A minor earthquake has been detected in the territory of Armenia on May 5 by the seismic agency.
The 2-3 magnitude earthquake was recorded in the village of Zovuni, Kotayk province.
The quake happened 07:13 in the village which is 6km north-west of Yerevan, the ministry of emergency situations said.
What happened in Baghramyan Avenue was disproportionate to peaceful demonstrators. Human rights activist Avetik Ishkhanyan considered police actions unnecessary. According to him, the “My Step” movement has adopted a principle, that is, not տօ respond with force.
“Everything fits within civil disobedience, without the use of force. Even the entrance to the radio station was not violent. The police has an order to threaten the people. ”
The human rights defender gives examples of classical civil disobedience where the principle is a peaceful gathering.
“One was the Gandhi movement, the other, the Polish Solidarity Movement, which did not use force against a rigid communist regime. Now this one has something like that, not to use force. ”
But even during peaceful assemblies you have to limit others’ rights.
“But which is more prevalent, limiting the rights of other people or raising the voice of protest? Of course, raising the voice of protest, this is an international norm. ”
A special group of advocates has been established these days, and hot line numbers are also working.
“There are no detainees at this moment; taking into account the previous experience, such a group was created.”
The human rights defender also gives practical advice to the citizens who will be brought to trial.
“Do not give any testimony, demand a lawyer. The most important principle is to keep silent. “
Armenia’s transitioning to a parliamentary system will enable to implement democratic transformations and to develop the country’s economy more rapidly, 3rd President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan, the ruling Republican Party’s candidate for Prime Minister, told the Russian Izvestiya news agency in an interview.
“Actually, we are already living in a parliamentary republic for a few days now. Tomorrow Members of Parliament will elect a Prime Minister. Thus, all main organs of administration of the country will be formed. Constitutional changes began in Armenia in 2005 [Referendum introduced checks and balances, presidential powers were decreased and parliament’s role expanded. They [changes] came into legal force in 2007.
By holding high positions of state administration for many years, including the office of Prime Minister and President, our colleagues and I came to a conclusion that the semi-presidential administration format contains big threats, because it isn’t balanced,” Serzh Sargsyan said.
Sargsyan stressed that it had turned out that the President had great responsibility in the domestic and foreign policy and security issues, however did not have relevant powers to initiative the obligations under the Constitution.
“A return to a presidential system wouldn’t have been positively perceived in our society. The 2008 presidential elections proceeded not smoothly, didn’t they? Almost all political forces were demanding to change the system of administration into a parliamentary [system]. In response to such desires, we decided to balance the political structure of the country, which not stands out with strong legislative power of the parliament, before which the government is held fully accountable to. I believe that this kind of administration type is more in line with Armenian reality and the mentality of our people. This will enable to implement democratic transformations and to develop Armenia’s economy with a more rapid pace,” Sargsyan said.
President of Artsakh Bako Sahakyan has received representatives of Teach For Armenia and attached importance to the program’s presence in the country, describing it as relevant and interesting.
Thursday,
Yerevan Unfazed By Russia-West Tensions
• Sargis Harutyunyan
Armenia - Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharian speaks to journalists in
Yerevan 16Nov2017.
The latest upsurge in tensions between Russia and the West will not adversely
affect Armenia’s relations with the European Union and the United States, a
senior Armenian diplomat insisted on Thursday.
Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharian said he specifically expects no
fresh hurdles to the ratification of the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership
Agreement (CEPA) that was signed by Armenia and the EU last November.
The 350-page agreement highlighted Yerevan’s desire to deepen ties with the EU
while remaining part of Russian-led alliances of ex-Soviet states, notably the
Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). The EU’s foreign policy chief, Federica
Mogherini, said earlier this month that those ties are now closer than ever
before.
“The EU finds very important the fact that Armenia is the first Eurasian
Economic Union member state which opted for such profound cooperation with the
EU while sticking to its obligations to other integration structures,”
Kocharian told reporters.
Kocharian claimed other some of the other EEU member states are now looking
into the EU-Armenia dealings as a potential blueprint for their relations with
the 28-nation bloc. He refused to name them.
The mounting Russia-West tensions stem from the recent the poisoning in Britain
of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal. The U.S., France and Germany
have effectively joined Britain in blaming Russia for the military-grade nerve
toxin attack. They have called it a clear breach of the Chemical Weapons
Convention and international law.
Moscow has denied any involvement in the poisoning.
Kocharian also seemed optimistic that no EU member state will block or impede
the CEPA’s implementation. “The fact that the EU signed the agreement means
that all EU member states had fully agreed to it,” he said.
The CEPA has to be ratified by Armenia’s parliament, the EU member states and
the European Parliament in order to fully come into force. But some of its key
provisions can be put into practice right after the Armenian ratification
expected next month.
No Political Prisoners In Armenia, Says Minister
• Ruzanna Stepanian
Armenia - Justice Minister Davit Harutiunian holds a news conference in
Yerevan, 20 February 2018.
The Armenian authorities have not arrested or imprisoned anyone for political
reasons, Justice Minister Davit Harutiunian said on Thursday.
“I don’t agree that there are political prisoners in Armenia,” he told RFE/RL’s
Armenian service (Azatutyun.am).
Harutiunian dismissed a list of about a dozen imprisoned individuals drawn up
my some human rights groups and other non-governmental organizations.
“I am familiar with many such lists. I have also seen a list drawn up by an
international organization which described Nairi Hunanian as a political
prisoner,” he said, referring to the jailed leader of an armed group that
assassinated Prime Minister Vazgen Sarkisian and seven other officials in the
October 1999 attack on the Armenian parliament.
“Everything depends on standards and unfortunately the fact is that this term
[political prisoner] is very often used for political purposes,” added the
minister who has held senior state posts for the last two decades.
The individuals considered to be political prisoners by critics of the Armenian
government are mostly members or supporters of fringe opposition groups. One of
them, Zhirayr Sefilian, was sentenced this week to 10.5 years in prison on coup
charges which he strongly denies.
The lengthy prison sentence has been condemned by Armenian civic groups and
mainstream opposition leaders such as Nikol Pashinian, a leader of the Yelk
alliance.
Another Yelk leader, Edmon Marukian, on Thursday commented more cautiously on
the jail term handed to Sefilian. He said he will pass final judgment only
after looking into the verdict handed down by a Yerevan district court.
Marukian made clear at the same time that he believes that the verdict is
“connected” with Sefilian’s political activities.
The head of the European Union Delegation in Yerevan, Piotr Switalski, was
asked by reporters last September about the existence of political prisoners in
Armenia. “The European Union does not always necessarily share the views of
non-governmental organizations,” Switalski said. “On such issues, we are mainly
guided by decisions made by the European Court of Human Rights. As you know,
there are no people in Armenia who are qualified by [the Strasbourg court] as
political prisoners.”
No One Charged In Armenian Wildfire
• Anush Muradian
Armenia - A wildfire in the Khosrov Forest State Reserve, 14Aug2017.
After a five-month investigation, Armenian law-enforcement authorities have
decided not to prosecute anyone in connection with a massive wildfire in a
nature reserve southeast of Yerevan.
The fire in the Khosrov Forest State Reserve erupted in August and raged for at
least four days before being extinguished by Armenian emergency workers with
the help of a Russian firefighting plane. It burned at least 360 of hectares of
woodland.
Armenia’s Investigative Committee initially charged one unnamed person under an
article of the Criminal Code dealing with serious damage caused to a forest.
A spokeswoman for the law-enforcement agency, Sona Truzian, said on Thursday
that it has closed the criminal case for lack of any evidence of arson or human
negligence. She said investigators concluded that last summer’s drought and
unusually high air temperatures were the likely cause of the calamity.
Environment Protection Minister Artsvik Minasian said he has no reason to call
their findings into question. “I have confidence in the professionalism of our
law-enforcement bodies,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am).
Armenia - Trees in the Khosrov Forest State Reserve burned by a wildfire,
14Aug2017.
Minasian stated as recently as in October that the cause of the blaze was
“definitely not natural.”
His ministry announced at the time that it has asked for and received aerial
photographs of the Khosrov reserve that were taken by U.S. surveillance
satellites the day after the fire broke out on August 12. It said it has
forwarded the images to the Investigative Committee.
Hakob Sanasarian, a veteran environment protection activist, said he does not
trust the committee’s conclusion and suspects a cover-up. Sanasarian also
slammed the Environment Protection Ministry, saying that it was not equipped to
contain the blaze and has failed to learn lessons.
Minasian argued that the ministry lacks funds to hire more staff for this and
other forests. He also said it has since acquired some types of new technical
equipment and revised its contingency plans for wildfires.
The Khosrov reserve occupies roughly 25,000 hectares of land. Around 9,000
hectares of it are forests originally planted during the reign of a 4th century
Armenian king, Khosrov III.
Press Review
“Zhoghovurd” claims that Prime Minister Karen Karapetian “voiced indirect
accusations against Serzh Sarkisian” in the Armenian parliament on Wednesday by
reiterating his belief that the continuing uncertainty about his political
future reflects negatively on economic activity in Armenia. Karapetian thus
again accused Sarkisian and the ruling HHK of hampering investments in the
Armenian economy, speculates the paper.
“Haykakan Zhamanak” describes as “sensational” the release on Wednesday of
transcripts of wiretapped phone calls that were made by radical opposition
gunmen after they seized a police station in Yerevan’s Erebuni district in July
2016. They were publicized by prosecutors at the trial of the leading members
of the armed group called Sasna Tsrer. “The conversations make it clear that
the group which seized the police base had one objective: to remove Nikol
Pashinian from the [surrounding] area and get the people rallying there closer
to the base,” comments the paper. It suggests that the release of this
important information may be aimed at preventing Pashinian’s Civil Contract
party and smaller opposition groups supportive of the jailed gunmen from
jointly trying to topple President Sarkisian.
“These wiretaps demonstrate that Sasna Tsrer’s actions targeted not only the
authorities but also politics as a whole,” writes “Zhamanak.” The paper too
points to possible cooperation between Pashinian and the gunmen’s backers. “Of
course, in Armenia’s modern history there have been quite a few cases where
political forces that had traded accusations subsequently became allies, at
least in the tactical sense,” it says. “But in this case we are witnessing a
qualitatively different situation and circumstances because they are about
accepting or not accepting politics in principle, rather than
political-tactical differences.”
“Hraparak” sees a clear division between opposition forces trying to stop Serzh
Sarkisian from extending his rule. Some of them, including the jailed Sasna
Tsrer leaders, stand for an “armed tough struggle” while the others, notably
Pashinian’s party, favor solely peaceful methods of political struggle,
editorializes the paper. It says that even peaceful protests will not make
Pashinian and his allies immune to arrest. “The bad thing is that in our
country virtually all avenues of political struggle lead to prisons,” it says.
“Things like civilized struggle, peaceful regime change and bloodless ouster of
a failed government do not materialize here.”
(Tigran Avetisian)
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
On 11 March, Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili was to visit Azerbaijan. At his official meetings in Baku, he was expected to discuss regional projects being implemented jointly by Azerbaijan and Georgia, as well as prospects for development of bilateral relations.
The Georgian prime minister’s visit to Baku [on 12 March] led to a series of discussions. This is due to the fact that the Georgian government have recently come to terms with Armenians and are ignoring countries like Azerbaijan and Turkey that they considered close to themselves.
The refusal of Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili to pay tribute to the memory of the victims of the 26 February Xocali (Khojaly) genocide at a meeting with a group of ethnic Azerbaijanis in (Georgia’s) Borcali [Marneuli District] on the same day and his subsequent visit to Yerevan, where he laid a wreath at the so-called “Armenian genocide” monument and described Armenia as a “friendly country” have caused serious dissatisfaction.
At the time of these discussions, the 9 March visit of Georgian Defence Minister Levan Izoria followed by the country’s [Georgia’s] prime minister to our country raised some questions. Opinions have been expressed that the Georgian government are aware of their mistake and want to somehow “please” Baku.
Expert view
Political analyst Nazakat Mammadova touched on several important points that led to a rapprochement between Georgia and Armenia: “For example, the trade turnover [between Armenia and Georgia] increased by 24 per cent last year. I think, first of all, Armenia’s signing a partnership agreement with the EU has had a major impact on these issues. Armenia has found certain opportunities, for example, to offer Georgia using the advantages of the free trade zone on the border with Iran. Thus, Georgia can export its products to Iran. New geopolitical realities have emerged recently. This manifests itself in the form of Armenia’s rapprochement with Europe to some extent; Georgia’s softening its hostility against Russia, the lifting of sanctions against Iran, and Turkey’s rapprochement with Russia and distancing from the West. As a result, Armenia and Georgia, which are under the influence of separate geopolitical power centres, have to come closer. Armenia’s signing an agreement with the EU creates conditions for Georgia’s advancement as the most pro-Western Caucasus state.”
According to the political expert, Georgia’s incumbent government is not pursuing a unilateral pro-Western policy: “Joint regional projects involving Azerbaijan and Georgia were the result of this. The incumbent government claims having good-neighbourly relations with all the regional countries of the region as the Shevardnadze government did. However, another important point that affects the situation is that after the pro-western liberal Saakashvili, businessmen were brought to the Georgian leadership.
“The incumbent prime minister of Georgia is a former banker. The new president of Armenia, Armen Sargsyan, is a businessman, who organised the British HSBC Bank’s operations in the Caucasus. Apparently, the representation of businessmen in the political elite of the two countries may have a certain impact on this rapprochement. The Russian factor can also play a role here. The West’s positions in Georgia are already weakening. For example, according to a poll conducted by the National Democratic Institute, 29 per cent of Georgians are against integration in NATO. They are worried that the 2008 Georgian-Russian war could flared up again, and that the West would again leave Georgia alone in the face of Russian threat and that the Georgian Orthodox Church will face a threat from Catholic Europe.”
The political expert said it was important to continue interstate relations with Georgia at the current level: “The refusal of the Georgian president to pay tribute to the memory of the Xocali genocide victims is the result of all these developments. However, if the prime minister’s visit to the fictional ‘genocide’ complex in Yerevan was envisaged by the protocol rules, it would have been known to Georgia, which is currently pursuing a balanced policy, that the move would cause dissatisfaction in Azerbaijan and Turkey. Azerbaijan is pursuing a very strong lobbying policy in Georgia, and this is admitted by Georgian and Armenian politicians, as well as Russians.
“As of now, Azerbaijan’s Georgia policy can be regarded as satisfactory, and Azerbaijan is doing its best to maintain its positions in Georgia. It is exactly a result of this that Armenia cannot enter Georgia. Azerbaijan is both in a dominant position in Georgia’s energy market, and uses this country as a transport and transit corridor. It would be wrong to assume a tough position during the Georgian prime minister’s visit, since the Georgian side can say that they are a sovereign country and as an independent nation, they have the right to maintain relations with any country, including neighbouring Armenia.
“Therefore, Azerbaijan should not pay much attention to the protocol rules like paying tribute to the so-called ‘genocide’ monument by the Georgian president, and should continue pursuing its traditional policy and not give up its position with regard to Georgia as an important partner in the transit and energy market. Armenia’s access to the external world through Georgia should be as restricted as possible.
“If the level of relations is reduced due to the protocol rules, for a visit to the so-called genocide memorial, many presidents visit this complex when in Armenia. Given this, Turkey and Azerbaijan would have to suffer diplomatic tensions with a number of countries around the world. We even know that some of the leaders of the Turkic-speaking Central Asian republics have also done so. Georgia has not officially recognised the Armenian genocide, and paying tribute to the so-called monument represents no threat. This is an ordinary protocol rule.”
Henrikh Mkhitaryan, captain of Armenia’s national football team and midfielder of London’s Arsenal, is included along with three other football players for the Player Of The Week voting of Europa League.
UEFA has included 4 players in the voting – Henrikh Mkhitaryan from Arsenal, Valon Berisha from Salzburg, Marcelo from Lyon and Viktor Tsygankov from Dynamo Kiev.
The voting will end March 10.
Arsene Wenger is currently overseeing the worst spell in the history of his reign at Arsenal football club. Having lost their last three Premier League fixtures in quick succession, reports of player unrest and internal turmoil have been constantly circulating in recent weeks.
Meanwhile, AC Milan are said to be going through a form of revival with Gennaro Gattuso bringing the former European giants back into Champions League contention in Serie A. As such, many had predicted that the Gunners would seriously struggle in their Europa League tie with Milan.
It only took fifteen minutes for Henrikh Mkhitaryan to suggest otherwise.
The Armenian only made the move to the Emirates during the January transfer window and, having provided a plethora of assists in his Arsenal debut, the former Manchester United man has been the subject of some severe criticism after a string of lacklustre performances in the games that followed.
However, Mkhitaryan reminded everyone exactly what he is capable of with some beautiful control before rocketing a fine effort past the Milan keeper.
The 29-year-old has a famous love affair with the Europa League having scored six goals in the competition last season and, although tonight’s effort took a slight deflection, Mkhitaryan will surely note it down as the moment of his Arsenal career thus far.
Drone was conducting surveillance flight along line of contact
By Ruslan Rehimov
BAKU
Azerbaijan’s military shot down an Armenian drone along the line of contact between the two countries’ forces, the Defense Ministry in Baku said in a statement on Saturday.
According to the Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry, an X-55 type unmanned aerial vehicle, which belongs to Armenia, was downed while conducting a surveillance flight over the Azerbaijan’s military positions in Aghdam district of the contact line.
The ministry also published the photographs of the downed drone.
Azerbaijan and Armenia remain in dispute over the occupied Karabakh region. Karabakh broke away from Azerbaijan in 1991 with Armenian military support, and a peace process has yet to be implemented.