Wednesday, September 8, 2021
Armenian Authorities Accused Of Covering Up Assault On Opposition Lawmakers
• Astghik Bedevian
Armenia - Deputies from the ruling Civil Contract party clash with their
opposition colleagues, August 25, 2021.
The main opposition Hayastan alliance accused the Armenian government on
Wednesday of ordering a law-enforcement agency not to prosecute pro-government
lawmakers who physically attacked their opposition colleagues on the parliament
floor last month.
The violence broke out on August 25 when a senior Hayastan member, Vahe
Hakobian, criticized the government’s five-year policy program during a heated
session of the National Assembly attended by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.
Hakobian interrupted his speech before being approached by three deputies from
Pashinian’s Civil Contract party and kicked by one of them.
Hakobian and five other Hayastan parliamentarians, including deputy speaker
Ishkhan Saghatelian, were hit by a larger number of Civil Contract lawmakers in
an ensuing melee that was not swiftly stopped by scores of security personnel
present in the chamber. One of the oppositionists, Gegham Nazarian, suffered an
eye injury and required medical aid.
The Special Investigative Service (SIS) pledged to look into the ugly scenes
filmed by various media outlets and questioned a number of deputies in the
following days. It said on Tuesday that it will launch a formal criminal
investigation into the beating of only one Hayastan deputy, Gegham Manukian.
One of the video clips circulated on the Internet shows that Manukian was
assaulted by Hayk Sargsian, a controversial Civil Contract member. The SIS said
on Wednesday nobody has been charged in connection with that that assault yet.
A senior Hayastan figure, Artsvik Minasian, condemned the SIS’s decision, saying
that the law-enforcement agency is carrying out a “political order.” He said
that is further proof that Armenia’s political leadership orchestrated the
violence to bully the opposition and create an atmosphere of impunity in the
country.
Daniel Ioannisian of the Yerevan-based Union of Informed Citizens also
criticized the SIS’s stance. He said his Western-funded civic group, which has
closely examined the August 25 violence, will likely complain to the Office of
the Prosecutor-General.
In a detailed analysis and a video clip posted on his Facebook page last week,
Ioannisian named nine pro-government lawmakers involved in the violence and even
counted the number of punches thrown by each of them.
“It is evident to any sensible person that a number of deputies … carried out
actions banned by the Criminal Code in front of the whole country,” Ioannisian
told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “Failure to prosecute them would send the public
a message to effect that one can solve political issues by force and get away
with that.”
The civic activist also emphasized the fact uniformed security officers waited
for about a minute before stepping in to stop the brawl. He said they acted far
more quickly when a less serious scuffle broke out on the parliament floor
earlier on August 25 after Hayastan’s parliamentary leader, Seyran Ohanian,
threw a plastic bottle at Civil Contract’s Sargsian.
“The actions of the State Protection Service on that day … show that its
officers present in the chamber at that point were carrying out a political
order or satisfying the ruling team’s political wishes,” charged Ioannisian.
Civil Contract’s Artur Hovannisian, one of the pro-government parliamentarians
who punched vice-speaker Saghatelian, defended the SIS’s decision. Hovannisian
also blamed the opposition bloc -- and Ohanian in particular -- for the violence.
Stability In Armenia ‘Very Important’ For Georgia
• Karlen Aslanian
Georgia - Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili (R) meets with his
Armenian counterpart Nikol Pashinian, Tbilisi, September 8. 2021.
Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili stressed the importance of
political stability in Armenia after holding talks with his Armenian counterpart
Nikol Pashinian in Tbilisi on Wednesday.
Gharibashvili praised Pashinian’s “vision” for restoring peace and strengthening
stability in the South Caucasus after last year’s war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
“The Karabakh war was a tough challenge for our region,” he told a joint news
briefing. “But after familiarizing myself with Prime Minister Pashinian’s new
vision I believe this challenge will turn into a new opportunity that will bring
prosperity to Armenia and the Armenian people.”
“I also want to make clear that political and economic stability in Armenia is
very important for us. It is directly connected with stability in our country
and the region as a whole,” he said.
Pashinian similarly spoke of new “regional opportunities” that emerged after the
Karabakh war stopped by a Russian-brokered ceasefire last November. He
reaffirmed earlier in the day support for reopening transport links between
Armenia and Azerbaijan.
An Armenian government statement on his meeting with Gharibashvili cited
Pashinian as saying that Azerbaijan’s “unconstructive policies and anti-Armenian
rhetoric” poses a threat to regional peace and stability. It said he also
praised Georgia’s “balanced position” on the Karabakh conflict.
According to the statement, economic issues were also high on the agenda of the
talks, with the two premiers pledging more efforts to expand Georgian-Armenian
trade and explore joint “initiatives” relating to energy, transport and
information technology. That includes a multilateral deal on a transport
corridor that would connect Iran’s Persian Gulf ports to the Black Sea via
Armenia and Georgia.
Gharibashvili told reporters that both sides are open to “new projects.” He did
not go into details.
The Georgian leader visited Baku and Yerevan in May.
Health Minister Defends Armenia’s Slow Vaccine Rollout
• Marine Khachatrian
Armenia - Minister of Health Anahit Avanesian holds a news briefing in Yerevan,
September 2, 2021
Health Minister Anahit Avanesian downplayed on Wednesday the slow pace of
coronavirus vaccinations in Armenia, saying that it does not testify to her
government’s failure to contain the spread of COVID-19.
According the Armenian Ministry of Health, only 7 percent of the country’s
population received at least one dose of a vaccine as of September 5. The figure
indicates that Armenia has the lowest proportion of citizens inoculated against
COVID-19 in the region.
“Yes, our indicators still have a lot of room for improvement,” Avanesian told
reporters. “But I do not consider this a failure [of the government] because we
opted for providing accurate information to the people and dispelling their
doubts first. I believe that we have succeeded in doing that.”
Avanesian again cited a recent opinion poll showing that the proportion of
Armenians ready to get vaccinated has risen to over 40 percent from just 10
percent in March.
In a bid to significantly speed up the vaccine rollout, the government is
resorting to administrative measures. Avanesian decided late last month to
require virtually all public and private sector employees refusing vaccination
to take coronavirus tests twice a month at their own expense. The new
requirement will come into effect on October 1.
The health minister said people not complying with it should not only face heavy
fines but also risk losing their jobs.
The daily number of officially confirmed coronavirus cases in Armenia has been
slowly but steadily rising since June. The Ministry of Health reported on
Wednesday morning 645 new cases and 15 deaths caused by the disease.
Pashinian Encouraged By Erdogan’s Statements
Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian speaks during a government meeting,
Yerevan, September 8, 2021.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on Wednesday described as encouraging Turkish
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s recent statements on normalizing
Turkish-Armenian relations and said his government is ready for a dialogue with
Ankara.
“I must note that the president of Turkey has publicly commented on relations
with Armenia,” he said. “We see in those statements an opportunity to talk about
normalizing Armenia-Turkey relations and reopening the Turkish-Armenian railway
and roads, and we are prepared for such a conversation.”
“I am happy to point out that the Russian Federation has publicly expressed
readiness to actively assist in that process. The European Union, France and the
United States are also interested in that process,” Pashinian added during a
weekly session of his cabinet.
Pashinian already spoke on August 27 of “some positive signals” sent by the
Turkish government of late and said Yerevan is ready to reciprocate them.
Erdogan responded by saying that regional states should establish
“good-neighborly relations” by recognizing each other’s territorial integrity
and sovereignty.
“If Yerevan is ready to move in that direction Ankara could start working on a
gradual normalization of relations with Armenia,” he said.
In that context, Erdogan pointed to Azerbaijan’s desire to negotiate a
comprehensive “peace treaty” with Armenia after last year’s war in
Nagorno-Karabakh. Baku is understood to seek Armenian recognition of Azerbaijani
sovereignty over Karabakh through such a treaty.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan (L) and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev
attend a signing ceremony in Shusha, in Nagorno-Karabakh, June 15, 2021.
Armenian opposition leaders and some analysts say Ankara continues to make the
normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations conditional on a Karabakh settlement
favorable to Baku. They say the Turks also want Yerevan to stop campaigning for
a greater international recognition of the 1915 Armenian genocide in the Ottoman
Empire.
Pashinian put a possible Turkish-Armenian dialogue in the “broader context” of
ongoing Russian-mediated talks on opening transport links between Armenia and
Azerbaijan which he said would be “very important” for Armenia. He also
reaffirmed Yerevan’s commitment to demarcating the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.
Hayk Mamijanian, a senior Armenian opposition parliamentarian, denounced
Pashinian’s remarks, saying that the prime minister is intent on making
far-reaching concessions to Turkey and Azerbaijan.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called late last week for the
normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations. “We are ready to assist in that in
the most active way,” he said.
Turkey provided decisive military assistance to Azerbaijan during the six-week
war stopped by a Russian-brokered ceasefire. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev
again thanked Ankara for that aid when he and Erdogan visited in June the
Karabakh town of Shushi (Shusha) captured by the Azerbaijani army.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2021 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.