Tuesday,
Armenian Police General Named Provincial Governor
• Marine Khachatrian
• Sisak Gabrielian
Armenia - Hunan Poghosian, the newly appointed governor of Syunik province,
speaks to reporters in Yerevan, .
In a surprise move, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s government on Tuesday
appointed a retired general, who was Armenia’s second most powerful police
official during former President Serzh Sarkisian’s rule, as a provincial
governor.
Lieutenant-General Hunan Poghosian was named to run the southeastern Syunik
province five months after resigning as first deputy chief of the Armenian
police following Pashinian-led mass protests that toppled Sarkisian’s
government. He had held that position since 2010.
Poghosian tendered his resignation immediately after Pashinian appointed one of
his subordinates, Colonel Valeri Osipian, as new head of the national police
service on May 10. He gave no clear reasons for his exit.
Armenia - Opposition protesters clash with riot police in Yerevan, 16 April
2018.
The new government’s decision to give the vacant post of Syunik governor to
Poghosian therefore took many by surprise. Some Pashinian supporters criticized
it, saying that the police general was closely linked to the former ruling
regime accused of corruption and human rights abuses.
Pashinian acknowledged that the appointment may seem “strange” seeing as
Poghosian was “on the other side of the barricades” during his nationwide
campaign of anti-government protests. He said it is part of his efforts to
“consolidate” the nation after last spring’s dramatic upheavals.
“I find it very important to ensure that as a result of the revolution nobody
feels that their [professional] life in Armenia is finished,” Pashinian told a
cabinet meeting in Yerevan. “Accordingly, we must not allow the emergence of a
phenomenon which can tentatively be called political racism.”
“There are times for building barricades and dismantling them, and I hope that
we are getting close to the latter point,” he said.
Armenia - General Hunan Poghosian, the first deputy chief of the Armenian
police, speaks to reporters near a police building in Yerevan seized by
anti-government gunmen, 18Jul2016.
Poghosian, meanwhile, dismissed critics’ claims that he was a loyal “servant”
of the former ruling regime. “Only slavish people can probably think so,” he
told reporters. “I have always served the law and the people.”
“I’m a supporter of New Armenia and I will do everything to help ensure that
everything is alright in New Armenia,” added the 54-year-old.
Poghosian’s latest appointment was made possible by Pashinian’s decision
earlier this month to sack all government ministers and provincial governors
affiliated with the Prosperous Armenia and Dashnaktsutyun parties. The premier
accused his coalition partners parties of assisting Sarkisian’s Republicans in
their efforts to scuttle his plans to force snap parliamentary elections in
December.
U.S. Plans ‘Strategic’ Talks With Armenia
• Sargis Harutyunyan
• Emil Danielyan
Armenia - U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian
Affairs George Kent speaks at a press conference in Yerevan, .
The United States plans to hold early next year “strategic discussions” with
Armenia on ways of strengthening bilateral relations, a senior U.S. State
Department official said at the end of a visit to Yerevan on Tuesday.
George Kent, the U.S deputy assistant secretary of state for the European and
Eurasian affairs, met with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian as well as Armenian
parliamentarians, businesspeople and civil society members during the two-day
trip. He reaffirmed Washington’s readiness to help the new Armenian government
implement sweeping political and economic reforms promised by it.
“The U.S. remains ready to be a supportive partner as Armenia moves forward in
improving its quality of institutions,” Kent told a news conference.
“I believe after the [Armenian parliamentary] elections we will hold the next
round of U.S.-Armenia Task Force strategic discussions,” he said. “I expect
those will take place in Washington in the new year, perhaps in February. And I
think that will be an excellent moment or us to talk about how we can deepen
our relationship.”
Kent pointed out that the U.S. already provided Armenia with $14 million in
additional aid following last spring’s “velvet revolution” that brought
Pashinian to power. He said it can specifically support the Pashinian
government’s anti-corruption efforts and “programs on ways of diversifying the
Armenian economy.”
“U.S. companies will be prepared to invest in Armenia if the investment climate
is supportive of large-scale investment,” Kent went on. “So it was interesting
for me to hear the experience of U.S. companies [doing business in Armenia,]
whether they are in hydroelectric power or other areas.”
“I think there is a lot of discussion now about a large mining investment that
is under review, and as I told Armenian political leaders yesterday, it’s
critical that contracts are upheld in order that Armenia can continue to
attract investment that will create good jobs and allow Armenians to work with
dignity here in Armenia, rather than going overseas,” he stressed.
Armenia - Gold mining facilities constructed by Lydian International company at
Amulsar deposit, 18 May 2018.
The U.S. official clearly referred to the continuing disruption of operations
at the Amulsar gold deposit in southeastern Armenia which was developed by the
Anglo-American company Lydian International.
All roads leading to Amulsar have been blocked since June 23 by dozens of
people protesting against gold mining operations there which they say are
fraught with serious risks to the environment.
Lydian has dismissed these concerns, saying that it will use modern and safe
technology. The company, which claims to have invested more than $300 million
in Amulsar, has condemned the disruption of its operations as illegal.
The Armenian government, meanwhile, remains reluctant to forcibly unblock the
Amulsar roads. Pashinian said late last month that the government is now
seeking more evidence that open-pit mining would not contaminate water in the
area.
The Amulsar project is strongly supported by the U.S. and British governments.
The U.S. ambassador to Armenia, Richard Mills, has repeatedly warned that its
possible scrapping would discourage further U.S. investments in the Armenian
economy.
“As a friend of Armenia, I fear that if this issue is not resolved soon it
could put a large cloud over the attractiveness of Armenia as a place to do
business,” Mills warned last week. He noted “the absence of evidence of
significant violations of Armenian environmental laws” by Lydian.
Belgium - U.S. President Donald Trump and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol
Pashinian talk during a NATO summit in Brussels, 11 July 2018.
Pashinian briefed Kent on his government’s reform agenda when they met on
Monday. He had earlier expressed readiness to “strengthen and expand”
U.S.-Armenian relations.
The Armenian premier briefly chatted with U.S. President Donald Trump at a NATO
summit in Brussels in July. He hoped to hold his first talks with Trump on the
sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York in late September. The talks
did not take place, however.
“I’m sure there will be a [Trump-Pashinian] meeting but I can’t tell you
exactly where and when,” said Kent. He suggested that Trump’s national security
adviser, John Bolton, will discuss the matter with Pashinian when he visits
Yerevan later this month.
Kent said that Armenia’s relations with neighboring Iran and renewed U.S.
economic sanctions against Tehran will also be on the agenda of Bolton’s talks.
Trump re-imposed the sanctions earlier this year after pulling out of a 2015
international agreement on Iran’s nuclear program. The move was criticized by
the other world powers that signed it: France, Germany, Britain, Russia and
China.
Armenia too continues to support the 2015 deal and has made clear that it will
press ahead with joint economic projects with Iran. The Islamic Republic is one
of the landlocked country’s two commercial conduits to the outside world.
“While we understand the challenges for Armenia in terms of regional trade, we
remain very concerned about the behavior of elements of the Iranian military
and state in regional instability, not regional stability,” Kent said in this
regard. “So there are questions of legitimate trade but there are also
questions of how the [Iranian] Revolutionary Guards and Quds force sponsor
terrorism.”
“So I think you can expect a frank and active exchange of perspectives during
Ambassador Bolton’s visit about positive opportunities in the bilateral
relationship and challenges to regional stability,” added the U.S. official.
Security Chief Blames ‘Well-Known Armenian’ For Leaked Phone Calls
• Sisak Gabrielian
Armenia - Artur Vanetsian (L), director of the National Security Service (NSS),
and Special Investigative Service chief Sasun Khachatrian at a cabinet meeting
in Yerevan, 20 September 2018.
Artur Vanetsian, the National Security Service (NSS) director, claimed on
Tuesday that a “well-known” individual from Armenia commissioned the secret
recording of his sensitive phone conversations with the head of another
law-enforcement body.
Vanetsian refused to name that person, saying that investigators lack the
evidence to prosecute the latter.
“It is very, very difficult to document and substantiate the involvement of
that single orderer,” he told reporters. “Unfortunately, that cannot happen at
this stage.”
Vanetsian and Sasun Khachatrian, head of the Special Investigative Service
(SIS), spoke by phone in July shortly before former President Robert Kocharian
was arrested over his role in the 2008 post-election violence in Yerevan. Their
phone conversations were wiretapped and posted on the Internet by unknown
individuals in September.
In that audio, Vanetsian can be heard telling Khachatrian that he ordered a
judge to sanction Kocharian’s controversial arrest. Vanetsian also urged the
SIS not to arrest Yuri Khachaturov, the Armenian secretary general of the
Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), warning of a
negative reaction from Russia. He noted that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian
wants investigators to “lock up” Khachaturov.
Pashinian condemned the wiretapping and denied putting pressure on
investigators. For his part, Kocharian, who was released from pre-trial custody
in August, portrayed the audio as further proof that the criminal case against
him is politically motivated.
Vanetsian said on Tuesday that the audio was doctored to leave the impression
that he put pressure on the judge. He insisted that in fact he never spoke to
the judge and referred a senior SIS investigator instead.
The NSS chief also said that it was possible to wiretap his phone calls with
Khachatrian only because he made them from a foreign country.“Any mid-level
specialist could have secretly recorded them,” he said.
Vanetsian further claimed that the prominent Armenian commissioned the
wiretapping with the aim of forcing him to resign. He said the same person has
been paying some media outlets to discredit him. He refused to name them,
saying only that “they charge 3 million or 4 million drams ($6,200-$8,300) per
article.”
Last month, law-enforcement officers searched the offices of an Armenian news
website, Yerevan.Today, and confiscated some of its computer hard disks as part
of a criminal investigation into the leaked phone calls.
The website editor, Sevak Hakobian, strongly denied any involvement in the
wiretapping. He also dismissed claims that Yerevan.Today is controlled or
financed by Kocharian.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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