Author: Ophelia Vardapetian

                                        Friday, 
‘No Plans Yet’ For Kocharian, Sarkisian To Cooperate
        • Sargis Harutyunyan
Armenia - President Serzh Sarkisian (L) and his predecessor Robert Kocharian 
visit Gyumri, 7 December 2008.
Former Presidents Serzh Sarkisian and Robert Kocharian are not yet considering 
jointly challenging Armenia’s current government, a senior representative of 
Sarkisian’s Republican Party (HHK) said on Friday.
The HHK has repeatedly condemned as politically motivated Kocharian’s arrest 
and prosecution on charges stemming from the 2008 post-election violence in 
Yerevan. Sarkisian visited and talked to his predecessor on May 25 one week 
after the latter was released from prison pending the outcome of his trial.
“There was no political agenda at that meeting,” insisted Armen Ashotian, the 
HHK’s deputy chairman. “Not that I know of. There is no political agenda at the 
moment in terms of drawing up programs for cooperation between our teams in the 
future.”
“Again, the HHK support for Robert Kocharian has to do with many other 
circumstances, not a vision for a common political future. Even Robert 
Kocharian has not generated such a process yet,” Ashotian told a news 
conference.
“Of course, if we have a common concern, vision or ideas about the future, we 
will be ready to talk, cooperate with various political actors,” he said.
Armenia -- Armen Ashotian, deputy chairman of the opposition Republican Party, 
speaks at a news conference in Yerevan, June 7, 2019.
Kocharian announced his return to active politics shortly after being indicted 
in July last year. He has yet to set up his own party or team up with other 
political groups.
Sarkisian and Kocharian are both natives of Nagorno-Karabakh who had played a 
major role in the 1991-1994 war with Azerbaijan before holding top government 
positions in Armenia. Kocharian handed over power to Sarkisian after completing 
his second presidential term in 2008. Relations between the two men worsened in 
the following years, with Kocharian increasingly criticizing the Sarkisian 
administration’s economic and other policies.
The two ex-presidents and their political allies now share strong opposition to 
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian. Pashinian came to power as a result of last 
spring’s “velvet revolution” that brought down Sarkisian’s government accused 
many Armenians of corruption and mismanagement.
Ashotian reiterated the HHK’s highly negative attitude towards the current 
government. He accused Pashinian of seeking “absolute power” and not tolerating 
dissent.
Armenian Justice Minister Resigns
        • Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia - Justice Minister Artak Zeynalian speaks to journalists, Yerevan, 
April 3, 2019.
Armenia’s Justice Minister Artak Zeynalian tendered his resignation on Friday 
after just over a year in office.
Zeynalian gave no reason for his decision which he announced on Facebook. 
Instead, he thanked Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian for appointing him as 
justice minister following last year’s “velvet revolution.” He also thanked 
Justice Ministry employees for the “interesting, fruitful and responsible joint 
work.”
“I’m sure that everything will be fine … But if it won’t be fine, it will be 
very fine,” wrote Zeynalian.
A spokesperson for the Justice Ministry refused to comment on his resignation.
Zeynalian, 49, is a prominent politician and former civil rights campaigner 
affiliated with the pro-Western Hanrapetutyun (Republic) party. He retained his 
post even after the party challenged Pashinian’s My Step alliance in the 
December 2018 parliamentary elections.
My Step’s parliamentary leader, Lilit Makunts, suggested that his resignation 
is connected with sweeping judicial reforms planned by the Armenian 
authorities. Makunts said some My Step lawmakers are unhappy with the 
reform-related work of the Justice Ministry and Zeynalian in particular.
Makunts told reporters that they voiced their “concerns” after government 
supporters blocked the court buildings across the country at Pashinian’s urging 
on May 20. She insisted, however, that none of them called for Zeynalian’s 
resignation.
Speaking to journalists on May 21, Zeynalian pointedly declined to comment on 
the court blockade denounced by the Armenian opposition.
Artur Sakunts, a human rights activist, likewise linked the minister’s 
resignation with the judicial crisis. Sakunts said that the Justice Ministry 
did not initiate “drastic changes” within the judiciary under Zeynalian.
Also resigning on Friday was Gevorg Danielian, the acting head of the Supreme 
Judicial Council (SJC), a state body overseeing Armenia’s courts. In a 
statement, Danielian said the SJC needs to have a different composition in 
order to “really inspire trust” and be able to implement judicial reforms.
The SJC’s previous chairman, Gagik Harutiunian, stepped down on May 24. 
Harutiunian attributed the move to “ongoing developments relating to the 
judicial authority” and his “concerns expressed in that regard.”
Armenian, Karabakh Leaders Urged To Ease Tensions
        • Ruzanna Stepanian
Nagorno-Karbabakh -- Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinin and Karabakh 
President Bako Sahakian lead a festive march in Stepanakert, May 9, 2019.
Senior opposition lawmakers in Yerevan on Friday called on Armenia’s and 
Nagorno-Karabakh’s leaders to defuse their increasingly visible tensions 
through dialogue.
The tensions rose on Wednesday as Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian accused top 
Karabakh officials of spreading false claims about significant territorial 
concessions to Azerbaijan planned by his government. He also claimed that 
unlike his administration, Armenia’s former government never presented details 
of its negotiations with Azerbaijan to the authorities in Stepanakert.
Bako Sahakian, the Karabakh president, was quick to deny the claim. He also 
dismissed allegations about a “treasonous” conspiracy against Pashinian plotted 
in Stepanakert.
Deputies from the two opposition parties represented in Armenia’s parliament 
expressed concern over these verbal barbs, citing the lingering risk of a 
renewed war with Azerbaijan. Gevorg Gorgisian of the Bright Armenia Party (LHK) 
said Yerevan and Stepanakert should find “the right mechanism for communicating 
with each other.”
“Any tensions must be overcome because we can solve any issue only with joint 
efforts,” Gorgisian told RFE/RL’s Armenian service. “Artsakh (Karabakh) cannot 
exist separately, while Armenia, I think, will be in serious trouble if we have 
problems with Artsakh.”
Sergey Bagratian, a senior lawmaker from the Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK), 
suggested that the tensions stem from Yerevan’s and Stepanakert’s “different 
approaches” to resolving the Karabakh conflict. “We have had discussions at our 
meetings with Karabakh authorities, and those differences are clear to me,” he 
said. “The difference between the approaches is tactical.”
Gorgisian questioned the existence of such differences, however. “I don’t think 
that Armenia can have a leader who will try to come up with a variant of the 
conflict’s resolution unacceptable to the people of Artsakh,” he said.
Meanwhile, Andranik Kocharian, the pro-government chairman of the Armenian 
parliament committee on defense and security, blamed Karabakh leaders for the 
row. He said some of them are worried about ongoing reforms in Armenia.
Press Review
“Zhamanak” says Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s statement made at a cabinet 
meeting on Thursday amounted to an “ultimatum” to the heads of Armenia’s main 
law-enforcement agencies. Pashinian demanded strong action against a “hybrid 
war” waged against his government. “If Pashinian voices the same concern or 
makes a similar speech some time later it will be hard to understand the logic 
behind his not sacking the heads of the security bodies,” comments the paper. 
“But there is also another side to the story and perhaps Pashinian’s speech is 
not a show of discontent with the efficiency of the security bodies but a 
political formulation of their new task … or, in other words, an initiative to 
politically and publicly legitimize a toughening of their actions.”
“If there are groups of individuals plotting some crimes they must definitely 
be isolated from the society, regardless of the color of their clothes,” 
“Aravot” writes in an editorial on Pashinian’s order issued to the police and 
the National Security Service (NSS). “But it’s not the country’s number one 
official who must talk about that. That must be done by law-enforcement bodies 
in a more a more reserved and businesslike manner. These threats take on a 
political dimension when they are voiced by politicians, and they may leave the 
impression of a [government] campaign against undesirable persons.”
“Unfortunately, a certain segment of the society has a wrong or superficial 
idea of a conspiracy or sellout of lands in the Karabakh conflict,” complains 
“Haykakan Zhamanak.” “For many years this issue was artificially oversimplified 
and as a result a view that there are two types of political forces -- patriots 
who send to hell anyone daring to speak of Armenian concessions and those who 
would sell out lands -- took hold in the public consciousness. The reality is 
much more complex. Let’s just leave aside the talk of ‘land sellers.’ There 
were, there are and there will be no such forces in Armenia and Artsakh. We are 
talking about mechanisms for not making unacceptable concessions.” That, the 
paper says, requires meaningful government efforts to make the country stronger 
and able to cope with external pressures.
(Lilit Harutiunian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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