RFE/RL Armenian Report – 09/08/2021

                                        Wednesday, September 8, 2021
Armenian Authorities Accused Of Covering Up Assault On Opposition Lawmakers
        • Astghik Bedevian
Armenia - Deputies from the ruling Civil Contract party clash with their 
opposition colleagues, August 25, 2021.
The main opposition Hayastan alliance accused the Armenian government on 
Wednesday of ordering a law-enforcement agency not to prosecute pro-government 
lawmakers who physically attacked their opposition colleagues on the parliament 
floor last month.
The violence broke out on August 25 when a senior Hayastan member, Vahe 
Hakobian, criticized the government’s five-year policy program during a heated 
session of the National Assembly attended by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.
Hakobian interrupted his speech before being approached by three deputies from 
Pashinian’s Civil Contract party and kicked by one of them.
Hakobian and five other Hayastan parliamentarians, including deputy speaker 
Ishkhan Saghatelian, were hit by a larger number of Civil Contract lawmakers in 
an ensuing melee that was not swiftly stopped by scores of security personnel 
present in the chamber. One of the oppositionists, Gegham Nazarian, suffered an 
eye injury and required medical aid.
The Special Investigative Service (SIS) pledged to look into the ugly scenes 
filmed by various media outlets and questioned a number of deputies in the 
following days. It said on Tuesday that it will launch a formal criminal 
investigation into the beating of only one Hayastan deputy, Gegham Manukian.
One of the video clips circulated on the Internet shows that Manukian was 
assaulted by Hayk Sargsian, a controversial Civil Contract member. The SIS said 
on Wednesday nobody has been charged in connection with that that assault yet.
A senior Hayastan figure, Artsvik Minasian, condemned the SIS’s decision, saying 
that the law-enforcement agency is carrying out a “political order.” He said 
that is further proof that Armenia’s political leadership orchestrated the 
violence to bully the opposition and create an atmosphere of impunity in the 
country.
Daniel Ioannisian of the Yerevan-based Union of Informed Citizens also 
criticized the SIS’s stance. He said his Western-funded civic group, which has 
closely examined the August 25 violence, will likely complain to the Office of 
the Prosecutor-General.
In a detailed analysis and a video clip posted on his Facebook page last week, 
Ioannisian named nine pro-government lawmakers involved in the violence and even 
counted the number of punches thrown by each of them.
“It is evident to any sensible person that a number of deputies … carried out 
actions banned by the Criminal Code in front of the whole country,” Ioannisian 
told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “Failure to prosecute them would send the public 
a message to effect that one can solve political issues by force and get away 
with that.”
The civic activist also emphasized the fact uniformed security officers waited 
for about a minute before stepping in to stop the brawl. He said they acted far 
more quickly when a less serious scuffle broke out on the parliament floor 
earlier on August 25 after Hayastan’s parliamentary leader, Seyran Ohanian, 
threw a plastic bottle at Civil Contract’s Sargsian.
“The actions of the State Protection Service on that day … show that its 
officers present in the chamber at that point were carrying out a political 
order or satisfying the ruling team’s political wishes,” charged Ioannisian.
Civil Contract’s Artur Hovannisian, one of the pro-government parliamentarians 
who punched vice-speaker Saghatelian, defended the SIS’s decision. Hovannisian 
also blamed the opposition bloc -- and Ohanian in particular -- for the violence.
Stability In Armenia ‘Very Important’ For Georgia
        • Karlen Aslanian
Georgia - Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili (R) meets with his 
Armenian counterpart Nikol Pashinian, Tbilisi, September 8. 2021.
Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili stressed the importance of 
political stability in Armenia after holding talks with his Armenian counterpart 
Nikol Pashinian in Tbilisi on Wednesday.
Gharibashvili praised Pashinian’s “vision” for restoring peace and strengthening 
stability in the South Caucasus after last year’s war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
“The Karabakh war was a tough challenge for our region,” he told a joint news 
briefing. “But after familiarizing myself with Prime Minister Pashinian’s new 
vision I believe this challenge will turn into a new opportunity that will bring 
prosperity to Armenia and the Armenian people.”
“I also want to make clear that political and economic stability in Armenia is 
very important for us. It is directly connected with stability in our country 
and the region as a whole,” he said.
Pashinian similarly spoke of new “regional opportunities” that emerged after the 
Karabakh war stopped by a Russian-brokered ceasefire last November. He 
reaffirmed earlier in the day support for reopening transport links between 
Armenia and Azerbaijan.
An Armenian government statement on his meeting with Gharibashvili cited 
Pashinian as saying that Azerbaijan’s “unconstructive policies and anti-Armenian 
rhetoric” poses a threat to regional peace and stability. It said he also 
praised Georgia’s “balanced position” on the Karabakh conflict.
According to the statement, economic issues were also high on the agenda of the 
talks, with the two premiers pledging more efforts to expand Georgian-Armenian 
trade and explore joint “initiatives” relating to energy, transport and 
information technology. That includes a multilateral deal on a transport 
corridor that would connect Iran’s Persian Gulf ports to the Black Sea via 
Armenia and Georgia.
Gharibashvili told reporters that both sides are open to “new projects.” He did 
not go into details.
The Georgian leader visited Baku and Yerevan in May.
Health Minister Defends Armenia’s Slow Vaccine Rollout
        • Marine Khachatrian
Armenia - Minister of Health Anahit Avanesian holds a news briefing in Yerevan, 
September 2, 2021
Health Minister Anahit Avanesian downplayed on Wednesday the slow pace of 
coronavirus vaccinations in Armenia, saying that it does not testify to her 
government’s failure to contain the spread of COVID-19.
According the Armenian Ministry of Health, only 7 percent of the country’s 
population received at least one dose of a vaccine as of September 5. The figure 
indicates that Armenia has the lowest proportion of citizens inoculated against 
COVID-19 in the region.
“Yes, our indicators still have a lot of room for improvement,” Avanesian told 
reporters. “But I do not consider this a failure [of the government] because we 
opted for providing accurate information to the people and dispelling their 
doubts first. I believe that we have succeeded in doing that.”
Avanesian again cited a recent opinion poll showing that the proportion of 
Armenians ready to get vaccinated has risen to over 40 percent from just 10 
percent in March.
In a bid to significantly speed up the vaccine rollout, the government is 
resorting to administrative measures. Avanesian decided late last month to 
require virtually all public and private sector employees refusing vaccination 
to take coronavirus tests twice a month at their own expense. The new 
requirement will come into effect on October 1.
The health minister said people not complying with it should not only face heavy 
fines but also risk losing their jobs.
The daily number of officially confirmed coronavirus cases in Armenia has been 
slowly but steadily rising since June. The Ministry of Health reported on 
Wednesday morning 645 new cases and 15 deaths caused by the disease.
Pashinian Encouraged By Erdogan’s Statements
Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian speaks during a government meeting, 
Yerevan, September 8, 2021.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on Wednesday described as encouraging Turkish 
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s recent statements on normalizing 
Turkish-Armenian relations and said his government is ready for a dialogue with 
Ankara.
“I must note that the president of Turkey has publicly commented on relations 
with Armenia,” he said. “We see in those statements an opportunity to talk about 
normalizing Armenia-Turkey relations and reopening the Turkish-Armenian railway 
and roads, and we are prepared for such a conversation.”
“I am happy to point out that the Russian Federation has publicly expressed 
readiness to actively assist in that process. The European Union, France and the 
United States are also interested in that process,” Pashinian added during a 
weekly session of his cabinet.
Pashinian already spoke on August 27 of “some positive signals” sent by the 
Turkish government of late and said Yerevan is ready to reciprocate them. 
Erdogan responded by saying that regional states should establish 
“good-neighborly relations” by recognizing each other’s territorial integrity 
and sovereignty.
“If Yerevan is ready to move in that direction Ankara could start working on a 
gradual normalization of relations with Armenia,” he said.
In that context, Erdogan pointed to Azerbaijan’s desire to negotiate a 
comprehensive “peace treaty” with Armenia after last year’s war in 
Nagorno-Karabakh. Baku is understood to seek Armenian recognition of Azerbaijani 
sovereignty over Karabakh through such a treaty.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan (L) and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev 
attend a signing ceremony in Shusha, in Nagorno-Karabakh, June 15, 2021.
Armenian opposition leaders and some analysts say Ankara continues to make the 
normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations conditional on a Karabakh settlement 
favorable to Baku. They say the Turks also want Yerevan to stop campaigning for 
a greater international recognition of the 1915 Armenian genocide in the Ottoman 
Empire.
Pashinian put a possible Turkish-Armenian dialogue in the “broader context” of 
ongoing Russian-mediated talks on opening transport links between Armenia and 
Azerbaijan which he said would be “very important” for Armenia. He also 
reaffirmed Yerevan’s commitment to demarcating the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.
Hayk Mamijanian, a senior Armenian opposition parliamentarian, denounced 
Pashinian’s remarks, saying that the prime minister is intent on making 
far-reaching concessions to Turkey and Azerbaijan.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called late last week for the 
normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations. “We are ready to assist in that in 
the most active way,” he said.
Turkey provided decisive military assistance to Azerbaijan during the six-week 
war stopped by a Russian-brokered ceasefire. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev 
again thanked Ankara for that aid when he and Erdogan visited in June the 
Karabakh town of Shushi (Shusha) captured by the Azerbaijani army.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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