Tuesday, March 01, 2019
Minister Insists On Yerevan University Rector’s Resignation
• Artak Khulian
Armenia - Education Minister Arayik Harutiunian (C) speaks at a cabinet meeting
in Yerevan, .
Education Minister Arayik Harutiunian reiterated on Tuesday his demands for the
resignation of the long-serving rector of Armenia’s largest and oldest
university who is facing growing pressure from the government.
Harutiunian claimed that Yerevan State University (YSU) has experienced
“regress” under Aram Simonian, the man who has run it for the last 13 years.
“I see very serious problems with [Simonian’s] tenure,” he told reporters.
“Just look at the current state of YSU and see where YSU is headed.”
The minister spoke the day after Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian publicly
demanded the resignation of unnamed university rectors who he said are linked
to Armenia’s former leadership. Pashinian said they placed the universities
under the strong influence of the former President Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican
Party (HHK) and tried to prevent students from joining street protests that
brought him to power last May.
Harutiunian did not deny that Pashinian’s demands were primarily addressed to
Simonian, who remains affiliated with the HHK. He expressed confidence that
YSU’s Board of Trustees will continue to “discuss” government efforts to oust
the rector.
The board narrowly failed to sack Simonian when it met on February 28. Only
half of its members are appointed by the government.
Simonian, meanwhile, again refused to comment on Pashinian’s latest remarks,
saying that the prime minister did not name names. “I have been rector for 13
years and various speculations have revolved around me during all this time,”
he told journalists. “I can’t comment on every speculation.”
Simonian also declined to say whether he thinks Pashinian’s statement amounted
to a breach of YSU’s autonomy guaranteed by Armenian law.
In a statement issued earlier this month, YSU’s Scientific Council accused
Harutiunian and Davit Sanasarian, the head of the State Oversight Service
(SOS), of interfering in the university’s internal affairs.
The SOS, which is subordinate to the prime minister, implicated the YSU
administration in serious financial irregularities in December. The Armenian
police likewise alleged last month that Simonian has embezzled YSU funds and
engaged in other corrupt practices over the past decade.
Simonian, who has still not been formally charged with any crime, denies the
allegations as politically motivated. He has said that he will not resign
before serving out his current term in office in 2020.
Armenian Army Chief Touts Arms Acquisitions
Armenia - Lieutenant-General Artak Davtian, the chief of the Armenian army's
General Staff, December 12, 2018.
Armenia has made major progress in modernizing and strengthening its armed
forces in recent years, the country’s top army general said on Tuesday.
Lieutenant-General Artak Davtian, the chief of the army’s General Staff, touted
ongoing efforts to provide the Armenian military with new weapons as he
addressed the army’s top brass in Yerevan. They have produced “tangible
results,” he said, according to the Armenian Defense Ministry.
A statement released by the ministry gave no details of the arms acquisitions
cited by Davtian.
Russia, which has a military base in Armenia, has long been the principal
source of those supplies, with Yerevan receiving Russian-made weapons at
discounted prices or even for free.
Armenia and Russia reportedly signed fresh defense contracts late last month.
They have not yet publicized financial details of the contracts or the types of
military hardware covered by them.
Earlier in February, the Armenian military confirmed the signing of a
Russian-Armenian contract calling for the delivery of four Sukhoi Su-30SM
fighter jets to the Armenian Air Force. Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan said
afterwards that Yerevan will seek to buy more such aircraft after receiving
their first batch by “the beginning of next year.”
Moscow lent the Armenian government $200 million for Russian arms acquisitions
in 2015. The weapons provided to the Armenian military under that deal
included, among other things, multiple-launch rocket systems, anti-tank
rockets, and shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles.
Yerevan secured another Russian loan, worth $100 million, for further arms
purchases in 2017. The two sides have reportedly been discussing the
possibility of a third Russian credit.
Kocharian Again Claims Immunity From Prosecution
• Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia -- Former President Robert Kocharian gives an interview to Yerkir Media
TV, Yerevan, 16Oug,2018
Former President Robert Kocharian continued to challenge his arrest in court on
Tuesday, insisting through his lawyers that Armenia’s constitution gives him
immunity from prosecution on charges stemming from the 2008 post-election
violence in Yerevan.
An article of the constitution stipulates: “During the term of his or her
powers and thereafter, the President of the Republic may not be prosecuted and
subjected to liability for actions deriving from his or her status.”
Kocharian’s lawyers cited this clause as a district court in Yerevan began
considering their demand to free their client and throw out the coup charges
that were brought against him in July. One of the lawyers, Hovannes Khudoyan,
said investigators have still not explained why they believe the clause does
not apply to do the high-profile criminal case.
Khudoyan argued that Armenia’s Court of Appeals upheld the ex-president’s
immunity from prosecution when it ordered his release from pre-trial custody in
August.
Acting on prosecutors’ appeal, the higher Court of Cassation overturned that
ruling in November, however, ordering the Court of Appeals to examine the case
anew. The latter allowed law-enforcement authorities to press charges against
Kocharian and again arrest him on December 7.
One of the prosecutors, Vahe Tolmazian, cited the Court of Cassation’s decision
when he objected to Kocharian’s demands. Tolmazian also presented a large
number of written documents in support of his objections, leading the court of
first instance to adjourn the hearings.
Kocharian as well as three retired army generals stand accused of overthrowing
the constitutional order in the wake of a disputed presidential election held
in February 2008, less than two months before he completed his second and final
presidential term. Armenia’s Special Investigative Service says that they
illegally used the armed forces against opposition supporters who demonstrated
in Yerevan against alleged electoral fraud.
Eight protesters and two police servicemen were killed in street clashes that
broke out late on March 1, 2008. Kocharian declared a state of emergency in the
Armenian capital on that night.
All four men deny the charges. Kocharian, who was also charged with bribery
last month, has accused the current authorities and Prime Minister Nikol
Pashinian in particular of waging a political “vendetta” against him.
Pashinian, who was one of the main opposition speakers during the
February-March 2008 protests, has dismissed the ex-president’s claims.
Press Review
“Zhoghovurd” comments on Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s upcoming meeting in
Vienna with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev which it expects to be
“important.” The paper says that Pashinian’s previous talks with Aliyev helped
to significantly strengthen the ceasefire regime in the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict zone. “So the official name and nature of their meetings do not really
matter,” it says. “What matters is understandings reached at those meetings and
compliance with them.”
As “Zhamanak” points out, the agreement to hold a fresh Armenian-Azerbaijani
summit was announced by the U.S., Russian and French co-chairs of the OSCE
Minsk Group on March 1 following their visit to Yerevan and Baku. The paper
notes that Pashinian has since urged the mediators to clarify the essence of
their Basic Principles of the conflict’s resolution. “Also, Yerevan has made
clear that peace negotiations will be full-fledged only if Stepanakert also
participates in them,” it says, adding that Baku categorically rejects this
approach.
“Haykakan Zhamanak” says that the main line of attack against the current
Armenian government voiced by representatives of the former ruling regime is
that it resorts to publicity stunts instead of delivering on Pashinian’s
repeated pledges to make things much better in the country. The pro-government
paper dismisses their claims that “the authorities do not know what to do” and
says that the latter are following a clear roadmap for positive change:
eradication of corruption and large-scale tax evasion, drastic increase in
state revenue, creation of an independent judiciary, level playing field for
all businesses and a favorable investment climate, and downsizing of the state
bureaucracy. These, it says, are the kind of changes which had for years been
advocated by political opponents of the former regime.
(Lilit Harutiunian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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