Author: Kalantarian Kevo

ARMENIA’S MINISTRY OF ECONOMY REFUTES ITS OWN STATEMENT ABOUT TIMING OF ACCESSION TO CU

YEREVAN, April 18. /ARKA/. Armenia’s acting minister of economy Vahram
Avanesyan refuted Friday his statement saying Armenia would sign the
CU-membership agreement in Minsk on April 29. The minister made his
statement about signing Thursday April 17. “I would like to make an
official statement that no signing of CU-membership agreement is
scheduled for April 29. I am responsible for this disinformation,
and from now on I will be clarifying signing of which agreements I
mean”, Avanesyan told a press conference Friday. The acting minister
said Armenia will read out its decision to join the Customs Union in
Minsk on April 29. The last meeting of the roadmap working group on
Armenia’s accession to the CU, composed of representatives from all
three CU-member countries, is scheduled for April 25, Avanesyan said.

The group will finalize the results of activities on the roadmap.

Depending on the results, the group will provide its final position in
Minsk on April 29, the acting minister said. The agreement to create
the Eurasian Economic Union between three CU-member countries is
expected to be signed in late May, he said. Deputy minister of economy
Karine Minasyan, in her turn, said apart from talks on CU-membership,
Armenia is currently negotiating also over joining the Eurasian
Economic Union (EEU). The accession process is progressing rapidly,
and Armenia is negotiating to be prepared to join the EEU straight
away if required, she said. -0–

– See more at:

ARMENIA WON’T INK CU ACCESSION DEAL APRIL 29, OFFICIAL CORRECTS HIMSELF

April 18, 2014 – 16:41 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – A deal on Armenia’s accession to the Russia-led
Customs Union will be signed upon completion of talks for preservation
of customs duties for a number of imported goods, acting economy
minister said.

As Vahram Avanesyan told journalists on April 18, he agreement won’t
be signed on April 29.

“Armenia will sign the agreement to formally join the Customs Union
of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus on April 29,” the acting economy
minister Vahram Avanesyan said April 17 adding that negotiations
are in progress over the number of goods for which Armenia seeks to
continue levying its current, lower customs duties.

Avanesyan noted that the agreement will be signed at the meeting of
the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council at the level of heads of states.

According to the official, is not clear now whether the negotiations
would be accomplished by that time. Asked how the agreement could be
signed without completion of the talks he said it was a usual practice:
“any talks have the date of completion and that of signing of papers,”
he said.

Avanesyan stopped short of disclosing the details of the talks on
customs duties for Armenia, noting that only a few unresolved issues
remain.

Armenia implemented 70% of the activities stipulated by the Customs
Union accession roadmap, a presidential statement said in late March.

According to the address of Armenian leader Serzh Sargsyan to
participants of the Armenia-CU conference, close cooperation with
the Eurasian Economic Commission and relevant structures in Russia,
Belarus and Kazakhstan promoted progress in Armenia’s accession
activities, to be followed by signing of an international legal deal.

In his address, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev welcomed
the already perceptible success that the Customs Union and Unified
Economic Space members achieved in their work. He also hailed Armenia’s
progress in implementation of the CU accession roadmap, according to
Armenia Today.

He further noted a stable global tendency for regional integration
projects to facilitate economic growth and secure investments,
expressing hope for the integration to strengthen Armenian-Russian
ties.

At the conference, then Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan outlined
challenges of Armenia’s CU accession.

“Armenia is a member of the World Trade Organization, with customs
fees instituted in the WTO space thrice as low as those in the CU
area. This means that the CU accession will negatively affect business
entities importing goods from third countries. On the other hand,
local manufacturers might benefit from the step, in having their
rights protected and investments boosted.”

As he further noted, the expected increase in customs fees might
force Armenia to give preference to services and products offered by
the CU states, with the difficulties that the importers of goods from
third countries could face to be discussed.

According to Sargsyan, by joining WTO, Armenia assumed certain
obligations which should be revised in the light of its CU accession
and change in customs fees, with the negotiations to be launched on
the subject.

“Armenia will complete all steps envisaged in the Customs Union
accession road map in mid-April, will the CU accession deal currently
in the works,” Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan said on
March 1.

As Kocharyan told a news conference, once the text of the deal is
coordinated with the CU member states, it will be submitted for
parliamentary ratification.

A draft resolution on Armenia’s accession to the Customs Union and
unified economic zone was approved at the Minsk-hosted Supreme Eurasian
Economic Council meeting Dec 24. On Jan 23, Armenian government has
approved the list of measures for joining the Customs Union.

LES REACTIONS FACE AU NOUVEAU PREMIER MINISTRE

ARMENIE

Alors que le Premier ministre nouvellement nommé Hovik Abrahamyan
est occupé a former le nouveau gouvernement avec la liberté qui
lui est accordée par le Président Serge Sarkissian, ses collèges
potentiels ne se dépêchent pas a rejoindre la majorité politique.

Après l’annonce de la nomination du PM le porte-parole du parti
au pouvoir Eduard Sharmazanov a dit que le président poursuivra ses
consultations avec le parti Arménie prospère (PAP) et la Fédération
révolutionnaire Arménie (ARF). Le PAP s’empressa de préciser qu’il
ne souhaitait pas former une coalition avec les pouvoirs en place.

Lors de la deuxième rencontre avec Sarkissian, le chef du PAP
Gagik Tsarukyan a parlé de la crise économique dans le pays et
des problèmes de tension sociale forte a dit le porte-parole du PAP
Tigran Urikhanyan sur zham.am.

Comme Urikhanyan l’a dit, le chef du pouvoir politique du deuxième
parti d’Arménie a indiqué que ” de première importance sont
les problèmes concernant le système d’accumulation de pension,
la bureaucratie, l’utilisation des radars ainsi que la diminution
des taux et des pourcentages bancaires ”.

La position de Tsarukyan est remarquable dans le contexte de l’annonce
de Sarkissian sur les réformes, en particulier sur la poursuite des
travaux sur l’application du système de retraite par capitalisation,
qui semble avoir créé des contradictions entre les deux pouvoirs
politiques.

Aucune annonce n’a été faite par le FRA sur sa volonté de devenir
un membre du gouvernement.

” Nous avons mentionné plusieurs fois que nous discutons des
questions de planification. Devenir un membre du gouvernement
dépend de savoir si le gouvernement sera d’accord avec nos plans,
ou pas ” a déclaré le secrétaire du groupe parlementaire de la
FRA Dashnaksutyun Aghvan Vardanyan sur le site officiel de la FRA
étant donné que le gouvernement n’a pas encore répondu au plan en
7 points qu’il avait introduit.

Ni le Congrès National Arménien (ANC), ni le parti Héritage ont fait
des annonces concernant les derniers développements. Aucun des partis
n’a pas non plus participé aux négociations non-gouvernementales
lancées a la suite de la démission de Tigran Sarkissian en tant
que Premier ministre.

Le Secrétaire du parti Héritage Stepan Safaryan sur sa page Facebook
a interprété la nomination d’Hovik Abrahamyan comme une motivation
d’accroître les investissements en Arménie.

Bien que le président Sarkissian avait promis que le nouveau Premier
ministre sera acceptable pour tout le monde, les nouvelles de la
nomination de Abrahamian ont été recus négativement dans les
couches sociales. En réponse a la question de Samvel Martirosyan
blogueur populaire si les lecteurs considèrent Hovik Abrahamyan
comme un Premier Ministre souhaitable, 32 ont répondu ” oui ”,
contre 349 ” non ”.

Par Sara Khojoyan

ArmeniaNow

vendredi 18 avril 2014, Stéphane ©armenews.com

I’VE SEEN TURKISH PASSPORTS OF KILLED MILITANTS

Siranuysh Papyan, Interviewer
Interview – Friday, 18 April 2014, 14:57

Interview with Toros Sefilian, Armenian Lebanese, member of Armenian
Renaissance, who visited Latakia and met with Armenians of Kessab

Mr. Sefilian, you have just returned from Syria where you met with
Armenians of Kessab. How are they getting on?

First, I would like to note that our authorities, and earlier our
traditional parties frightened the people of Armenia and Diaspora,
exaggerated the situation. The reality is different. They have
designated a working group representing all the traditional parties,
including religious communities. As a representative of the Armenian
Renaissance Organization, I said that we are concerned about the
situation and the right thing to us is to be present in Syria and
learn about the situation on the spot, not through the mass media. We
are all very sensitive about what is happening in Kessab because
Kessab is historically very important to us as Kessab is the last
town of Cilicia. Perhaps many people don’t know that in 1939 thanks
to Cardinal Aghajanyan and upon international consent Kessab passed
under the Syrian authorities. Otherwise, it would have been Turkish
territory, like Mount Musa. We must have a special tactics, focus
on diplomacy and voice practical issues internationally. We must
not apologize. Unfortunately, however, we are fighting each other,
whether in or outside Armenia. If we take some food and clothes to
our compatriots in Kessab, we haven’t done something big. Let’s not
think that now we can go to bed quietly, thinking that we have done
a great job.

Mr. Sefilian, what should have been done for the Armenians of Kessab
that has not been done?

We must not be limited to sending a little food and clothes. We must
be working towards this direction 24 hours a day and decide what
should be done rather than have the majority frighten people with a
statement to not listen to the opinion of minorities. Don’t think that
minorities will not move on to real action at some point. I would like
our government, as well as the traditional parties, to be more aware
and alert. As soon as one person visits the Armenians of Kessab, they
are encourages very fast, they are touched, thinking that people are
interested in them, whether an administrative delegation of Armenia
or other organizations.

How many Armenians are still living in the church?

I have found out that 130 people are left in the church. The others
have been put up by their friends and relatives in Latakia, some
of them are already in Beirut, others are in Aleppo. The Armenians
of Kessab have scattered, 130 people are left. I asked them whether
they will leave Kessab if such an opportunity comes up. A few days
after the developments in Kessab Hovik Abrahamyan announced that
Armenia will welcome the people of Kessab. I found out that the
people and authorities of Kessab are against leaving Kessab. It is
highly important to me that the people will not leave their town,
which is a final decision. Yes, they have scattered now but everyone
hopes and believes that they will return. However, they say they are
unable to liberate Kessab by themselves. They hope their state will
do it, and they will return to their homes.

In your opinion, will it be possible to return to Kessab?

It depends on the government of Syria which must liberate Kessab. I
went to the positions in some places and saw there 7 or 8 men of
Kessab, aged between 28 and 45, who did not go to Latakia like others
but found guns and joined the army of liberation of Kessab and are
defending their homes. I have talked to them, and it is upsetting
that even the Armenian leaders in Latakia are not aware of these
guys. One of them pointed at a house in about 25 meters and said it
is their house. “I will not leave this place and I don’t care what
the leaders of the community have decided.”

Hayastan Pan-Armenian Fund provided some financial assistance to
the people of Kessab. In your opinion, was it enough to resolve the
problems of Kessab people?

Only the first three days were difficult for the people of Kessab
when there were serious problems with organizing distribution of
food three times a day and clothes. Today I saw there is a lot of
food and clothes. Even the Syrian government takes care of them.

We at Renaissance have decided to raise funds and direct other
fundraisers to think about what we are going to do after return to
Kessab. A lot of houses have been ruined that must be reconstructed.

The people of Kessab do not worry much about destruction of their
houses as much as about their fruit orchards which are their source
of income.

What way out do you see in this situation?

I can say it should not be left like this. What happened does not mean
that we have already lost and should focus on evacuating people. On
the contrary, we must do everything to return Kessab. What happened
there was a political decision and it was not accidental that it
happens ahead of the 100th anniversary of the genocide. I’ve even
seen Turkish documents, passports that had been taken from killed
militants. It means that Turks participated in the offensive on Kessab
dressed as mercenary militants. Not only did Turkey open its border
for the militants but also its citizens participated in those actions.

What happened was betrayal and deception. You know that Syria has been
at war for 3 years but there were not many troops in the northwest of
the country. The point is that an international agreement was signed
in 1938 which allowed Syrians not to worry about those positions. In
fact, Turkey has violated the agreement, and thousands of militants
penetrated to Syria from that area. I’ve heard their number was
20,000-22,000. In the beginning we were told about 5000-6000 militants
but their number gradually rose to 20,000-22,000. It is clear that
Turkey will not claim responsible but everyone knows who backs
all this.

Turkey was said to provide refugee Armenians of Kessab with everything,
even houses.

I have learned that the Turkish government took special care of the
two women, the Titizian sisters who left for Turkey, to demonstrate to
the world how thoughtful they are. Like all the Armenians of Kessab,
Titizian sisters were to leave for Latakia but Turkey did everything
to take them to Mount Musa to use it for publicity.

I’d like to repeat that there is a lot to do, it is going to be
difficult but not impossible. We must do everything to make sure
that we return to Kessab and win a diplomatic victory. We are tired
of hearing that we have no diplomacy and we have always lost.

Unfortunately, all we are doing is fighting each other, we do not
tolerate each other, whereas we should come together and think about
how to face up to these challenges.

– See more at:

DELEGATION OF US REPRESENTATIVES VISIT ANKARA

Daily Sabah, Turkey
April 17 2014

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Boehner meets with top Turkish
officials and assures Turkey that there was no chance the Armenian
genocide bill would pass

by Daily Sabah

ANKARA — A delegation from the U.S. House of Representatives took
part in a series of bilateral meetings yesterday in Ankara. The U.S.

lawmakers, led by U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner,
were received by Parliament Speaker Cemil Cicek. Cicek and Boehner
talked about the Armenian genocide bill that increase tension between
the two countries. Boehner later met Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan in a meeting closed to the media and the delegation was
expected to meet with President Abdullah Gul late last night.

In addition to Boehner, Chairman of the House Committee on Education
and the Workforce Representative John Kline, Chairman of the House
Committee on Natural Resources Representative Doc Hastings, House
Committee on Energy and Commerce and chairman of the Subcommittee
on Communications and Technology Representative Greg Walden, and
Representative Steve Womack of the House Committee on Appropriations,
travelled to Turkey. The American lawmakers were accompanied by AK
Party Deputies and U.S.-Turkey Parliamentary Friendship Group Member
Nursuna Memecan.

After the meeting with the U.S. delegation, Cicek said lawmakers
discussed bilateral relations and Armenian genocide allegations.

Regarding the resolution on the alleged Armenian genocide introduced
to the U.S.

Congress, Cicek said, “Parliaments should build the future today
and should leave history to historians. We are ready to confront our
history. Scientists, historians, whoever knows anything and whoever
has something to say should investigate this matter. If the parliaments
began to make decisions on historical events, this may harm bilateral
relations and friendship.” Boehner emphasized that representatives
involved in the resolution are lawmakers and not historians. Pointing
to his 24 years career in the House of Representatives, Boehner
said that Armenian genocide claims popped up on the agenda of the
lower house from time to time. “Our congress will not get involved in
this issue. We are not writing history. We are also not historians,”
said Boehner.

‘GENOCIDE’ COINER GAINS RECOGNITION

RU Daily Targum, NJ
April 17 2014

Courtesy of Alex Hinton

.

Raphael Lemkin, a former Rutgers professor, has been recognized for
coining the term ‘genocide.’

Posted: Thursday, April 17, 2014 12:00 am

‘Genocide’ coiner gains recognition Julian Chokkattu / Correspondent
DailyTargum.com | 0 comments

“Genocide” is a word almost everyone has heard, said Jeff Benvenuto,
a part-time lecturer in the Department of History. What most people
have not heard of is the person who coined the term.

Raphael Lemkin, whose name was largely forgotten for decades, has
been recognized as the father of genocide studies and for coining
the term “genocide.” He first used it in his 1944 book “Axis Rule
in Occupied Europe: Laws of Occupation – Analysis of Government –
Proposals for Redress.”

CBS News Commentator Quincy Howe said in an interview with Lemkin
that his word was derived from the Greek word “genos,” meaning race
or group, and the Latin root, “-cide,” meaning to kill.

“I became interested in genocide because it happened so many times,”
Lemkin said in the interview. “It happened to the Armenians, and
after the Armenians, Hitler took action.”

Lemkin, who fled the Holocaust, was nominated for the Nobel Peace
Prize twice and urged the United Nations to outlaw genocide.

He died suddenly on 42nd street in New York at the age of 59 after
living in poverty and sickness, said Alex Hinton, director of the
Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights, or CGHR.

The Raphael Lemkin International Award was recently established by the
U.N. in honor of Lemkin’s work and for his contributions in criminal
international law.

Lemkin taught at Duke and Yale University, but also taught
international law at the Rutgers School of Law-Newark from 1955
to 1956.

Hinton, who is also the United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization Chair on Genocide Prevention, has been trying to
find details about Lemkin’s time at Rutgers, but it has been difficult
because the archives do not have enough information.

Hinton said the Genocide Program of CGHR established the Raphael
Lemkin Project. The project allows students to research Lemkin’s work
and present their research at a symposium.

He restructured the way he teaches his courses, which now begin with
Lemkin’s life.

“He combined both the desire to prevent genocide, so he had this
activist side of him, but he also was a rigorous scholar,” Hinton
said. “Our center tries to do rigorous scholarship but we also have
a desire to have a critical engagement with issues like genocide
prevention, mass atrocities and human rights issues more broadly.”

Hinton believes it was the renewed interest in human rights — which
was elevated in the events that took place in Bosnia, Rwanda and Darfur
— and Samantha Power’s book that thrust Lemkin into the limelight.

It was around the time when high school and college groups mobilized
to raise awareness to prevent genocide in Darfur when Power, U.S.

ambassador to the U.N., published her Pulitzer Prize-winning book,
“A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide,” in which
Lemkin is mentioned.

But to Lemkin, the word “genocide” has a broader reference than what
was included in the U.N. Hinton said Lemkin’s definition included
cultural genocide, which is the destruction of a cultural heritage.

Benvenuto, a graduate student at Rutgers-Newark in the Division of
Global Affairs Program, said the secretary-general of the U.N.

commissioned Lemkin and two other experts to write the first draft
of the law calling for the international convention to punish the
crime of genocide.

Benvenuto, who helped create the webpage for the Raphael Lemkin
Project, said the more he learned about Lemkin, the more he was
fascinated.

“He’s got an amazing life story, which frankly would make an incredible
feature film,” Benvenuto said. “This guy basically traveled around
the world, escaped from Nazis and changed the world.”

Hudson McFann, a Ph.D. student in geography at Rutgers-New Brunswick,
works closely with Hinton on research focusing on genocide and the
Khmer Rouge, the organization responsible for the Cambodian genocide.

When McFann was researching at the New York Public Library and looked
through the Raphael Lemkin papers, he took notice to the role of myth
that Lemkin focused on, specifically how myths about groups of people
can contribute to the rationalization of acts of genocide.

His experience researching about Lemkin was extraordinary.

“You really realize when you look at the [the Raphael Lemkin papers]
on microfilm, how much different of an experience it is and in fact
in many instances, how much is lost.”v

SOME STUDENTS AT SUFFOLK LAW PROTEST CHOICE OF ADL LEADER AS COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER

Boston Business Journal
April 17 2014

Mary Moore

Students at Suffolk University Law School are opposing the school’s
choice of Abraham Foxman, the national director of the Anti-Defamation
League, as its commencement speaker.

Amy Willis, president of the school’s student chapter of the National
Lawyers Guild in Massachusetts, said student members of the Guild,
several faculty members and Muslim students attending Suffolk
University have expressed dissent about Suffolk’s choice of Foxman.

They have written emails and letters to Suffolk University’s
administration, she said. Willis is a second-year law student at
Suffolk and is a student attorney at Greater Boston Legal Services.

In an April 14 letter to Suffolk President James McCarthy, the National
Lawyers Guild at Suffolk Law wrote that Foxman has been “a proponent
of many disturbing policies” and has “failed to embrace the promotion
of truly inclusive diversity.”

The student chapter’s letter reads, in part:

“In 2007, he spoke out publicly about the (Anti-Defamation League’s)
stance on the Armenian genocide, denying that the deaths of 1.5 million
Armenians rose to the level of a genocide — calling it tantamount to
genocide, but refusing to define this tragedy with the appropriate
and meaningful political term. … Mr. Foxman’s commentary on the
Armenian genocide hits home at Suffolk law, as there are students of
Armenian descent whose families would feel uncomfortable and unwelcomed
at commencement.”

Suffolk University, in an email response to the BBJ, said that the
concerns expressed by members of the Suffolk University community
caused the university to “reexamine Mr. Foxman’s career of work”
to ensure that it is in line with Suffolk’s principles. Foxman was
chosen as the commencement speaker and to receive an honorary degree
due to his work for nearly 50 years with the Anti-Defamation League.

Suffolk offered this response:

“While some have disagreed with statements he has made, Mr. Foxman’s
body of work is deserving of recognition. As President Obama said
only weeks ago following the announcement of Mr. Foxman’s upcoming
retirement from the ADL: ‘For decades, Abe Foxman has been a tireless
voice against anti-Semitism and prejudice in all of its forms, always
calling us to reject hatred and embrace our common humanity. It is
our hope that Mr. Foxman’s personal story as a Holocaust survivor and
attorney who has dedicated his life to public service will inspire
our graduates as they embark on their professional careers. In the
weeks to come, we will work with those who may still have concerns to
find ways to engage Mr. Foxman in a dialogue on the important issues
they have brought to our attention.”

ARMENIANS IN UKRAINE WANT “ADEQUATE REACTION” FROM GOVERNMENT TO RUBEN AVANESYAN’S DEATH

NEWS | 17.04.14 | 10:40

Report: Ethnic Armenian killed in eastern Ukraine standoff

Armenian Face of Ukrainian Drama: Armenian killed in Donetsk region
hailed as hero by pro-Russia protesters

The government must provide an adequate reaction to the deaths of
people regardless of their political preferences, said head of the
Union of Armenians of Ukraine (UAU) Vilen Shatvoryan on Wednesday
during a special meeting held in connection with the tragic death of
Ruben Avanesyan in Slavyansk.

The town in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine is one of the
recent flashpoints of confrontation between local protesters seeking
federalization and Ukrainian security forces. Avanesyan was allegedly
killed by members of the ultranationalist Right Sector group. He is
said to have helped protesters oppose the government forces.

“People who get killed in the confrontation are first of all
citizens of Ukraine, ordinary people whose rights are protected by
the Constitution,” Shatvoryan said at the UAU meeting, as quoted
by Analitikaua.net.

He said that letters had been sent by MPs to Ukraine’s acting president
Alexander Turchinov and acting prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk with a
request to ensure appropriate reaction to the facts of people’s deaths.

Earlier, Shatvoryan, a member of the Supreme Rada of Ukraine, urged
all citizens of Ukraine not to yield to provocations and not to
participate in illegal events.

“The political events unfolding in the country cause concern among
all citizens of Ukraine, regardless of their ethnicity. Today our duty
is to do everything depending on us to preserve accord and stability
within the society,” the UAU president said.

ARMENIAN AKHTAMAR CHURCH RESTORATION NEARS COMPLETION

16:28 17.04.2014

Akhtamar

The restoration of a 10th-century Armenian church located on Akhtamar
Island in eastern Turkey’s Lake Van is about to be completed, Today’s
Zaman reports.

According to the report, the walls of the church have been renovated
in line with the original design.

Known in English as the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, the church
was in ruins and on the verge of collapse. The Turkish Ministry of
Culture and Tourism started a restoration project in 2005 to preserve
the historical identity of the church. The church has since become
a destination for domestic and international tourists since being
opened as a museum by the ministry after its first restoration was
completed in 2007.

The second restoration project started in April of last year on the
ruins of the church’s monastic buildings.

Adnan Vural, owner of Alfin Construction, which carried out the
restoration of the church, said the work is nearly finished.

Religious services have been held inside the church four times. The
last time a religious service took place in the church was in
September of last year. Armenians from Turkey, Holland, Austria,
Canada, Switzerland, Germany, France, US, Iran and Armenia attended the
services. Several foreign diplomats in Turkey also attended the event.

COALITION’S DEMISE: ORINATS YERKIR NO LONGER WANTS TO SHARE POWER WITH REPUBLICANS

Politics | 17.04.14 | 10:22

GOHAR ABRAHAMYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter

The ruling Republican Party’s only political ally, Orinats Yerkir,
on Wednesday announced its decision to pull out of the coalition
after six years of cooperation with its senior partner.

The Orinats Yerkir political board held a meeting that day, unanimously
deciding that party’s continued presence in the coalition was
“problematic” and “inexpedient”. At the same time, the party accepted
the applications from its three members who currently hold ministerial
positions – Armen Yeritsyan, Sergo Karapetyan and Samvel Tadevosyan –
on quitting the party.

Orinats Yerkir said that in reality the coalition format has not been
effective as a result of which the notion of the “ruling coalition”
has been supplanted by the notion of the “ruling political force”.

“Such a format has never created an opportunity for Orinats Yerkir in
the state administration system for solving many problems and have
its influence in the appointments to key posts,” the party said. It
added that before the nomination of the candidate for prime minister
the issue of the candidacy named by Orinats Yerkir was not discussed
within the coalition circles.

Orinats Yerkir believes that Artur Baghdasaryan, who was parliament
speaker for four years and worked as National Security Council
secretary since 2008, had the right to have “a key role in bringing
the country out of the difficult economic situation” together with
the country’s president and coalition partners. Orinats Yerkir finds
that the concentration of key posts in the hands of one political
party does not create an opportunity for a real coalitional government.

At the same time, Orinats Yerkir decided to extend the intrigue,
announcing that the decision of the political council will be confirmed
only after discussions at the board’s meeting on April 25.

Talking to reporters, Orinats Yerkir parliamentary faction head
Heghine Bisharyan said that they will become opposition, but added
that they will announce it next week.

“There were bills that we had put into circulation together with
opposition forces, signed them. This political decision means that
we will be free in our steps. We have our own vision of the pension
reform. True, we voted in favor of it, because we wanted our citizens
to live in a prosperous country, but we will work on the amendments,
will support our young people so that our citizens could have a secure
retirement,” said Bisharyan.

This is not the first time that Orinats Yerkir leaves government
posts and becomes opposition. Still in 2006 party leader Baghdasaryan
resigned as parliament speaker, became opposition and began to
criticize the government. After the 2008 presidential election, in
which Baghdasaryan participated as an opposition candidate, Orinats
Yerkir cut a power-sharing deal with the Republicans becoming their
junior coalition partner. That step admittedly had a negative impact
on Orinats Yerkir’s image as the party and its leader had been labeled
traitors by many opposition supporters.

Even though the Republican Party enjoys a clear majority in the
legislature, Orinats Yerkir used to supply additional votes to it
needed for reassurance in key votes. The supply of these few but
sometimes critical votes for the Republicans is, in fact, at risk now.

It is not clear yet whether the ruling party will be able to find
another coalition partner.

A few days ago the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun)
presented a seven-point proposal to the Government. During a news
briefing on Wednesday Dashnaktsutyun parliamentary faction leader
Armen Rustamyan said that if all the seven points are accepted,
they will be ready to share responsibility in a coalitional government.