Thursday,
President Defends Pashinian Against Opposition Criticism
• Astghik Bedevian
Armenia - Vahagn Khachatrian prepares to address the National Assembly before
being elected by it as president of Armenia, Yerevan, March 2, 2022.
President Vahagn Khachaturian has defended Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s
domestic policies and conciliatory line on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
strongly criticized by the Armenian opposition.
In an interview with Armenian Public Television aired late on Wednesday,
Khachaturian insisted that Pashinian’s government is right to avoid publicly
stating that Nagorno-Karabakh cannot be placed back under Azerbaijani rule.
“If you say that, you will lose room for maneuver,” he said. “We must be able to
tell policy and diplomacy from populism and public discourse.”
“The people who are in charge of the negotiating process and our country must
not be stripped of that possibility. The prime minister had the courage to
openly talk about that. What’s wrong with it?” added the largely ceremonial head
of state who was elected by Armenia’s parliament in February.
Addressing the parliament controlled by his party on April 13, Pashinian said
the international community is pressing Yerevan to “lower the bar” on the status
of Karabakh acceptable to the Armenian side. He signaled his readiness to make
such concessions to Azerbaijan.
The country’s leading opposition groups condemned the speech as further proof of
Pashinian’s readiness to recognize Azerbaijani sovereignty over the disputed
territory. They launched on May 1 daily protests in Yerevan aimed at forcing the
prime minister to resign.
Armenia - Opposition supporters demonstrate in Yerevan, May 4, 2022.
During the six-week protests, the opposition tried unsuccessfully to push
through the parliament a resolution rejecting any peace deal with Baku that
would restore Azerbaijani control over Karabakh.
Khachaturian deplored the opposition leaders’ tough anti-government statements
made during the protests. He also denied the existence of political prisoners in
Armenia and other authoritarian practices alleged by Pashinian’s detractors.
“If there was dictatorship nobody would demonstrate in the streets,” reasoned
the president.
Lilit Galstian, a parliament deputy from the main opposition Hayastan alliance,
hit back at Khachaturian on Thursday. Galstian said he proved that he is a
partisan figure who ignores constitutional provisions requiring the president of
the republic not to side with any political faction.
“He probably suffers from political blindness,” she told RFE/RL’s Armenian
Service.
Khachaturian, 62, is an economist who had served as mayor of Yerevan from
1992-1996 during former President Levon Ter-Petrosian’s rule. He was a staunch
political ally of Ter-Petrosian until agreeing to join Pashinian’s government
last August.
Galstian charged that just like Pashinian, Khachaturian is not committed to
defending the Karabakh Armenians’ right to self-determination.
Pashinian and other Armenian officials say that a peace deal with Baku must
address the issue of Karabakh’s future status. But they have not publicly
clarified what they believe that status should be.
Head Of Armenian Judicial Watchdog Sacked After Accusing Government Of Blackmail
• Naira Nalbandian
Armenia -- Ruben Vartazarian, head of the Supreme Judicial Council, holds a news
conference in Yerevan, September 4, 2019.
The nominal head of a state body overseeing Armenia’s courts was formally
relieved of his duties on Thursday three days after publicizing what he sees as
evidence of illegal government pressure exerted on him.
Ruben Vartazarian was already suspended as chairman of the Supreme Judicial
Council (SJC) in April 2021 immediately after being charged with obstruction of
justice amid rising tensions with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian. Pashinian’s
political allies accused him of encouraging courts to free arrested government
critics.
Vartazarian denied the charges and said that he was indicted as part of
government efforts to replace him with Gagik Jahangirian, a controversial former
prosecutor widely seen as a figure loyal to Pashinian. Jahangirian was named as
acting head of the SJC pending the outcome of the criminal investigation into
Vartazarian, which is still going on.
The SJC launched disciplinary proceedings against Vartazarian last month
following a newspaper interview in which he claimed that Jahangirian was
appointed as a member of the judicial watchdog in breach of Armenian law.
In its decision read out by Jahangirian, the SJC said Vartazarian has been
sacked as both chairman and member of the council as well as judge of a Yerevan
court of first instance for a “significant disciplinary violation.” The decision
was backed by eight of the nine other SJC members.
Armenia - Gagik Jahangirian chairs a session of the Supreme Judicial Council,
Yerevan, July 26, 2021.
Jahangirian claimed that the decision was made on June 16 and is only being made
public now. He thus seemed to deny any connection between it and a scandalous
audio of his February 2021 meeting with Vartazarian which the latter secretly
recorded and publicized on June 20.
The 14-minute recording suggests that Jahangirian warned Vartazarian to resign
or face criminal charges. He also said he wants to help Pashinian prevent former
President Robert Kocharian from returning to power.
The audio caused uproar in Armenia, with opposition and civil society figures
describing it as clear evidence of political orders executed by Jahangirian and
his illegal interference in the work of law-enforcement bodies. They said that
he must be not only sacked but also prosecuted.
The country’s main opposition groups portray Vartazarian’s revelation as further
proof that Pashinian’s administration has been trying to tighten control over
the judiciary, rather than reform it.
The SJC discussed the scandal on Tuesday but did not move to take even
disciplinary action against its acting head.
For their part, prosecutors ordered the Investigative Committee to look into the
audio. The law-enforcement agency has still not opened a criminal case in
connection with it.
Vartazarian’s lawyer, Hovannes Khudoyan, said on Thursday that his client has
been summoned to the Investigative Committee for questioning.
Armenia’s Ruling Party Accused Of Curbing Local Democracy
• Artak Khulian
Armenia - Riot police guard the entrance to the headquarters of the ruling Civil
Contract party in Yerevan, June 20, 2022.
The ruling Civil Contract party has drafted legislation which critics say would
allow the Armenian authorities to force opposition members of local councils to
elect pro-government mayors of cities and other communities.
Until last year, the councils elected by local voters were required to appoint
the mayors by secret ballot. The Armenian parliament controlled by Civil
Contract scrapped this requirement and introduced an open ballot system ahead of
local elections held in the vast majority of the country’s communities last fall.
The party led by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian suffered serious setbacks during
those polls. It now wants to revert to the secret ballot. Lawmakers representing
it have added a relevant provision to a package of fresh draft amendments to the
Electoral Code unveiled this month.
Opposition parties have not yet commented on the proposed change. But some civic
activists have expressed serious concern.
Daniel Ioannisian of the Yerevan-based Union of Informed Citizens claimed on
Thursday that Pashinian’s political team is seeking a legal tool for effectively
overturning unfavorable local election results through “political trading.” He
said it tried unsuccessfully do this in the wake of last fall’s polls.
“The authorities tried to put pressure and convince or buy -- not necessarily
with money, but by offering, for example, a job, as they tried to do in Meghri
-- opposition members [of newly elected councils] so that they vote for Civil
Contract,” Ioannisian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “Many oppositionists did
not vote for Civil Contract, and in all of those communities except Talin
opposition mayors were elected in the end.”
Armenia - Daniel Ioannisian is interviewed by RFE/RL. June 20, 2021.
Ioannisian said the ruling party’s attempts were foiled by the open ballot
system. “Now they want to make things secret again,” added the prominent
activist.
One of the authors of the bill, Vahagn Hovakimian, denied that the authorities
want to be able to co-opt opposition members of local councils. He claimed that
the controversial amendment is aimed at facilitating power-sharing deals among
election contenders.
The ruling party has reportedly begun preparations for the next municipal
elections in Yerevan. The city’s current municipal council and mayor elected by
it are due to complete their terms in office in September 2023. According to
some media reports, Pashinian and his entourage may cut short their tenure and
hold the elections this fall.
Ioannisian pointed out that Armenia’s former leadership exploited the secret
ballot after being defeated in a local election held in the country’s third
largest city of Vanadzor in 2016. Its mayoral candidate, Mamikon Aslanian, got
elected at the time because some opposition members of the city council broke
ranks and voted for him for still unknown reasons.
Ironically, Aslanian was arrested in December 2021 just days after an opposition
bloc led by him essentially won the last Vanadzor election with about 39 percent
of the vote. Civil Contract finished second with 25 percent.
Aslanian went on trial earlier this month on corruption charges rejected by him
as politically motivated.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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