karabakh-Azerbaijani border, which was followed by
confrontation on the border, which has been continuing until now. The
second was the Gyumri tragedy in the context of Armenian-Russian
relations. The third is the tension between the forces forming parts
of Armenia’s ruling circles. These are thought-provoking facts because
all of them are intended to weaken Armenia.

Mr Mesrobyan, what is the impact of domestic political problems on
foreign policy?

Yes, they do have their impact. One must not think that the latest
developments are merely domestic political problems. Different forces,
including foreign ones, are involved. It means a possibility of a
change in Armenia’s foreign policy or at least conceptual impact. The
global instability certainly affected Armenia.

Mr Mesrobyan, should we expect a ‘hot spring’ instead of a ‘hot autumn’
in Armenia?

I see one day that could pose a threat, March 1, 2015. Another day is
April 24. We should all be most cautious because the two days could
prove to be the ‘gunpowder’ that must not be set on fire.

Do you think Gagik Tsarukyan could come to power?

At best, a ‘name change’ can take place in Armenia, but a change of
power implies different qualities of power. But we are not going to
see a change of quality. What can change if Prosperous Armenia comes
to power? For example, who is going to act as finance minister?

If we want to change the situation, we must have a list of candidates.

The country has key government posts that require highly experienced
people.

DEMOCRATIC HOMELAND PARTY: CONFRONTATION CAN LEAD TO REPETITION OF MARCH 1 BLOODSHED

16:44 | February 16,2015 | Politics

In its February 16 sitting, the political council of the Democratic
Homeland party discussed the tense political situation in Armenia
against the background of the current geopolitical situation and the
escalating tension on the Armenian-Azerbaijan border.

The party expresses its concerns over the ‘recent confrontation’
aimed at ensuring the reproduction of the acting regime and says it
is likely to repeat the bloodshed of Match 1, 2008.

The party calls on the authorities to listen to people and conduct
early elections in Armenia.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

GAGIK TSARUKYAN CAN BE STRIPPED OF DEPUTY MANDATE ALREADY TODAY – ARMTIMES.COM

11:45 | February 16,2015 | Politics

Chairman of the Armenian Parliament Galust Sahakyan has allegedly
applied to the Central Election Commission, asking the CEC to strip
lawmaker Gagik Tsarukyan of his mandate, armtimes.com reports.

Sahakyan submitted the relevant petition with the CEC this morning.

This means the CEC can take a decision today to de jure deprive Mr
Tsarukyan of his mandate. This is an unexpected development because
everybody expected the issue to be put to a vote at the plenary
session of the National Assembly – something stipulated by Article
99 of the NA Regulations.

On February 12, Serzh Sargsyan told senior members of his ruling
Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) that Gagik Tsarukyan is ‘evil’
and must be immediately ousted from politics. He also said relevant
bodies will study Tsarukyan’s frequent absences from the parliament
sessions, noting that the BHK leader had attended only four of the
145 NA sessions in 2013 and 2014.

We remind that Haykakan Zhamanak daily has a document showing that
Gagik Tsarukyan’s absences from the previous fall session were
considered to be excused absences. It turns out that Galust Sahakyan
will have to annul his decision to consider Tsarukyan’s absences from
NA sessions as excusable.

WHO IS HOVHANNES MANUKYAN JUDGING BY HIS CAR? – PHOTO

16:56 | February 16,2015 | Politics

The man in the photo is Hovhannes Manukyan, Minister of Justice of
the Republic of Armenia, who earlier served as Armenia’s Ambassador to
Georgia. However, the most striking in the photo is not the minister
himself, but the license number of his car.

BHK MEMBERS MAY START HUNGER STRIKE – ARMTIMES.COM

16:50 | February 16,2015 | Politics

Should Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) leader Gagik Tsarukyan be
stripped of his deputy mandate, the party members will take to the
street and start a hunger strike and sit-in, BHK lawmaker Vahan
Babayan told armtimes.com following the sitting of the party’s
political council.

Gagik Tsarukyan did not attend the sitting of the political council.

Vahan Babayan said he could not explain why Gagik Tsarukyan did not
participate in the sitting.

ROUBLE RECOVERS AS REST OF CIS CURRENCIES SLIDE

16/2/15

Perhaps the Commonwealth of Independent States should be rebranded
Currencies In Stress.

The Russian rouble has staged an impressive comeback in recent days,
helped by recovering oil prices and another tentative cease-fire
between Ukraine and Moscow-supported separatists. But its neighbouring
currencies remain under heavy pressure.

Russia’s rouble has clambered another 2 per cent higher to trade at a
two month high versus the dollar, but the aftershocks of last year’s
crisis continue to reverberate across the Commonwealth of Independent
States (CIS), a club of former Soviet republics.

The Belarussian rouble is steadying after tumbling by almost 29 per
cent against the dollar this year, but Moldova’s leu has slumped 5.3
per cent today, the most in the world. The Ukrainian hryvnia has fallen
another 1.1 per cent and the Georgian lari by 0.6 per cent. All three
are at or near record lows.

Over the past six months only the Azerbaijani manat has managed to
hold steady versus the dollar, while the Kyrkyz som, Armenian dram,
Georgian lari and Turkmen manta have all slid more than 15 per cent.

The Belarussian rouble, Moldovan leu, Russian rouble and Ukrainian
hryvnia have all lost between a third and half of their value over
the past six months.

WHAT IS AND CAN HAPPEN IN THE CONFLICT BETWEEN SARGSYAN AND TSARUKYAN

02.16.2015 17:41 epress.am

Armenian President and ruling Republican Party leader Serzh Sargsyan
stated that the process had begun to expel wealthy businessman and
the leader of Parliament’s second largest party, Prosperous Armenia,
Gagik Tsarukyan from political life. Tsarukyan responded with a
statement about the start toward regime change, right after losing his
membership in the National Security Council. Epress.am interviewed
social and political activists Zara Harutyunyan and Anton Ivchenko
about the current situation.

The main theses of the conversation below:

– Of course, we’re speaking about a “competition” between two
“political actors”; their political parties, basically, start and end
with them. Both Tsarukyan and Sargsyan’s parties, generally, have
the same perspective in regards to basic political issues: private
property, “authority,” the state, resource distribution, morality,
honor, religious values, the nation, even foreign policy. In these
circumstances, the two parties’ criticisms can only be in two styles:

1. The opponent is dysfunctional (stupid, incapable, etc.) 2. We
will do it better than the opponent. The opponent does it worse than
we would do or it does not do what it has promised, while we promise
and will do it.

– Can the current situation change the way the public perceives
politics?

Mostly not. The only thing that has changed is that the political
confrontation between the two dubious actors (not political
platforms/ideologies/economic doctrines and even the parties) has
reached a unique peak. Basically, the difference is quantitative,
and not qualitative. The kingdom’s largest vassal (sovereign’s former
most loyal servant) stated that the sovereign is taking the entire
kingdom to hell, while the sovereign responded saying that the vassal
(former loyal servant) has become presumptuous and has forgotten
about his duty to fill up the wine glasses around the table and to
drive the tiresome petitioners away.

Moreover, both the sovereign and the vassal are saying the same thing:
such people are dangerous for the state. In this light, Serzh’s words
about the necessity of abandoning feudal logic are a bit comical.

– Does the current situation promote political and social
self-organization among the citizens?

It needs to be specified, as to whose self-organizing we are talking
about. The Republicans’ self-organization is a priori impossible;
there is a massive bureaucratic apparatus which organizes, but does
not allow nor promotes self-organization. In regards to Prosperous
Armenia, then yes, it promotes self-organization in regards to
their fervent supporters of party, who feel that the decisive time
to fight has come. If the conflict escalates, it would also promote
the self-organization of the politically neutral, but “unsatisfied”
sector. Possiblly among the supporters of other political forces,
at least those who do not feel any aversion toward Dodi Gago.

On the other hand, the latter group would probably be perceived by
Prosperous Armenia’s loyal supporters as ally enemies. Basically,
they will be denied subjectivity. We shouldn’t hurry to be happy
about such self-organization. Self-organization is a good thing,
but self-organization built as a pyramid where Dodi Gago sits on
the peak and for his part, brings happiness/peace/prosperity, is,
obviously, not the most progressive phenomenon.

Presently, the opposition coalition is dividing up the pelt of a bear
not yet killed. In case the situation develops and there is relative
opposition successes, we would probably be witnesses to one of the
most shameful manifestations of parliamentarism. In the end, let’s not
forget, that at least Levon Ter-Petrosyan still holds the burden of
presidential ambitions. However little Heritage and Armenian National
Congress ambitions are fulfilled, they will put that much less effort
in the political process. If they obtain more influence in the process,
then Prosperous Armenia will be much more cautious in its policies.

The opposition must find a balance in influence or at least, clearly
see, until when or where their political interests coincide, basically,
until the moment when Serzh Sargsyan “would be ready to listen to
the opposition’s demands.” Starting from that point, there will most
likely be not two, but a standoff of three camps.

Regardless of all this, we are approaching all types of prediction
with skepticism, and think that the situation can develop in another
way. For example, they may open a few criminal cases against Dodi Gago,
quite possibly objective ones, sentence him to imprisonment, and turn
him into a second Khodorkovsky; his image will be romanticized, while
Prosperous Armenia will turn into a political party and not an office.

From: Baghdasarian

HAK condemns Armenian president’s speech

Armenian National Congress (HAK) Party has issued a statement, in
which it condemned the speech that Armenian President, Chairman of the
Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) Serzh Sargsyan made against Gagik
Tsarukyan, the leader of Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK).

“At the sitting of HHK’s political council on February 12 Serzh
Sargsyan made a long speech whose content creates a new situation in
Armenia’s internal political life.

The leader of Prosperous Armenia Party Gagik Tsarukyan was the only
subject of that speech. Accusing him of a thousand crimes, Serzh
Sargsyan demands – in fact, by means of threats – that Tsarukyan
should quit politics and engage only in business. This demand in
itself is a flagrant violation of the Constitution of Armenia. Each
citizen has the right to engage in politics and there are no
provisions or authorized bodies that restrict or forbid him/her to do
it. So Gagik Tsarukyan has as much right to engage in politics as
Serzh Sargsyan has.

The following ‘accusations’ of Serzh Sargsyan form the basis of the
dilemma facing Gagik Tsarukyan:

1. Unverified rumors have been circulating for years about billions of
drams of unpaid taxes, with those billions stolen from elderly
people’s pensions and young people’ education right being hidden under
the guise of the so-called scanty ‘philanthropy’. I urge the Armenian
prime minister to instruct the appropriate bodies to verify in detail
the authenticity of these rumors and present them openly to everyone.

2. Rumors are also circulating about the creation of a professional
mechanism of concealing the numerous criminal offences”.
Serzh Sargsyan then instructed the Government and law enforcement
bodies to verify the authenticity of such ‘information’, and he in
fact instructed the ‘Republican Party of Armenia’ faction to start the
process of stripping Gagik Tsarukyan of his parliamentary deputy
mandate.

So it turns out that Serzh Sargsyan, while being aware of that,
forgave him for years, in his own words, ‘sponsored’ and ‘raised’ him,
and only now he decided not to tolerate it anymore, considering it a
mistake. This, however, raises questions and serves as a basis for
some natural conclusions:

a) If such ‘information’ was being spread ‘for years’, why wasn’t it
verified on the first day? It turns out that that Serzh Sargsyan
abused his office to cover up ‘Tsarukyan’s crimes. How much does it
become the office of the country’s president? In other words, if Serzh
Sargsyan attaches a label of ‘criminal’ to Gagik Tsarukyan, he is at
least in the position of ‘a person who knows, but does not report’.

b) If, while being aware ‘for years’ of such ‘information’, Serzh
Sargsyan cooperated with Prosperous Armenia which made part of the
ruling coalition, and until recently he proposed that the same
Tsarukyan should come to power by becoming prime minister, and later
Armenian president – following the ‘constitutional changes’, then why
did he suddenly start to speak from a diametrically opposite position?

c) If, nevertheless, this was not detected on time, then Serzh
Sargsyan’s speech and threats are nothing other than an overt order
about a political reprisal against the opponent, although it is
presented as a measure to liberate the country and people from
Tsarukyan as a representative of the ‘criminal-oligarchic’ class. The
accusations that are made a priori against Gagik Tsarukyan can also be
made – accusations are ten times as much and with obvious facts –
against 90% of HHK’s ‘elite’.

Serzh Sargsyan’s speech is vulnerable from the legal, political, and
moral aspects. HAK views it as an unsuccessful attempt by the ruling
regime to distract public opinion from own sins. People know quite
well who is to blame for the current troubled situation in the country
and they will eventually hold the real criminals accountable,” HAK
said in a statement.

14.02.15, 15:51

Harutyunyan: Conference of opposition forces caused internal political events

The conference of opposition forces initiated by the leader of
Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) Gagik Tsarukyan caused the recent
internal political developments in Armenia, the head of National
Accord Party Aram Harytyunyan said today.

“The speech of Serzh Sargsyan at the sitting of the Republican Party’s
Council laid the first stone for a change of power in the country.
There was a clear political threat in that speech,” Aram Harutyunyan
said during a press conference today.

According to him, “the ruling party of Armenia is like a pack, in
which people gathered to have an opportunity to plunder”. A.
Harutyunyan noted the leader of BHK demonstrated that he is above such
things and is prepared to lose everything for the sake of people and
the state’s prosperity.

Harutyunyn expressed confidence that it will become possible to
achieve a change of power in Armenia. “Now is a very suitable time.
Under such conditions the real opposition should rally Gagik
Tsarukyan,” he said.

14.02.15, 17:46