Friday,
Karabakh Assembly Votes Against Ex-Commander’s Presidential Run
• Artak Khulian
Nagorno-Karabakh -- The parliament building in Stepanakert, September 7, 2018.
Nagorno-Karabakh’s parliament has overwhelmingly voted against constitutional
changes that would allow Samvel Babayan, the Armenian-populated territory’s
former top military commander, to run in a presidential election slated for
March.
The Karabakh constitution stipulates that only those individuals who have
resided in Karabakh for the past 10 years can participate in the election.
Babayan has lived mainly in Armenia and Russia since 2004.
Babayan expressed a desire to participate the forthcoming presidential race
after being released from a prison in Armenia in June 2018. He subsequently
collected over 21,000 signatures in support of a referendum on the abolition of
the legal hurdle to his presidential run and presented them to the Karabakh
parliament this summer. Such a referendum cannot be held without the
parliament’s consent.
The Karabakh parliament rejected the petition on Thursday by 24 votes of 4,
with one abstention. Hayk Khanumian, an opposition lawmaker who voted for the
referendum, criticized the decision. But he acknowledged that that the
constitutional changes sought by Babayan could not have come in to force before
the March 31 presidential ballot even if they had been approved by lawmakers
and put on the referendum.
“There is one good thing about this initiative,” Khanumian told RFE/RL’s
Armenian service. “Campaigning for the initiative awakened people, especially
in rural areas. The number of signatures [collected by Babayan] is a clear
indicator of strong popular demand for change in Artsakh.”
Babayan did not comment on the parliament’s rebuff as of Friday afternoon.
Early this year the once powerful general reportedly threatened to stage street
protests in Stepanakert if he is barred from running for president. But he has
kept a low profile in the last few months.
Armenia - Samvel Babayan, a retired army general, is greeted by supporters in
Yerevan after being released from prison, 15 June 2018.
Babayan, 54, was the commander of Karabakh’s Armenian-backed army during and
after the 1991-1994 war with Azerbaijan. He was widely regarded as the
unrecognized republic’s most powerful man at that time.
Babayan was arrested in 2000 and subsequently sentenced to 14 years in prison
for allegedly masterminding a botched attempt on the life of the then Karabakh
president, Arkadi Ghukasian. He was set free in 2004.
Babayan lived in Russia for five years before returning to Armenia in 2016. He
was arrested in Yerevan in 2017 on charges of illegal arms acquisition and
money laundering which he strongly denied. The arrest came two weeks before
Armenian parliamentary elections. Babayan unofficially coordinated the election
campaign of an opposition alliance challenging then Armenian President Serzh
Sarkisian.
A Yerevan court sentenced the Karabakh general to six years in prison in
November 2017. Armenia’s Court of Cassation overturned the verdict in June 2018
less than two months after the “Velvet Revolution” that toppled Sarkisian.
Even without Babayan’s participation, the upcoming election promises to be the
most competitive and unpredictable in Karabakh’s history. At least four local
political heavyweights have already entered the fray. They include Arayik
Harutiunian, a former prime minister leading Karabakh’s largest parliamentary
party, parliament speaker Ashot Ghulian and Foreign Minister Masis Mayilian.
Also running for president is Vitaly Balasanian, another retired general who is
extremely critical of Armenia’s current political leadership. Balasanian is
also at loggerheads with Babayan.
Bako Sahakian, the incumbent president who has ruled Karabakh since 2007, is
not eligible to seek another term in 2020.
Yerevan ‘Not Forced’ To Ratify Contentious European Treaty
• Naira Nalbandian
Armenia -- A protester holds a poster during a demontration outside the
Armenian parliament against the ratification of the Istanbul Convention,
Yerevan, November 1, 2019.
The Council of Europe is not pressuring Armenia’s authorities to ratify a
European treaty rejected by the Armenian Apostolic Church and other groups
championing traditional family values, a senior lawmaker said on Friday.
The treaty signed in 2011 and known as the Istanbul Convention commits Council
of Europe member states to combatting violence against women. Armenia has still
not ratified it despite being among its signatories.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s government indicated this summer its intention
to ensure the treaty’s quick ratification by the Armenian parliament. It
immediately met with resistance from socially conservative groups and
individuals, including the chairman of Armenia’s national bar association.
While supporting the protection of women, opponents object to the Istanbul
Convention’s definition of gender as “social roles, behaviors, activities and
characteristics that a particular society considers appropriate for women and
men.” They say this paves way for introducing transsexual or transgender as
separate categories and legalizing same-sex marriage.
The top clergymen of the state-backed Armenian Apostolic Church added their
voice to these objections in July. They said that the convention poses a threat
to traditional marriage defined by Armenian law as a union between a man and a
woman.
The outcry appears to have forced the authorities in Yerevan to at least delay
the ratification until next year. In late August, they asked a Council of
Europe body, the Venice Commission, for an advisory opinion on the treaty’s
conformity with Armenia’s constitution. The commission is understood to
strongly support its ratification.
Strasbourg-based members of the commission arrived in Yerevan this week to
discuss the matter with Armenian officials and other stakeholders. They met
with local lawmakers, including the chairpersons of three standing parliament
committees, behind the closed doors on Friday amid fresh street protests staged
by several dozen opponents of the convention.
Armenia -- A protester holds a poster during a demontration outside the
Armenian parliament against the ratification of the Istanbul Convention,
Yerevan, November 1, 2019.
Vladimir Vartanian, a senior member of Pashinian’s My Step bloc heading the
parliament committee on legal affairs, was among those lawmakers. He insisted
after the meeting that the Armenian parliament is not facing pressure from the
Venice Commission to ratify the Istanbul Convention.
Vartanian stressed at the same time that the convention aims to protect women
against domestic and other violence “especially in oriental societies.” “The
convention does not obligate states to legalize same-sex marriages or adoptions
of children and will not reflect in any way on issues relating to promotion of
a non-traditional sexual orientation,” he told reporters.
Gevorg Petrosian, an outspoken opposition parliamentarian strongly opposed to
the treaty as well as LGBT rights in Armenia, also took part in the meeting.
“With all due respect for our colleagues from the Venice Commission, I believe
that they did not present any convincing arguments as to why we should ratify
that convention,” said Petrosian. He claimed that they also failed to say which
national legal mechanisms Armenia lacks in order to tackle violence against
women.
The Venice Commission officials declined to comment after the discussion.
For the same reasons the convention has also sparked controversy in several
other Council of Europe member states. Two of them, Bulgaria and Slovakia,
rejected it last year.
In Croatia, the parliament ratified the treaty in April 2018 amid protests by
local social conservatives. To placate them, the Croatian government adopted a
separate statement saying the treaty will not change Croatia’s legal definition
of marriage as a union between man and woman.
Karabakh Talks Not Deadlocked, Says Mnatsakanian
• Ruzanna Stepanian
U.S. -- Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanian, his Azerbaijani
counterpart Elmar Mamadyarov and international mediators pose for a photograph
in New York, September 23, 2019
Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanian insisted on Friday that long-running
efforts to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict are not in deadlock, citing
more high-level talks planned by Armenia and Azerbaijan.
“At least with regard to things relating to us, we do not see a deadlock,” said
Mnatsakanian. “We are continuing to work very calmly because this work needs to
be done as it concerns our security, regional security and peace.”
“There is a dynamic in the negotiations and I hope that we can move forward
quickly if there is mutual constructiveness,” he told reporters.
A senior official from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
confirmed on Thursday that Mnatsakanian and Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar
Mammadyarov will meet again on the sidelines of an OSCE ministerial gathering
to be held Slovakia’s capital Bratislava on December 5-6.
The two ministers most recently met in New York in late September. Mammadyarov
said afterwards that he was “a bid disappointed” with the results of those
talks held in the presence of the U.S., French and Russian co-chairs of the
OSCE Minsk Group. He complained about the mediators’ focus on
confidence-building measures, rather than “substantive negotiations” sought by
Baku.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev
reportedly talked to each other at great length on the sidelines of an October
11 summit of former Soviet republics held in Turkmenistan. Mnatsakanian
described their conversation as “very useful” earlier this week.
The top Armenian diplomat said on Friday that Aliyev and Pashinian are “not yet
planning” to meet again. “But anything can happen and develop in any direction,
if necessary, and there are some understandings, ideas at the level of the two
leaders regarding how meetings could be organized,” he said.
“There are good ideas which I hope will be put into practice,” Mnatsakanian
added without going into details.
The mediators met with Pashinian and Aliyev during their October 14-17 tour of
the Karabakh conflict zone. In a joint statement, they said the two leaders
promised to make more efforts to “prepare the populations for peace and reduce
tensions.”
Armenian Tycoon Expands Textile Business
Armenia -- Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian (C) visits new textile factories
opened by businessman Samvel Aleksanian (R), Yerevan, November 1, 2019.
Samvel Aleksanian, a wealthy businessman who was for years closely linked to
Armenia’s former leaders, inaugurated three new textile factories in the
presence of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on Friday.
Pashinian toured their premises in Yerevan, welcoming the expansion of
Aleksanian’s textile business first launched a few years ago. He said the
Armenian government is ready to assist in its further growth “within the
framework of its legal instruments.”
A government statement on Pashinian’s participation in the ceremony said that
the new factories employ around 1,000 people and that Aleksanian plans to
create 2,000 more jobs there. The tycoon will also open to two similar plants
outside Yerevan next year, said the statement.
Aleksanian, 51, is one of Armenia’s richest men who has long controlled
lucrative imports of sugar, cooking oil and other basic foodstuffs to the
country. He also owns the country’s largest supermarket chain.
Aleksanian, who is commonly known as “Lfik Samo,” used to have close ties to
former President Serzh Sarkisian and his Republican Party of Armenia (HHK). He
was a parliament deputy representing the HHK from 2003-2018, playing a major
role in the party’s election campaigns.
Armenia - President Serzh Sarkisian (L) awards a state medal to businessman
Samvel Aleksanian in Yerevan, 26 September 2015.
Opposition politicians and media for years claimed that he enjoys privileged
treatment by the government in return for earning the HHK and Sarkisian many
votes in Yerevan’s Malatia-Sebastia district, his stronghold. The blue-collar
district was notorious for vote buying, violence and other election-related
irregularities reported by the Armenian media.
Pashinian repeatedly lambasted the “oligarch” when he was in opposition to the
former regime. In March 2016, for example, he charged on the parliament floor
that Aleksanian may be evading “tens of millions of dollars” in taxes through a
fraud scheme allowed by Sarkisian. Aleksanian denied those claims.
Aleksanian defected from the HHK faction in Armenia’s former parliament in June
2018 just over a month after Sarkisian was overthrown in the “Velvet
Revolution” led by Pashinian. He has not been openly involved in any political
activities since then.
Press Review
“Hraparak” says that most Armenians are now more “tolerant” and lenient towards
the current authorities than the previous ones because they are the ones who
brought those “young people” to power last year. The paper says their main
expectation from the government is integrity and dedication. “We are sick and
tired of crooks, hypocrites and those who place their personal interests above
public interests,” it writes.
“Chorrord Ishkhanutyun” scoffs at former President Serzh Sarkisian’s declared
readiness to be arrested if that will make the people “glad and happy.” The
paper says that Sarkisian already made them happy when he decided to resign in
April last year. It claims that the resignation of Constitutional Court
Chairman Hrayr Tovmasian is also a forgone conclusion. The paper also takes a
swipe at the current authorities, denouncing Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s
confidential decision to double his ministers’ salaries and his possible plans
to buy a new state aircraft for him. “They have decided to buy a new airplane
for $55 million just for travelling to the United States on a single flight,”
it says, decrying this “unmatched extravagance.”
“Haykakan Zhamanak” is also scathing about Sarkisian’s latest public remarks.
The pro-government paper says Sarkisian did not say that there are no legal
grounds for his arrest because he never committed any crimes. “Instead, Serzh
Sarkisian is saying that the people and the state will gain nothing from his
arrest,” it says, adding that there is no reason why he must not be prosecuted
if there emerges evidence of his involvement in corruption or other crimes. In
that case, it says, “future leaders of the state will always bear in mind that
such a prospect also awaits them and will act only in conformity with the law.”
The paper controlled by Pashinian notes at the same time that “the imprisonment
of former heads of state is not a good thing in itself, hampers government
continuity in some way and even affects the international reputation of the
state and trust in state institutions.”
(Lilit Harutiunian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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