Friday, February 2, 2024
Armenian Official Rejects Aliyev’s ‘New Precondition’ For Peace
Armenia - Bright Armenia Party leader Edmon Marukian speaks with journalists,
Yerevan, June 11, 2021.
Azerbaijan is not serious about signing a peace treaty with Armenia, an Armenian
official said on Friday, citing Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s demands for
Yerevan to enact major constitutional changes.
Aliyev said on Thursday that Armenia should change its constitution and other
documents if it wants to make peace with Azerbaijan. He specifically objected to
the current Armenian constitution’s reference to a 1990 declaration of
independence which he said “infringes on Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity.”
Edmon Marukian, an Armenian ambassador-at-large, said Aliyev thus set a
“completely new precondition” for the peace deal that has been discussed by the
two sides for the last two years
“Azerbaijan avoids signing the peace treaty and continuously raises new demands
during the whole process of negotiations, thus torpedoing the peace process,”
tweeted Marukian. He said the “endless demands” prove that Baku “does not want
peace in the region.”
It was not clear whether Marukian expressed the Armenian government’s position.
The government did not officially react to Aliyev’s latest demands as of Friday
evening.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian stated on January 18 that Armenia must adopt a
new constitution reflecting the “new geopolitical environment” in the region.
Critics believe he first and foremost wants to get rid of the current
constitution’s preamble that makes reference to the declaration cited by Aliyev.
In a radio interview broadcast on Thursday, Pashinian did not deny Armenian
opposition claims that he wants to change the constitution under pressure from
Azerbaijan. He reiterated his criticism of the 1990 declaration.
Opposition lawmakers say his unilateral concessions will only lead to more
Azerbaijani demands and increase the risk of another war. In recent weeks, four
of them have been allowed by the Armenian Foreign Ministry to see written
proposals regarding the treaty exchanged by Yerevan and Baku.
In a joint statement issued on Friday, they said they visited the ministry
earlier in the day to take a look at the most recent Armenian proposals that
were sent to Baku on January 4.
“We note that there is no significant progress in the negotiation process and
all the concerns we voiced after getting acquainted with the previous packages
of proposals, which are related to Armenia not receiving any additional security
guarantees … and new concessions imposed on Armenia with the threat of force,
remain,” they said.
They also said that the Foreign Ministry and an unnamed security service suspect
them of breaking their pledge not to publicize the information made available to
them. They rejected the government “threat” and said they will continue to raise
public awareness of the negotiation process.
Ruling Party Moves To Oust Opposition Members Of Yerevan Council
• Anush Mkrtchian
Armenia - Andranik Tevanian, leader of the Mayr Hayastan bloc, speaks to
reporters outside the Yerevan municipality, February 2, 2024.
The two opposition groups represented in Yerevan’s municipal council accused the
Armenian authorities on Friday of trying to stifle dissent after the ruling
Civil Contract party moved to oust five of their council members.
They include former Mayor Hayk Marutian, whose party finished second in last
September’s municipal election, and four councilors representing the radical
opposition Mayr Hayastan alliance.
Civil Contract and its local coalition partner, the Hanrapetutyun party, want to
strip them of their seats on the grounds that they have skipped most of the
council votes. The city council will meet to discuss the initiative on Monday.
Isabella Abgarian, a Marutian ally, dismissed the absenteeism claims, saying
that the opposition councilors simply boycotted council sessions and votes for
tactical reasons. She said boycott is a legitimate tool of political struggle.
“The ruling party itself has used this tool, twice failing to attend a council
session so that it doesn’t take place,” Abgarian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s political team, she said, is simply trying to
silence Marutian, who has stepped up his criticism of the municipal
administration lately.
Armenia - Former Mayor Hayk Marutian votes in a local election in Yerevan,
September 17, 2023.
“We regard this as an act of political terror by the authorities,” Andranik
Tevanian, the Mayr Hayastan leader, charged for his part.
Tevanian said that the authorities are seeking to punish “active members” of his
bloc in a bid to discourage others from challenging Mayor Tigran Avinian, who is
a senior member of Civil Contract. “They will fail to achieve that,” he said.
Civil Contract declined to respond to the opposition claims.
Pashinian’s party fell well short of a majority in the city council as a result
of the September polls. Together with Hanrapetutyun, it controls only 32 of the
65 council seats. Marutian’s National Progress party and Mayr Hayastan hold 26
seats between them.
The remaining 7 seats are controlled by the Public Voice party that was until
recently led by a controversial video blogger based in the United States.
Although the small party campaigned on an opposition platform, it decisively
helped Civil Contract install Avinian as mayor. It now also holds the key to the
removal of the five opposition councilors which has to be backed by the council
majority.
Incidentally, Public Voice’s nominal chairman, Artak Galstian, has not attended
any council session because of being held in pre-trial detention on charges of
blackmail and extortion. The authorities have made no attempts to strip Galstian
of his council seat.
Indicted Ex-Official Moved To House Arrest
• Artak Khulian
Armenia - Economy Minister Vahan Kerobian (left) and his deputy Ani Ispirian
attend a news conference in Yerevan, January 8, 2024.
A former Armenian deputy minister of economy was moved to house arrest on Friday
two days after being detained and charged with abuse of power.
Ani Ispirian was taken into custody along with several other government
officials and business executives prosecuted over a procurement tender
administered by the Ministry of Economy last summer. She was sacked just hours
before her arrest.
It is still not clear whether Ispirian denies or admits the accusations. Her
lawyer, Mamikon Muradian, refused to comment on them when he was approached an
RFE/RL correspondent following a Yerevan court’s decision to allow the house
arrest.
Economy Minister Vahan Kerobian effectively denied the corruption charges
brought against his current and former subordinates when he spoke to reporters
on Thursday. Kerobian refused to comment further on Friday.
The ministry officials are accused of illegally disqualifying an information
technology company, Harmonia, from a procurement tender to make sure that it is
won by another, larger firm, Synergy International Systems, which set a much
higher price for its services. Synergy’s founder and two current and former
employees are also under arrest. One of them, Ani Gevorgian, is the wife of
parliament speaker Alen Simonian’s brother Karlen.
Law-enforcement authorities opened a criminal case into the tender even though
an Armenian court invalidated it last August following a lawsuit filed by
Harmonia. Synergy did not win a fresh tender called by the ministry shortly
afterwards.
This fact, coupled with the authorities’ decision to arrest the young woman
related to Simonian, fueled speculation about political motives behind the
high-profile case. Some media outlets claimed that the controversial speaker,
who is a senior member of the ruling Civil Contract party, is increasingly at
odds with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s political team. The party’s deputy
chairman, Vahagn Aleksanian, denied this.
Simonian himself has not publicly commented on the arrests so far. Still, he
made a point of posting a photograph of him, his brother and arrested
sister-in-law on his Facebook page on Thursday.
Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2024 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.