Thursday, March 5, 2021
Kocharian Backs Armenian Military, Opposition
• Harry Tamrazian
Armenia -- Former President Robert Kocharian attends a court hearing in Yerevan,
March 3, 2021.
Former President Robert Kocharian on Thursday voiced strong support for the
Armenian military’s top brass and opposition forces demanding Prime Minister
Nikol Pashinian’s resignation and reaffirmed plans to participate in possible
fresh elections.
“If pre-term parliamentary elections take place I will participate in them. I
think I have enough experience for that,” Kocharian told Russian media outlets
at a news conference in Yerevan.
“Am I confident that I will win? Well, I have never lost elections,” he said,
according to the TASS news agency.
Pashinian on Monday again expressed readiness to hold snap parliamentary
elections to end a post-war political crisis deepened by the Armenian military’s
February 25 demands for his resignation. An alliance of opposition parties
holding anti-government rallies in Yerevan wants such polls to be conducted by
an interim government to be formed after his resignation.
Kocharian, who is not affiliated with any party, has repeatedly encouraged his
supporters to take part in the rallies that resumed on February 20.
“I support the format created by the opposition movement and believe that there
is no need to revise it,” he said on Thursday, referring to the alliance called
the Homeland Salvation Movement. He again praised Vazgen Manukian, the
alliance’s candidate to serve as an interim prime minister.
Like the opposition forces, the ex-president backed the Armenian army’s General
Staff in its standoff with Pashinian sparked by last week’s controversial
sacking of a senior general.
The army top brass accused the government of misrule and demanded its
resignation in an unprecedented statement issued on February 25. Pashinian
rejected the demand as an attempt to stage a coup d’etat.
“I don’t think that we should be very afraid of that word [coup,]” another
Russian news agency, RBC, quoted Kocharian as saying. “If the military elite
feels responsible for the country’s future, one must not rule out steps that
could become fateful. But this is my view, not an appeal.”
Kocharian has been at loggerheads with Pashinian’s government ever since it took
office in May 2018. He was arrested in July 2018 on coup charges rejected by him
as politically motivated.
The ex-president, who had ruled Armenia from 1998-2008, was released on bail in
June 2020 pending the outcome of his ongoing trial. The trial resumed on January
19 nearly four months after being effectively interrupted by the war in
Nagorno-Karabakh.
Russia has criticized the criminal proceedings launched against Kocharian.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly made a point of congratulating
him on his birthday anniversaries and praising his legacy.
Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, on Thursday described Kocharian as “Russia’s
great friend.” But he insisted that the Kremlin is not supporting or guiding
Kocharian’s political activities in any way.
“Participants of political processes in Armenia do not need to coordinate their
steps with the Russian president,” Peskov said, adding that the vast majority of
them stand for close ties between the two countries.
Kocharian called for Armenia’s “deeper integration” with Russia after the
Karabakh war stopped by a Russian-brokered ceasefire on November 10. He said
that only Moscow can help Armenia rebuild its armed forces and confront new
security challenges
Pashinian announced on New Year’s Eve plans to further deepen the
Russian-Armenian relationship, saying that his country now needs “new security
guarantees.”
Fired General Sues Armenian Authorities
• Sargis Harutyunyan
Armenia - The first deputy chief of the Armenian army's General Staff, Tiran
Khachatrian, speaks at a news conference, November 26, 2020
A general whose controversial sacking last week heightened political tensions in
Armenia has asked a court to reinstate him as first deputy chief of the Armenian
army’s General Staff.
Lieutenant-General Tiran Khachatrian was relieved of his duties on February 24
in a decree initiated by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and signed by President
Armen Sarkissian.
The decree came just hours after a pro-opposition media outlet quoted
Khachatrian as laughing off Pashinian’s claim that the Armenian army’s most
advanced Russian-made missiles seriously malfunctioned during last year’s war in
Nagorno-Karabakh.
In a February 25 statement, the army’s top brass strongly condemned the sacking,
accused Pashinian’s government of incompetence and misrule and demanded its
resignation. The prime minister responded by accusing the military of a coup
attempt and moving to fire the chief of the General Staff, Onik Gasparian.
Gasparian’s dismissal appears to have been delayed by President Sarkissian and
opposition groups. The latter have voiced strong support for the military and
stepped up their street protests aimed forcing Pashinian to resign.
Court records posted on a judicial website indicate that Sarkissian is the main
defendant in the civil case filed by Khachatrian on Wednesday. The prime
minister’s office and the General Staff will be involved in the legal action as
“third parties.”
The Armenian government declined to comment on the lawsuit. Sarkissian’s office
could not be reached for comment.
Khachatrian has made no public statements since his sacking. Incidentally, the
general received Armenia’s highest military award, the title of National Hero,
from Pashinian during the autumn war with Azerbaijan.
Pashinian’s claim about the Iskander missile systems also provoked a storm of
criticism from Russian pro-government lawmakers and pundits. They accused him of
incompetence and deceit. Russia’s Defense Ministry said, for its part, that it
was “bewildered and surprised” by the remarks.
Pashinian effectively retracted the claim on Monday. His press secretary said he
was misled by other Armenian officials.
Iran Said To Return ‘Missing’ Armenian Plane
• Satenik Hayrapetian
Iran - A Boeing 747 of Iran's national airline is parked at Mehrabad
International airport in Tehran, June 2003.
An Armenian government agency said on Thursday that civil aviation authorities
in neighboring Iran have pledged to return an Armenian passenger aircraft that
mysteriously landed in Tehran last month.
The Boeing 737-300 leased by Fly Armenia Airways, a private carrier, reportedly
went missing on February 20 for still unclear reasons.
The company said that the plane underwent repairs in Estonia’s capital Tallinn
and was due to proceed to Ukraine for further maintenance. It said the plane
ended up at Tehran’s Mehrabad airport due to technical problems that emerged
during that flight.
Other reports claimed that the plane took off from the Bulgarian city of Varna
and was due to fly to Sharjah airport in the United Arab Emirates.
Many in Armenia questioned the airline’s explanation. Some speculated that the
Boeing 737-300 was secretly sold to Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions.
The U.S. Embassy in Yerevan expressed concern about the incident and urged the
Armenian authorities to ascertain the plane’s whereabouts. It warned that the
sanctions prohibit any transfer of U.S.-made aircraft or their spare parts to
the Islamic Republic.
Armenia’s Civil Aviation Committee launched an inquiry into the plane’s possible
disappearance.
In a statement released on Thursday, the committee said that it has reached a
“tentative agreement” with Iranian authorities on the plane’s return to Armenia.
It said that Iranian officials have informed their Armenian colleagues that the
plane is still malfunctioning and that Iranian aviation specialists need more
time to decide whether it can safely fly to Yerevan.
“The [Armenian] Foreign Ministry is informed, and efforts are being made to
bring the plane back to Armenia,” a Fly Armenia spokesman, Arsen Haytayan, said
for his part.
Haytayan declined to clarify why the plane deviated from its intended flight
path.
Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS) is conducting a separate, criminal
investigation into the circumstances of its flight to Iran. The NSS has not
charged anyone so far.
Armenian Health Minister Concerned About Coronavirus Resurgence
• Narine Ghalechian
Armenia -- Health Minister Anahit Avanesian speaks during a cabinet meeting in
Yerevan, March 4, 2021.
Health Minister Anahit Avanesian called on Thursday for a renewed strict
enforcement of the Armenian government’s sanitary rules, saying that coronavirus
infections in the country have increased in recent days after more than three
months of steady decline.
According to health authorities, 491 Armenians tested positive for COVID-19 on
Wednesday and 360 others on Tuesday, sharply up from the daily number of cases
registered by them in February.
“As of yesterday, 491 out of 2,922 [coronavirus] tests came back positive, which
indicates a positivity rate of 16 percent,” Avanesian told a weekly cabinet
meeting in Yerevan.
“While we had a positive rate of 5-7 percent in January and early February, now,
as you can see, it stands at 16 percent. According to our projections this
figure will increase further next week,” she said, adding that the health
authorities have to again set up more hospital beds for COVID-19 patients.
“We need to revert to mask-wearing and other strict preventive measures,”
stressed the minister. She went on to urge relevant state bodies to enforce
physical distancing rules in shopping malls, buses, restaurants and resorts.
Wearing a face mask not in all enclosed spaces and outdoors has been mandatory
in Armenia since June. The authorities largely stopped fining people not
complying with this rule following the September 27 outbreak of the war in
Nagorno-Karabakh.
The daily number of new COVID-19 cases reported by them grew rapidly as a
result. It began steadily falling in mid-November despite a continuing lax
enforcement of the anti-epidemic rules.
Few Armenians now wear masks not only on the street but also in shops.
Health experts believe that recent rallies held in Yerevan by both the Armenian
opposition and the government have also contributed to the resurgence of
coronavirus cases. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and virtually all key members
of his team, including former Health Minister Arsen Torosian, did not wear masks
during one such rally held on Monday.
Torosian, who is now the chief of Pashinian’s staff, also called for renewed
compliance with the sanitary rules on Thursday.
It remained unclear when the authorities will start vaccinating people against
COVID-19. They have indicated that they will provide free vaccines to only “high
risk” groups of the country’s population.
Health officials said in January that that Armenia will receive the first batch
of vaccines before the second half of February. However, Avanesian said on
Thursday that negotiations with vaccine suppliers are still going on.
“We hope that we will have the first batch in the course of this spring,” she
told Pashinian.
According to the Ministry of Health, 3,208 Armenians have died from COVID-19 so
far. The figure does not include the deaths of 820 other people infected with
the virus. According to the ministry, those fatalities were primarily caused by
other diseases.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2021 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
Author: Tambiyan Samvel
If parliamentary forces decide to head for early elections, we can consider the issue solved – Pashinyan
15:27, 4 March, 2021
YEREVAN, MARCH 4, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan held a meeting with lawmaker Edmon Marukyan, the leader of the Bright Armenia (LHK) political party and its parliamentary faction, the Prime Minister’s Office said.
“I’m glad to see you. Honestly, the occasion for continuing the discussions on the topic of early elections of parliament were your statements. And I hope that at least this time we will succeed in reaching common ground not only with you but also our colleagues in the Prosperous Armenia faction, because if eventually the parliamentary forces make a decision to hold early elections, including decisions in terms of a couple of important issues around it, I mean timeframes and so on, then we can consider this issue to be solved. From the very beginning this is what our viewpoint was, that eventually this political chapter must end through the _expression_ of will of the people, and today I will be glad to hear out your viewpoints on how to advance,” the PM said, adding that before making decisions he should also meet with Prosperous Armenia party leader Gagik Tsarukyan, the ruling My Step bloc leader Lilit Makunts, as well as other lawmakers in order to achieve a consensus solution.
“Perhaps we’ll also present the situation to the President, so that he expresses his stance and in a way becomes the guarantor of implementation of our agreements,” the PM added.
In turn, Edmon Marukyan said: “Thank you Mr. Prime Minister for responding to my statement. I’d like to start with the offer itself. I made an offer based on the political crisis, that is, the general staff story added on to what we had before that, and that’s a big part of the political crisis now. Based on this, I stated that in order to avoid further escalation and clashes, there could be countless scenarios, which I oppose. I had offered to stop the army-government opposition and go for elections, because it is obvious that we can’t have any agreement on the pre-election process as long as the issue of the army isn’t resolved. Why am I saying this? Because it is obvious that [you] won’t resign in order to dissolve parliament in conditions when the issue regarding the general staff doesn’t have a resolution – the general staff generals are there, they aren’t leaving, statements and so on. This is the context of my offer , that is – let’s resolve this part together and head for elections. In our case we don’t have any obstacle regarding the election, but I agree with you that we should continue negotiations.”
Marukyan hoped that they will also meet with the BHK.
Pashinyan said it is inadmissible to tie the general staff issue with early elections because the constitution stipulates that the military is apolitical.
Pashinyan and Marukyan agreed to continue consultations for the resolution of the political crisis.
Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
Prosecutor’s Office plans to arrest army generals demanding Pashinyan’s resignation, opposition leader says
Panorama, Armenia
Feb 25 2021
Armenia is in a fateful situation currently, Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF, Dashnaktsutyun) Supreme Council of Armenia member Ishkhan Saghatelyan, who coordinates the activity of the opposition Homeland Salvation Movement, announced at a rally at Yerevan’s Liberty Square on Thursday demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his government.
Pashinyan also urged his supporters to rally at Yerevan’s Republic Square after the military demanded that he step down earlier in the day.
Saghatelyan called on protesters not to succumb to provocations and take coordinated steps to achieve the desired results.
“We call on the Police of Armenia and the National Security Service to stand by the people and not to obey the orders of the madman [referring to the PM]. The person clinging to power is currently trying to lead our country to a civil war and bloodshed in Yerevan. Otherwise, you will take our country to new upheavals with the madman. Let us unanimously demand that the police and the NSS refuse to carry out the illegal orders of the madman,” he said.
The opposition leader said that they have obtained information that on Pashinyan’s order the Prosecutor’s Office is going to arrest the army generals demanding the premier’s resignation by sending armed groups to the Defense Ministry.
“We have gathered here to voice support for the Armenian military. Let us all show the brave generals and officers of our army that the Armenian people stand with them. Armenia without Nikol!… Today, the Armenian army proved once again that it stands with the people. We once again urge the military to stay focused on the borders and stand firm,” he said, also calling on the Foreign Ministry to condemn Pashinyan’s move.
Ishkhan Saghatelyan said they may spend the night at Liberty Square, again urging supporters not to give in to provocations and warning the authorities against using weapons on peaceful protesters.
MPs investigate mutiny and AWOL at Armenian military base
13:06,
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 24, ARMENPRESS. The Ministry of Defense is reporting an unusual case of what appears to be mutiny in an unspecified military base of the Armenian Armed Forces. The incident took place on February 23.
According to a news release issued by the military, some servicemen mutinized and refused to be dispatched to their permanent deployment locations, while some other servicemen exploited the incident and went AWOL.
“Disturbances began on the territory of the military base, during which a group of soldiers – incited by their families who had gathered outside – refused to be taken to their permanent deployment locations, while others exploited the situation and voluntarily left the territory of the military base,” the defense ministry said.
Military police are investigating.
The command of the military base has ordered an internal investigation.
The military said it “strongly condemns” the incident and called on citizens to refrain from inciting such actions considering the active martial law.
Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
Armenian from Russia’s Voronezh ready to set up asphalt factory in Karabakh
News.am, Armenia
Feb 17 2021
Armenian from Russia’s Voronezh ready to set up asphalt factory in Karabakh
21:21, 17.02.2021
During a conversation with Armenian News-NEWS.am, Vice-President of the Union of Armenians of Russia Herman Ananyants said there are Armenians from Voronezh who are ready to set up an asphalt factory to build roads in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) and particularly referred to head of the regional chapter of the Union in Voronezh Kamo Chobanyan.
“Kamo Chobanyn is a citizen of Russia and has lived in Armenia for many years. Rosdorstroy will launch activities and is ready to move its factory directly to Artsakh,” Ananyants said, adding that many other Armenians have expressed willingness to support the restoration of Artsakh.
Monument dedicated to Armenian genocide centenary exhibited in Tuscany, Italy
Public Radio of Armenia
Feb 21 2021
CivilNet: Serzh Sargsyan: Armenia Fired Iskander Missiles at Shushi
CIVILNET.AM
03:10
[PHOTO: Shushi’s Kanach Zham church before and after destruction in November 2020. Courtesy of FIP.am]
By Emil Sanamyan
Armenia used the most advanced missile in its arsenal to strike at the Azerbaijani forces in Shushi at the end of the 44-day war, according to ex-president Serzh Sargsyan. His statement in an interview with ArmNews TV aired on February 16, echoes what many current or former officials have also been charging. As part of the wider criticism of the Armenian government’s conduct of the war, Sargsyan argued that the missiles should have been used earlier and against targets in Azerbaijan.
At the same time, Sargsyan criticized Scud missile strikes that hit residential areas of Ganja and other towns, suggesting that they only made Azerbaijani strikes against Stepanakert more indiscriminate. Scuds are older surface-to-surface missiles that are notoriously inaccurate.
In 2015, Armenia became the first country to acquire the Iskander surface-to-surface missile system from Russia. The missile is intended to accurately strike targets at hundreds of kilometres away.
Video of Armenian forces launching the Iskander missiles first surfaced on November 9, just hours before the cease-fire agreement was announced. In a press conference after the war, retired Gen. Movses Hakobyan confirmed that Iskander missiles were used, but he refused to mention their target. Shortly after, anti-government blogger Artur Danielyan claimed that the missiles were fired at Shushi in the morning of November 7, publishing a video purportedly showing their impact.
Shushi was captured by lightly armed Azerbaijani infantry with Turkish air support on November 5-6, with little Armenian resistance. Subsequently, Armenian forces made several attempts to recapture the fortress town, but failed, suffering heavy casualties.
The effect the purported Iskander strikes on Shushi had is unclear. But images from Shushi published just days after the cease-fire, showed heavy damage to the Kanach Zham church, one of its two historic Armenian churches.
Weeks earlier, while Shushi was still under Armenian control, Azerbaijan fired heavy missiles that destroyed the Shushi House of Culture on October 4, killing dozens of police officers conferencing inside. And on October 8, precision missiles were fired at the Ghazanchetsots cathedral of Shushi, heavily damaging it. No damage to Kanach Zham was visible when Azerbaijani forces first entered the town.
It remains unclear, if the destruction of Kanach Zham was caused by Azerbaijani soldiers or Armenian strikes, but it occurred some time between November 6 and the middle of November.
Emil Sanamyan is a South Caucasus specialist based in Washington D.C.. He is the editor of the University of Southern California Focus on Karabakh platform.
This piece was originally published in Focus on Karabakh.
CivilNet: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Karabakh, Russia Representatives Met to Discuss POWs
CIVILNET.AM
03:04
On February 12, Artsakh President Arayik Harutyunyan, the Director of Armenia’s National Security Service, an official representative from Azerbaijan, and the Commander of the Russian peacekeeping forces in Artsakh met to discuss the return of POWs and the search operations for missing soldiers.
Anna Naghdalyan, spokeswoman for Armenia’s Foreign Ministry, announced the meeting on Twitter, noting that other humanitarian issues were also discussed by the four sides.
Siranush Sahakyan, the lawyer working on behalf of the prisoners’ families, says Azerbaijan may be holding as many as 223 other Armenian military prisoners and civilian hostages, including women.
However, it remains unclear how many of these 223 individuals taken prisoner remain alive as there have also been reports of widespread torture and execution of Armenian prisoners, both during and after the war. Azerbaijani officials acknowledged holding about 60 Armenian prisoners, not counting the ten released in the last two weeks.
Is Social Media Complicit in War Crimes Against Armenians?
Law.com
Feb 8 2021
One could argue that Twitter and Facebook have contributed to the crimes against ethnic Armenians by failing to sufficiently monitor and censor their platforms.
By Sheila Paylan and Anoush Baghdassarian
February 08, 2021 at 09:44 AM
Since the Capitol riots, Twitter has taken more precautions to stop hate speech and incitement to violence, including a purge of more than 70,000 accounts it found were engaged in sharing harmful content. It also permanently suspended President Trump’s account for the risk of further incitement to violence, referencing Twitter’s “public interest framework” which outlines its guidelines towards the profiles of world leaders on its platform.
Twitter asserts it will not tolerate “clear and direct threats of violence against an individual” and recently updated its policy to prohibit the “dehumanization of a group of people based on their religion, caste, age, disability, serious disease, national origin, race, or ethnicity.” On Jan. 21, 2021, it locked the account of China’s US embassy for a tweet defending China’s persecutory policies towards Muslim Uyghurs in Xinjiang.
By enacting stricter rules, Twitter thus acknowledges that dehumanizing speech can lead to real-world harm. However, if Twitter does not stop such rhetoric in time, can it face liability for violence incited or enabled through inaction, or atrocity crimes committed in distant wars by despotic regimes that rely on social media to spread violence? Regulations and precedents argue yes.
A number of new regulations, from Europe in particular, concern social media giants. For instance, late last year, the European Commission set out new responsibilities in its Digital Services Act (“the most significant reform of European Internet regulations in two decades”) regarding content liability, due-diligence obligations, and a robust sanctions system for violations, including fines of up to 6% of annual revenue for violating rules about hate speech.
The United Kingdom has adopted a similar process through its Commons culture committee which allows it to impose fines of up to £18m, or 10% of turnover, whichever is higher, for breaches of the regulations requiring social media companies to remove illegal and harmful content.
As for precedents, the 1994 Rwandan Genocide was marked by grotesque caricatures in racist newspapers and broadcast appeals over the radio to participate in killings against Tutsis. In what eventually became known as the “Media case” before the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, three media leaders were convicted of genocide and each sentenced to more than 30 years’ imprisonment for their respective roles in publicly disseminating such messages of hatred resulting in the massacres of over 800,000 Tutsis in just three months.
Twenty years later, Facebook became the means by which Myanmar’s military spread anti-Rohingya propaganda with posts inciting murders, rapes and the largest forced human migration in recent history. Facebook eventually banned several individuals and organizations, including senior Myanmar military leaders, from its network. However, hundreds of troll accounts went undetected, flooding Facebook with incendiary posts timed for peak viewership.
Inversely, the suspension of accounts containing harmful content risk destroying valuable evidence of hate crimes if it is not properly preserved after being taken down, and could obstruct justice if withheld from authorities. Facebook, for instance, was asked to share the data from the suspended pages and accounts of Myanmar’s military with The Gambia in its ICJ genocide case against Myanmar, but refused. A week later, Facebook provided the information to the UN mechanism probing international crimes in Myanmar, after the lead investigator said the company was withholding evidence.
Such precedents and regulations thus imply important legal obligations on social media companies when it comes to hate speech, with particular caution to content from the highest officials in a government, especially in the context of inter-group conflicts such as that in the South Caucasus.
On Sept. 27, 2020, at the height of a global pandemic, Azerbaijan, backed by Turkey, initiated a large-scale, unprovoked war against Nagorno-Karabakh. Also known as “Artsakh”, the independent breakaway State has predominantly been inhabited by ethnic Armenians since time immemorial.
Not only were the next 44 days of war rife with reports of the use of inherently indiscriminate munitions, chemical weapons, and Syrian mercenaries, but there is also mounting evidence since a ceasefire came into effect on Nov. 10 of acts of torture, mutilation, executions and enforced disappearances against Armenian POWs still in captivity, as well as civilians in Artsakh.
Social media was awash with anti-Armenian content throughout the war. In light of long-standing Azerbaijani state-sponsored anti-Armenian hatred that, despite having been condemned by the European Court of Human Rights, has continued to fuel the ongoing conflict, one could argue that Twitter and Facebook contributed to the crimes against ethnic Armenians by failing to sufficiently monitor and censor their platforms.
Social media companies have immense power to shape and empower discourse around the world. They can change the course of events both for good, by promoting freedom of speech and voicing dissent, as well as for evil, through misinformation, disinformation and hate speech. Their outsized influence thus requires strict adherence to regulations already in place, and careful adaptation of such regulations to arising needs. Claims of being merely platforms and shirking responsibility for the content of their sites are no longer tenable.
Sheila Paylan is an international human rights lawyer and former legal advisor for the United Nations. Anoush Baghdassarian is a JD candidate at Harvard Law School.
Lawmaker asks Pashinyan whether political reasons are behind the government decision to maintain the martial law
Panorama, Armenia
Feb 10 2021
Lawmaker from opposition “Bright Armenia” faction Arkady Khachatryan raised the question of martial law in the country and asked PM Nikol Pashinyan whether political reasons are behind the government decision to keep the law in force three months after the end of the war. Khachatryan’s question came at the Q/A session in parliament on Wednesday.
The parliamentarian reminded that when the parliament earlier addressed the issue of lifting the regime, which was declared nationwide on September 27, the ruling force assured the matter could be solved within days. Khachatryan reminded that the government used to highlight the need for attracting institutional investments and asked directly Pashinyan whether the latter would make investments in a country which is still in a regime of martial law.
“Whenever the grounds for maintaining the martial law are eliminated, which is conditioned by the security environment, the regime will be lifted,” Justice Minister Rustam Badasyan responded, adding keeping the regime in effect is not conditioned with political motives.
The minister added that not the martial law impedes the attraction of investments but the factual grounds that justified the decision to introduce martial law.