Author: Kajoyan Gevork

AP: SYRIAN-ARMENIAN TOWN’S FATE MURKY AFTER REBEL GRAB

16:00 28.03.2014

When hundreds of residents of the postcard-pretty coastal Syrian
village of Kassab fled this week, it bore historic weight: it was the
third time since 1900 that ethnic Armenians there felt compelled to
run for their lives, the Associated Press writes.

They left once at the hands of vengeful Turkish neighbors, and later
because of Ottoman forces. This time it was Syrian rebels storming
into town. It was a heavy blow for the minority community that sees
the town as key to preserving the Armenians’ identity in Syria.

Kassab “is a symbol of Armenian history, language and continuity. It’s
very symbolic,” said Ohannes Geukjian, a political science professor
who writes on contemporary Armenian history and politics. “And so
the fall of Kassab, I consider it the defeat of Armenian identity in
that area.”

Rebels seized control of Kassab on Sunday after launching an attack
two days earlier in the coastal Syrian province of Latakia. The
clashes led most of Kassab’s estimated 2,000 residents to flee some
57 kilometers to Latakia city, emptying out a village that boasted
a Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant church.

“We had to flee only with our clothes. We couldn’t take anything,
not even the most precious thing — a handful of soil from Kassab. We
couldn’t take our memories,” said a woman to Syrian state television.

Kassab residents, speaking to Syrian television, said mortar shells and
gunfire came from the Turkish border toward their village. A Syrian
field commander on a government-organized trip told journalists near
Kassab that gunmen began their attack “with clear support from the
Turks.” Turkish officials refuted the claims.

The forced flight from Kassab has deep meaning for many
Armenians, because it is one of the last areas tracing back to the
eleventh-century from the Armenian kingdom of Cilicia, said professor
Geukjian.

Other areas in modern-day Syria once had ancient Armenian villages,
but residents left to join larger communities in cities like Aleppo,
or assimilated into the wider Christian minority, or emigrated,
said Geuikjian. Only Kassab “kept its identity and language,” he said.

“When you say Kassab, you understand you are referring to the
Armenians,” said Arpi Mangassarian of Badguer, a Beirut-based Armenian
cultural organization. “It symbolizes Armenian culture.”

“We are afraid, if you want the truth. Of what is happening now,
the future. The future is not clear,” Geukjian said.

Atlantico, France
29 mar 2014

La Turquie, nouveau sponsor du terrorisme international

La Turquie devient une base arrière pour les rebelles au régime
syrien, d’où les combattants islamistes radicaux organisent leurs
attaques. Le tout dans l’apparente indifférence de la communauté
internationale.

Laurent Leylekian – Fabrice Balanche

es derniers événements d’Ukraine ont provisoirement relché
l’attention de la communauté internationale sur les développements en
cours de la crise syrienne, et en particulier sur les combats se
déroulant actuellement à la frontière turque. C’est tout juste si une
dépêche de presse a relaté que l’armée turque a abattu un chasseur
syrien qui y bombardait des rebelles.

L’implication croissante de la Turquie dans ce conflit devrait
pourtant constituer un motif supplémentaire de préoccupation. Car si
l’objectif conjoncturel d’Ankara d’abattre le régime de Bachar
El-Assad est éventuellement conforme aux souhaits des Occidentaux, les
méthodes employées devraient susciter la plus grande inquiétude. La
Turquie est en effet en passe de devenir l’un des principaux >
régionaux du terrorisme international, loin devant d’autres Etats qui
ont pu trainer cette réputation.

Le dernier exemple des pratiques turques en la matière a débuté ce 21
mars. Au petit matin, des islamistes radicaux ont pénétré en
territoire syrien à partir de trois bases situées en Turquie pour y
attaquer le canton de Kessab. A cet effet, les combattants islamistes
identifiés comme appartenant à Jabhat Al-Nosra, récemment rebaptisé
Al-Qaïda au Levant, sont nécessairement passés entre les casernements
de l’armée turque. Les combats sont encore en cours mais on rapporte
de sources sûres que les blessés islamistes ont été rapatriés en
Turquie où des soins leur sont prodigués. C’est dans ce contexte
qu’est survenu l’épisode de l’avion abattu.

Kessab n’est pas n’importe quel village de Syrie. C’était en vérité la
dernière bourgade de l’Arménie ottomane : par une bizarrerie
administrative, Kessab fut le seul village rattaché à la Syrie lorsque
la France a honteusement abandonné le Sandjak d’Alexandrette aux
kémalistes en 1938. C’était, parce que la quasi-totalité de ses
habitants – des Arméniens de Syrie donc – ont fui ou ont été évacués
sur Lattaquié. En favorisant l’attaque de Kessab, par ailleurs sans
intérêt stratégique, on voit donc comment la Turquie profite de la
conjoncture chaotique pour effacer aujourd’hui les traces vivantes du
génocide de 1915 que sont ces populations descendant des rescapés. Au
demeurant le nom même de l’opération militaire- al Anfal, >
– en dit long sur l’état d’esprit qui prévaut parmi les assaillants et
constitue un rappel de sinistre mémoire pour leurs proies.

Plus généralement, l’AKP en général et le Premier ministre Erdogan en
particulier ont fait montre ces dernière années d’une singulière
mansuétude envers le terrorisme international. Dans un rapport de
février 2014 de la Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Jonathan
Schanzer, expert du Trésor américain en matière de financement du
terrorisme, pointe les liens accablant entre Erdogan et Yasin al-Qadi,
un saoudien proche de Ben Laden qui semble bénéficier de privilèges
diplomatiques en Turquie. Ce rapport pointe également le fait que de
nombreux autres terroristes bénéficient de villégiatures dans ce pays,
à l’instar de Saleh al-Aruri, le financier du Hamas qui y
commanditerait des opérations contre Israël. Enfin, M. Schanzer
indique qu’en février dernier, la Turquie est passé à deux doigts
d’être inscrite sur la liste du Financial Action Task Force (FATF),
une structure internationale destinés à lutter contre les circuits
financiers du terrorisme. La liste du FAFT comprend aujourd’hui l’Iran
et la Corée du Nord.

L’ensemble de ces agissements devraient conduire la communauté
internationale à condamner le régime d’Ankara et à prendre de
sérieuses mesures d’endiguement et de rétorsion à son endroit. Le fait
que cela n’advienne jamais ôte toute crédibilité aux appels au droit
international que ladite communauté peut par ailleurs opportunément
lancer.

Laurent Leylekian est analyste politique, spécialiste de la Turquie

Fabrice Balanche est spécialiste de la Syrie et directeur du Groupe de
recherches et d’études sur la Méditerranée et le Moyen-Orient (GREMMO)

EurasiaNet.og
March 28 2014

Azerbaijan´s Illiberal Opposition

March 28, 2014 – 4:23pm, by Eldar Mamedov
Eurasianet Commentary

A common assumption among Western observers is that political
opponents of authoritarian leaders in the Caucasus and Central Asia
tend to be themselves relatively liberal in their political beliefs
and tolerant in social views. But several recent incidents in
Azerbaijan challenge this assumption.

Before examining the Azerbaijani examples in depth, it should be noted
that President Ilham Aliyev’s administration in Baku has clamped down
in recent years on basic freedoms, closing open space in the political
arena and muzzling the press. At the same time, the political
opposition in the country lacks cohesion and doesn’t seem likely to
pose a serious political challenge to Aliyev’s authority anytime soon.

The weakness of the political opposition may actually help hide the
illiberal attitudes held by some of its most prominent elements: some
relatively high-profile Aliyev critics have recently voiced opinions
that are at odds with the principles of democratization.

The first incident involved the late January suicide of a young
gay-rights activist, Isa Shahmarli. In reacting to the tragedy, most
civil society activists deplored the pervasive homophobia in
Azerbaijani society that was widely seen as a factor in prompting
Shahmarli to take his life. Several opposition politicians, however,
embraced a socially conservative viewpoint: for example, Erkin
Gadirli, one of the leaders of the opposition Republican Alternative
(ReAl) stated that the homosexuality was a “choice”, which is why “all
religions” condemned it. Meanwhile, another opposition activist, Murad
Gassanly, a UK-based exile who used to represent the National Council
of Democratic Forces (NCDF), an umbrella opposition organization,
criticized “ultra-liberals” for prioritizing LGBT rights, while
downplaying the “mainstream of Azerbaijani public opinion.”

A few weeks later, at the end of February, again the same duo made
news. Gadirli called for the assassination of Armenian officials,
including the president of the country, for their role in ethnic
cleansing of Azeris from the village of Khojaly in Nagorno-Karabakh.
When Richard Kauzlarich, a former US ambassador to Azerbaijan,
condemned the call as “a pure incitement to terrorism,” Gadirli
refused to retract and proudly announced that he was neither liberal
nor humanist. Meanwhile, Gassanly, in what looked more like a Facebook
rant than a serious counter-argument, accused Kauzlarich of
“hypocrisy” and “ultra-liberals” of being ready to “give up
Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenians”.

It is telling that both Gadirli and Gassanly emphatically rejected
liberalism in their comments. That, however, does not make them
non-democrats because they both endorse the principle that people
should be able to choose their rulers via the ballot box. Also, sadly,
their dismissive attitude of LGBT rights may well reflect the feelings
of many Azerbaijanis. What the incidents also show is they are not
liberal democrats in the sense that they can tolerate differences,
champion individual rights or show a willingness to protect the rights
of the minority against the will of the majority.

Azerbaijani opposition parties on the whole don’t exude much of a
liberal vibe. Most are structured along the same lines as the ruling
New Azerbaijan Party (YAP); each has an unrivaled leader who expects
unquestioning obedience from the rank-and-file; and each tends to
reflect the will of its respective leader, rather than reflect a
well-defined political philosophy.

An example of an illiberal pattern that Azerbaijan could easily mimic
is Turkey. There, Prime-Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government is
becoming increasingly intolerant of dissent, trying to impose its own
religiously conservative values on society, while at the same time
undermining judicial independence and freedom of speech. And it is
doing all this in the name of the majority’s will.

The reality in Azerbaijan should prompt US and European Union
officials to rethink their democratization strategy for Azerbaijan,
and perhaps for other countries in the region.

Establishing the formal institutions of democracy is relatively easy –
they already exist in Azerbaijan. But for genuine change to be
possible, it is much more important to promote liberal values. This is
going to be an inevitably long and frustrating process. It will not
satisfy those who, faced with pervasive corruption and abuse, yearn
for immediate change. But, over the long term, the spread of liberal
values would increase the odds that any future political change would
be sustainable.

The example of Turkey shows that liberalism is not a luxury, but a
basic requirement for a well-functioning society. The heavy-handed
treatment of dissent by Erdogan threatens to reverse many of the
democratic and economic gains made by Turkey over the last decade.

Editor’s note:
Eldar Mamedov is a political adviser to the Socialists & Democrats
Group in the European Parliament. He writes in his personal capacity.

Interfax, Russia
March27 2014

Service life of Armenian NPP reactor unit to be extended with Russian loan

YEREVAN. March 27

The Armenian government approved on Thursday a program, which extends
the service life of the Armenian NPP reactor unit until 2016.

The Armenian Finance Ministry was instructed to prepare before May 1,
2014, the signing of an Armenian-Russian intergovernmental agreement
on borrowings for the reactor unit service life extension program, the
government press service told Interfax.

“Simultaneously, efforts to build a new reactor unit in Armenia will
be bolstered,” the government press service said.

Te cm

Orthodox Churches Will Hold First Ecumenical Council In 1,200 Years In Istanbul

Reuters | by Dasha Afanasieva and Tom Heneghan
Posted: 03/10/2014 3:48 pm EDT Updated: 03/10/2014 3:59 pm EDT

Orthodox ChurchOrthodox CouncilReutersChristianityUkraine
CrisisChristianityGreek Orthodox ChurchOrthodox Bishops CouncilGreek
Patriarch BartholomewReligion News

ISTANBUL, March 9 (Reuters) – Patriarchs of the world’s 250 million
Orthodox Christians ended a rare summit in Istanbul on Sunday calling
for a peaceful end to the crisis in Ukraine and denouncing violence
driving Christians out of the Middle East.

Twelve heads of autonomous Orthodox churches, the second-largest
family of Christian churches, also agreed to hold a summit of bishops,
or ecumenical council, in 2016, which will be the first in over 1,200
years.

The Istanbul talks were called to decide on the council, which the
Orthodox have been preparing on and off since the 1960s, but the
Ukraine crisis overshadowed their talks at the office of spiritual
leader Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.

As the prelates left a special service at Saint George’s Cathedral, a
woman in the crowd called out in Russian “Pray for Ukraine!” Two
archbishops responded: “You pray, too!”

In their communique, the patriarchs called for “peaceful negotiations
and prayerful reconciliation in the ongoing crisis in Ukraine” and
denounced what they said were “threats of violent occupation of sacred
monasteries and churches” there.

The Russian Orthodox Church, with 165 million members by far the
largest in the Orthodox family, last month issued a statement along
with Moscow’s Foreign Ministry about what they said were attacks on
revered historic monasteries in Kiev and Pochayiv in western Ukraine.

Russia has used the alleged threat to Russian-speakers in Ukraine,
including the faithful of the Moscow-backed church there, to argue it
has the right to intervene to protect them.

Closely aligned with President Vladimir Putin on Ukraine policy, the
Russian church has a partner Ukrainian Orthodox Church mostly in the
Russian-speaking east of the country that is loyal to the Moscow
patriarchate.

There are two rival Orthodox churches mostly in western Ukraine, both
meant to be Ukrainian national churches. Neither is part of the global
Orthodox communion and the patriarchs’ communique expressed the hope
they would one day join it.

MIDDLE EAST CHRISTIANS

On the Middle East, the patriarchs denounced “the lack of peace and
stability, which is prompting Christians to abandon the land where our
Lord Jesus Christ was born.”

They demanded the release of two prominent Syrian Orthodox archbishops
kidnapped near Aleppo in April 2013.

Unrest in the Middle East over the past decade has killed or driven
out large numbers of Christians, many of them Orthodox. Christians
make up about 5 percent of the region’s population.

Metropolitan Hilarion, head of the Russian church’s foreign relations,
said before the meeting that “extremist forces (are) attacking
Christians, exterminating them, kidnapping priests, bishops and nuns,
destroying Christian churches and doing everything to make those who
believe in Christ to leave the Middle East.”

One of the main questions facing the 2016 council will be how to
balance relations among the Orthodox now that the Russian church,
after seven decades of subjugation under communism, has reemerged as
an influential voice in world Christianity.

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who will meet Roman Catholicism’s
Pope Francis in Jerusalem in May, is the senior-most Orthodox leader,
but his Istanbul-based church is tiny, with none of the resources the
large Russian church enjoys.

Despite the prestige of his post, he has no authority over other
churches, unlike the power the pope has in Catholicism, the world’s
largest church with 1.2 billion members.

The communique stressed that all decisions at the council would be
taken by consensus, a position the Russians strongly defended in
preparations for the meeting.

The 2016 council will be held in Hagia Irene, a Byzantine church
building in the outer courtyard of the Ottoman sultans’ Topkapi
Palace. Now a museum, it has not been used as a church since the
Muslim conquest of Constantinople in 1453.

Orthodox Christianity links 14 independent churches, based in Eastern
Europe, Russia and the Middle East. The Damascus-based church of
Antioch and the Czech and Slovak church did not attend the meeting
because of disputes with other churches. (Tom Heneghan reported from
Paris; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)

Media Neglect Turkish False Flag Attack Leak And Its Implications

By Moon Of Alamaba

March 28, 2014 “Information Clearing House”

“Moon Of Alabama”- Some more thoughts on the leaked tape from a
meeting in the Turkish foreign ministry which is only very selectively
reported in “western” media.

A video with recorded
voices and English text is available as is the seemingly complete text
in two parts
.

The setting of the recording is this:

The voices of the illegal recording believed to belong to
DavutoÄ=9Flu, National Intelligence Organization (MÄ°T) Hakan Fidan,
Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun SinirlioÄ=9Flu, and Deputy
Chief of General Staff Gen. YaÅ=9Far Gürel. According to the
information obtained from sources, the recording consists of a chat
between four officials in DavutoÄ=9Flu’s office before the
commencement of the official meeting with the participation of more
civil and military bureaucrats in another room at the Foreign
Ministry.

It is not clear when exactly the meeting happened. It would fit the
situation late last year or early 2014.

The major points from my view:

– Turkey has delivered 2,000 trucks of weapons and ammunition to the
insurgents in Syria.
– There are plans for false flag attacks on Turkey or Turkish property
to justify an attack from Turkey on Syria.
– The Turkish military has great concerns going into and fighting Syria.
– The general atmosphere between these deciders is one of
indecisiveness. Everyone seems to be unclear what Erdogan wants and is
waiting for clear orders from above.
– U.S. military has shortly before the meeting presented fresh plans for
a no-fly one over Syria.

Then there is the fact in itself that this tape and others leaked. Internal
government communication in Turkey and personal communication of Turkish
official has been thoroughly compromised. This will hinder future decision
making and will erode any trust Turkish government allies may have in it.

It is somewhat astonishing how “western” media avoid the content of the
leaked tape. An AP report on it makes a lot of the youtube blocking the
Turkish government ordered in reaction to the tape. Of the recording
itself the AP only mentions this:

The four are allegedly heard discussing a military intervention in
neighboring Syria, a sensitive political issue in Turkey, although the
context of the conversation is not clear.

The Washington Post filed that AP report under Technology. This is an
incredible disservice to its readers.

The Guardian report based on Reuters is not any better:

The move by the TIB came hours after an anonymous YouTube account posted a
leaked audio recording allegedly of a confidential conversation between
Turkish intelligence chief Hakan Fidan, foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu,
undersecretary of the foreign ministry Feridun Sinirlioglu and deputy chief
of the general staff, Yasar Gürel, discussing possible military action in
Syria.

There is no mentioning at all of the false flag attack. The Wall Street
Journal comes somewhat nearer to the truth:

… a leaked recording published anonymously on the platform purported to
reveal a conversation in which Turkey’s foreign minister, spy chief and a
top general appear to discuss how to create a pretext for a possible
Turkish attack within Syria.

For once kudos to the NYT which at least touches one point but leaves
out the other important ones:

… the officials were heard discussing a plot to establish a
justification for military strikes in Syria. One option that is said to
have been discussed was orchestrating an attack on the Tomb of Suleyman
Shah …

German media did not do any better.

A NATO ally is planning a false flag attack on its own territory which
would implicate NATO Article 5 and other NATO countries’ forces and the
media do not even touch the issue? This is ludicrous.

Related to the Syria issue is another thinly sourced trial balloon, the
tenth or so, by the unofficial CIA spokesperson David Ignatius in the
Washington Post:

The Obama administration, stung by reversals in Ukraine and Syria,
appears to have decided to expand its covert program of training and
assistance for the Syrian opposition, deepening U.S. involvement in that
brutal and stalemated civil war. … Details of the plan were still
being debated Thursday, but its likely outlines were described by
knowledgeable officials: …

It follows the list of issues that have been discussed on and on over the
last three years, more CIA training for insurgents in Jordan, more weapons,
maybe some MANPADs. Ignatius source is here seems to be the CIA friends in
the Syrian opposition:

The expanded program would `send a clear message to the Assad regime
that there is no military solution to the struggle,’ according to a
March memo to the White House from the opposition. Assad `has no
incentive to talk’ now, the memo argued, because he thinks he is
winning.

The rationale, bluntly stated, is that to reach an eventual diplomatic
settlement in Syria, it is necessary now to escalate the conflict
militarily. This has been a hard pill for Obama to swallow, but prodded
by the Saudis, he seems to have reached that point.

There are so many caveats in here – “appears to have decided”, 2still being
debated”, “seems to have reached that point” – that I do not believe a word
of it. The loudly announced, by Ignatius and others, attack on south Syria
has yet to appear and the halfhearted attack by the Turkish supported
Jihadists in the north seems to be stuck.

I do not anticipate any bigger action by Turkey or the U.S. especially as
the such action right now would likely lead to harsher reaction by Russia.

Senators blast Turkey over Twitter blackout

March 28, 2014, 08:52 am
By Julian Hattem

A bipartisan pair of senators is looking to formally condemn the
Turkish government for shutting down social media sites like Twitter.

In a resolution introduced on Thursday, Sens. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.)
and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) accused the country’s leadership of violating
the right to free speech.

“The touchstone of a modern and legitimate democracy is the freedom of
expression enjoyed by its people,” Murphy, who chairs the Foreign
Relations subcommittee on Europe, said in a statement. “In 2014, a
fundamental expression of that freedom is a people’s access to social
media sites that allow them to share information and contribute to a
conversation about the world around them.”

He called for the government to end the blackout if it “wishes to move
toward eventual integration into the European Union…”

Johnson, the top Republican on the European Affairs subcommittee, also
worried about Turkey’s move in light of the Obama’s administration’s
decision to relinquish control of a critical Internet management
system.

“The ability of any private citizen to compete openly in offering
information to others has made the Internet one of the greatest
deregulatory success stories of all time,” he said.

“The Turkish shutdown of Twitter and YouTube for political purposes
shows the danger of foreign governments gaining control over this
incredible forum for liberty.”

Last week, the Turkish government blacked out Twitter in the country,
in a response to links on the site that seemed to show officials
engaged in corruption. On Thursday, the Turkish telecommunications
regulator made moves to block YouTube, as well, after a recording on
the site appeared to show top officials discussing a possible attack
on Syria.

The move comes days ahead of critical nationwide municipal elections on Sunday.

A court in Ankara has ordered the government to lift the ban on
Twitter in the next 30 days, which could leave the social media site
blocked when polls open.

Read more:
Follow us: @thehill on Twitter | TheHill on Facebook

EU: Azerbaijan hardly made any progress in field of democracy and human rights

15:02 28/03/2014 >> REGION

Last year almost no progress was observed in the fields of democracy
and improvement of human rights situation in Azerbaijan, it is stated
in the ENP Country Progress report 2013, placed on the website of EU.

“Presidential elections in the country raised serious concerns.
Significant problems were identified, including limitations in the
freedom of expression, assembly and association,” the report reads.

According to the report, the pre-election climate was marked by
pressure against journalists and activists. The fight against
corruption lacked a systematic approach. EU has also observed a lack
of progress in the process of Azerbaijan’s accession to WTO.

It is noted in the report, that Azerbaijan did not address key
recommendations to bring its electoral legislation into line with
OSCE/ODIHR.

Based on those observations EU calls on Azerbaijan to ensure effective
implementation of obligations, continue implementation of the human
rights action plan adopted in December 2011, bring electoral
legislation into line with OSCE/ODIHR recommendations and ensure
effective implementation before the forthcoming municipal and
parliamentary elections.

EU as well emphasized the need to reform the judiciary system and
defamation with the aim of decriminalizing libel. The report
underlines the importance of efforts to investigate cases of
harassment and murder of journalists and activists. The
recommendations concerning the field of economy relate to its
diversification, provision of market transparency, competition and
favorable investment conditions.

EU calls on Azerbaijan to ensure unimpeded access for representatives
of the EU to Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding regions in support of
conflict transformation activities in full complementarity with the
efforts of the Minsk Group.

The need to intensify steps towards a peaceful settlement on the basis
of Madrid principles is emphasized.

“The EU calls to refrain from actions and statements that could
heighten tension and undermine the peace process,” it is stated in the
report.

Member of Eurasian Economic Commission: Armenia will give Customs
Union countries access to Middle East markets

by Arthur Yernjakyan

ARMINFO
Saturday, March 29, 14:01

Armenia will give the Customs Union countries access to the Middle
East markets, Integration and Macroeconomics Minister of the Eurasian
Economic Commission Tatiana Valovaya said at the 2nd Economic Forum of
the Republican Party of Armenia “Armenia-Customs Union: Opportunities
and Challenges” on Saturday.

She said that though quite unstable, the Middle East is a very
interesting market.

According to Valovaya, free transfer of goods in the territory of the
Eurasian Economic Union will benefit Armenia’s business and will boost
the country’s exports. “Today Armenia exports to the Customs Union
mostly agricultural products but it may also consider other options,
for example, information technologies,” Valovaya said, noting that she
was impressed by the tablets to be produced on the basis of an
Armenian operating system.

PM’s activity has done nothing good to the Armenian people – expert

15:15 / 29.03.2014

Political analyst, member of Hayazn party’s administration Armen
Aghayan speaking to reporters today noted that with the consolidation
of four non-coalition forces a new format is being created.

He said the demand of resignation of Armenia’s PM will always be
justified as the activity of the PM has done nothing good to the
Armenian people.
“The issue of coup has two parts – ousting the old and appointing the
new. If after the change of the PM the newly appointed will not be
from Serzh Sargsyan’s team it may be considered a small coup. If for
instance Tigran Sargsyan is replaced with Vigen Sargsyan it will be a
failed attempt,” the analyst said.

He said the four forces are consolidated over the Prosperous Armenia
party with the Armenian National Congressed having recognized their
leadership at the last rally. In this terms there was no consolidation
of either political forces or the opposition, it has always been
consolidation over one force.