Wednesday,
New Yerevan Mayor Takes Office
• Narine Ghalechian
Armenia - Newly elected Yerevan Mayor Hayk Marutian speaks to journalists, 10
October 2018.
A 41-year-old comedian allied to Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian took
over as mayor of Yerevan on Wednesday at the inaugural session of the new city
council elected late last month.
Hayk Marutian topped the list of candidates of Pashinian’s My Step alliance
which won over 80 percent of the vote in municipal elections held on September
23. The landslide victory earned it 57 of the 65 seats in the council.
Under Armenian law, the top candidate of a party or bloc gaining an outright
majority in the municipal legislature automatically becomes Yerevan mayor.
Marutian will be officially sworn in on Saturday.
“We have a historic opportunity to make our long-standing dreams come true,”
the new mayor told the council.
“I am confident that with this composition of the Council of Elders we will
make sure that our fellow Yerevan residents smile every day, every hour, every
second,” he said.
Armenia - Members of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian's My Step alliance vote at
the inaugural session of Yerevan's municipal council, .
Nicknamed “Kargin Hayko,” Marutian is famous for his performances in popular
comedy shows aired by Armenian TV channels. He has also produced his own shows
and films in the past several years.
A strong backer of Pashinian, Marutian actively participated in mass protests
in April and May that brought down Armenia’s former government headed by Serzh
Sarkisian.
Marutian’s predecessor, Taron Markarian, is a senior member of Sarkisian’s
Republican Party of Armenia (HHK). Markarian, in office since 2011, resigned in
July under pressure from Pashinian’s government.
The HHK majority in the previous city council decided not to appoint another
Republican mayor, paving the way for the September 23 elections. The former
ruling party did not participate in them.
Speaking to reporters, Marutian seemed to rule out staff purges within the
municipal administration which Pashinian and his allies have for years accused
of corruption. He said he will not fire “professionals willing to work under
the rules of new Armenia.”
“If people are ready to serve, if they have no problems with the law, I am
ready to work with those who can be of use,” he said.
Commenting on his immediate tasks, Marutian said: “First of all, we need to
solve the problem of garbage collection and then step by step switch to other
issues which we presented in our campaign manifesto.”
Armenia - Commuter minibuses are parked on a street during a public transport
strike in Yerevan, 16 January 2018.
The new mayor also faces the daunting task of overhauling the Armenian
capital’s outdated system of public transportation, a key source of complains
from Yerevan residents.
Ever since the mid-1990s, the system has been dominated by minibuses belonging
to private companies, many of them owned by government-linked individuals or
even government officials themselves. Few of them have invested in their fleet
of aging vehicles in the past decade. The minibuses as well as a smaller number
of buses provided by the municipality have become even more overcrowded as a
result.
A British consulting firm contracted by the municipality submitted last year
detailed recommendations on how to revamp the transport network. Former Mayor
Markarian’s administration essentially accepted them, pledging to replace the
battered minibuses with new and larger buses by the end of 2018.
One of Markarian’s deputies said in August 2017 that the long-awaited change
will require as much as $100 million in investments, a sum equivalent to almost
57 percent of the entire municipal budget. He said the municipal authorities
hope to attract a “foreign investor” that would run the new network and foot
the bill.
Marutian said that he and his aides will look into the British firm’s
proposals. If they are deemed realistic and free of “corruption risks” the new
mayor’s office will be ready to implement them, he added.
Pashinian In Fresh Talks With Former Ruling Party
• Ruzanna Stepanian
ARMENIA -- Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian addresses supporters during
a rally outside the parliament building in Yerevan early, October 3, 2018
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian met with parliamentary leaders of former
President Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) on Wednesday one
day after it effectively pledged not to derail his plans to force snap general
elections in December.
Pashinian praised the HHK move as “reasonable” after meeting with parliament
speaker Ara Babloyan in the National Assembly building in Yerevan.
“The purpose of my visit is to resolve this political situation in an
atmosphere of utter stability and calm,” he told reporters. “After yesterday’s
statement by the Republican Party I found it necessary to come here today.”
In that statement, the HHK’s parliamentary faction said it “did not and does
not have an intention to nominate a candidate” for the post of prime minister
if Pashinian steps down this month for tactical reasons. But it said it
continues to believe that the polls must be held in May or June next year.
Under the Armenian constitution, the National Assembly can be dissolved only if
the prime minister resigns and lawmakers fail to replace him or her within two
weeks.
Pashinian, who also held talks with HHK faction leader Vahram Baghdasarian,
reaffirmed his declared plans to tender his resignation this month. But he
again decline to give any dates for the resignation. “It’s a matter of some
calculation,” he said.
The popular premier also warned the HHK’s potential decision to nominate or
endorse another prime-ministerial candidate would amount to an “attempt to
destabilize situation in country.” “I am glad that people correctly assessed
the situation,” he said of the HHK statement.
The statement came after at least ten lawmakers representing Sarkisian’s party
broke ranks to call for holding the elections before the end of this year. The
HHK’s deputy chairman, Armen Ashotian, claimed that at least some of them did
so as result of government pressure and even intimidation.
Pashinian denied that, saying that the HHK dissenters simply “listened to the
voice of the people.”
Pashinian reacted furiously when the HHK hastily pushed through the parliament
late on October 2 a bill that called into question the success of his plans.
The bill was also backed by the Prosperous Armenia (BHK) and Dashnaktsutyun
parties that were represented in the current government at that point.
Pashinian publicly fired the six government ministers affiliated with those
parties as thousands of his supporters rallied outside the parliament building
on that night.
The BHK dropped its objections to the December elections a few days later. The
party led by businessman Gagik Tsarukian controls 31 seats in the current
105-member parliament, compared with 50 seats held by the HHK.
Russian-Armenian Military Force Holds Drills
Armenia - A joint Russian-Armenian military force holds exercises at the
Marshal Bagramian training ground, .
Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan watched on Wednesday exercises held by a joint
Russian-Armenian military force which Moscow and Yerevan agreed to reinforce
two years ago.
The weeklong exercises began on Monday, with hundreds of Armenian and Russian
soldiers backed up by tanks, artillery systems and combat helicopter simulating
defensive operations. Armenia’s Defense Ministry reported earlier that one of
their objectives will be to “step up protection of the state border.”
A ministry statement released on Wednesday said military officials briefed
Tonoyan on the course ofthe drills held at the Marshal Bagramian training
ground 50 kilometers west of Yerevan. The minister then watched soldiers of the
Russian-Armenian United Grouping of Troops defeat an imaginary invader, said
the statement.
Armenia - Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan (C) talks to Russian and Armenian
soldiers participating in joint exercises at the Marshal Bagramian training
ground, .
The joint force was originally set up in 2000. It comprises troops from the
Russian military base in Armenia and the Armenian army’s Fifth Corps mainly
deployed along the Turkish border. A Russian-Armenian agreement signed in
November 2016 was meant to upgrade its mission and ascertain its
command-and-control structure.
In particular, the agreement stipulates that the commander of the
Russian-Armenian unit is appointed by Armenia’s political leadership. The
commander is subordinate to the chief of the Armenian army’s General Staff in
times of peace. He may report to the head of Russia’s Southern Military
District in case of a war or imminent military aggression against Armenia or
Russia.
Another Russian-Armenian agreement signed in late 2015 created a new, more
closely integrated system of joint air defense. The Russian and Armenian
militaries have been jointly protecting Armenia’s airspace ever since the
mid-1990s.
Armenian Tycoon Charged After Arrest
• Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia - Businessman Samvel Mayrapetian at the official opening of his
Toyota-Yerevan car dealership in Yerevan, 23 June 2009.
A wealthy Armenian businessman who has benefited from government connections in
the past was remanded in pre-trial custody on corruption charges late on
Tuesday.
A court in Yerevan allowed the Special Investigative Service (SIS) to keep
Samvel Mayrapetian under arrest for two months after he was formally charged
with “assisting bribery.”
A lawyer for Mayrapetian told RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am) his
client denies the charge and that he will therefore appeal against the court’s
decision.
The SIS has so far refused to publicize any details of the accusation. It thus
remains unclear whom it accuses or suspects of accepting a bribe with the
tycoon’s help.
Mayrapetian 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, Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS)
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.
Armenian PM To Resign ‘By October 16’
Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and his wife Anna Hakobian talk to a
robot at an economic forum held ahead of a Francophonie summit in Yerevan, 10
October 2018.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said on Wednesday that he is planning to tender
his resignation by October 16 to ensure that snap parliamentary elections are
held in Armenia in early December.
Under the Armenian constitution, the current parliament will be dissolved if it
fails to elect another prime minister within two weeks after Pashinian’s
resignation. None of the parliamentary factions is expected to try to replace
him by another premier.
“I can say tentatively that the elections will take place approximately on
December 9 or 10, plus or minus several days, Pashinian told the France24 TV
channel in an interview that will be aired in full on Thursday.
“To this end, I have to tender my resignation by October 16,” he said.
The constitution allows Pashinian to continue to perform his prime-ministerial
duties at least until the inaugural session of the new parliament.
The 43-year-old premier, who controls only a handful of seats in the current
National Assembly, stepped up his push for the early elections after his
alliance won more than 80 percent of the vote in the September 23 municipal
elections in Yerevan. Observers believe that his political team will gain a
comfortable majority in the new parliament as well.
Press Review
Lragir.am sees deepening divisions within Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party
(HHK). “The criminal-oligarchic system is on its way out and its political
carriers -- the HHK, the BHK and Dashnaktsutyun -- have found themselves in a
state of uncertainty,” comments the publication. “The BHK tried to save itself
by putting itself at the mercy of the people and the new authorities, the HHK
is in the final stage of disintegration, while Dashnaktsutyun in a pathetic
position.”
“Aravot” is not surprised by the BHK’s and some HHK lawmakers’ “pledges of
allegiance to the new authorities.” The paper believes that individual business
interests were behind these political moves. “Entrepreneurs engaged in politics
have clear interests,” it says in an editorial. “There is no BHK, there is
businessman Gagik Tsarukian who keeps a party based on his calculations. There
is no HHK, there are businessmen who kept a party at Serzh Sarkisian’s urging.
The current authorities have no ties to those businessmen or a vested interest
in seeing them in the parliament. That is a cause for optimism in the sense
that businessmen should no longer feel the need to set up or keep parties and
enter the parliament. This will finally separate business from politics and the
state system.”
“Zhoghovurd” says that the HHK is “conceding its defeat” in the fight against
Nikol Pashinian. “This was certainly expected, especially after what happened
on October 2 when citizens, responding to an appeal from Pashinian, surrounded
the National Assembly to demand pre-term elections,” writes the paper. “In this
situation, the HHK had no choice to but acknowledge its defeat in a dignified
way and agree to the holding of pre-term parliamentary elections.”
“Zhamanak” comments on the arrest of Samvel Mayrapetian, a wealthy businessman
reputedly linked to former Armenian governments. The paper says that although
the arrest did not cause uproar it did influence the latest political
developments in the country.
(Lilit Harutiunian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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