Author: Jirair Kafian

                                        Tuesday, 
Armenian Parliament Plans Electoral Reform
        • Nane Sahakian
Armenia -- The Armenian parliament starts its autumn session, Yerevan, 
September 9, 2019.
The pro-government majority in the National Assembly is planning wide-ranging 
amendments to Armenia’s electoral legislation that could have important 
implications for the next general elections.
“We started this process early on so that we are able to address 
[election-related issues] one by one and in detail,” Hamazasp Danielian, the 
coordinator of a parliamentary working group on electoral reform, said on 
Tuesday.
Danielian, who is affiliated with the ruling My Step alliance, said that the 
parliament majority specifically wants to amend the existing legal mechanism 
for electing the Armenian parliament.
In the last two parliamentary elections Armenians voted not only for parties 
and blocs but also individual candidates nominated by them. This electoral 
system greatly helped former President Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party (HHK) 
win parliamentary elections held in 2017. Wealthy HHK candidates earned 
themselves and their party many votes at the time through vote bribes and abuse 
of their administrative resources.
The system no longer favored the HHK after last year’s “Velvet Revolution.” The 
former ruling party failed to enter the current parliament as a result of the 
December 2018 snap elections which Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s My Step won 
by a landslide. The polls were widely recognized as democratic.
Danielian told RFE/RL’s Armenian service that despite that election triumph the 
existing mechanism remains “unacceptable” to the ruling bloc. He said it also 
wants to amend other provisions of the Electoral Code regulating election 
campaigns, formation of election commissions and appeals against vote results.
Danielian said the working group will also review another clause that bans dual 
citizens from running for the parliament. He described the ban as 
“controversial.”
With the next general elections not expected before 2023, the pro-government 
lawmaker indicated that the ad hoc group will not rush to propose changes in 
the Electoral Code. He said its more immediate priority is to draft amendments 
to an Armenian law on parties. One of the main purposes of those amendments is 
to ensure greater transparency in the financial operations of Armenian parties, 
added Danielian.
Kim Kardashian To Attend Global IT Forum In Armenia
        • Marine Khachatrian
Armenia -- US television personality Kim Kardashian walks shortly after her 
arrival in Yerevan, April 8, 2015
Kim Kardashian, the world-famous U.S. reality TV star of Armenian descent, will 
participate in the upcoming World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT) in 
Yerevan, organizers of the global forum announced on Tuesday.
The forum scheduled for October 6-9 will bring together 2,500 tech 
professionals from more than 70 countries. It will be held under the aegis of 
World Information Technology and Services Alliance, a worldwide consortium of 
national IT associations.
The WCIT organizing committee in Armenia said Kardashian will be a “special 
keynote speaker” and panelist at the forum. She will talk about “how 
decentralized technologies have democratized the worlds of entertainment, 
media, and journalism.”
“Kim Kardashian West is one of the most followed people on social media with 
nearly 240 million followers. She is one of the most influential voices in the 
world today,” the statement quoted the committee chairman, Alexander Yesayan, 
as saying.
Armenia -- US reality TV star Kim Kardashian holds her daughter (C) in her arms 
next to her rapper husband Kanye West (R) as they walk close to the Geghard 
Monastery, April 9, 2015
Yesayan also described her as “an extraordinarily savvy and successful 
businesswoman” who has “something important and interesting to say about the 
world of social media entrepreneurship.” “In our opinion, a serious 
conversation about this subject matter is not possible without her 
participation,” he declared.
It will be Kardashian’s second trip to Armenia. The 38-year-old first visited 
her ancestral homeland in April 2015 together with her husband, American rapper 
Kanye West, and sister Khloe. She filmed several episodes of the reality series 
“Keeping Up With The Kardashians” in Yerevan and other parts of the country.
Armenia -- Young people at the annual Digitec Expo exhibition in Yerevan, 
October 6, 2018.
Armenia hopes to use the upcoming WCIT conference to showcase its burgeoning IT 
industry that employs some 15,000 engineers and generates more than 6 percent 
of the country’s Gross Domestic Product. The sector is dominated by local 
subsidiaries of U.S. tech giants like Synopsys, Mentor Graphics and National 
Instruments and a growing number of homegrown software firms.
“From all over the world IT specialists, startup owners and investors 
interested in the IT sector are already showing a strong interest in Armenia’s 
potential,” Armine Udumian, a spokeswoman for the WCIT organizing committee, 
told RFE/RL’s Armenian service. “We can already say that it’s a fact.”
“We will be hosting very important figures at the conference,” Udumian said, 
adding that they will raise Armenia’s international profile.
Yerevan Rules Out Azeri Role In CSTO
        • Gayane Saribekian
KAZAKHSTAN -- Officials, including Russian President Vladimir Putin (C), attend 
a meeting of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in Astana, 
November 8, 2018
Armenia would not hesitate to veto Azerbaijan’s possible attempts to gain a 
special status in the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization 
(CSTO), a senior Armenian lawmaker said on Tuesday.
Ruben Rubinian, the pro-government chairman of the Armenian parliament 
committee on foreign relations, made this clear as the National Assembly 
debated the ratification of changes in the CSTO statutes agreed by the defense 
bloc’s six member states: Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and 
Tajikistan.
One of those changes introduces the status of a CSTO “partner” in addition to 
that of an “observer,” which can be granted to other nations interested in 
forging closer ties with the bloc.
Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharian emphasized that such decisions can 
only be made by consensus. “If at least one of the member states is against, 
then that status will not be granted,” he told parliamentarians.
Arman Babajanian, a pro-Western lawmaker who left the opposition Bright Armenia 
Party last week, expressed concern over Azerbaijan’s possible attempts to gain 
a special status in the CSTO. He said he is worried that Yerevan would find 
itself alone in opposing such a bid.
“I don’t think things will get to a point where we will be alone,” countered 
Kocharian.
Rubinian also dismissed the Babajanian’s concerns. “Azerbaijan will not have 
the status of an observer or partner in the CSTO because Armenia will not 
ensure consensus,” he said. “It’s as simple as that.”
“So I am again urging you to put aside the presumption of Armenia’s 
wretchedness and impotence and to adopt the presumption of Armenia’s greatness, 
sovereignty and ability to assert its interests,” added the senior member of 
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s My Step alliance.
Pashinian criticized Russia and Armenia’s membership in the CSTO when he was in 
opposition to the former Armenian government. But he has repeatedly ruled out 
his country’s withdrawal from this and another Russian-dominated bloc, the 
Eurasian Economic Union, since coming to power in May 2018.
More Corruption Charges Brought Against Sarkisian’s Fugitive Brother
Armenia -- President Serzh Sarkisian (R) awards a medal to his brother Levon 
Sarkisian, March 22, 2016.
Law-enforcement authorities have brought new and more serious corruption 
accusations against a brother of former President Serzh Sarkisian who 
apparently fled Armenia before being first indicted last year, it emerged on 
Tuesday.
The Investigative Committee said Levon Sarkisian illegally intervened in a $250 
million project to rebuild major Armenian highways in order to enrich himself 
and two businessmen linked to him. It said he has been charged with bribery and 
money laundering.
The charges carrying between six and twelve years in prison were leveled as 
part of the Investigative Committee’s ongoing criminal inquiry into financial 
abuses allegedly committed during the implementation of the so-called 
North-South road project.
Last month, the law-enforcement agency filed fraud and embezzlement charges 
against a top executive of a Spanish company that had been contracted by the 
former Armenian government in 2012 to upgrade more than 90 kilometers of roads.
The first two reconstructed highways connecting Yerevan to the towns of Ararat 
and Ashtarak were inaugurated in late 2015. The company, Corsan Corviam 
Construccion, never rebuilt the remaining 40-kilometer-long road, however.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Investigative Committee claimed that 
Corsan’s Armenian subcontractors were chosen not by the Spanish firm but Levon 
Sarkisian. It said the latter awarded those contracts in return for kickbacks 
promised by the subcontractors.
The director of one of those firms paid Sarkisian as much as half of its 
anticipated profits, according to the statement. The committee did not name 
names or specify the total amount of cash allegedly paid to Sarkisian.
It said that it has issued international arrest warrants for Sarkisian and the 
two owners of another Armenian firm who it said colluded with the 
ex-president’s brother in the “criminal scheme.”
Levon Sarkisian was already charged with “illegal enrichment” after tax 
inspectors discovered in June 2018 that he and his two children hold almost $7 
million in undeclared deposits in an Armenian bank.
Under Armenian law, such asset declarations are mandatory for high-ranking 
state officials and their family members. This legal requirement applied to 
Sarkisian because he worked as ambassador-at-large at the Armenian Foreign 
Ministry until his elder brother was overthrown in the “Velvet Revolution” of 
April-May 2018.
Sarkisian is thought to have left Armenia shortly before being indicted. He has 
made no public statements since then. The head of Armenia’s National Security 
Service (NSS), Artur Vanetsian, stated earlier this year that he now lives in 
Lebanon.
Also prosecuted is Serzh Sarkisian’s second, more controversial brother, 
Aleksandr. He was charged with fraud in February several months after the NSS 
had his $30 million bank account frozen as part of a separate criminal inquiry.
Sarkisian, who is better known as “Sashik,” avoided arrest and was even allowed 
to temporarily leave the country after agreeing to transfer the entire sum to 
the state budget.
The former president has still not publicly commented on the criminal cases 
against his brothers.
Press Review
“Aravot” reacts to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s calls for an end to the 
more than yearlong blockade of the roads leading to Armenia’s Amulsar gold 
deposit. Pashinian argued, among other things, that a unilateral government 
decision to revoke the Lydian International company’s mining license would be 
fraught with political, economic and reputational risks for Armenia. “One may 
certainly disagree with these points made by the prime minister but they must 
be taken seriously given the fact that for Pashinian the support of the 
majority of citizens is so dear and important that there have to be weighty 
reasons for him to make statements to the detriment of his popularity,” 
editorializes the paper. “The country’s leader is now undoubtedly faced with a 
tough choice. The only sensible step he could probably take is … to give 
citizens more detailed explanations as to what reputational risks threaten our 
country.”
“Hraparak” singles out Pashinian’s argument that a ban on the Amulsar project 
would leave his government under pressure to explain why it is allowing 
continued operations of other mining companies in Armenia that use less 
advanced technology and equipment. “This is where we could have a big 
international problem if it turns out that we are taking a discriminatory 
approach [against Lydian,]” warned Pashinian. The paper says that this is a 
“convincing argument at first glance.” “Indeed, why has the Amulsar mine has 
been closed and caused the economy huge damage for the past year if the 
government has much more serious environmental concerns about the Teghut and 
Zangezur mines?” it writes in an editorial.
“Isn’t this an acknowledgment of [Lydian’s] discriminatory treatment?” 
continues “Hraparak.” “These are the kind of questions which should have been 
raised immediately after the start of the Amulsar blockade, rather than one 
year later, after Lydian has claimed to have been discriminated against. 
Secondly, Pashinian’s second question remains unanswered: do the other mines 
comply with [environmental] standards and Armenia’s laws?”
“Zhamanak” quotes George Kent, a U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state, as 
telling the Voice of America that the United States wants Armenia to be 
successful and prosperous and that the latter has a chance to become such a 
country after last year’s “Velvet Revolution.” The paper says Kent’s remarks 
come ahead of Pashinian’s upcoming visit to the U.S. It claims that although 
Pashinian is not scheduled to meet with any top U.S. officials his trip is 
“primarily perceived in the context of the U.S.-Armenian relationship and 
agenda.”
(Sargis Harutyunyan)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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