Author: Anna Tamamian

                                        Wednesday, January 24, 2017
Armenia Committed To European Values, Insists Sarkisian
France - Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian addresses the Council of
Europe's Parliamentary Assembly in Strasbourg, 24Jan2018.
President Serzh Sarkisian again described Armenia as a European nation
and pledged to deepen its relations with the European Union during a
visit to Strasbourg on Wednesday.
"We consider ourselves Europeans regardless of whether or not the
Europeans also think so," Sarkisian declared during a
question-and-answer session at the Council of Europe's Parliamentary
Assembly (PACE).
"We are sure that our cooperation with the EU will deepen because we
cooperate with EU structures not to make a point to someone but
because we consider ourselves carriers of the European value system,"
he said after a speech delivered on the PACE floor.
In that context, Sarkisian cited the recent signing of the
Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between
Armenia and the EU. The landmark accord opened up "very good prospects
for Armenia's development," he said.
The CEPA is a less far-reaching substitute for an Association
Agreement which was nearly finalized by Yerevan and Brussels in
2013. Sarkisian precluded its signing with his unexpected decision to
seek Armenia's accession to the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union
(EEU).
Sarkisian defended that decision on Wednesday, saying that it was
backed by most Armenians and proved beneficial for the Armenian
economy. Answering a question from a PACE member, he also argued that
membership in the EEU has not prevented Armenia from seeking closer
ties with the EU.
Under the CEPA, the Armenian government is to carry out political
reforms and boost human rights protection. It must also gradually
"approximate" Armenian economic laws and regulations to those of the
EU.
In his speech at the Strasbourg-based assembly, Sarkisian claimed that
Armenia has made significant progress in democratizing its political
system since joining the Council of Europe 17 years ago.
"I can proudly state today that we have fulfilled our main commitments
to the Council of Europe regarding Armenia's democratization," he
said. "This is not just our assertion. Our successes in the
establishment of democratic institutions have been acknowledged in
reports drawn up by Council of Europe's monitoring structures."
The ongoing "reforms," he went on, will gain new momentum with
Armenia's impending transition to a parliamentary system of government
stemming from sweeping constitutional changes enacted in 2015. He
argued that those changes were largely endorsed by legal experts from
the Council of Europe's Venice Commission.
Sarkisian's political opponents believe that the main purpose of the
controversial constitutional reform was to enable him to stay in power
after serving out his final presidential term in April 2018. They also
maintain that the Sarkisian administration continues to abuse human
rights and rig elections.
Opposition Bloc Wants Parliament To Condemn 2008 Crackdown
 . Karlen Aslanian
Armenia - Pictures of the ten people killed in the March 2008
post-election unrest in Yerevan are displayed during an opposition
rally marking its 8th anniversary, 1Mar2016.
The opposition Yelk alliance called on the Armenian parliament on
Wednesday to condemn a 2008 post-election crackdown on opposition
protesters in Yerevan which left ten people dead.
A parliamentary resolution drafted by Yelk also demands that Armenian
law-enforcement authorities at last identify and punish those directly
responsible for the bloodshed that followed a disputed presidential
election.
Many supporters of the main opposition candidate, former President
Levon Ter-Petrosian, took to the streets at the time to demand a
re-run of the vote that formalized a transfer of power from outgoing
President Robert Kocharian to Serzh Sarkisian. Thousands of them
barricaded themselves in downtown Yerevan on March 1, 2008 after riot
police broke up nonstop demonstrations organized by Ter-Petrosian and
his allies in the city's Liberty Square in protest against alleged
vote rigging.
Eight protesters and two police servicemen were killed as security
forces tried to forcibly end that protest as well. Ter-Petrosian urged
his supporters to disperse early on March 2 shortly after Kocharian
declared a state of emergency and ordered Armenian army units into the
capital.
Armenia -- Supporters of opposition presidential candidate Levon
Ter-Petrossian make a human chain as they protest in Yerevan,
01Mar2008
More than a hundred opposition activists and supporters were arrested
in the following weeks. Most of them were tried and sentenced on
highly controversial charges. Nobody has been prosecuted for the
killings since then, despite law-enforcement authorities' claims that
they are continuing to investigate the unrest.
The parliamentary declaration proposed by Yelk condemns the use of
"crude and illegal force against peaceful protesters" and "fabricated"
criminal cases against oppositionists. It says that the authorities
must identify and prosecute those who ordered or committed the
killings. It also describes the February 2008 election as fraudulent.
Sarkisian's ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) did not
immediately react to the Yelk initiative, saying only that it is
looking into the draft declaration circulated in the National
Assembly. The HHK has previously blocked parliamentary inquiries of
the 2008 unrest and financial compensations to the families of the ten
victims demanded by other opposition forces.
A leader of Yelk, Nikol Pashinian, was confident that the motion will
at least reach the parliament floor in time for the tenth anniversary
of the tragic events. "The issue of March 1 will be discussed at a
plenary session of the National Assembly in one way or another," he
said.
Armenia -- Nikol Pashinian is greeted by opposition supporters that
barricaded themeselves in Yerevan on 1March 2008
Pashinian, 42, was one of the main speakers at Ter-Petrosian's 2008
post-election rallies. He went into hiding on March 2, 2008. The
former newspaper editor subsequently surrendered to law-enforcement
bodies and was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment. He was set free
in 2012 after spending about two years in prison.
Pashinian fell out with Ter-Petrosian before setting up his own
political party called Civil Contract. The latter is one of the three
opposition parties making up Yelk.
Ter-Petrosian's Armenian National Congress (HAK), which is not
represented in the current parliament, has already announced that it
will mark the tenth anniversary of the worst street violence in
Armenia's history with a demonstration in Yerevan.
Armenian, Iraqi Kurdish PMs Discuss Closer Business Ties
 . Emil Danielyan
Switzerland - Prime Ministers Karen Karapetian (R) of Armenia and
Nechirvan Barzani of the Iraqi Kurdistan region meet in Davos,
24Jan2018.
The prime ministers of Armenia and the Iraqi Kurdistan region met in
Switzerland on Wednesday to discuss ways of reinvigorating bilateral
commercial ties complicated by last year's Kurdish independence
referendum.
Iraqi Kurds voted overwhelmingly for independence from Iraq on
September 25. The Iraqi central government rejected the referendum as
illegal, seizing the Kurdish-held city of Kirkuk, imposing financial
sanctions on the Kurds and blocking flights to and from the regional
capital Erbil. The vote also angered Turkey and Iran, which fully or
partly shut down their borders with the autonomous region.
Armenia, which maintains cordial relations with both the authorities
in Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), reacted
cautiously to the standoff. Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian
expressed hope that the two sides will "find ways of solving existing
issues."
The KRG seemed to bow to the pressure from Baghdad, Ankara and Tehran
in October, offering to freeze the referendum results. Its Prime
Minister Nechirvan Barzani visited Tehran and met with Iranian
President Hassan Rouhani on Sunday.
Three days later, Barzani and Armenian Prime Minister Karen Karapetian
held talks on the sidelines of the annual World Economic Forum in
Davos. An Armenian government statement said they discussed
"possibilities and prospects for bolstering bilateral economic links."
"Prime Minister Barzani stressed that [the Iraqi Kurds] want to deepen
cooperation and spur commercial ties with Armenia, said the statement.
Karapetian also called for closer ties between Armenia and the Kurdish
region, saying that his government is ready to take "practical steps"
for that purpose." The two men were reported to single out energy,
trade and tourism as potential areas for closer cooperation.
Armenia's trade with the Kurdish region and other parts of Iraq has
grown considerably in recent years. Armenian exports to the Middle
Eastern nation accounted for the bulk of Armenian-Iraqi trade worth
$138 million in 2016.
Commercial exchange between the two countries is mainly carried out
via Iran, a key neighbor and foreign partner of Armenia. The Islamic
Republic reopened two border crossings with Iraqi Kurdistan on January
2.
According to the government statement, Karapetian and Barzani also
discussed the resumption of weekly flights between Yerevan and Erbil.
The flights were suspended in late September following the Iraqi
government's decision to close Iraqi Kurdistan's airspace to foreign
airlines in retaliation for the independence referendum. Reports from
Baghdad have said that the ban will remain in force at least until the
end of February.
The Armenian government formally decided to open a consulate general
in Erbil in March 2017 shortly after Nalbandian held fresh talks with
Massoud Barzani, the Iraqi Kurdish president at the time, in Germany.
Press Review
"Haykakan Zhamanak" attacks senior Armenian officials who downplayed
the impact of recent price increases during parliamentary hearings
held in Yerevan on Tuesday. "Why did they organize those hearings in
the first place?" writes the paper. "To say that there is no inflation
in Armenia."
"Zhoghovurd" says those officials failed to clarify during the
hearings whether there are any ways of mitigating the impact of the
price hikes. The paper says they claimed instead that external, not
"subjective," factors" are behind the price hikes. "It is not clear
what Armenia's citizens gained from those proceedings," it says.
"Hraparak" reports that Gagik Tsarukian's alliance will propose fresh
hearings in the National Assembly on the same issue. The paper quotes
one of its parliamentarians, Sergey Bagratian, as saying that the bloc
is not happy with the format of Tuesday's hearings. He says the
Tsarukian Bloc believes that the next such discussion should focus on
what can be done to reverse the increased cost of fuel and some food
products. "Besides, there should be no time limits for speeches and
questions asked to speakers," he tells the paper.
"Aravot" cites an Armenian analyst, Gevorg Melikian, as saying that
Azerbaijan has purchased $500 million worth of weapons from Belarus in
the past decade. Melikian says he is surprised that the Armenian media
did not cover Azerbaijani-Belarusian military dealings until a recent
announcement that Baku will acquire Belarusian-made rocket systems for
$170 million.
(Tigran Avetisian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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