Thursday,
Armenia To Open Embassy In Israel
• Nane Sahakian
Israel -- Members of the Armenian community hold flags and placards as they
protest against the selling of Israeli weapons to Azerbaijan outside the
foreign ministry in Jerusalem, April 14, 2016.
The Armenian government decided on Thursday to open an embassy in Israel,
saying that it wants to improve Armenia’s uneasy relationship with the Jewish
state.
“Israel is an important player in the Middle East,” Foreign Minister Zohrab
Mnatsakanian said during a cabinet meeting in Yerevan. “The opening of the
embassy will contribute to the deepening of bilateral relations and protection
of Armenia’s interests in the region.”
The decision approved by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s cabinet says that the
embassy should be inaugurated in Tel Aviv by the beginning of next year. It
will not only “give new impetus” to Israeli-Armenian relations but also help to
secure the Armenian Apostolic Church’s continued strong presence in the Holy
Land and Jerusalem in particular, said the government.
Israel hailed the decision later in the day, with Foreign Minister Israel Katz
calling it a “significant step in the development of bilateral relations.”
“The opening of the embassy is a new and important chapter in bilateral
relations, and we are confident that this will further strengthen the
friendship between the two peoples and enhance cooperation between the states
in all areas,” said Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Nizar Amer.
Armenia and Israel established diplomatic relations in 1992 but have had no
embassies in each other’s capitals until now. Armenian ambassadors to Israel
have been based in Paris, Cairo and even Yerevan.
Mnatsakanian indicated that the Armenian government would welcome the opening
of an Israeli embassy in Yerevan. “That is on the agenda of our dialogue,” he
said.
Armenian-Israeli relations have long been frosty, reflecting differing
geopolitical priorities of the two states. Armenia has maintained a warm
rapport with Iran, while Israel has pursued strategic cooperation with Turkey
and Azerbaijan.
Armenian leaders have expressed concern over Israel’s large-scale arms deals
with Azerbaijan which have reportedly totaled at least $2 billion since 2012.
The Azerbaijani army used some of its Israeli-made weapons, notably
sophisticated anti-tank rockets, during April 2016 hostilities in
Nagorno-Karabakh.
Israel - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) meets with Armenian Foreign
Minister Edward Nalbandian in Jerusalem, 7Nov2017.
Relations between the two countries seemingly began to warm up with a July 2017
visit to Yerevan by Israel’s Minister of Regional Cooperation Tzachi Hanegbi.
Hanegbi and then Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian signed agreements
on avoidance of double taxation and mutual lifting of visa requirements for
holders of Armenian and Israeli diplomatic passports.
Nalbandian visited Israel and met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in
November 2017. “We'll strengthen relations between Israel and Armenia in tech,
cyberspace and agriculture,” Netanyahu tweeted after the talks.
Netanyahu reaffirmed his government’s readiness for closer ties with Yerevan
when he congratulated Pashinian on becoming prime minister in May 2018.
In a January 2019 interview with “The Jerusalem Post” newspaper, Mnatsakanian
said the current Armenian leadership wants to “develop relations with Israel,
including in the military field.” Asked about a possible negative reaction from
Iran, he said: “Relations with one country won’t jeopardize our connections
with others.”
Armenia, Karabakh To Hold ‘Strategic’ War Games
Armenia -- Soldiers of an artillerty unit of the Armenian army train at a
military base in Tavush province, .
Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh will start next week what Prime Minister Nikol
Pashinian described on Thursday as unprecedented military exercises involving a
large number of troops and army reservists.
The Armenian government discussed preparations for the 12-day “strategic
exercises” and approved a Defense Ministry plan to ensure coordinated
activities of government bodies that will also be involved in them. In
particular, they were tasked with helping the military call up many reservists
and providing it with additional transport equipment.
The government did not specify the number of soldiers and reservists that will
take part in the war games to be held from September 24 to October 5. The
Armenian Defense Ministry also gave few details when it officially announced
the drills on September 9.
The office of Bako Sahakian, the Karabakh president, said on Wednesday that
“strategic exercises” will be held in Karabakh as well. Sahakian met with other
senior Karabakh officials to discuss final preparations for them.
Nagorno-Karabakh -- General Artak Davtian (R), chief of the Armenian army's
General Staff, inspects frontline troops in Karabakh, July 3, 2019.
“In accordance with the defense minister’s orders, there will be mobilization
processes and I am calling on our fellow citizens to actively participate in
those process because this is a very important event aimed at enhancing our
country’s security and testing and increasing the combat-readiness of our armed
forces,” Pashinian said during a cabinet meeting in Yerevan. “This is a
planned, unprecedented and important event.”
Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan told Pashinian that the drills will be the most
large-scale in Armenia’s history. Tonoyan said a large number of army reserve
soldiers will be mobilized for that purpose. The vast majority of them will be
called up for one day while the others will spend up to five days at various
military bases, he said.
“All issues of transport and food provision have been solved,” added the
minister.
The Azerbaijani military claims to have held several major exercises this year.
The most recent of those drills began on Monday and will end on Friday.
According to the Defense Ministry in Baku, about 10,000 soldiers are taking
part in them.
Tsarukian’s Top Business Manager Prosecuted For Tax Fraud
• Artak Khulian
Armenia -- Sedrak Arustamian, chief executive of Multi Group, speaks to
protesting workers of a cement plant in Ararat, April 15, 2019.
An Armenian law-enforcement agency has moved to arrest the top manager of Gagik
Tsarukian’s businesses after accusing him of fraud and tax evasion.
The accusations do not relate to any of the several dozen firms making up
Tsarukian’s Multi Group and stem from separate economic activities of the
holding company’s chief executive, Sedrak Arustamian.
The Investigative Committee claimed late on Wednesday that Arustamian helped
Sinohydro Corporation, a Chinese construction company building a 56-kilometer
highway in northwestern Armenia, evade 240 million drams ($503,000) in taxes.
It said Sinohydro paid an Armenian firm owned by Arustamian and run by two
other men 1.17 billion drams in fictitious consulting frees as part of the scam.
Both men were also indicted. One of them, Gurgen Sargsian, had served as
Armenia’s transport minister from 2008-2010.
“Through his employees Sedrak Arustamian helped Chinese company executives to
avoid paying a large amount of taxes,” a senior Investigative Committee
official, Kamo Sahakian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian service on Thursday. He
confirmed that the committee has asked an Armenian court to remand the three
suspects in custody pending investigation.
Arustamian and his daughter Nora, who is a parliament deputy from Tsarukian’s
Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK), could not be reached for comment. A senior BHK
representative, Naira Zohrabian, said the opposition party will not comment on
the criminal proceedings for now.
The accusations against Tsarukian’s right-hand man are part of an ongoing
extensive investigation into serious financial abuses allegedly committed
during the implementation of a multimillion-dollar project to rebuild Armenia’s
key highways. They raised to 15 the total number of persons indicted in the
probe.
According to Sahakian, five of them are currently on the run. Those include the
executive director of the Spanish company Corsan Corviam Construccion which was
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. Corsan never rebuilt the remaining
40-kilometer-long road covered by the $250 million contract.
The Investigative Committee claimed earlier this month that Corsan’s Armenian
subcontractors were chosen not by the Spanish firm but former President Serzh
Sarkisian’s brother Levon. It said the latter arranged those contracts in
return for hefty kickbacks from the subcontractors.
Levon Sarkisian, who fled Armenia last year, was charged with bribery and money
laundering as a result. He denied the accusations through a lawyer.
Interim Heads Of Armenian Police, Security Service Named
• Sargis Harutyunyan
Armenia -- Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian addresses protesters outside the main
government building in Yerevan, .
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian named the new, interim heads of Armenia’s Police
and National Security Service (NSS) on Thursday.
President Armen Sarkissian formalized the appointments of Arman Sargsian as
acting police chief and Eduard Martirosian as acting director of the NSS later
in the day.
Both relatively young men are career officers who became deputy heads of their
respective agencies shortly after last year’s “Velvet Revolution.”
The previous police and NSS chiefs, Valeri Osipian and Artur Vanetsian, were
forced by Pashinian to resign earlier this week for still unclear reasons.
Pashinian did not say who will replace them on a permanent basis when he
announced the interim appointments at a cabinet meeting in Yerevan.
The premier stressed that both Sargsian and Martirosian are legally empowered
to perform their new duties in full. “I want to congratulate our colleagues and
wish them success,” he said.
Sargsian, 41, met with senior police staff later in the day, reportedly telling
them that the Armenian police will undergo “institutional changes” soon and
must “build on achievements” and “eliminate existing shortcomings” in the
meantime. “It is essential that within a short period of time the public sees a
new, more competent and professional police,” a police statement quoted him as
saying.
Armenian law has until now required the heads of the police and the NSS to be
high-ranking career officers. On Monday the Armenian parliament passed in the
first reading legal amendments allowing political appointees to run the two
law-enforcement agencies. This fuelled media speculation that Osipian’s and
Vanetsian’s permanent replacements will be outsiders.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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