Tuesday,
Former Armenian Police Chief Sacked Again
• Karlen Aslanian
Armenia -- Armenian opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan talks to police Colonel
Valeri Osipian during a rally in Yerevan, April 29, 2018.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on Tuesday dismissed his chief adviser Valeri
Osipian who headed the Armenian police until last month.
Osipian was given the government post immediately after being sacked as police
chief on September 18. He reportedly went on a two-week unpaid leave two days
later.
Pashinian and his office gave no clear explanations for his successive
decisions to fire Osipian. In a September 18 statement, the police general
promised to “talk about the reasons for my departure later on.” He has made no
further public statements since then.
Pashinian named Osipian to run the national police service in May 2018 two days
after being elected prime minister following weeks of anti-government protests
led by him.
Osipian was until then a deputy head of Yerevan’s police department responsible
for public order and crowd control. He personally monitored many
anti-government rallies staged in the Armenian capital during former President
Serzh Sarkisian’s rule. Osipian frequently warned and argued with Pashinian
during the 2018 “Velvet Revolution” that toppled Sarkisian.
During his tenure Osipian repeatedly claimed to have eliminated corruption in
the police ranks. While not denying this, critics blamed him and the new
authorities for Armenia’s rising crime rate.
Osipian was sacked as police chief two days after the resignation of Artur
Vanetsian, the influential director of Armenia’s National Security Service
(NSS). As he announced his resignation Vanetsian criticized Pashinian’s
leadership style, saying that it runs counter to “the officer’s honor.”
Pashinian hit back at him in equally strong terms.
Karabakh Set For Tight Presidential Race
• Naira Nalbandian
Nagorno-Karabakh - The main government buildings in Stepanakert, September 7,
2019.
Nagorno-Karabakh will hold early next year a presidential election which is
expected to be the most democratic, competitive and unpredictable in its
history.
The Armenian-populated territory’s foreign minister, Masis Mayilian, became on
Tuesday the latest local political heavyweight to join the unfolding
presidential race. In a statement posted on Facebook, he pointed to the
existence of necessary “prerequisites” for the proper conduct of the vote.
Mayilian had unsuccessfully challenged Karabakh’s current president, Bako
Sahakian, in a presidential election held in 2007. Sahakian is not eligible to
seek another term in 2020.
Nagorno-Karabakh -- Karabakh Foreign Minister Masis Mayilian speaks to
reporters in Stepanakert, September 8, 2019.
The other major candidates are Karabakh parliament speaker, Ashot Ghulian,
Arayik Harutiunian, a former Karabakh prime minister, and Vitaly Balasanian, a
retired army general and Sahakian’s former top security aide.
Balasanian was sacked in June after strongly criticizing Armenia’s Prime
Minister Nikol Pashinian. He has stepped up his verbal attacks on Pashinian
since then.
Also seeking to enter the fray is Samvel Babayan, who was the commander of
Karabakh’s Armenian-backed army during and after the 1991-1994 war with
Azerbaijan. Karabakh law bars Babayan from running from president because he
has lived in Armenia and Russia since 2004. The once powerful general claims to
have collected earlier this year over 25,000 signatures of Karabakh residents
in support of removing that legal hurdle.
Neither Sahakian nor Pashinian has endorsed any of the contenders so far.
Speaking at an August 5 rally in Stepanakert, the Armenian premier said his
government will act as a “guarantor” of the freedom and fairness of the 2020
ballot.
Pashinian described local elections held in Karabakh in early September as
“free, fair and competitive.” Non-governmental election observers from Armenia
essentially agreed with that assessment.
Nagorno-Karabakh -- Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian (C), Karabakh
President Bako Sahakian (R) and Archbishop Pargev Martirosian leave a newly
built church in Stepanakert, May 9, 2019.
Harutiunian was until recently regarded by some observers as the election
favorite. The former premier said on Tuesday that his Free Fatherland party,
the largest in the current Karabakh legislature, will formally nominate his
candidacy at a November 9 convention in Stepanakert.
“Elections in Artsakh have always been conducted at a high level,” Harutiunian
told RFE/RL’s Armenian service.
Manvel Sargsian, a Karabakh-born analyst based in Yerevan, disagreed, saying
that Karabakh election outcomes have always been decided by administrative
resources abused by establishment candidates. The forthcoming ballot will be
far more democratic, he said.
“The administrative resources will not work anymore,” said Sargsian. “Why?
Because those individuals who were sacked [after Armenia’s ‘Velvet Revolution’]
thought that they still have some influence. These [recent local] elections
showed that this is not the case.”
Kim Kardashian Reaffirms Desire To Do Business In Armenia
• Anush Mkrtchian
Armenia -- Reality TV star Kim Kardashian speaks at the World Congress on
Information Technology in Yerevan, October 8, 2019.
American reality-television star Kim Kardashian confirmed that she is
considering manufacturing her shapewear line or other products in Armenia as
she attended on Tuesday an international conference held in Yerevan.
“I’m definitely talking to a few major Armenian investors about hopefully
trying to figure out a factory for my shapewear and about trying to figure out
what kind of factories you have that I can manufacture products in here,”
Kardashian told reporters.
“We are working on that on this trip,” she said. “I have a meeting tonight
actually to talk about it. That’s something that’s really important to me.”
“I’d definitely love working with Armenian businesses and companies that are
based out here and my dream would be to open up a SKIMS [shapewear] factory
here in Armenia and, if not, something else. I really want to,” added
Kardashian.
Kardashian pledged late last month to explore business opportunities in her
ancestral homeland in response to an appeal from an Armenian-American lobby
group which noted that SKIMS items are already produced in Turkey.
The 38-year-old mother of four was visiting Armenia for the second time in four
years to attend the latest World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT).
Interviewed on stage by fellow businesswoman Magdalena Yesil, she spoke about
her social media and business experiences and offered advice to female
entrepreneurs.
Armenia -- Reality TV star Kim Kardashian walkes on stage during the World
Congress on Information Technology in Yerevan, October 8, 2019.
Kardashian also said: “When I heard they were holding a tech conference in
Armenia I couldn’t say yes fast enough. It was the best excuse to come here
again.”
The two women were later joined by three other panelists, including Alexis
Ohanian, the Armenian-American co-founder of the Reddit social media platform.
Kardashian, who often states her pride in being of Armenian descent, arrived in
Armenia together with her older sister Kourtney and their children. The latter
were baptized on Monday at the main cathedral of the Armenian Apostolic Church
located in the town of Echmiadzin.
"No special ceremony has taken place,” said Father Vahram Melikian, a spokesman
for the church’s Mother See. “Like all other families, they were registered in
advance and came here as scheduled."
In 2015, Kardashian baptized her eldest daughter, North, in an Armenian church
in Jerusalem.
Speaking at the WCIT session, she said: “I had to bring my [three] kids because
just being in Armenia … being able to bring my sister Kourtney, who had never
been here before, all of our children, and getting the opportunity to baptize
them yesterday here in Armenia means everything to us. We’ll have these
memories forever.”
Russian Management Of Armenian Rail Network Under Review
Armenia - A railway bridge in Lori region.
The chief executive of the Russia Railways (RZD) company managing Armenia’s
railway network met with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on Tuesday to discuss
the uncertain future of its operations in the country.
RZD runs the network called South Caucasus Railway (SRC) in line with a 30-year
management contract signed with the former Armenian government in 2007. The
deal committed it to investing $230 million in Armenia during the first five
years of operations and another $240 million in the following years. The
state-run company, which operates Russia’s vast network of railways, claims to
have honored those commitments.
Law-enforcement officials raided the SRC offices in Yerevan and confiscated
many documents kept there in August 2018 three months after a dramatic change
of Armenia’s government. They subsequently launched criminal proceedings
against the company, saying that it is suspected of large-scale fraud.
RZD and SCR denied any wrongdoing. None of their executives in Armenia are
understood to have been charged to date.
Armenia -- Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian (R) meets with Oleg Belozerov, chief
executive of Russian Railways, Yerevan, October 8, 2019.
Russia’s Deputy Transport Minister Vladimir Tokarev warned last month that RZD
is considering unilaterally scrapping the 2007 contract because the continuing
investigation prevents it from “operating normally” in Armenia. “Our arguments
about compliance with the terms of the contract are ignored,” Russian media
quoted him as saying.
Earlier in September, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian defended the probe and
said the Armenian government is “actively” discussing the matter with the
Russian side.
Pashinian’s office reported few details of his meeting with RZD’s visiting
chief executive, Oleg Belozerov. It said vaguely that they discussed “prospects
for making investments and implementing concrete projects in the future.”
RZD did not immediately issue statements on Belozerov’s talks with Pashinian.
Press Review
“Zhamanak” attacks several dozen former officials and public figures who issued
on Monday a joint statement calling for former President Robert Kocharian’s
release from prison. The paper extremely critical of Kocharian says their
appeal is an attempt to “mobilize” groups and individual Armenians that are
unhappy with last year’s “Velvet Revolution.” It also contends that Kocharian
has failed to form a broad-based opposition coalition promised by him earlier
this year. “The public relations campaign has clearly gained more momentum but
in the political sense there is no united opposition,” it says.
“Hraparak” hails the holding of the World Congress on Information Technology
(WCIT) and other international events in Armenia. “Even if this congress gives
Armenia no tangible results in the form of agreements and programs, even if a
lot of money is spent from our budget on the organization of the congress, any
person entering the country, be it a tourist or IT professional, will bring and
take something back with them,” argues the paper. “Not to mention money spent
by them in our country. Such events and especially the spectacular
[WCIT-related] concert organized in [Yerevan’s] Republic Square will leave
their mark on our mindset, worldview and taste.”
“Zhoghovurd” also welcomes the WCIT forum in Yerevan while lamenting the fact
that global Internet giants such as Google, Facebook or YouTube have no offices
in Armenia. “These companies tend to have representatives in countries with
large markets and potential profits,” writes the paper.
(Lilit Harutiunian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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