Friday, May 7, 2021
Ter-Petrosian Defends Election Offers To Other Ex-Presidents
Armenia - Former President Levon Ter-Petrosian (L) and Nikol Pashinian greet
supporters in Yerevan's Liberty Square, 31 May 2011.
Levon Ter-Petrosian defended on Friday his public calls for Armenia’s two other
former presidents to form an electoral alliance with him and jointly try to oust
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s “criminal and nation-destroying regime.”
Ter-Petrosian revealed on Wednesday that he floated the idea at a March 25
meeting with Serzh Sarkisian and Robert Kocharian. He said Kocharian rejected it
out of hand while Sarkisian “did not express any opinion.” He said he is
“publicly repeating my proposal” because he believes Pashinian’s reelection
would spell further trouble for Armenia.
Both ex-presidents swiftly turned down the proposal, saying that they are
planning to enter other alliances ahead of the snap parliamentary elections
expected in June.
“Whatever they say, an alliance of the three former presidents of the republic
would still be the only way to ward off the danger of a reproduction of
Pashinian’s criminal and nation-destroying regime and avoid new disasters,”
Ter-Petrosian said in his latest article posted on Ilur.am.
Ter-Petrosian also revealed on May 1 he held a separate meeting with Sarkisian
and proposed that their political parties set up an alliance without Kocharian’s
participation. He claimed that he put forward a draft joint declaration saying,
among other things, that Kocharian is driven “not so much by the country’s
interests as revanchist motives.”
“My second proposal did not succeed either because it was rejected by
Sarkisian,” wrote the 76-year-old ex-president who had served as Armenia’s first
president from 1991-1998.
He said he has disclosed details of his contacts with Sarkisian and Kocharian in
hopes of generating “public pressure” on them.
Armenia -- Former President Serzh Sarkisian holds a news conference in Yerevan,
August 19, 2020.
Sarkisian’s office confirmed the rebuff in a statement issued later on Friday.
It said he told Ter-Petrosian that “the bilateral alliance cannot be effective.”
The office insisted at the same time that at their May 1 meeting Ter-Petrosian
did not show Sarkisian the draft declaration publicized by him.
Ter-Petrosian’s readiness to team up with the two other ex-presidents is
remarkable given the long history of mutual antagonism between them. For many
years he was highly critical of his successors’ policies and track records.
The three men met in October for the first time in decades to discuss ways of
stopping the war in Nagorno-Karabakh. Ter-Petrosian and Kocharian offered to
jointly travel to Moscow for urgent talks with Russian leaders.
Pashinian reportedly refused to authorize them to negotiate on behalf of his
administration. He later questioned the sincerity and seriousness of the
ex-presidents’ initiative, prompting angry reactions from them.
Like other opposition figures, all three ex-presidents blame Pashinian for
Armenia’s defeat in the six-week war. Ter-Petrosian said in March that Pashinian
must step down and “at least temporarily” leave the country to end its post-war
political crisis. The prime minister reacted scathingly to that statement.
Armenian Government Pressing Ahead With University Takeovers
• Satenik Hayrapetian
Armenia - The main government building in Yerevan, March 6, 2021.
The Armenian government is continuing its efforts to gain direct control of
three of the country’s leading state universities two weeks after President
Armen Sarkissian blocked a relevant bill pushed by it through the parliament.
The bill passed by the National Assembly in late March would empower the
government to appoint most members of the boards of trustees that elect
university rectors and make other key decisions.
Yerevan State University (YSU) and the National Academy of Sciences strongly
opposed these changes, saying that they would violate a clause in the Armenian
constitution which entitles state-funded colleges to a high degree of autonomy.
Sarkissian likewise suggested that they are “contentious in terms of
constitutionality” when he announced on April 22 his decision not to sign the
bill into law. He also asked the Constitutional Court to rule on its conformity
with the constitution.
Nevertheless, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s government pressed ahead with the
same changes through an executive order issued earlier this week.
The order stipulates that YSU, the Armenian State Pedagogical University and
Gyumri State University will have new governing boards consisting of 20 members.
Thirteen of them are to be appointed by the government and the Ministry of
Education, while the seven others will be chosen by their faculties and students.
All four parties have been equally represented in the boards until now.
A senior Ministry of Education official defended on Friday the changes sought by
the government, saying that they are needed to address a “management vacuum”
within the universities. She claimed that their current boards have failed to
properly perform their duties.
The official argued that the current YSU board is paralyzed and even unable to
formally accept the resignation of the university’s acting rector.
Critics countered that the government itself engineered the paralysis by
recalling its appointees from the board earlier this year.
Vahe Hovannisian, an YSU professor, deplored the “abrupt” decision made by the
government after Sarkissian’s appeal to the Constitutional Court. He warned that
the three universities will be thrust into deeper turmoil if the court declares
the controversial bill unconstitutional.
Hovannisian also said: “Taking the universities under control or changing their
boards of trustees does not serve any development purpose.”
Armenia’s human rights ombudsman, Arman Tatoyan, also condemned the government’s
executive order, pledging to challenge its legality in the Constitutional Court.
“I believe that this initiative by the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture
and Sports is disrespectful towards the president of the republic and the
Constitutional Court,” he said on Thursday, adding that the problems cited by
ministry officials are “artificial.”
“I have grounds to presume that the government caused a problem and is now
trying to solve it at the expense of university autonomy,” said Tatoyan. “I
believe this is unacceptable.”
Pashinian and his associates, among them young scholars, pledged to give
universities more freedom from the government right after they swept to power
three years ago.
Ruling Party ‘Confident’ About Election Victory
• Sargis Harutyunyan
Armenia -- Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and other delegates attend a congress
of the ruling Civil Contract party, Yerevan, June 16, 2019.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s Civil Contract party expects to win more votes
than any other political force in Armenia’s upcoming parliamentary elections, a
senior official said on Friday.
Armen Grigorian, the secretary of Pashinian’s Security Council, said opinion
polls show that roughly one in three Armenians plan to vote for the party.
“These numbers are a certain indication of possible election results,” Grigorian
told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “We also have a high percentage [of support]
among undecided citizens.”
“Let’s wait and see. It’s hard to make a forecast but we are going for the
elections to once again receive the people’s mandate,” he said.
Pashinian first expressed readiness to hold the early elections in December amid
angry protests triggered by Armenia’s defeat in a six-week war with Azerbaijan.
Opposition forces blamed him for the defeat and demanded that he hand over power
to an interim government.
Pashinian and his team said on February 7 that they see no need for snap polls
because of what they called a lack of “public demand.” The anti-government
protests resumed on February 20 before the Armenian military’s top brass added
its voice the opposition demands for the government’s resignation.
The prime minister announced on March 18 that the polls will take place after
all. They are unofficially slated for June 20.
Grigorian ruled out the possibility of post-election power-sharing agreements
between Civil Contract and opposition blocs led by former Presidents Robert
Kocharian and Serzh Sarkisian. But he was less categorical about possible
coalition deals with other opposition forces.
“I think it will be more logical to discuss such issues after the election
results,” added the official.
Civil Contract teamed up with other Pashinian allies to participate in the last
elections held in December 2018. Their My Step bloc garnered 70 percent of the
vote at the time.
Kocharian, Allies To Hold First Rally
• Gayane Saribekian
Armenia - Former President Robert Kocharian meets with supporters in Yerevan,
April 26, 2021.
Former President Robert Kocharian and two opposition parties allied to him will
hold a rally in Yerevan on Sunday to effectively kick off their parliamentary
election campaign.
The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) and Resurgent Armenia
parties officially announced on Thursday their decisions to form an alliance
with Kocharian to jointly participate in early elections expected in June.
In a joint statement issued on Friday, they said the official presentation of
their bloc will take place at a Yerevan hotel on Sunday afternoon. It will be
followed by a rally at the city’s Liberty Square “dedicated to the event.”
Kocharian last rallied supporters in the square when he first ran for president
in 1998. He held rallies in other parts of the Armenian capital during his 2003
reelection campaign.
Ishkhan Saghatelian, the head of Dashnaktsutyun’s governing body in Armenia,
said the upcoming demonstration will be timed to coincide with the 29th
anniversary of the capture by Armenian forces of the Nagorno-Karabakh town of
Shushi (Shusha) during the first Armenian-Azerbaijani war of 1991-1994.
“The winners are setting up a victorious alliance and are inviting our citizens
to hear about that alliance and its goals on the anniversary of Shushi’s
liberation,” Saghatelian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
Armenia - Dashnaktsutyun's Ishkhan Saghatelian speaks at an anti-government
rally in Yerevan, March 28, 2021.
The Azerbaijani army recaptured Shushi during the second Karabakh war stopped by
a Russian-brokered truce agreement on November 10. The agreement locked in
sweeping Azerbaijani territorial gains made during the six-week hostilities.
Kocharian, Dashnaktsutyun and virtually all other opposition groups have blamed
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian for the Armenian side’s defeat and demanded his
resignation.
Pashinian has rejected the demands while agreeing to hold the snap elections.
The current Armenian parliament controlled by his loyalists is expected to take
on Monday the final legal step needed for their conduct.
Echoing Kocharian’s statements, Saghatelian said the new electoral alliance led
by the ex-president will be the main opposition contender in the unfolding
parliamentary race. “Our alliance is the main force in the anti-Nikol camp,” he
said.
Saghatelian would not be drawn on why Kocharian and his allies have not cobbled
together a more broad-based bloc that would also comprise other opposition
forces, notably former President Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party (HHK) and
the Fatherland party led by Artur Vanetsian, the former National Security
Service director. The HHK and Fatherland have decided to set up a separate bloc.
“I have no reason to doubt … that the aim of that [HHK-Fatherland] alliance is
also Armenia without Nikol,” said the Dashnaktsutyun leader. “We just found it
expedient to go down this path.”
Both Kocharian and Sarkisian turned down this week a cooperation offer made by
Levon Ter-Petrosian, another former president who has long been at loggerheads
with them. Ter-Petrosian said an electoral alliance led by the three
ex-presidents would be well placed to oust Pashinian.
Saghatelian said his party is also opposed to joining forces with Ter-Petrosian.
“I can’t imagine any situation where Dashnaktsutyun and … Levon Ter-Petrosian
are part of the same bloc because we have profound ideological differences,” he
said.
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.