Tuesday,
Armenian, Azeri FMs Trade Accusations In Fresh Talks
Switzerland -- Foreign Ministers Zohrab Mnatsakanian of Armenia and Elmar
Mammadyarov of Azerbaijan and international mediators meet in Geneva, January
30, 2020.
Armenia and Azerbaijan accused each other of hampering a resolution of the
Nagorno-Karabakh during a fresh video of conference of their foreign ministers
and international mediators held on Tuesday.
Foreign Ministers Zohrab Mnatsakanian and Elmar Mammadyarov spoke with each
other and the U.S., Russian and French mediators co-heading the OSCE Minsk Group
for the second time in two months.
Mnatsakanian was quoted by his press office as condemning Azerbaijani leaders’
latest “bellicose and unconstructive” statements. He said that they “damage”
international efforts to end the conflict.
Mnatsakanian apparently referred to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s June 25
remarks made at a meeting with Azerbaijani army officers. Aliyev described
Armenia’s post-Soviet history as “shameful,” saying that his country’s arch-foe
was for decades ruled by “criminals and thieves.” He also said that the 2018
popular protests that brought Nikol Pashinian to power were not a democratic
revolution.
An Armenian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman hit back at Aliyev, saying that he
leads one of the world’s most corrupt and repressive regimes which feels
threatened by “democratic changes taking place in Armenia.”
Mammadyarov was reported to say during the video conference that the recent
“aggressive rhetoric” deplored by the mediators is the result of Armenia’s
provocative actions” taken in the “occupied territories of Azerbaijan.” Those
include illegal “infrastructure changes” carried out there, he said in an
apparent reference to the planned reconstruction of another road connecting
Karabakh to Armenia.
According to the Armenian Foreign Ministry, Mnatsakanian stressed the importance
of ensuring Karabakh residents’ “free and safe movements.” This is an important
element of Karabakh’s “comprehensive security,” he said.
In a joint statement on the talks, the Minsk Group co-chairs said they “noted
with concern that recent provocative statements, inflammatory rhetoric, and
possible steps intended to change the situation on the ground in tangible ways
could undermine the settlement process.”
“The Co‑Chairs stressed that there is no military solution to the conflict,”
read the statement. “They urged the sides to take additional steps to strengthen
the ceasefire and to prepare the populations for peace.”
“The Co‑Chairs and Foreign Ministers agreed to hold another joint video
conference in July and to meet in person as soon as possible,” concluded the
mediators.
Prime Minister Pashinian criticized Aliyev in unusually strong terms as he
chaired a meeting of Armenia’s and Karabakh’s top security officials on June 19.
He said that Aliyev is sticking to “maximalist” demands instead of reciprocating
his repeated calls for an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace deal that would satisfy all
parties to the conflict.
Parliament Passes More Amendments On Constitutional Court
• Naira Nalbandian
Armenia -- A session of the National Assembly, Yerevan, June 24, 2020.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s My Step bloc pushed through the parliament on
Tuesday more legal amendments meant to complete the controversial dismissal of
three of the nine members of Armenia’s Constitutional Court.
The parliament already approved on June 22 constitutional changes calling for
their replacement by other judges to be appointed by its pro-government majority.
The changes require the gradual resignation of seven members of the high court
installed before April 2018. Three of them are to resign with immediate effect.
Also, Hrayr Tovmasian must quit as court chairman but remain a judge.
Tovmasian and the three judges refused to step down, however. In a joint
statement issued last week, they argued that the authorities have not made
similar changes to a separate Armenian law on the Constitutional Court.
The National Assembly did just that on Tuesday. Another amendment passed by it
made the ousted justices eligible for a state pension.
The parliament controlled by My Step also altered a legal procedure for the
appointed of the new Constitutional Court members. They will be nominated by the
Armenian government, President Armen Sarkissian and an assembly of the country’s
judges. The high court will pick its new chairperson shortly after the three
vacancies are filled by the parliament.
The latest amendments were passed after a short debate that was boycotted by the
two opposition parties represented in the parliament. One of them, the
Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK), says that the constitutional changes contradict
other articles of the Armenian constitution and were enacted with serious
procedural violations.
The BHK as well as two other, extraparliamentary opposition parties -- the
Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) and Hayrenik (Fatherland) --
demanded on Tuesday a criminal investigation into what they called a “usurpation
of power.” In a 9-page “crime report” submitted to the Office of the
Prosecutor-General, they claimed that Pashinian’s political team has illegally
seized control of the Constitutional Court.
Tovmasian and the three ousted judges -- Alvina Gyulumian, Felix Tokhian and
Hrant Nazarian -- also challenge the legality of the constitutional changes.
Gyulumian has pledged to ask the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to
reinstate her.
Armenia -- Supporters of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian block the entrance to
the Constitutional Court buildin in Yerevan, May 20, 2019.
Pashinian and his political allies maintain that the constitution was amended in
a lawful manner. A senior My Step lawmaker said last week that the amendments
will eventually result in a Constitutional Court “enjoying the public’s trust.”
Tovmasian and most other court justices have been under strong government
pressure to step down over the past year. Pashinian has accused them of
maintaining close ties to the country’s former government and impeding his
judicial reforms.
Tovmasian and opposition figures have dismissed Pashinian’s claims and in turn
accused the prime minister of seeking to make the Constitutional Court loyal to
the current government.
In a written opinion made public on June 22, the Venice Commission of the
Council of Europe largely backed the constitutional amendments drafted by the
Armenian authorities. But it criticized the authorities’ refusal to introduce a
transitional period that would “allow for a gradual change in the composition of
the court in order to avoid any abrupt and immediate change endangering the
independence of this institution.”
The Strasbourg-based body also said that the authorities should not rush to have
Tovmasian replaced by another Constitutional Court chairman.
In a letter to Tovmasian publicized by the Constitutional Court on Friday,
Venice Commission President Gianni Buquicchio reiterated that the amendments are
“not in line” with the commission’s recommendations.
Tsarukian Also Infected With Coronavirus
• Astghik Bedevian
Armenia -- Prosperous Armenia Party leader Gagik Tsarukian arrives for a court
hearing in Yerevan, June 21, 2020.
Gagik Tsarukian, the leader of the main opposition Prosperous Armenia Party
(BHK), said on Tuesday that he has been infected with the coronavirus.
Tsarukian posted on his Facebook page a short video of him saying jokingly
earlier this year that “the coronavirus doesn’t hit good people.”
“So the coronavirus does not bypass good people either,” he wrote. “Quick
recovery to all carriers of the virus!”
Speaking to RFE/RL’s Armenian service, Iveta Tonoyan, Tsarukian’s spokeswoman,
confirmed that he has caught the disease.
It was not immediately clear whether the 63-year-old businessman and former
arm-wrestler, who also heads Armenia’s National Olympic Committee, is receiving
treatment at home or in hospital.
Several other members of the Armenian parliament affiliated with the BHK tested
positive for the virus late last week. At least seven deputies representing
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s My Step bloc also reportedly got infected and
had to self-isolate in recent days.
The Armenian health authorities have registered 25,542 coronavirus cases in the
country of about 3 million so far. They said on Tuesday that 14 more people
infected with COVID-19 have died in the past 24 hours.
According to the Ministry of Health, the virus was the main cause of 10 of those
deaths. The official death toll from the epidemic thus rose to 443.
Despite the reported infection of at least a dozen lawmakers, Armenia’s 132-seat
parliament convened in the morning for an emergency session initiated by My Step.
The BHK’s 25-strong parliamentary group has boycotted parliament sessions for
the last two weeks in protest against its pro-government majority’s June 16
decision to lift Tsarukian’s immunity from prosecution. The BHK leader is facing
accusations of vote buying which he rejects as politically motivated.
On June 21, a Yerevan court refused to allow law-enforcement authorities to
arrest Tsarukian pending investigation. Prosecutors appealed against the ruling.
France Offers Emergency Loan To Armenia
France -- French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during the annual dinner of
the Co-ordination Council of Armenian organisations of France (CCAF), in Paris,
February 5, 2019
France has expressed readiness to lend Armenia up to 80 million euros ($90
million) in emergency funding designed help the South Caucasus state tackle the
coronavirus crisis and its severe economic fallout.
French President Emmanuel Macron offered the low-interest loan in a letter to
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian publicized on Tuesday.
Macron voiced “solidarity” with the Armenian authorities’ efforts to contain the
spread of the coronavirus and said that a third team of French medics will fly
to Yerevan later this week to help their Armenian colleagues struggling to cope
with the deadly pandemic.
He went on to inform Pashinian that the French Development Agency (AFD) stands
ready to allocate a loan worth between 50 million and 80 million euros that
would partly cover Armenia’s “needs for additional budgetary funding” and
strengthen the country’s crisis management capacity.
The French government agency would provide this assistance in collaboration with
the World Bank and other multilateral lending institutions, added Macron.
The Armenian government announced in late April plans to borrow more than $500
million to cushion the impact of an unfolding recession resulting from the
pandemic. The government subsequently amended its 2020 budget to take account of
150 billion drams ($310 million) in coronavirus-related relief measures financed
by it and a shortfall in tax revenues which is projected to total 170 billion
drams this year.
In May, the International Monetary Fund disbursed a $280 million emergency loan
to the authorities in Yerevan. The authorities announced afterwards that they
will receive a separate $30 million IMF loan later this year.
The Armenian economy expanded robustly from 2017 through the first quarter of
this year. It is now on course to contract by at least 2 percent in 2020.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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