Author: Antonian Lara

                                        Tuesday, 
Major Ally Rebukes, Warns Pashinian
Armenia - Aram Sarkisian speaks at the founding congress of the Yelk alliance 
in Yerevan, 21 January 2017.
The leader of a party represented in Armenia’s current government has deplored 
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s harsh attacks on alleged 
“counterrevolutionary” elements in the country, saying that he is alienating 
political groups that helped him come to power.
Aram Sarkisian warned that they could no longer back Pashinian’s plans to force 
snap parliamentary elections in the coming months.
Pashinian launched the verbal attacks following the start of campaigning for 
the September 23 municipal elections in Yerevan which his Civil Contract party 
hopes to win by a landslide. Speaking at a campaign rally last week, he claimed 
that “political forces portraying themselves as guardians of the revolution” 
are secretly collaborating with the former ruling Republican Party (HHK) in a 
bid to get more votes in the polls.
Pashinian, who led last spring a protest movement that brought down Armenia’s 
previous HHK-controlled government, did not name those forces. Observers 
believe that he referred to at least some of the other parties that are 
represented in his cabinet. Those are Gagik Tsarukian’s Prosperous Armenia 
(BHK), Dashnaktsutyun as well as the Republic and Bright Armenia parties.
The latter make up, together with Civil Contract, the Yelk alliance that 
finished third in the last parliamentary elections held in April 2017. Republic 
and Bright Armenia refused to back Pashinian when he launched the 
anti-government mass protests in April.
Despite the rift, Pashinian gave his Yelk partners two ministerial posts in his 
cabinet formed in May. Still, the three parties subsequently failed to agree on 
a single mayoral candidate in Yerevan. Bright Armenia and Republic fielded 
their own candidate, Justice Minister Artak Zeynalian, who is now challenging 
Civil Contract’s Hayk Marutian.
Armenia - Leaders of the opposition Yelk alliance hold an anti-government rally 
in Yerevan, 19Jan2018.
The Republic leader, Aram Sarkisian, described as “nonsensical” suggestions 
that his party is secretly collaborating with the HHK when he campaigned for 
Zeynalian late on Monday. He also emphasized the fact that parliament deputies 
from Republic, Bright Armenia, the BHK and Dashnaktsutyun helped Pashinian 
become prime minister on May 8. “How can you say such things about the team 
that has worked with you?” he said, appealing to the premier.
“If you want to form a government only with those who marched with you, to 
reckon only with them and to build [a new] Armenia only with them, I have 
nothing to say to you,” Sarkisian went on. “But you must think about how you 
will be going about holding pre-term [parliamentary] elections.
“The two parties listed by me and the four other members of our [Yelk] 
parliamentary faction have stood with you and said that they support fresh 
elections. I can now see these people wondering whether they should keep up 
that support.”
“These people, who helped you once, may not help you this time around,” warned 
the veteran politician.
Sarkisian said that ordinary Armenians also do not like what he sees as 
Pashinian’s divisive and inflammatory rhetoric.“I am deeply convinced that our 
people … are sick and tired of fighting against each other,” he said.
Armenian Ex-Presidents Invited To Government Events
        • Sisak Gabrielian
Armenia - President Serzh Sarkisian (L) and his predecessor Robert Kocharian 
visit Gyumri, 7 December 2008.
The government said on Tuesday that it will invite the three former presidents 
of Armenia to attend this week’s official celebrations of the country’s 
Independence Day.
The September 21 events will mark the 27th anniversary of a referendum in which 
the vast majority of Armenians voted for secession from the disintegrating 
Soviet Union. They include an official reception that will be held at the 
former presidential palace in Yerevan where Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and 
most of his staff currently work.
“All three presidents will be invited to the Independence Day events,” said 
Eduard Aghajanian, the chief of Pashinian’s staff.
Pashinian swept to power in May after weeks of nationwide mass protests that 
forced Armenia’s longtime leader, Serzh Sarkisian, to resign. Sarkisian served 
as president of the republic for the past ten years. He tried unsuccessfully to 
extend his rule by becoming prime minister following the country’s transition 
to a parliamentary system of government.
Sarkisian’s predecessor, Robert Kocharian, was controversially arrested in July 
on coup charges stemming from a 2008 post-election crackdown on opposition 
protesters in Yerevan. An Armenian appeals court freed him from custody more 
than two weeks later.
Kocharian denies the charges as politically motivated. Immediately after his 
release he announced his return to active politics.
Pashinian has repeatedly defended Kocharian’s prosecution, while denying 
issuing any pressure on law-enforcement bodies investigating the 2008 violence. 
In a September 11 speech, he branded the ex-president a “criminal” and 
“traitor.”
The 43-year-old premier has also had an uneasy relationship with Armenia’s 
first president, Levon Ter-Petrosian. He played a prominent role in 
Ter-Petrosian’s opposition movement that was targeted by Kocharian in 2008. 
Pashinian subsequently spent about two years in prison on charges stemming from 
that crackdown.
Pashinian fell out with Ter-Petrosian after being released from prison in 2011. 
The two men met in July for the first time in years.
11 Charged With Vote Buying In Yerevan
        • Anush Muradian
Armenia - Mayor Taron Markarian votes in municipal elections in Yerevan, 
14May2017.
Eleven persons, including a senior local government official, have been charged 
with buying votes for the Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) in last year’s 
municipal elections in Yerevan, it emerged on Tuesday.
The criminal case stems from irregularities that were reported by the 
opposition Yelk alliance on eve of the May 2017 elections won by the HHK and 
its top candidate, Yerevan’s incumbent Mayor Taron Markarian.
Yelk representatives found scandalous documents in a trash bin outside an HHK 
campaign office in the city’s Arabkir district. Most of them purportedly 
detailed vote buying operations by government loyalists, including sums of 
money and guidelines on how to buy votes.
Armenia’s Special Investigative Service (SIS) claimed to have conducted an 
inquiry. It closed the criminal case in August 2017, citing a lack of evidence.
The SIS launched a fresh probe shortly after one of Yelk’s leaders, Nikol 
Pashinian, swept to power in a wave of mass protests that brought down 
Armenia’s HHK-led government in May.
According to a senior official from the law-enforcement agency, Davit 
Kostandian, SIS investigators have found compelling evidence of vote buying in 
favor of the HHK. Kostandian said that the illegal operation was led by Hrayr 
Antonian, the head of a department at Yerevan’s municipal administration, and 
Stepan Sahakian, the executive director of a supermarket chain owned by an 
HHK-linked businessman.
The SIS official claimed that Arabkir residents were paid 10,000 drams ($21) 
each for pledging to vote for the HHK and Mayor Markarian. He did not specify 
how many votes were bought in this fashion, saying only that Antonian and 
Sahakian claim to have spent 48 million drams and 15 million drams respectively 
on vote bribes.
Neither man could be reached for comment on Tuesday. Kostandian said they and 
the nine other suspects have pleaded guilty to the accusations. Markarian, who 
resigned as Yerevan mayor under government pressure in July, has not yet been 
questioned by the SIS, added the official.
Another document found by Yelk in 2017 contained the names of police officers 
who pledged to earn the HHK a particular number of votes. The document was 
allegedly faxed from a telephone number belonging to the Armenian police.
Kostandian said that all of those policemen have been questioned by SIS 
investigators. But he declined to elaborate.
Vote buying was widespread in just about every major election held in Armenia 
in the last two decades. The HHK, which is headed by former President Serzh 
Sarkisian, was accused by its opponents and media of heavily relying on the 
practice in the last parliamentary polls held in April 2017.Observers from the 
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said that they were marred 
by “many credible reports” of vote buying.
The new Pashinian-led government has pledged to prevent vote buying in the snap 
mayoral elections that will be held in the Armenian capital on Sunday. Earlier 
this month it pushed through the parliament legal amendments that significantly 
toughened punishment for the illegal practice.
Press Review
“Zhamanak” seeks to rationalize mounting political tensions in Armenia 
resulting from the ongoing mayoral race in Yerevan. “Political struggle is 
quite brutal in practically all countries,” writes the paper. “And 
paradoxically, that brutal and tough character often reflects the fact that a 
particular election is really competitive. That is to say that nothing is 
predetermined in advance.”
“Haykakan Zhamanak” dismisses critics’ allegations that Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian is increasingly showing authoritarian tendencies and needs to be held 
in check by strong opposition. The pro-Pashinian paper acknowledges that these 
claims are now also backed by individuals and groups who “honestly” want the 
current government to be accountable. “The executive branch, namely Pashinian’s 
team, has no influence on the judicial system,” it says. “In fact, the judicial 
system is engaged in an overt sabotage against the prime minister’s team and 
pursues concrete goals: to discredit the ongoing fight against corruption and 
abuses.” The paper argues that the Armenian parliament is also not controlled 
by Pashinian.
“Hraparak” expresses concern over Monday’s police raid against an Armenian 
media outlet that circulated leaked phone calls between the heads of the 
National Security Service (NSS) and the Special Investigative Service (SIS). 
The paper argues that other news organizations also publicized the scandalous 
recordings last week. It suggests that the Yerevan.today publication was raided 
because of its alleged ties to former President Robert Kocharian. The 
authorities, it says, may have tried to bully the publication or keep up public 
support for their declared anti-corruption efforts.
Interviewed by “168 Zham,” a Russian political commentator, Stanislav Tarasov, 
sees a renewed risk of a major escalation of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. 
“Armenia’s recently elected Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has made differing 
and at times contradictory statements and moves on the conflict’s resolution,” 
says Tarasov. “At the start of his tenure Pashinian said that Nagorno-Karabakh 
is a party to the conflict and must be involved in the negotiation process. But 
further processes followed the previous logic.” He suggests that Pashinian is 
still undecided about his national security strategy.
(Tigran Avetisian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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