Author: Maral Chavushian

Armenpress: Armenian peacekeepers serving abroad to also vote in general election

Maral Chavushian

Armenian peacekeepers serving abroad to also vote in general election

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14:57, 29 November, 2018

YEREVAN, NOVMEBER 29, ARMENPRESS. Armenian peacekeepers in Afghanistan, Kosovo, Lebanon and Mali will also vote in the upcoming general election, defense ministry spokesperson Artsrun Hovhannisyan told ARMENPRESS.

He said that the peacekeepers will cast their ballots by the same principles as diplomats in foreign countries. “Peacekeepers in Lebanon will vote at the Embassy of Armenia, while peacekeepers in Kosovo, Mali and Afghanistan, where Armenia doesn’t have embassies, the regional diplomatic structures will create the opportunity. Special areas will be opened for servicemen, with ballots and envelopes,” he said.

Armenia currently has 121 active duty peacekeepers serving as part of the NATO Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan.

32 Armenian peacekeepers are serving within the UNIFIL mission in Lebanon, and 40 Armenian peacekeepers are serving in the NATO-led KFOR in Kosovo. Armenia has also 1 serviceman as part of the MINUSMA mission in Mali.

 

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan




Team of economics win in football competitions

Maral Chavushian
  • 18:09 | November 26,2018 | Social
  • Armenian:

The team of the Armenian State University of Economics won the futsal competitions held by the RA Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs in the “Student Sport Games -2018” program. The Yerevan State University won the second place and the third place was occupied by the Armenian State Institute of Physical Culture and Sports team.

The teams of 16 higher educational institutions of the Republic of Armenia participated in futsal competitions, which are being held under the program “Student Sports Games-2018.”

Armenia’s acting PM speaks about problems with Teghut mine

Maral Chavushian
News.am, Armenia
Nov 27 2018
Armenia’s acting PM speaks about problems with Teghut mine Armenia’s acting PM speaks about problems with Teghut mine

21:58, 27.11.2018
                  

Armenia’s acting PM Nikol Pashinyan said in Alaverdi city during electoral campaign that Teghut mine will be exploited after its tailing dump is renovated.

“This issue has been in my focus since the first day I was elected Prime Minister. When Teghut mine was exploited, it happened as a result of the 380 million USD credit received from Russian VTB bank. This February it turned out that there are problems with the tailing dump and a renovation is necessary for continuing the exploitation. Conditioned by this, they tried to take another loan, but failed to pay the previous loan. They also couldn’t take a new loan for the renovation of the tailing dump, sine both Teghut and the copper smelter were hypothecated for the previous loan. As a result, the Government invited VTB and Vallex and told them to negotiate and find a solution. As a result, Teghut passed under the control of the bank. We set an obligation before the bank to attract a new operator who will exploit that mine. Now our compatriot, Russian-Armenian Norik Petrosyan has set to that work. We have brought forward a precondition and set a task before Petrosyan, which is that there should be so many jobs at Teghut that in case this case is prolonged, the employees of the copper smelter could find a job at Teghut”, Pashinyan said.

According to the acting PM, some time is necessary to putting the mine into operation.

“It’s impossible to exploit the mine without the renovation of that tailing dump. Nearly 14 million USD is necessary for that, after which that mine will again operate”, Pashinyan said.

Andreas Ghukasyan to not be granted amnesty (video)

Maral Chavushian
  • 20:02 | November 1,2018 | Politics
  • Armenian:
  • Rus

Leader of the New Armenia movement Andreas Ghukasyan told a news conference today that he will not be granted amnesty, as the amnesty extends only over the Sasna Tsrer group members and their accomplices.

According to Ghukasyan, in the past years there was a criminal law enforcement system. Many people have been sentenced to imprisonment on illegal charges.

Former MP Azat Arshakyan mentioned that the government was obliged to grant amnesty to all convicts who had been judged unfairly by the previous authorities.

Armenia MOD on buying American weapons: There is no need for it at this point

Maral Chavushian
News.am, Armenia
Oct 28 2018
Armenia MOD on buying American weapons: There is no need for it at this point Armenia MOD on buying American weapons: There is no need for it at this point

17:14, 28.10.2018
                  

YEREVAN. – Acting Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan discussed security issues with US National Security Adviser John Bolton, who paid a visit to Armenia on Thursday.

Tonoyan told about the aforementioned to Armenian News-NEWS.am. He added, however, that military cooperation was not discussed.

Asked whether the chances of selling American weapons to Armenia were conferred on with Bolton, the minister said the arms market is an open market. “[But] we didn’t discuss a matter of buying American weapons,” he added.

And asked whether Armenia would purchase Americans weapons if it were made such an offer, Davit Tonoyan said there was no need for it at this point.

The minister noted that sending an Armenian humanitarian division to Syria also was talked about with John Bolton, and added that this division will be sent.

‘People will voice their word in the event of political conspiracies’, Pashinyan says navigating towards early elections

Maral Chavushian

‘People will voice their word in the event of political conspiracies’, Pashinyan says navigating towards early elections

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15:06,

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 22, ARMENPRESS. Early elections of parliament must take place in Armenia, acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in a live broadcast of Facebook. He expressed hope that political forces will not make any action contradicting this process.

“Tomorrow is the first deadline envisaged by law after my resignation, one more week is required to head for early elections. There is no other option of disbanding the parliament under the current Constitution. We either had to take the path of constitutional amendments and dissolve the parliament without my resignation, or we had to take the direction which we are on now. We decided not take the path of constitutional amendments. I felt that there would be comments alleging that I am clinging from office with both hands,” Pashinyan said.

Pashinyan stressed that all factions have announced they won’t nominate candidates for prime minister.

“A question arises whether conspiracies are possible during this period. Theoretically conspiracies can happen. If this happens, then the people must voice their word. I will address the people in the same way, I will call on them to gather and speak their voice. Therefore – follow the developments. Let’s be in constant contact in order to rapidly respond about issues and make decisions together. One thing is clear – we must go for early [elections], and I hope that the political forces won’t do actions contradicting it,” he said.

The first round of electing a prime minister will be held October 24, eight days after Nikol Pashinyan announced his resignation in a technical maneuver to trigger the dissolution of the incumbent parliament.

Under the law, parliamentary factions have seven days after the resignation to nominate a candidate.

The election takes place during a special session, but since the parliament will be holding regular sessions next week, the October 24 first round of election will take place within the framework of the ordinary sitting.

All factions have agreed that they won’t nominate candidates.

In an earlier statement, Pashinyan had said that his candidacy might be nominated in the first round as a formality in a pre-arranged scenario of not being elected.

Under the constitution, the parliament gets disbanded in the event of failing to elect a prime minister twice.

A second round of election takes place seven days after the first one.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan





Representatives of “Adekvad” program series: All attempts to silence us are doomed to failure, and we will continue to present the objective reality

Maral Chavushian
| 13:15 | October 14 2018
Category
Society

On October 11, an unpleasant incident was recorded in the city of Maralik of Shirak Province and took place between Narek Malyan and Artur Danielyan, creators of the “Adekvad” program series on Facebook, as well as the program’s cameraman Grigor Minasyan and nearly 2 dozens of residents of Maralik.

Let us mention that the “Adekvad” program series was created in mid-July, sharply criticizing the new government and its domestic and foreign policies.

Within the scope of their regional visits, the representatives of “Adekvad” traveled to Maralik to provide coverage of the events that have been taking place there for the past couple of weeks, that is, the protests against the incumbent mayor of Maralik, who is also a member of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA).

Let us remind that some of the residents of Maralik are demanding the resignation of the mayor (RPA member) of Maralik, while the rest are against it. Those supporting the mayor’s resignation have taken over the session of the municipality, and the council of elders of the community is compelled to hold its sessions in different buildings located in various sectors of the city.

It was during the coverage of this mixed up situation when a sharp clash took place between the creators of the “Adekvad” program series and the nearly 20 residents of the city presenting themselves as revolutionaries; the clash did not end with bloodshed due to the self-control of the representatives of “Adekvad” and police intervention.

The organizers of the assault, that is, Agun Saghatelyan, nephew of former head of the Penitentiary Department Mushegh Saghatelyan, and ex-convict Harutyun Urutyan, who was not only attacking, but also using obscene swear words, explained their “uprising” and wrath with the fact that the creators of the program series had offended them during one of their broadcasts.

It turns out that Agun Saghatelyan and Harutyun Urutyan and their supporters had been offended by the creators of the “Adekvad” program series, who had stated that Maralik is a small city during a broadcast devoted to the events taking place in Maralik.

The specified persons also accused Narek Malyan and Artur Danielyan of supporting the incumbent mayor, but Malyan and Danielyan sharply deny this.

The scenes shown during the live broadcast and the words expressed by the creators of the program series show that those provoking the incident had dragged cameraman Grigor Minasyan, hit him and tried to steal his camera.

Not being able to restrain the assaulters and for the crew’s security reasons, the police officers, who were eyewitnesses to the incident, take Narek Malyan and Artur Danielyan from the scene of the incident to the police station in Maralik and later escort them to Yerevan.

The incident immediately sparked great public reaction. Several citizens and political figures touched upon and condemned the incident, particularly stressing the fact that intolerance against dissent is a defective working style and must be extirpated by Armenian society.

In particular, former National Security Director of the Republic of Armenia Davit Shahnazaryan stated the following in his statement: “I express deep indignation with and strictly condemn the assaults that were made against public and political figures Artur Danielyan, Narek Malyan and Grigor Minasyan in Maralik on October 11. I demand that the authorities take immediate measures to strictly punish those who are guilty.”

Leader of Freedom Party and former Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Hrant Bagratyan also issued a condemning statement. “On behalf of Freedom Party, I express deep indignation with the incident that took place in Maralik. Nobody has the right to make assaults against political figures conducting peaceful observations. I demand that the police immediately punish those who caused the protraction with Artur Danielyan, Narek Malyan and Grigor Minasyan. I don’t think that Nikol Pashinyan organized all this, but he is the one who is transforming the democratic uprising of the people into bigotry. This leads to the following question: What is the difference between the hooligans of Maralik and the “reputable” figures of districts when Serzh Sargsyan was in power?”

This was followed by the response of the Police, which stated the following: “On October 11, the police station in Ani received information that on the same day, at around 16:50, hosts of the “Adekvad” program series, their cameraman and a group of people got into a dispute on the sidewalk on Shahinyan Street in the city of Maralik. On the same day, at 17:00, the hosts and cameraman of “Adekvad” program series were called to the police station and reported that while they were shooting scenes for the “Adekvad” analytical program series on Facebook at Victory Park in the city of Maralik, a group of people approached them and demanded that they leave the city of Maralik quickly and that 800 people were waiting to settle a score with them at the central square. Escorting them to the square, these group of people dragged them to the sidewalk on the road in front of house #3 on Hrant Shahinyan Street and used swear words, posing a threat to their life and health, and one of the men dragged the cameraman to Victory Park. Ten minutes later, the man tried to steal the cameraman’s camera on the sidewalk on the road leading to the central square and broke the tripod, causing material damage. After explanations, 5 citizens participating in the incident showed up at the police station and gave explanations to the police officers. Expert examinations have been designated. Materials are being prepared.”

They [the creators of the program series] say Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan is directly responsible for what happened since, according to them, this attempt to repress dissent and freedom of speech is the result of the tolerance and direct sponsorship of the authorities. They also state that the only reason for failure of the provocation initially planned and perpetrated by the authorities is that they did not lose self-control and informed people about the incident through a live broadcast.

The creators of the “Adekvad” program series positively assess the actions of the local police officers and voice hope that, nevertheless, the investigation will be objective and the organizers of the assault will be revealed.

They add that all attempts to silence are doomed to failure and that they will continue to present the objective reality.

Armine Vardanyan

France Bids Adieu; Solemn ceremony pays tribute to national treasure Charles Aznavour

Maral Chavushian
The Calgary Herald (Alberta)
October 6, 2018 Saturday
France Bids Adieu; Solemn ceremony pays tribute to national treasure Charles Aznavour
 
by Samuel Petrequin, The Associated Press
PARIS
 
France paid tribute to Charles Aznavour on Friday in a solemn and subdued ceremony that contrasted sharply with the singer’s joyful character.
 
One of France’s most famous personalities, Aznavour died Oct. 1 at 94.
 
On a mild, sunny morning in Paris, politicians and celebrities gathered near the site of Napoleon’s tomb in the courtyard of Les Invalides, where French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed Armenia Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. Former French presidents Nicolas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande and actor Jean-Paul Belmondo were among those attending the ceremony.
 
Aznavour, born to Armenian parents who fled to Paris in the 1920s, became one of the Armenian diaspora’s most recognized voices and a vocal defender of its culture during a performing career spanning eight decades.
 
Covered by a French tricolour flag, Aznavour’s coffin arrived in the courtyard carried by military personal to the sound of a traditional Armenian tune.
 
A spray of red, blue and orange flowers – the colours of the Armenian flag – was then laid close to the casket.
 
“Every Armenian sees him as a close relative,” Pashinyan said. “Because Aznavour is the one who lifted Armenia to the roof of the world.”
 
Born Shahnour Vaghinag Aznavourian, the singer cut the Armenian suffix from his stage name but never forgot his Armenian roots.
 
He founded Aznavour and Armenia, a non-profit organization created after the devastating earthquake that hit Soviet Armenia in 1988. His movie credits include Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan’s 2002 Ararat, a film that deals with the 1915 massacres of up to 1.5 million Armenians under the Ottoman Empire. Aznavour campaigned internationally to get the killings formally deemed a genocide.
 
Speaking after Pashinyan, Macron said that “for so many decades, (Aznavour) has made our life sweeter, our tears less bitter.”
 
“His songs were for millions of people, a balm, a remedy, a comfort,” Macron said, praising Aznavour for the quality of his lyrics and the promotion of France.
 
“French language is not only the cement of a nation, it’s also the catalyst for freedom and hope,” said Macron, who compared Aznavour to French poet Guillaume Apollinaire.
 
The ceremony ended with a rendition of Aznavour’s hit Emmenez-Moi, which was played as his coffin was carried away.
 
Aznavour started his career as a songwriter for French chanteuse Edith Piaf, who took him under her wing. Like her, his fame ultimately reached well outside France. The crooner often compared to Frank Sinatra sold more than 180 million records and was one of France’s most recognized faces abroad.
 
He sang to sold-out concert halls until the end and wrote more than 1,000 songs, including the classics La Boheme and She. A love ballad, She topped British charts for four weeks in 1974 and was covered by Elvis Costello for the film Notting Hill.
 
Friday’s ceremony in Paris marked the second time in a year that France paid tribute to one of its musical icons after hundreds of thousands gathered on the Champs Elysees in December to mourn the death of Johnny Hallyday. !@COPYRIGHT=© 2018 Postmedia Network Inc. All rights reserved.

RFE/RL Armenian Report – 09/27/2018

Maral Chavushian 
                                        Thursday, 
Armenian, Azeri FMs Hold ‘Useful’ Talks
        • Emil Danielyan
U.S. - Foreign Ministers Elmar Mammadyarov (R) of Azerbaijan and Zohrab 
Mnatsakanian (second from right) of Armenia pose for a photograph with the OSCE 
Minsk Group co-chairs in New York, .
The foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan met in New York late on 
Wednesday for fresh talks on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict which official 
Yerevan described as “useful.”
The three-hour talks between Zohrab Mnatsakanian and Elmar Mammadyarov began in 
the presence of the U.S., Russian and French mediators co-chairing the OSCE 
Minsk Group. The two ministers then had a one-on-one discussion.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry called the talks a “useful exchange of thoughts” 
on how to resolve the Karabakh conflict. “The interlocutors agreed to continue 
the dialogue, including within the framework of the co-chairs’ upcoming visit 
to the region,” it said in a statement.
Mammadyarov made similar comments on what was his second meeting with 
Mnatsakanian in over two months. “It was an interesting and important exchange 
of views on continuing developments in the conflict’s resolution as well as 
about what needs to be done for establishing a lasting peace in the region,” 
the Azerbaijani news agency Trend quoted him as saying.
“We agreed to continue negotiations next month, including through the 
co-chairs’ visit to the region,” added the Azerbaijani minister.
Speaking earlier on Wednesday, the Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Tigran 
Balayan, reiterated the official Armenian line that major progress towards a 
Karabakh settlement requires an “atmosphere conducive to peace.” In that 
regard, Balayan pointed to Baku’s reluctance to implement confidence-building 
agreements that were reached by the leaders of the two warring nations in 2016.
Those agreements envisage specific safeguards against deadly ceasefire 
violations along the “line of contact” around Karabakh and the 
Armenian-Azerbaijani border.
Tension on those frontlines seems to have somewhat increased in recent weeks. 
Karabakh’s Armenian-backed army reported that one of its soldiers, Aghasi 
Mkrtchian, was shot dead by Azerbaijani forces on Wednesday evening.
U.S. -- Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian addresses the 73rd session of 
the United Nations General Assembly at the U.N. headquarters in New York, 
September 25, 2018
Mammadyarov and Mnatsakanian met in New York the day after Armenian Prime 
Minister Nikol Pashinian hit out at Azerbaijan in a speech delivered at a 
session of the UN General Assembly.
Pashinian portrayed Baku’s refusal to directly negotiate with Karabakh’s ethnic 
Armenian leader as further proof of its desire to “cleanse Armenians from 
Karabakh.”
“How can Azerbaijan lay claim to Nagorno-Karabakh without even speaking to 
Nagorno-Karabakh?” he said. “Is this possible? This is possible only if the 
Azerbaijani government wants the territory but not its people.”
The Armenian leader also stated that the Karabakh dispute must be resolved 
through “mutual concessions by all sides.” He did not elaborate.
Baku was quick to condemn Pashinian’s remarks. A top foreign policy aide to 
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said they could torpedo the peace process.
Security Chief Vows To Detail Corruption Claims Against Kocharian
        • Sargis Harutyunyan
Armenia - Artur Vanetsian (L), director of the National Security Service (NSS), 
and Special Investigative Service chief Sasun Khachatrian at a cabinet meeting 
in Yerevan, 20 September 2018.
Artur Vanetsian, the head of Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS), on 
Thursday pledged to elaborate “soon” on his recent allegations of corruption 
made against former President Robert Kocharian.
Vanetsian said on September 11 that the NSS has launched a “money laundering” 
investigation into what he described as hundreds of millions of dollars worth 
of assets belonging to Kocharian and his family members. “We will publicize who 
owns what and how they acquired it,” Vanetsian told a news conference held amid 
a scandal sparked by his leaked phone calls with the head of another 
law-enforcement agency, the Special Investigative Service (SIS).
The SIS arrested Kocharian in late July on charges stemming from the deadly 
2008 breakup of post-election opposition protests in Yerevan. Armenia’s Court 
of Appeals freed him from custody more than two weeks later.
Kocharian denies the accusations as politically motivated. He has portrayed 
Vanetsian’s leaked phone calls with the SIS chief Sasun Khachatrian as further 
proof that Prime Minster Nikol Pashinian, who played a key role in the 2008 
protests, is waging a “vendetta” against him.
In that audio, Vanetsian can be heard telling Khachatrian that he ordered a 
district court judge to sanction the ex-president’s arrest.
The two security officials met the press on September 11 hours after the secret 
recordings were widely circulated by Armenian online media outlets. They not 
only defended the SIS’s investigation into the 2008 violence but also accused 
Kocharian of corruption. Vanetsian said that the latter will be questioned as 
part of the money laundering probe.
The NSS chief told reporters on Thursday that his agency is continuing to 
scrutinize the Kocharian family’s holdings and will publicize its findings 
“soon.” He refused to comment further.
Meanwhile, a lawyer for Kocharian, Aram Orbelian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian 
service that his client has not yet been charged or even questioned in 
connection with the corruption claims.
Kocharian, who governed Armenia from 1998-2008, has denied enriching himself or 
his family while in office. He has only admitted that his two sons are engaged 
in entrepreneurial activity. His elder son Sedrak reportedly filed a defamation 
suit against Vanetsian last week.
Tsarukian Backer Accused Of Election-Related Violence
        • Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia - The Prosperous Armenia Party's mayoral candidate Naira Zohrabian 
speaks at an election campaign rally in Yerevan, 21 September 2018.
An activist of businessman Gagik Tsarukian’s Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) has 
been arrested on charges of assaulting police officers on the eve of Sunday’s 
municipal elections in Yerevan.
A BHK campaign office in the city’s Ajapnyak district was searched by Armenia’s 
police and Investigative Committee on Saturday on Saturday on suspicion of 
handing out vote bribes. The raid provoked an angry reaction from local party 
activists who argued with law-enforcement officers at the scene. The office 
coordinator, Grigor Grigorian, was arrested on Tuesday.
The Investigative Committee said on Thursday that Grigorian, who is also the 
deputy chief of the district administration, has been formally charged with 
assault. In a statement, the law-enforcement body claimed that he told dozens 
of BHK supporters to break into the campaign office, smash its furniture and 
thus disrupt the search. He and other persons “used violence” against some of 
the policemen, according to the statement.
Gevorg Petrosian, a BHK parliamentarian who witnessed the incident, strongly 
denied the accusations. “There could have been no violence against the 
policemen because they were numerous and there was no intention to attack 
them,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian service. “There was only commotion.”
Tsarukian’s party, which has the second largest group in the Armenian 
parliament, did not officially react to the arrest as of Thursday evening . Its 
senior top representatives condemned the Ajapnyak raid over the weekend. Naira 
Zohrabian, the BHK candidate for Yerevan mayor, labelled it as 
“counterpropaganda” against her party.
Speaking to journalists on Sunday, Zohrabian accused law-enforcement 
authorities of systematically harassing her supporters during the two-week 
election campaign. She said that the police detained 300 BHK activists on 
suspicion of vote but failed to find any evidence of the illegal practice.
According to the official election results, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s My 
Step bloc won 81 percent of the vote, compared with just 7 percent polled by 
the BHK. Tsarukian on Monday recognized those results and congratulated My Step 
on its landslide victory.
U.S. Indicts Turkish-American Lobbyist Arrested In Armenia
Armenia - Turkish American activist Kemal Oksuz is questioned by Armenian 
police, 29 August 2018.
U.S. authorities have unsealed an indictment against a Turkish-American 
activist charged with lying to congressional investigators regarding a trip by 
U.S. lawmakers to Azerbaijan five years ago.
The indictment, which was handed down in April, was released on September 24, 
more than three weeks after the Turkish-born man, Kemal Oksuz, was arrested in 
Armenia on a U.S. warrant.
Oksuz, a Houston-based businessman who used to run two organizations -- 
Turquoise Council of Americans and Eurasians and the Assembly of the Friends of 
Azerbaijan -- was charged by the grand jury with lying on congressional 
disclosure forms regarding the 2013 all-expenses-paid visit to Azerbaijan made 
by 10 members and 32 staffers of Congress.
According to the five-count indictment, the trip was funded with the help by 
Azerbaijan's state-run SOCAR oil company, which provided $750,000 toward the 
effort.
Armenia’s Office of the Prosecutor-General, said last week that it has received 
a formal extradition request from U.S. law-enforcement authorities.
Police in Yerevan arrested Oksuz on August 29 and released a video of his 
police interrogation the next day. In the video, Oksuz said that SOCAR covered 
the travel expenses of the U.S. officials and gave them expensive gifts in 2013.
"That may have been corruption, I don't know," he said.
It remains unclear why Oksuz decided to relocate to Armenia, a country that has 
strained relations with both Turkey and Azerbaijan. Just like other Turkish 
American activists, he had lobbied the U.S. Congress against recognizing the 
1915 Armenian genocide in Ottoman Turkey.
After U.S. news reports in 2015 raised questions about the funding of the trip, 
several of the U.S. lawmakers returned some of the gifts that they had received 
as part of the trip to Azerbaijan.
Press Review
“Zhamanak” says that after the local election in Yerevan the Republican Party 
of Armenia (HHK), the Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) and the Armenian 
Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) can no longer resist Prime Minister 
Nikol Pashinian’s plans to hold pre-term general elections. The paper says they 
can only hope to clinch some concessions from Pashinian regarding practical 
modalities of the elections.
“Hraparak” also comments on Pashinian’s upcoming election-related negotiations 
with the parliamentary forces. “Here is the most likely scenario,” writes the 
paper. “Pashinian will agree with the factions that he will resign, the 
parliament will twice fail to elect a new prime minister, and the parliament 
will be legally dissolved. If this option proves risky, Pashinian will rally 
the people and blockade the parliament until the parliament gives in.”
“Zhoghovurd” says that in his speech at the UN General Assembly in New York 
Pashinian made a number of important points regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh 
conflict. “On the one hand, he stated that the security and status of the 
Artsakh Republic will be Armenia’s top priority in the negotiation process,” 
explains the paper. “He said that any attempt to resolve the conflict 
militarily would directly threaten regional security, democracy and human 
rights. Pashinian reaffirmed that Armenia will continue its constructive 
engagement in the peace process in the OSCE Minsk Group format. At the same 
time the prime minister presented the conflict in the sole context of the 
international principle of secession-for-salvation.”
(Artur Papian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2018 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
www.rferl.org

PM says it’s time to boost Armenia’s economy through reforms

Maral Chavushian
| 17:29 | September 6 2018
Category
Politics

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan says it’s time to boost Armenia’s economy through reforms as a result of which numerous issues will be solved.

The PM said the process of solving the issues, which are not resolved yet, will launch. “I am convinced that you have a good mood, are optimistic and determined. In fact, our most important slogan today has already turned into a reality. That slogan is that the power in Armenia belongs to one supreme subject, and that subject is the citizen of the Republic of Armenia, its people”, the PM said live on Facebook.

He stated that he considers himself as the representative of the Armenian people in the government. “The fact that I am here has been, is and will be meaningful only by that slogan. The citizens of the Republic of Armenia are the only ones who determine the fate of the power in the country. As long as I am a Prime Minister, I should guarantee that you are the complete bearers of the power in Armenia”, Nikol Pashinyan said.