Thursday,
Kocharian Ally Faces New Charges
• Marine Khachatrian
Armenian - Armen Gevorgian, a former senior aide to ex-President Robert
Kocharian, speaks to journalists in a court building in Yerevan, January 29,
2019.
Armen Gevorgian, a former senior government official allied to ex-President
Robert Kocharian, accused the Armenian authorities of political persecution on
Thursday after being charged with money laundering.
The Special Investigative Service (SIS) formally indicted Gevorgian on Tuesday
one day after it was announced that he will manage the parliamentary election
campaign of a newly established opposition alliance led by Kocharian.
The SIS claimed that Gevorgian abused his powers to “legalize” about 5 billion
drams ($9,600) in “revenues obtained in a criminal way” when he held various
government positions from 2004-2018. It said that he also pressured local
government officials to let individuals linked to him buy communal land at
knockdown prices.
Gevorgian rejected the accusations as politically motivated after visiting the
SIS headquarters in Yerevan. He said they are aimed at hampering his political
activities in the run-up to the snap parliamentary elections slated for June 20.
“I refused to cooperate with the SIS,” he told reporters. “Life has shown that
this agency only executes political orders and fabricates politically motivated
cases. I have not familiarized and will not familiarize myself with the
accusations. I don’t care about that pile of papers.”
One of Gevorgian’s lawyers, Erik Aleksanian, also dismissed the accusations,
saying that the investigators have not specified any criminal activity that led
to the alleged money laundering. He suggested that they would have indicted his
client earlier had they had any incriminating evidence.
The SIS opened the criminal case one year ago.
Gevorgian is already standing trial, together with Kocharian, on bribery charges
strongly denied by both men.
Gevorgian, 47, was a senior aide to Kocharian during the former president’s
decade-long rule. He worked as chief of the presidential staff from 2006-2008
and became Armenia’s deputy prime minister after Kocharian handed over power to
Serzh Sarkisian in April 2008.
European Parliament Again Slams Turkey’s Role In Karabakh War
Belgium - A plenary session of the European Parliament in Brussels, April 26,
2021.
The European Parliament has again condemned Turkey for supporting Azerbaijan
during last year’s war in Nagorno-Karabakh with “provocative rhetoric” and
jihadist fighters recruited in Syria.
In a resolution adopted on Wednesday, the European Union’s legislative body also
renewed its calls for Turkey to recognize the 1915 Armenian genocide in the
Ottoman Empire. It said Ankara must also end “anti-Armenian propaganda and hate
speech” and protect Turkey’s Armenian cultural heritage.
The extensive resolution is highly critical of the Turkish government’s human
rights record and foreign policy, saying that they have brought the EU’s
relations with Turkey to a “historical low point.” It says that the EU should
formally suspend accession talks with Ankara unless the latter reverses a
“continuous and growing distancing from EU values and standards.”
The European Parliament said that instead of backing international peace efforts
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s administration chose to “unconditionally
sustain and support the military actions of Azerbaijan in the recent conflict in
Nagorno-Karabakh by resorting to provocative rhetoric.”
It condemned the “transfer of foreign fighters from Syria and elsewhere to
Nagorno-Karabakh, as confirmed by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries.”
Ankara should avoid actions and statements that could “further exacerbate
tensions in the south Caucasus region,” it said.
EU lawmakers already deplored Turkey’s “destabilizing role” in the Karabakh
conflict and called for an end to Turkish military aid to Azerbaijan in two
other resolutions passed in January.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry denounced the latest resolution as “biased” later
on Wednesday. In particular, it criticized the European Parliament for
supporting “the one-sided and inconsistent Armenian narratives regarding the
1915 events.”
Pashinian Confirms Draft Border Deal With Azerbaijan (UPDATED)
• Naira Nalbandian
Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian speaks during a cabinet meeting in
Yerevan, .
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on Thursday admitted that Armenia and Azerbaijan
are close to signing a Russian-brokered agreement on the demarcation of their
border but denied a prominent critic’s claims that it will be heavily tilted in
favor of Baku.
Mikael Minasian, a former Armenian ambassador to the Vatican, publicized on
Wednesday what he described as a copy of the first page of a draft joint
statement by Pashinian and the presidents of Azerbaijan and Russia.
The opening paragraph of the hitherto unknown document calls for the creation of
an Armenian-Azerbaijani commission on border delimitation and demarcation. The
rest of the page posted by Minasian on Facebook is blacked out.
Minasian claimed that if implemented the agreement and a “secret” protocol
attached to it will have “disastrous consequences” for Armenia. In particular,
he said, it could lead to a handover of major chunks of Armenian territory to
Azerbaijan.
Minasian also said Pashinian has made the signing of the deal conditional on the
withdrawal of Azerbaijani forces from Armenian border areas occupied by them
last week.
Pashinian essentially confirmed the existence of such a document when he spoke
at a weekly cabinet meeting in Yerevan.
“The solutions, preliminary agreements that have been reached with our
international partners correspond to Armenia’s national interests by 100 percent
… And yes, if Azerbaijan implements those understandings on the conditions that
we’ve discussed, I will sign that paper,” he said.
Without mentioning Minasian by name Pashinian accused critics of distorting the
essence of the draft deal. This is why the publicized segment of the leaked
document was mostly blacked out, he said, branding his detractors “agents of
Azerbaijan’s information warfare.”
Minasian, who is also a son-in-law of former President Serzh Sarkisian,
responded by challenging Pashinian to make all provisions of the deal public.
The prime minister said he will not do that because the document in question is
just a “working paper” that may still be amended.
Armenia - Former Armenian Ambassador to the Vatican Mikael Minasian.
Still, the draft statement was leaked to the Armlur.am news website and fully
published by it later in the day. It says that the commission on the
delimitation and demarcation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani frontier shall be
formed by May 31 and hold its first meeting by June 30. It makes no references
to any Armenian territorial concessions.
Pashinian confirmed the veracity of the document when he spoke at an emergency
session of the Armenian parliament on Thursday evening. “I want to assure you
that there is and there can be no secret appendices to it,” he told lawmakers.
Pashinian confirmed that Yerevan will agree to the creation of the demarcation
commission only if Baku withdraws its forces from the Armenian side of the
border. “Our position remains that Azerbaijani troops must leave Armenian
territory without preconditions,” he said.
The parliament debate was initiated by the two opposition parties represented in
the outgoing National Assembly. Their leaders described Pashinian’s confirmation
of the proposed border deal as a worrying development for Armenia’s national
security.
“Once again a document has been drafted behind the Armenian people’s back, and
neither the parliament deputies nor, I think, most government members know
anything about its content,” Edmon Marukian, the leader of the Bright Armenia
Party, told reporters before the debate.
Andranik Kocharian, the pro-government chairman of the parliament committee on
defense and security, acknowledged that he was not aware of the existence of the
drat Armenian-Azerbaijani-Russian statement up until Pashinian’s announcement.
Armenia - Human rights ombudsman Arman Tatoyan talks to Armenian soldiers
deployed in Syunik province, May 14, 2021. (Photo by the Armenian Human Rights
Defender's Office)
Armenia’s human rights ombudsman, Arman Tatoyan, also voiced serious concern
over the revelation. He said the government must shed more light on the document
“partially published on the Internet yesterday and confirmed at today’s
government session.”
Russia proposed the creation of the commission on the delimitation and
demarcation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani frontier earlier this week. The proposal
came amid a continuing military standoff at several sections of the border where
the Azerbaijani forces reportedly advanced several kilometres into Armenian
territory on May 12-13.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that Moscow is ready to
participate in the commission’s activities as a “consultant or mediator.”
Armenian officials said Azerbaijani troop withdrawal is a necessary condition
for the creation of such a body.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2021 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
