Author: Chatinian Lara

Pashinyan dissolves Armenian ministries

Chatinian Lara
Vestnik Kavkaza
Dec 21 2018
21 Dec in 11:00

Employees of Armenia’s Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Diaspora have started a labor strike this morning. They are protesting the republic’s acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s intention to dissolve these two ministries.

As a result of reorganization of the Armenian government structure, the number of ministries is expected to be reduced from 17 to 12.

The demonstrators noted that if there are too many ministries in Armenia, let them study and try to resolve this problem, but this has nothing to do with the main functions of the Ministry of Culture.

Employees of the Ministry of Diaspora noted that the dissolution of their ministry was a wrong decision, and that the respective view of the Armenian diaspora was not considered when making this decision.

Employees of the ministries, who were demonstrating outside their ministries’ building for an hour, marched to the government building to hand over a letter addressed to acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to a government representative.

“We ask that a response be given by Monday morning. We demand a meeting with the Prime Minister. If our request is not considered, we are ready to go on labor strike; we’ll do a sit-in, too,” News,am cited the letter as saying.

The writer, journalist, Vesti FM radio station host Armen Gasparyan, speaking with Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that liquidation of Mindiaspora has political reasons. “Not all representatives of the diaspora in the world supported the events, which took place in Armenia in April-June. Most likely, Pashinyan understands that there is a very serious political danger: much depends on the diaspora’s views on events in the republic, and from this point he simply doesn’t need the Ministry of Diaspora. One can expect that there will be a structure subordinated to him personally or through the government apparatus, which will be engaged in building the necessary ties and disposing of possible negative statements. There is tough situation for Pashinyan: he was striving to power with the slogan of the political monopoly elimination, but eventually created his own monopoly, which caused unpleasant questions from the Diaspora,” he explained.

The unification of the Ministry of Culture with the Ministry of Sport and the Ministry of Education and Science can be explained only by an attempt to save money. “I don’t see any advantages here, because these are three completely different spheres. In this case, Pashinyan turns out to be a hostage of the promises he made – that it is necessary to lower the number of bureaucrats. Obviously, it’s much easier to unite culture, sport and education, rather than the ministries of economy, defense and internal affairs, But still it’s difficult to understand what this will lead to. Pashinyan received absolute power, so let’s see how his election statements will be implemented. Being an opposition is one thing, but  leading the republic in a very difficult foreign policy situation is quite another,” Armen Gasparyan stressed.

Price of meat of pig falls by thousand drams (video)

Chatinian Lara
  • 21:00 | December 12,2018 | Regions
  • Armenian:
  • Rus

Alaverdi’s meatseller Hamlet Isoyan receives dozens of calls every day from villagers, particularly villagers who own pig and want to sell meat.

Compared to last year, however, the price of meat of the pig fell by a thousand drams this year.

More information is in “Ankyun +3” video footage.

A new CSTO leader will not be elected in St. Petersburg. Arsen Gasparyan

Chatinian Lara
  • 01.12.2018

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  • Armenia:

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  • arm

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  • rus

1
 55

The election of the new Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) will take place in 2019. Arsen Gasparyan, the chief adviser of the Acting Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, said this in an interview with the Russian RBC agency.


“This issue will not be discussed during the [EAEU] summit to be held in St. Petersburg on December 6. The agenda was sent to all the participants of the St. Petersburg meeting,” Gasparyan noted. According to him, meetings in the CSTO format are not scheduled until December 31, so the name of the new head of the organization will not be specified until the New Year.


Yuri Khachaturov, who has held the position of CSTO Secretary General since April 2017, and who is accused of subverting the constitutional order in Armenia in the “March 1” case, was released from that position a month ago.


At the CSTO summit held in Astana on November 8, a new secretary general was not appointed, and according to the official report, the heads of state agreed to continue discussions on the issue during the meeting to be held in St. Petersburg on December 6.

Orinats Yerkir (Rule of Law) party highlights ‘national values’ in election campaign

Chatinian Lara

Orinats Yerkir (Rule of Law) party highlights ‘national values’ in election campaign

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15:17, 26 November, 2018

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 26, ARMENPRESS. The Orinats Yerkir (literally translated to Country of Law, aka Rule of Law) party began the election campaign today from its head office.

“We are beginning the campaign from the yard of a church, by saying that our party is committed to our national values, we consider the Armenian Apostolic Church’s role and place in the life of our people to be extremely important, we attach importance to the Armenian family’s traditional kind and spirit,” party leader and number 1 on the proportional list Arthur Baghdasaryan told reporters.

“The nation faces serious issues. It is impossible to solve the problems of thirty years in 8 months, but it is possible to show how Armenia should develop. We don’t see today the clear pathway or vision for this development, and therefore we are running for parliament, by presenting our competitive approaches and programs, our ideas, in the event of realization of which people will smile,” he said, adding that they will campaign across the country and will meet with representatives of different social classes.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan




The delegation of the General Staff of the RA Armed Forces is leaving for Moscow

Chatinian Lara
  • 27.11.2018

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  • Armenia:

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  • arm

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On November 28-29, the delegation led by the head of the military communications department of the General Staff of the RA Armed Forces will participate in the inaugural session of the interstate working group on the creation of a unified system of technical camouflage of railway lines of the CSTO member states. This was reported by the press service of the Ministry of Defense.

Asking votes for investments fits in logic of "old Armenia" not new one: Acting PM

Chatinian Lara
Aysor, Armenia
Nov 30 2018
Read Aysor.am inTelegram

The statement made by PAP candidate Naira Zohrabyan voiced during campaign is peculiar to “old Armenia” and has nothing to do in the “new Armenia”, acting Prime Minister, leader of My Step bloc Nikol Pashinyan said today in Abovian.

Zohrabyan called on people to give Gagik Tsarukyn an opportunity with their votes to continue making investments in Armenia.

“This statement does not reflect political and economic situation existing today in Armenia. In our vision votes and investments have nothing to do with each other,” he said, adding that if people are not MPs in parliament it does not mean they do not make investments.

“Ties between votes and investments existed in old Armenia when the 90% of parliament consisted of businessmen,” he said.

Pashinyan said that his government guarantees security of all investments irrespective of political views of investors.

“I thinks it is even not correct to ask votes for investments. We guarantee safety of investments of all, including the ones made by Gagik Tsarukyan,” Pashinyan stressed.

“ 95% of businessmen have not been nominated, does it mean they will not make investments?” Pashinyan stressed, adding that the businessmen must be free of political commitments.

Pashinyan sees no need to change parliamentary system of governance

Chatinian Lara

Pashinyan sees no need to change parliamentary system of governance

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17:30,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 24, ARMENPRESS. Caretaker Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan has commented on the possibility of amending the Constitution.

Speaking to reporters today during a city-wide march in Yerevan, Pashinyan said that Constitutional amendments should not be an end in itself. “Constitutional amendments must be a measure for reaching a certain goal. In places when we will require utilizing this measure, we will utilize it,” he said.

Asked if he plans to keep the current parliamentary system of governance if he reaches success in the general election, Pashinyan said: “Yes, I don’t see the necessity to change it at this moment.”

Asked about the probability of reducing the powers vested in the Prime Minister of the country, he said that a balance of powers of the PM and the parliament should exist, but it should be done in a way so that the structure of power doesn’t break.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan




Vice Speaker Melkumyan expects serious presence for Prosperous Armenia party in new Parliament

Chatinian Lara

Vice Speaker Melkumyan expects serious presence for Prosperous Armenia party in new Parliament

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12:26,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 10, ARMENPRESS. The pre-election list of the Prosperous Armenia party will consist of the people adhered to the party mission, program provisions, having knowledge and share. Vice Speaker of the Parliament, member of the Tsarukyan faction Mikayel Melkumyan says he expects serious presence for their party in the Parliament after the upcoming snap parliamentary elections.

Melkumyan gave an interview to ARMENPRESS, talking about the upcoming elections and their pre-election list.

-During the debate of the Electoral Code you stated that many MPs elected by ranked voting system are not delivering remarks, not asking questions. However, that electoral system was maintained, and whether you see the same risks and what are you going to do to keep away your faction from such lawmakers?

-Yes, it has been so. 74 out of 131 MPs have not delivered speeches in the previous Parliament. I have been the most active lawmaker of both the previous and this Parliament. I think it’s not mandatory for this norm to work by 100%. But as today the institute of those who bring votes by the ranked voting system no longer exists, I mean election bribes, administrative resource and etc, these terms have been eliminated. In other words, those, who must have been elected to the Parliament by this scheme, will not be elected, in any case its probability will decrease a lot. But I consider a great mistake the fact that the Electoral Code was not adopted, since the proportional system would enable the political system to develop, in other words, the parties would make a decision inside. But now, in fact, there will be an internal fight between different members of the same party by the ranked voting system.

-Do you think that such lawmakers have not been in your faction in this Parliament?

-For our part the political component has greatly increased in the Parliament of the last convocation. There are many young people among us, women had the highest share, and we had a major political activeness. There are people who have great reputation in their territories and there is no need to approve that publicly. But we can record that the vector is being upgraded.  

-Can you be confident that there will be no distribution of bribes during the upcoming elections?

-The systematic phenomenon has been eliminated and it’s a fact. No one can give guarantee for another. There may be people who can always make a mistake, but this cannot be a systematic phenomenon.

-Following the non-adoption of the Electoral Code by the Parliament, you stated that this option perhaps is more beneficial for you, do you mean that the Prosperous Armenia party has more opportunities by this electoral system?

-Both are perceivable and viable for us. But there should have been an upgraded Electoral Code for the development of the political system. But both are perceivable since we have party structures, party members having ties with the people, and I put an emphasis based on this because we have many people who have a reputation in their places.

Full version of the interview is available in Armenian.

Interview by Anna Grigoryan

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan




Zohrab Mnatsakanyan: The main aspects of Armenia’s foreign policy were presented during Bolton’s visit

Chatinian Lara
Arminfo, Armenia
Nov 2 2018
Zohrab Mnatsakanyan: The main aspects of Armenia’s foreign policy were presented during Bolton’s visit

Yerevan November 02

Ani Mshetsyan. The visit of such a high-ranking US official as John Bolton to Armenia is very important, especially considering the geopolitical situation in the world. This was announced on November 2 in the Armenian parliament by the acting president. Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Zohrab Mnatsakanyan.

“It is very important for us to discuss the geopolitical situation, to have support and understand each other on all the issues related to our national security. For us it was a very good reason to explain the logic of our actions with our partners from the United States,” said Mnatsakanyan.

He also stated that this was neither the beginning nor the end of the Armenian-American cooperation. “It was a good opportunity to discuss and compare our approaches on a number of issues that are of primary importance for us. Our policy is pro-Armenian and formed within reasonable assessments, and one of the most important goals for us is to explain this policy to our foreign partners. Bolton’s visit to Armenia is important. This is an opportunity to hear our colleagues, become a friend, become more understandable and continue our cooperation, “said Mnatsakanyan.

He noted that Armenia is a small country, and the issue of its security is a priority, since the republic faces various challenges. “We have a dialogue with Russia, with Iran. We have opportunities to develop our cooperation at all platforms where we can express our position. And when we talk about the importance of Bolton’s visit, we should note that this importance lies in the fact that touched a very rich foreign policy agenda. Our main goal was to make our policy understandable. The dialogue was very successful, and the US understood our logic of relations with the Russian Federation, Iran, our position on the Nagorno- Karabakh issue, relations with Turkey, etc. Moreover, we noted h for we do not build our relations with this or that country, at the expense of relations with other partners “, – concluded Mnatsakanyan.

Azerbaijani Press: Russian MFA: Talks on Karabakh conflict unlikely until situation in Armenia stabilizes

Chatinian Lara
AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Nov 2 2018
2 November 2018 16:08 (UTC+04:00)

By  Trend

Serious negotiations on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict are unlikely until the political situation in Armenia stabilizes, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, RIA Novosti reported.

“The agreement that was reached [during the talks of the President of Azerbaijan and the Acting Prime Minister of Armenia in Dushanbe] was that contacts should be continued, that foreign ministers will meet, and that, of course, both Armenia and Azerbaijan are ready to work with the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs. We welcome such an agreement,” Lavrov said at a press conference in Moscow.

“We understand that until such turbulent internal political processes, which we are now observing, are completed, it is hardly possible to seriously consider certain ways out of this crisis and ensure a full-fledged settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,” he added.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.