Monday,
Armenian Lawmakers Voice Hope For Peaceful End To Crisis In Belarus
• Nane Sahakian
My Step faction MP Mikael Zolian
Armenian parliamentarians say they hope that the current political crisis in
Belarus will not take a violent course and the situation there will be resolved
peacefully.
Talking to RFE/RL’s Armenian Service (Azatutyun) member of the Armenian
parliament’s pro-government My Step faction Mikael Zolian said that violence is
unacceptable in any situation.
“Violence has never solved such problems and I think that in this case it won’t
solve any problem either. A peaceful resolution of the situation is necessary,”
the lawmaker said.
At the same time, Zolian said that both parliamentarians and government
officials in Armenia should exercise restraint in commenting on the events in
Belarus. “I would not like to comment on issues related to the internal affairs
of Belarus. I believe that the people of Belarus should resolve this situation
themselves, and it would be wrong for other countries, including us, to propose
any solutions,” he said.
Protests swept across Belarus after the country’s incumbent President Alyaksandr
Lukashenka was declared a victor in an August 9 presidential election that the
opposition says were rigged in favor of the longtime autocratic leader.
Lukashenka’s main challenger, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who has fled Belarus for
neighboring Lithuania, refused to recognize Lukashenka’s victory, calling on her
supporters to stage protests to seek an election rerun.
At least two people have been killed, hundreds have been injured, and thousands
arrested in the government crackdown against protesters in Belarus.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, who came to power as a result of
widespread anti-government protests in May 2018 and earlier spent nearly two
years in prison after being convicted of organizing mass disturbances during
2008 postelection protests, congratulated Lukashenka on his disputed win hours
after Belarus’s Central Election Commission announced the preliminary results on
August 10.
Pashinian’s move immediately drew criticism from his political opponents and
some leading human rights activists who believe the Armenian leader took a hasty
step.
Only a handful of world leaders have congratulated Lukashenka on his disputed
election win. Among them are Russian President Vladimir Putin and China’s leader
Xi Jinping. The European Union has said it does not recognize the results, and
the United States has expressed deep concern over the election results and the
unrest, with President Donald Trump describing the situation unfolding in
Belarus as “terrible.”
Zolian, a member of the Pashinian-led My Step bloc, said that the
congratulations sent to the Belarus leader by Armenian leaders were “a step
taken in accordance with certain diplomatic rules.”
Armenia is a member of the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union and Collective
Security Treaty Organization, both of which include Belarus.
“Both the prime minister and the president sent their congratulations on the
basis of the adopted procedure. If events develop in a way that new elections
are held [in Belarus], there will be new congratulations in accordance with the
results of these new elections,” Zolian said.
Opposition Bright Armenia faction member Armen
Yeghiazarian, who was on a delegation of observers at the Belarus election
representing the Inter-parliamentary Assembly of the Commonwealth of Independent
States, a loose grouping of several post-Soviet countries, said that based on
what he observed at polling stations in Minsk he got the impression that perhaps
indeed there were no major violations during the ballot itself. “Perhaps people,
indeed, cast their vote, but in the end, during the vote count, seeing that the
numbers were not in favor of the incumbent, they [election officials] changed
them. Perhaps, there were indeed no violations at the polling stations for us to
see,” he said.
Bright Armenia faction MP Armen Yeghiazarian
Yeghiazarian said that the main challenge for Belarus now is to avoid bloodshed.
“If the majority in the country opposes the current government, it might be
right for Lukashenka to step down and leave it up to democracy so that people
themselves can decide in which direction the country wants to go,” the Armenian
lawmaker said.
While most people in the streets of Yerevan took little interest in the events
taking place in Belarus, those who did mainly spoke in favor of the protesters.
“He [Lukashenka] must leave. But he is very stubborn. He won’t leave until he
does what we had in 2008,” one Yerevan resident said, referring to Armenia’s
post-election crackdown 12 years ago in which 10 people were killed.
“I support the people of Belarus. Let it be the way people want it to be,”
another man said.
Universities In Armenia To Reopen In September, Education Minister Says
The main building of Yerevan State University (file photo)
Armenian universities closed because of the coronavirus pandemic in March will
reopen their doors to students next month, Education Minister Arayik Harutiunian
has said.
Harutiunian made the announcement after a meeting on August 17 of senior
government officials who are coordinating the response to the coronavirus
pandemic.
Harutiunian added that university classes for freshman students will open on
September 1, while all others will start on September 15.
"Universities themselves will decide on how to organize courses, including a
hybrid way that will allow online learning. Universities will publish details on
their websites and will provide additional information about their curricula,"
Harutiunian said in a Facebook post.
Last week, Harutiunian announced that classes in all secondary schools in
Armenia as well as in vocational training colleges, music, and art schools will
begin on September 15.
Education Minister Arayik Harutiunian
He stressed that all educational establishments must comply with sanitary and
hygienic rules set by the government.
All schools, universities, and other general education institutions in Armenia
have remained closed since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in March
when they switched to distance learning to ensure the continuity of the
educational process.
The current state of emergency in Armenia ends on September 11. The government
has indicated that it will not extend it unless the coronavirus situation takes
a turn for the worse.
Armenia has recorded 41,701 coronavirus cases and 824 deaths since the start of
the epidemic. In recent weeks, however, the country’s heath authorities have
been reporting decreasing numbers of new COVID-19 cases and fatalities.
Armenia, Turkey Exchange More Diplomatic Salvos Over Regional Affairs
Turkish seismic research vessel Oruc Reis is escorted by Turkish Navy ships as
it sets sail in the Mediterranean Sea, off Antalya, Turkey, August 10, 2020.
The diplomatic agencies of Armenia and Turkey have renewed their acrimonious
exchange over the weekend after official Yerevan voiced support for Greece and
Cyprus in their dispute with Ankara over the latter’s Mediterranean gas and oil
search effort.
“We closely follow the latest developments and naval mobilization in the Aegean
and Eastern Mediterranean caused by the Turkish illegal and provocative actions.
This destabilizing posturing in the Eastern Mediterranean manifests continued
aggressive and expansionist policy that Turkey has been pursuing in its
neighboring regions,” Armenia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement
released on August 15.
“We reiterate Armenia’s unequivocal support and solidarity with Greece and
Cyprus and call on Turkey to de-escalate the situation, respect the
International Law and cease all actions within the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)
of Greece and Cyprus,” it added.
The following day a Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman issued a statement,
claiming “an insidious alliance that is being attempted to be forged against
Turkey.”
Hami Aksoy said that Armenia is “in a fallacious perception of the global
geography and its place in it.”
“The issue at hand is the Eastern Mediterranean, not Lake Sevan,” he said in an
acid comment.
“Following its provocative statement on the Treaty of Sevres, Armenia’s
expressing an opinion regarding the Eastern Mediterranean this time is a novel
instance of impertinence and irresponsibility.
“Coming after the examples of the United Arab Emirates and France, the fact that
Armenia, a country with no coastline to any sea, presumes itself worthy of
speaking about the Eastern Mediterranean, unravels the dimensions of an
insidious alliance that is being attempted to be forged against Turkey,” the
Turkish Foreign Ministry representative said.
Aksoy stressed that “no matter what, Turkey will resolutely continue to protect
both its and Turkish Cypriots’ rights in the Eastern Mediterranean stemming from
international law.”
“No alliance of malice will manage to prevent this. Those who think otherwise
have not learned their lessons from history. On this occasion, Turkey would also
like to remind that, with all its means and capabilities, it stands by brotherly
Azerbaijan,” he concluded.
Earlier last week Armenia and Turkey exchanged acrimonious remarks on the
centennial of the Treaty of Sèvres, a post-World War I document viewed
differently from Yerevan and Ankara.
The 1920 treaty signed between the Allies of World War I, a coalition led by
France, Britain, the United States and others on the one side, and the Central
Powers, including the Ottoman Empire, on the other was never ratified by Turkey.
If implemented, it would, in particular, have given Armenia a much larger
territory than it had, including access to the Black Sea.
Armenia and Turkey currently have no diplomatic relations. Internationally
backed efforts in 2008-2009 for rapprochement between the two neighboring states
divided over historical events, including the 1915 Armenian Genocide, eventually
led to no normalization, and the Turkish-Armenian border remains closed to date.
Armenian Official Defends Pashinian’s ‘Quick’ Congratulatory Message To
Lukashenka
• Harry Tamrazian
Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia Armen Grigorian (R) being
interviewed by RFE/RL Armenian Service Director Harry Tamrazian on the Sunday
Analytical Show, .
A senior Armenian official says Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s congratulatory
message to Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka on his disputed reelection
was in line with the agenda of Armenia’s peaceful 2018 revolution.
Armen Grigorian, the secretary of Armenia’s Security Council, said in an
interview with RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on August 16 that decisions like the
one to congratulate Lukashenka are taken on the basis of a “comprehensive risk
assessment.”
Pashinian immediately came under criticism from his political opponents and
human rights activists in Armenia for sending “quick” congratulations to
Lukashenka on August 10, hours after Belarus’s Central Election Commission
published the preliminary results of the vote, triggering large-scale opposition
protests against “rigged elections.”
Only a handful of world leaders have congratulated Lukashenka on his disputed
election win. Among them are Russian President Vladimir Putin and China’s leader
Xi Jinping. The European Union has said it does not recognize the results, and
the United States has expressed deep concern over the election results and the
unrest.
“Security-related and other major decisions have grounds, they are not born out
of thin air,” Grigorian said, speaking on the Sunday Analytical Show by RFE/RL's
Armenian Service. “In general, a complete risk assessment is made, and a
decision is taken in the interests of the Republic of Armenia.”
Pashinian, who came to power as a result of widespread anti-government protests
in May 2018 and earlier spent nearly two years in prison after being convicted
of organizing mass disturbances during 2008 postelection protests, has refused
to comment on criticism of his congratulations to Lukashenka, who has ruled
Belarus since 1994.
Grigorian, who was one of the leaders of the 2018 street protests that brought
down the government, said that the protest movement’s leaders had announced that
there would be no changes in Armenia’s foreign policy agenda.
“In other words, [Pashinian’s] message is completely in line with the agenda of
the revolution. It ensures the continuity of the agenda of the revolution,” he
said.
Armenia is a member of the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union and Collective
Security Treaty Organization, both of which include Belarus.
Lukashenka’s main challenger, Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who has fled Belarus for
neighboring Lithuania, refused to recognize Lukashenka’s victory, calling on her
supporters to stage protests to seek an election rerun.
At least two people have been killed, hundreds have been injured, and thousands
arrested in the government crackdown against protesters in Belarus.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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