Month: February 2020

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of Armenia met with Council of Europe Secretary General Marija Pejčinović Burić on Saturday, his office reported.

Stressing the importance of today’s meeting, the prime minister noted that it is a good opportunity to discuss issues of topical concern.

“Madam Secretary General, I am very glad to see you here. If I am not mistaken, we have not had any opportunity to meet so far. I am very glad to meet with you and have the opportunity to discuss current issues. As you know, Armenia is in a huge process of democratic reforms, which accelerated especially after the non-violent velvet people’s revolution in 2018.

We eventually found out that our constitutional system was occupied before the Revolution. Furthermore, it was mined. And now we are in a very careful process of de-mining our democracy and the judiciary. I am happy for this opportunity to give you some information about the ongoing processes, because we recently decided to hold a referendum on the Constitutional Court. It is my pleasure to inform you about what and why is going on and what will happen next,” Pashinyan said.

The CoE secretary general stated, in turn: “Mr. Prime Minister, thank you for this opportunity I think it is very important as you mentioned for me to be informed about the ongoing process. Let me recall that we have already started this intense cooperation between Armenia and the Council of Europe with a high-level Council of Europe group’s visit last May.

I understand that you yourself asked the Council of Europe to get engaged on these issues. The Council of Europe started watching carefully what is going on. There are some concerns, and it would be interesting to hear from your side how you see these developments and how we can continue to be of assistance.”

Prime Minister Pashinyan touched upon the democratic transformations underway in Armenia, including the judiciary reform. Nikol Pashinyan underscored that our country made great progress last year in the ratings published by international organizations in terms of democracy, human rights and freedom of speech. The Premier dwelt on the factors and reasons that anticipated the upcoming constitutional referendum.

Marija Pejčinović Burić expressed her organization’s full support for the Armenian government’s efforts, including the judiciary reform. She noted that the CoE will follow up the discussion with the Armenian government on cooperation in the given area.

Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan participated today with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in discussion over Nagorno Karabakh conflict on the margins of Munich Security Conference.

Russian Kommersant journalist asked the parties about Russia’s proposals addressed to the conflict settlement, in particular, leaving the NK status for future discussion and do something to which the parties will agree easier like for instance the creation of corridor, finding mid-term solution.

“It is possible. This proposal was seriously viewed by us,” Azerbaijani president said.

“In general we gave our consent. It is clear that the conflict must be solved stage by stage. The first stage must be the liberation of part of occupied territories and this point exists in Russia’s proposal. This must follow the return of displaced Azerbaijanis, resettlement of the territories, in the same period the relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia will regulate and the NK status will be discussed in future, after the parties express readiness,” Azerbaijani president said, adding that without liberation of the territories it is impossible to agree over the status.

“The status must not impede the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan,” he said.

In his turn, Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated that after the first meeting in Dushanbe together with President Aliyev they made a “little revolution.”

“After this meeting the tension in general reduced unprecedentedly, and we managed to establish direct contact. I must admit that President Aliyev is the co-author of this step,” Armenia’s PM said.

“President Aliyev is speaking about the territories. From the Azerbaijani viewpoint they are territories but from the Karabakh viewpoint it is security. It is necessary to understand how today’s status quo has formed because when Nagorno Karabakh tried to apply its right to self-determination military actions launched against the Armenians of the Nagorno Karabakh forcing them to organize self-defense. For years Stepanakert was shelled. It is impossible for anyone to compromise the security, in case of Karabakh it is impossible too,” Pashinyan stressed.

The head of the government also stressed that though Aliyev claims that Nagorno Karabakh is not conflicting party, Azerbaijan has twice signed treaties with NK.

A regular public hearing was held in Azatek community of Armenia’s Vayots Dzor Province on possible exploitation of Azatek gold-polymetallic mine on Friday, February 14. The hearing was initiated by Vayk-Invest LLC.

“The discussion took place in haste, with around 100 residents from the village of Azatek in attendance,” Ruzan Ghazaryan, President of Vayk’s Work and Motherland NGO, told Panorama.am in an interview.

The village has a population of 450-500, which makes it one of the largest villages in the enlarged Vayk community. Ghazaryan, who also attended the public hearing, said she noticed guidance during the hearing.

“There were people under the influence of the community head who voiced support for the exploitation. There was even an old man who had been holding a pen in his hand for a long time, but when he saw the village head looking closely at him, he voted in favor [of the exploitation], he blushed a bit,” she said.

The previous discussions, which were then hosted by Vayk Gold LLC, took place in Vayk town. Some residents of the town had struggled and twice failed the public hearings on the matter. The company had also organized a secret discussion in Azatek, with some residents not opposing the mine exploitation at that time as well. However, after the hearing in Vayk failed, the company’s powers were suspended. Instead a new company, Vayk-Invest LLC, emerged. The company also held a public hearing in Zaritap community, but was rejected by the public. But in Azatek, the public hearing was held after a vote of 44 to 42. According to Ruzan Ghazaryan, the company is not interested in how many people had voted for or against the debates, but the fact that a public hearing took place.

However, the whole public hearing was marked by one interesting incident. Vayk Gold’s representative also attended the discussion. The attendees thought that those behind the new company were the same people, simply the company’s name had changed.

“At the beginning we thought, in fact, the companies are the same, they have only changed their name and present themselves with a new name. But it turned out to be a completely different situation. During the discussion, a representative of Vayk Gold asked Vayk Invest whether he had worked with them.

The answer was positive. Then Vayk Gold’s representative said that, ‘You have worked with us, stolen our documents and transferred the secrets of our business to Vayk-Invest, now you have come here to represent yourself as a director.’ He also said that the case was not complete and that they had filed a lawsuit in the court. Besides, he said the hearings were totally illegal,” Ghazaryan said.

According to an NGO representative, representatives of the two businesses started arguing. In any case, two more public hearings are still pending and whether the legal process will be a turning point for the new company or not will become clear during the further developments.

As for the Azatek residents who voted in favor of public hearings, they were interested only in job openings and some social promises made by the company, Ghazaryan said. However, there are a number of factors that neutralize the potential for mine development in the area.

Ruzan Ghazaryan first shared her concerns that the mine has a significant supply of uranium in addition to precious metals. “During the Soviet era, uranium was probably the reason that the mine was not exploited,” she said.

In addition, Azatek fossil flora is listed among natural monuments. That is, the site itself is of great value. There are also more than ten plant species included in the Red Book of Plants.

According to the Vayk resident, Arpa River flows directly beneath the mine. It is not ruled out that the wastewater will be dumped into the river. Meanwhile, agricultural lands of a whole province are located in the valley of Arpa River. This means that it may cause major problems for agricultural workers, whereas Vayots Dzor is famous for its agriculture and winemaking.

A villager’s job is the land and the land must be preserved for a village to continue surviving.