Month: October 2019

                                        Tuesday, 
Armenian High Court Chief At Risk Of Prosecution
        • Nane Sahakian
Armenia -- Constitutional Court Chairman Hrayr Tovmasian (C) reads out a ruling 
on an appeal lodged by former President Robert Kocharian, Yerevan, September 4, 
2019.
Lawyers for Hrayr Tovmasian accused Armenia’s political leadership on Tuesday 
of putting “illegal pressure” on the embattled chairman of the Constitutional 
Court after a law-enforcement agency recommended criminal charges against him.
The Investigative Committee claimed to have collected sufficient evidence that 
Tovmasian abused his powers when he served justice minister from 2010-2013. It 
said that he colluded with a former senior Justice Ministry official, who was 
arrested recently, and officials from Yerevan’s municipal administration to 
effectively privatize an office in the city center.
The committee stopped short of indicting Tovmasian. It announced instead that 
it has sent the case to another law-enforcement body, the Special Investigative 
Service (SIS), for further investigation.
The announcement marks the latest in a series of criminal proceedings launched 
against Tovmasian following the Constitutional Court’s refusal on October 15 to 
oust him. The high court chairman is under growing pressure from the current 
Armenian authorities accusing him of maintaining ties to the country’s former 
government toppled in last year’s “Velvet Revolution.”
In a written statement, Tovmasian’s legal team categorically rejected the 
Investigative Committee’s allegations, saying that he has never had any “direct 
or indirect connection” to the property in question or been in a position to 
influence its privatization. It described the allegations as “yet another 
example of illegal pressure exerted on the chairman of the Constitutional Court 
in recent months.”
The statement also alleged “blatant violations” of the due process in “the 
proceedings against Hrayr Tovmasian guided by the political authorities.”
The SIS and the National Security Service (NSS) announced on October 17 other 
criminal investigations related Tovmasian. Five days later, the SIS effectively 
declared illegal his appointment as court chairman in March 2018, saying that 
it was part of a “usurpation of power” by former state officials. One of them, 
former parliament speaker Ara Babloyan, was indicted on Monday.
Armenia -- Supporters of Constitutional Court Chairman Hrayr Tovmasian protest 
outside the National Security Service headquarters in Yerevan, October 18, 2019.
Like the Investigative Committee, the NSS is also scrutinizing Tovmasian’s past 
activities as justice minister. The former Armenian branch of the Soviet KGB 
said late on Monday that it has detected financial abuses committed in 
2011-2015 by “a number of high-ranking officials of the Justice Ministry.” It 
did not mention Tovmasian by name.
The NSS raised eyebrows last week by questions his 75-year-old father and two 
young daughters. It denied opposition claims that the authorities are targeting 
Tovmasian’s relatives as part of their efforts to force him to resign.
Tovmasian again rejected government calls for his resignation on October 24. In 
a newspaper interview, he also warned that the authorities will violate the 
Armenian constitution if they arrest him without the consent of most other 
Constitutional Court judges.
Critics, among them representatives of former President Serzh Sarkisian’s 
Republican Party of Armenia, say that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian is seeking 
to purge the Constitutional Court in order to gain unlimited power. Pashinian 
and his political allies deny this. The prime minister has repeatedly pledged 
to establish a “truly independent” judiciary in Armenia.
Alen Simonian, a senior member of Pashinian’s My Step bloc, declined on Tuesday 
to comment on the opposition claims. Simonian said he does not want to give the 
critics more ammunition to allege government interference in the “legal 
process.”
Gevorg Petrosian, a senior lawmaker representing the main opposition Prosperous 
Armenia Party (BHK), said the criminal cases against Tovmasian smack of 
political persecution ordered by the government.
“If Hrayr Tovmasian is a criminal let him be punished … But one gets the 
impression that the authorities want to unseat Hrayr Tovmasian at all costs,” 
Petrosian told RFE/RL’s Armenian service.
Russian Defense Chief Visits Armenia, Praises Close Ties
Armenia -- Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan (C) greets his Russian counterpart 
Sergey Shoygu in Yerevan, .
Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu described Armenia as Russia’s key regional ally 
and said Russian-Armenian military cooperation will continue unabated during a 
visit to the South Caucasus state on Tuesday.
Shoygu met with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Defense Minister Davit 
Tonoyan after inspecting Russian troops stationed in Gyumri.
“Russia highly appreciates its cooperation with friendly Armenian and considers 
the republic an ally and key partner in the Transcaucasus,” he told Pashinian.
“We note the Armenian side’s support for Russia’s main positions on the 
international agenda,” he said, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.
After their separate talks in Yerevan, Shoygu and Tonoyan signed a plan of 
Russian-Armenian military cooperation for next year. It reportedly includes 
more than 60 joint activities by the armed forces of the two nations.
“We are planning to continue our partnership just as intensively, without 
reducing the accumulated tempo,” the RIA Novosti news agency quoted Shoygu as 
saying during the talks with his Armenian counterpart.
Earlier in the day, Shoygu visited the Gyumri headquarters of the Russian 
military base in Armenia. “The base is combat-ready and, being a guarantor of 
stability, is ready to confront emerging threats and challenges jointly with 
the armed forces of Armenia,” he told Pashinian.
Both Pashinian and Tonoyan also praised the current state of bilateral defense 
ties and, in particular, “military-technical cooperation,” an official 
euphemism for Russian arms supplies to Armenia.
Russia has always been the principal source of military hardware supplied to 
the Armenian army. Membership in Russian-led Collective Security Treaty 
Organization (CSTO) allows Armenia to acquire Russian weapons at knockdown 
prices and even for free.
Russia has also trained scores of Armenian army officers and cadets at its 
military academies. Shoygu said that 248 Armenians are currently studying at 25 
such institutions. Moscow and Yerevan are planning to “increase this number,” 
he said.
U.S. House Recognizes Armenian Genocide
        • Emil Danielyan
U.S. – Capitol Building dome detail with US flag waving.
After decades of lobbying by the Armenian community in the United States, the 
U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed on Tuesday evening a 
landmark resolution recognizing the 1915 genocide of Armenians in Ottoman 
Turkey.
The resolution adopted by 405 votes to 11 calls on the U.S. government to 
“commemorate the Armenian Genocide through official recognition and 
remembrance” and to “reject” Turkish efforts to deny it. It says the government 
should also “encourage education and public understanding of the facts of the 
Armenian Genocide” and their “relevance to modern-day crimes against humanity.”
The resolution was introduced by several pro-Armenian U.S. lawmakers, including 
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, in April. It reached the 
House floor after being backed by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader 
Steny Hoyer. They both reaffirmed their support during an hour-long debate on 
the bill that preceded the vote.
“It’s a great day for the Congress,” Pelosi said, urging a “strong vote” for 
acknowledging “one of the greatest atrocities of the 20th century.”
“This was genocide and it is important that we call this crime what it was,” 
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel said as he presented the 
resolution to fellow legislators. He called on them to finally “set the record 
straight.”
U.S. -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam 
Schiff, D-CA, speak during a press conference in the House Studio of the US 
Capitol in Washington, October 2, 2019
More than a dozen other lawmakers, most of them Democrats representing 
constituencies with large numbers of Armenian Americans, spoke during the 
ensuing debate. They all made a case for recognizing the World War One-era 
slaughter of some 1.5 million Armenian subjects of the Ottoman Empire as 
genocide.
“This is a vote which I have waited for 19 years to cast,” declared a visibly 
emotional Schiff.
"We cannot pick and choose which crimes against humanity are convenient to 
speak out against,” said the prominent Democrat from California. “What we must 
do is to state the fact that the Ottoman Empire committed this grotesque crime 
against the Armenians."
“Genocides, whenever and wherever they occur, cannot be ignored,” said Gus 
Bilirakis, a Florida Republican and a co-sponsor of the resolution.
Another Republican congressman, Christopher Smith of New Jersey, blasted Turkey 
for its “well-funded aggressive campaign of genocide denial”
The two leading Armenian-American lobby groups swiftly hailed the passage of 
the resolution. Bryan Ardouny, the executive director of the Armenian Assembly 
of America, said it “reflects the best of America.”
“Today’s watershed vote for human rights represents the culmination of decades 
of tireless work by members of Congress, the Armenian Assembly of America and 
the Armenian American community from across the country,” Ardouny told RFE/RL’s 
Armenian service.
The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) likewise praised the U.S. 
House for ending “Ankara’s gag-rule against American remembrance of the 
Armenian Genocide.”
The Assembly and the ANCA have spent decades campaigning for such a measure. 
Genocide resolutions drafted by pro-Armenian lawmakers have been repeatedly 
approved by congressional committees in the past. But they never reached the 
House or Senate floor because of opposition from former U.S. administrations 
worried about their impact on U.S.-Turkish relations.
U.S. -- Demonstrators commemorating the 103rd anniversary of the Armenian 
genocide rally outside the Turkish Consulate in Los Angeles. April 24, 2018.
Like his predecessors, U.S. President Donald Trump avoided using the word 
genocide in his annual statements on the mass killings and deportations of 
Armenians. But Trump, whose relationship with the Democratic leadership of the 
House is very strained, appears to have made no attempts to thwart the passage 
of the latest genocide bill.
Successive Turkish governments have vehemently denied a deliberate Ottoman 
government effort to exterminate the Ottoman Empire’s Armenian population.
The Turkish ambassador in Washington, Serdar Kilic, sent last week letters to 
House members warning that the resolution will “considerably poison the 
political environment between the United States and Turkey.” Ankara was quick 
to condemn its adoption as a “meaningless political step” and “grave mistake.”
The Turkish Foreign Ministry also said that it will damage U.S. interests in 
the region. “On the other hand, it is also noted that the attitude of the U.S. 
Administration on 1915 events remains the same,” it added in a statement.
Predictably, Armenia welcomed the U.S. recognition of the genocide, with Prime 
Minister Nikol Pashinian describing it as “historic.” “Resolution 296 is a bold 
step towards serving truth and historical justice that also offers comfort to 
millions of descendants of Armenian Genocide survivors,” Pashinian wrote on 
Twitter early on Wednesday.
“Thank you, U.S. Congress,” Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanian tweeted for 
his part. The U.S. lawmakers have sent a “massive message” against Turkish 
denial of the genocide, he said.
The resolution made rapid progress in the Congress following Turkey’s military 
incursion into northern Syria largely controlled by U.S.-backed Kurdish forces. 
The operation was strongly condemned by many Democratic and Republican 
lawmakers.
Immediately after passing the Armenian bill, the House voted overwhelmingly for 
a resolution calling on Trump to impose sanctions on Turkey.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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