X
    Categories: 2018

RFE/RL Armenian Report – 01/08/2018

                                        Monday, January 8, 2017

Garegin Laments Hardship In Armenia


Armenia - Catholicos Garegin II celebrates a Christmas mass at the
Echmiadzin cathedral of the Armenian Apostolic Church, 6Jan2018.

Catholicos Garegin (Karekin) II, the supreme head of the Armenian
Apostolic Church, called for more government action against poverty
and injustice in Armenia as he celebrated a Christmas mass at the
Echmiadzin cathedral on Saturday.

"Along with the achievements gained through the unshaken will and
dedication of our people, our country is still facing unemployment and
poverty," Garegin said in a homily read out during the service
attended by senior government officials.

"There is a need for continuing efforts to strengthen hope for the
future, faith in justice, and to overcome the social, economic, and
other challenges facing our national life," he added in an apparent
appeal to the Armenian government which he rarely criticizes in
public.

A key member of the government, Defense Minister Vigen Sargsian,
participated in the liturgy as a ceremonial "godfather" of a large
cross with which Garegin blessed holy water inside vessels placed on
the ancient church's altar.

Garegin also deplored lingering hardship as well as wars and other
conflicts around the world. "In this time of defense of human rights,
the rights of people and nations are being violated," he said. "In our
days of dialogues, many people become subject to intolerance, hatred
on a religious basis, terrorism; and become victims of various kinds
of violence."

"Drug addiction, alcohol abuse, and other kinds of addictions, become
evil to societies and families: people addicted to these become unable
to properly organize their lives, some find themselves in despair and
commit suicide," he went on.


Armenia - Worshipers light candles during a Christmas Eve service at a
church in Yerevan, 5Jan2018.

The Armenian Apostolic Church, to which the vast majority of Armenians
nominally belong, has traditionally marked Christmas on January 6.
Celebrations of the holiday start late on January 5 with Christmas Eve
candlelight services held in churches in and outside Armenia. Christmas
became a public holiday in the South Caucasus country after the
break-up of the Soviet Union.

In his latest Christmas message, Garegin urged the church faithful to
become "new souls free of sins." "By accepting in our hearts infant
Jesus, let us keep strong our faith and our pious path of life so that
we may always enjoy the care and endless love of God," he said.

Garegin decried attempts to "build a world without God" in June 2016
during a mass held in Echmiadzin in the presence of the visiting Pope
Francis. He said they are at the root of political, socioeconomic and
even environmental problems facing humanity.

In a joint declaration issued at the time, Francis and Garegin
similarly voiced concern at the declining role of religion and "the
crisis of the family" in many Christian nations. They also reaffirmed
their opposition to same-sex marriage.



Jailed Oppositionists Still On Hunger Strike


 . Anush Muradian


Armenia -- Arayik Khandoyan (R) and another gunman seen at a police
station in Yerevan seized by an armed opposition group in July, 2016.

Three arrested members of an armed opposition group that seized a
police station in Yerevan in 2016 are continuing a hunger strike which
they began last month in protest against their prison conditions.

One of them, Armen Bilian, was the first to start refusing food at
Yerevan's Nubarashen prison in mid-December. He was joined by another
gunman kept there, Smbat Barseghian, shortly afterwards. Both men are
demanding their transfer to another, more modern and less crowded
prison located near Armavir, a town 40 kilometers west of the Armenian
capital.

Bilian and Barseghian stand accused of murdering three police officers
during the armed group's July 2016 standoff with Armenian security
forces. The gunmen demanded that President Serzh Sarkisian free the
jailed leader of their Founding Parliament movement, Zhirayr Sefilian,
and step down. They laid down their weapons two weeks after storming a
police compound in the city's Erebuni district.

The third prisoner, Arayik Khandoyan, went on hunger strike on
December 29 in what he called a show of solidarity with his two
comrades. Khandoyan began the protest after being taken to a penalty
isolation ward at Nubarashen. The prison administration claimed to
have found two mobile phones and bootleg alcohol in his regular cell.

Khandoyan's lawyer, Ara Gharagyozian, on Monday dismissed the alcohol
claim as "absurd." But he admitted that his client kept the phones in
breach of Armenian prison rules.

"There are cellphones in all prison cells," Gharagyozian told RFE/RL's
Armenian service (Azatutyun.am). "They've just confiscated a cellphone
from another client of mine and but have not transferred him to an
isolation ward."

Gharagyozian insisted that Khandoyan, who remained in solitary
confinement as of Monday afternoon, was punished for his defiant
behavior at one of the three ongoing trials stemming from the Erebuni
standoff. He accused the prison administration of keeping Khandoyan in
"inhuman conditions."

"The isolation ward is freezing," the lawyer claimed, adding that his
client complained of health problems when he visited the latter
earlier in the day.

Representatives of Armenia's human rights ombudsman, Arman Tatoyan,
also visited and spoke to Khandoyan on Monday.



Armenian Government Offers Concession To Protesting Car Owners


 . Sisak Gabrielian


Armenia - Right-hand drive cars block a street in Yerevan during a
protest held by their owners, 7Jan2018.

The Armenia government offered on Monday to ease its planned
restrictions on the use of right-hand drive cars in Armenia, bowing to
protests staged by some of their owners.

Like most countries of the world, Armenia uses right-hand traffic
which requires steering wheels to be on the left side of
vehicles. Nevertheless, the authorities in Yerevan have not prevented
imports of a growing number of right-hand drive cars over the past
decade.

According to the Armenian traffic police, there are presently 32,000
such cars in the country. Most of them are cheap second-hand vehicles
manufactured in Japan. Police officials say they cause a
disproportionately large share of traffic accidents.

The Armenian Ministry of Transport and Communications recommended late
last year a formal ban on imports of right-hand drive vehicles that
would come into effect in April. A government decision drafted by the
ministry would also ban sales or donations of such cars that are
already in use in Armenia.

The move triggered a series of protests in Yerevan by angry car owners
who say that it violates their property rights. They dismiss safety
concerns cited by the ministry, saying that it has not come up with
any statistics on the number of accidents caused by right-hand drive
cars.

The protests resumed on Sunday, with dozens of cars driving through
Yerevan and temporarily blocking traffic on some of its thoroughfares
to demand that the government abandon its plans. They were about to
continue on Monday when it emerged that the government is ready to
make a major concession to the protesters.

An amended draft decision posted on a government website would allow
them to continue using or reselling their cars in Armenia while
maintaining the ban on car imports.

The protest organizers responded by cancelling a planned demonstration
outside Prime Minister Karen Karapetian's office. "We have achieved
the fulfillment of our main demand," said one of them.

The organizers made clear at the same time that they continue to
demand that the government refrain from the import ban as well. They
said they may therefore resume protests later this week.

A minority of the protesting drivers rejected the government
concession and continued to demand a meeting with Karapetian.

Protest leaders were already received by Transport Minister Vahan
Martirosian last month. A senior official from the Transport Ministry
told them on Monday that the government is open to further
discussions.

"You can again submit your proposals," the official said. "We are
ready to discuss them."



Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2018 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
www.rferl.org

Eduard Nalbandian: