Author: Torgomian Varazdat

                                        Tuesday, 
Yerevan Denies Azeri Claims On Karabakh Peace Talks
U.S. -- Foreign Ministers Zohrab Mnatsakanian of Armenia and Elmar Mammadyarov 
of Azerbaijan and international mediators meet in Washington, June 20, 2019.
Official Yerevan denied on Tuesday Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar 
Mammadyarov’s claims that international mediators presented him and his 
Armenian counterpart Zohrab Mnatsakanian with a Nagorno-Karabakh peace plan at 
their meeting held in Washington last week.
The U.S., Russian and French mediators co-heading the OSCE Minsk Group said the 
June 20 talks mediated by them focused on recent ceasefire violations around 
Karabakh and “core issues of the settlement process.” In a joint statement, 
they urged the conflicting parties to “strictly” observe the ceasefire.
“The co-chairs presented official documents [on the conflict’s resolution] in 
Washington,” Mammadyarov told a news conference in Baku on Monday. “We have to 
work on them for one or two months.”
In Mammadyarov’s words, the peace proposals are based on another joint 
statement which was issued by the mediators on March 9.
That statement stressed that “any fair and lasting settlement” must involve 
“return of the territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijani control; 
an interim status for Nagorno-Karabakh providing guarantees for security and 
self-governance; a corridor linking Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh; future 
determination of the final legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh through a legally 
binding expression of will.” The mediators have favored this peace formula, 
also known as the Madrid Principles, for more than a decade.
“The Azerbaijani foreign minister’s claims do not correspond to reality,” said 
Anna Naghdalian, the Armenian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman. “Such an approach 
is unconstructive and it undermines the seriousness of the negotiating process.”
In written comments, Naghdalian said the Azerbaijani “disinformation” suggests 
that Baku does not intend to heed the mediators’ calls. In that regard, she 
deplored Mammadyarov’s remark that the absence of truce violations on the 
frontlines is not necessary for holding “substantive negotiations” on a 
peaceful settlement.
According to the Turan news agency, Mammadyarov also said that the two sides 
will “seriously analyze” the peace plan before another meeting of the foreign 
ministers expected this year. He said Baku disagrees with some of its 
provisions but did not elaborate.
The top Azerbaijani diplomat similarly stated earlier that a Russian version of 
the Madrid Principles was on the agenda of his previous meeting with 
Mnatsakanian which was held in Moscow on April 15 in the presence of Russian 
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. That claim was also dismissed by Yerevan.
Armenian Court Sends Kocharian Back To Jail
        • Naira Bulghadarian
        • Narine Ghalechian
Armenia -- Former President Robert Kocharian attends a hearing at the Court of 
Appeals, Yerevan, June 12, 2019.
Armenia’s Court of Appeals overturned on Tuesday a lower court’s May 18 
decision to release former President Robert Kocharian from prison pending the 
outcome of his trial stemming from the 2008 post-election violence in Yerevan.
Kocharian arrived at a prison in downtown Yerevan two hours later. When a 
limousine carrying him to pulled up outside the prison building he briefly got 
out of it to hug his son Levon and wave to several dozen supporters who 
demonstrated nearby.
“Are you waiting for me to say something?” Kocharian told reporters that 
approached him. “I think you could see that there is neither law nor order,” he 
said before entering the prison.
Kocharian seemed to have anticipated the decision made by a Court of Appeals 
judge, Armen Danielian. In a statement released earlier in the day, the 
ex-president’s office said he, his lawyers and family members will boycott the 
announcement of the decision because Danielian cut short the court hearings on 
June 20. The lawyers say that they were thus unable to present detailed 
arguments against their client’s renewed arrest.
Armenia -- Former President Robert Kocharian waves to supporters demonstrating 
outside a prison in Yerevan, .
A district court in Yerevan ordered Kocharian released from jail after 
receiving “personal guarantees” from Nagorno-Karabakh’s current and former 
president to the effect that he will not obstruct the trial if freed.
The court of first instance also decided to suspend the trial and request an 
important clarification from the Constitutional Court. It cited a “suspicion of 
discrepancy” between the Armenian constitution and coup charges brought against 
Kocharian.
Prosecutors appealed against both decisions denounced by many supporters of the 
current Armenian government. Prosecutor-General Artur Davtian personally 
appeared before the Court of Appeals last week to make a case for sending 
Kocharian back to prison.
Kocharian as well as two retired generals stand accused of illegally using 
Armenian army units against opposition protesters in the wake of a 2008 
presidential election marred by fraud allegations. Eight protesters and two 
police servicemen were killed in street clashes that broke out in Yerevan on 
March 1, 2008. Kocharian handed over power to his preferred successor and 
official election winner, Serzh Sarkisian, after completing his second 
presidential term in April 2008.
Earlier this year, Kocharian was also charged with bribe-taking. He denies all 
accusations leveled against him as politically motivated.
In a televised interview aired late on Monday, the ex-president again blamed 
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian for the 2008 bloodshed and the criminal charges 
brought against him.
Pashinian was one of the key speakers during February-March 2008 
anti-government protests organized by Levon Ter-Petrosian, the main opposition 
presidential candidate. He has denied any political motives behind the 
prosecution of Kocharian and other former officials.
Armenian Lawmaker Denies Voting Against Russia In PACE
FRANCE – A session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in 
Strasbourg, April 25, 2017
A senior Armenian pro-government lawmaker said on Tuesday he did not vote 
against reinstating Russia in the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly 
(PACE) contrary to voting results reported by the human rights body.
The PACE voted on Monday to restore Russia’s voting rights which were revoked 
in 2014 following Moscow's takeover of Crimea and its backing of militant 
separatists fighting in eastern Ukraine. Ukraine's delegation to the PACE 
walked out in protest, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy voiced his 
"disappointment" with the decision.
The decision was backed by 118 members of the Strasbourg-based assembly, 
including two of the four members of the Armenian delegation: Naira Zohrabian 
and Edmon Marukian. The latter are affiliated with Armenian opposition parties.
The two other Armenian members of the PACE, Ruben Rubinan and Hovannes Igitian, 
represent Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s My Step alliance. According to 
voting results posted on the PACE website, Rubinian voted against the 
pro-Russian measure, while Igitian did not vote at all.
Armenia -- Ruben Rubinian, chairman of the parliamentary committee on foreign 
relations, speaks to RFE/RL in Yerevan, March 10, 2019.
“My vote was registered as a vote against, rather than for [Russia’s voting 
rights,] for technical reasons,” Rubinian claimed in a Facebook post. He said 
he made a statement to that effect on the PACE floor on Tuesday morning.
Rubinian, who is the chairman of the Armenian parliament’s foreign relations 
committee, said he “welcomed the Russian delegation and its head Pyotr Tolstoy 
that returned to the PACE.”
“Much to the chagrin of some doomsayers, no problems whatsoever arose with our 
Russian colleagues and we are now considering organizing an acquaintance 
party,” he added.
Earlier in the day, Armen Ashotian, the deputy chairman of the former ruling 
Republican Party, denounced the Armenian vote in the PACE as a “disgrace.” 
“Pashinian’s efforts to break up the Russian-Armenian strategic alliance could 
cost our country dearly,” he charged.
Armenia Looks To Cash In On Russia-Georgia Flight Ban
        • Artak Khulian
Georgia -- Georgian and Russian passenger jets at Tbilisi international airport.
Armenia is hoping to become a transit route for Russian tourists travelling to 
neighboring Georgia after all passenger flights between Russia and Georgia are 
suspended next month.
President Vladimir Putin temporarily banned Russian airlines from flying to 
Georgia on Friday following an outbreak of unrest in Tbilisi triggered by the 
visit of a Russian lawmaker. The Kremlin also told travel agencies suspend 
tours to Georgia from Russia.
The Russian Transport Ministry imposed at the weekend a similar ban on Georgian 
airlines carrying out flights to Moscow and other Russian cities.
The punitive measures, effective from July 8, are bound to hit the Georgian 
tourism industry, a major sector of Georgia’s economy. More than one million 
Russian tourists visited the South Caucasus country last year.
Georgia’s leading airline, Georgian Airways, announced on Monday that it is 
planning to carry out Tbilisi-Moscow flights via Yerevan “without any 
additional charges” for passengers. It said the connection time at Yerevan’s 
Zvartnots airport will be less than one hour.
The flights between Yerevan and Moscow will presumably be carried out by 
Georgian Airways’ sister airline, Armenia Air Company. The Georgian carrier’s 
founder, Tamaz Gaiashvili, holds a major stake in the company.
Armenia - A passenger jet at Yerevan's Zvartnots international airport, 
10Apr2017.
Georgian Airways currently flies to Yerevan on a daily basis. A senior official 
at Armenia’s Civil Aviation Department, Stepan Payaslian, said on Tuesday that 
the company could carry out two Tbilisi-Yerevan flights a day after the Russian 
ban comes into force next month.
The Armenian airline’s deputy director, Gevorg Khachatrian, said earlier that 
it is planning to double the number of its daily Yerevan-Moscow flights.
Hakob Chagharian, a civil aviation adviser to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, 
confirmed that Georgian Airways is planning to use Armenia as a transit route. 
“Its flights will be carried out through Gyumri or Yerevan’s Zvartnots 
airport,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian service.
Chagharian said two other, smaller Armenian carriers have also expressed 
readiness to cash in on the Russia flight ban.
It is not yet clear whether Russia’s leading airlines flying to Georgia could 
team up with them for that purpose. Chagharian suggested that they may well 
reach a transit deal with Azerbaijan’s state-run national airline instead.
According to Payaslian, the Civil Aviation Department is also looking into 
other transit options for people travelling from Russia to Georgia. “The 
options include bringing passengers from Georgia to Armenia by bus and vice 
versa, and then having them flown from Yerevan or Gyumri,” he said.
Press Review
Lragir.am reacts to an interview with former President Robert Kocharian aired 
by an Armenian TV channel late on Monday. The publication dismisses Kocharian’s 
claims that for the current Armenian authorities Karabakh seems to be a 
“burden” which they want to shed. It suggests that Kocharian thus tried to make 
a “psychological influence” on people in Karabakh and even help one of the 
potential candidates in a presidential election that will be held there next 
year.
“Zhoghovurd” sees an ongoing government “operation” to force the resignation of 
Hrayr Tovmasian, the chairman of Armenia’s Constitutional Court, as part of a 
“process of cleaning up the courts.” The pro-government paper says it became 
obvious that Tovmasian’s “days are numbered” when a newly elected member of the 
court, Vahe Grigorian, staked claim to the court chairmanship last week. It 
says that even though Tovmasian is not willing to resign yet his and other 
Constitutional Court judges’ exit is only a matter of time.
“Zhamanak” reports that the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe 
discussed the Armenian Constitutional Court crisis at a weekend meeting in 
Strasbourg. A statement released by the commission on Monday said its members 
asked the commission president, Gianni Buquicchio, “follow the situation 
closely with a view to making, if appropriate, a public statement in this 
respect.” The paper notes that the move followed controversy caused by Vahe 
Grigorian’s statement. It says that for now the Venice Commission is “refusing 
to take a position on Grigorian’s statement and the resulting situation.”
(Lilit Harutiunian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2019 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
www.rferl.org

                                        Monday, 
Tsarukian Disavows Ally’s Support For Kocharian
        • Ruzanna Stepanian
Armenia - Gyumri Mayor Vartan Ghukasian speaks at an event in 2012.
Gagik Tsarukian on Monday warned parliament deputies from his Prosperous 
Armenia Party (BHK) against publicly expressing their personal opinions after 
one of them voiced support for the indicted former President Robert Kocharian.
“I stand for freedom for Robert Kocharian,” the lawmaker, Vartan Ghukasian, 
said late last week amid continuing political fallout from an Armenian court’s 
May 18 decision to free the ex-president from custody.
The statement led Tsarukian to hold an emergency meeting of the BHK’s 
parliamentary group, the second largest in the National Assembly.
“For that reason I held today a meeting during which I warned everyone that 
nobody has the right to express their personal opinion,” the BHK leader told 
reporters. BHK deputies should make public statements on various issues only if 
the opposition party formulates a position on them, he said.
A senior BHK figure, Naira Zohrabian, stressed that Ghukasian’s remark does not 
reflect the party line. “That is Mr. Ghukasian’s personal opinion, and I can 
reaffirm today that it is not the BHK faction’s opinion,” she said.
Zohrabian also told RFE/RL’s Armenian service that Ghukasian did not attend the 
faction meeting chaired by Tsarukian.
Ghukasian, 58, served as mayor of Armenia’s second largest city of Gyumri 
during and after Kocharian’s 1998-2008 presidency. He strongly supported the 
ex-president who was arrested last year on charges stemming from the 2008 
post-election violence in Yerevan.
Armenia - Former President Robert Kocharian (second from right) and Prosperous 
Armenia Party leader Gagik Tsarukian at an awards ceremony organized for 
prominent Armenian athletes near Yerevan, 26Dec2013.
Tsarukian likewise had a cordial rapport with Kocharian. But both he and his 
party have sought to distance themselves from the latter since last spring’s 
“velvet revolution” which brought Nikol Pashinian to power. They have pointedly 
declined to criticize Kocharian’s prosecution as politically motivated.
“The BHK view is that in the new Armenia political processes must not be mixed 
with legal processes,” said Zohrabian. “It’s a totally legal process. We want 
to be sure that there is and there will be no political pressure on legal 
processes.”
Tsarukian was irked on May 29 by a reporter’s remark that Kocharian had helped 
him make a big fortune. “I don’t have obligations to anyone,” he stated in that 
regard.
Deadly Truce Violations Reported In Karabakh
Nagorno-Karabakh -- Ethnic Armenian soldiers walk in a trench at their position 
near Nagorno-Karabakh's boundary, April 8, 2016
Armenia and Azerbaijan have accused each other of trying to torpedo peace talks 
on Nagorno-Karabakh after reporting the most serious ceasefire violations in 
the Karabakh conflict zone in months.
The Azerbaijani military said on Thursday one of its servicemen, was shot and 
killed by enemy fire near Karabakh. The victim identified as Aqil Omarov was 
reportedly a mid-ranking officer.
The Foreign Ministry in Baku seized upon the reported incident to accuse 
Armenia of seeking to scuttle more high-level negotiations planned by the two 
sides.
Karabakh’s Armenian-backed Defense Army insisted that its troops did not breach 
the ceasefire at any section of “the line of contact.” The army reported a 
sharp rise in Azerbaijani truce violations on the night from Friday to 
Saturday. One of its soldiers, Sipan Melkonian, died as a result.
In a weekend statement, Armenia’s Foreign Ministry accused Azerbaijan of 
deliberately “escalating the situation” and said its actions represent a 
“serious setback for all the efforts taken over the past months.” The statement 
also questioned Baku’s commitment to confidence-building understandings reached 
by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham 
Aliyev.
Aliyev’s and Pashinian’s first face-to-face meeting held in Tajikistan in 
September was followed by a significant decrease in ceasefire violations.
The Azerbaijani side brushed aside the “emotional” and “contradictory” 
statement. It said Armenian “occupation of Azerbaijani lands” is the root cause 
of the Karabakh conflict and resulting casualties.
The tensions around Karabakh rose as U.S., Russian and French mediators 
co-heading the OSCE Minsk Group wrapped up their latest tour of the conflict 
zone with a meeting with Aliyev held in Baku. “The Co-Chairs expressed deep 
concern about recent casualties and called on the parties to exercise maximum 
restraint to avoid escalation,” read a joint statement released by them.
Commenting on their talks in Yerevan, Stepanakert and Baku, the mediators said 
they presented the conflicting parties with “proposals for concrete next steps 
in the settlement process.” “The Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan 
accepted the Co-Chairs’ proposal to meet soon under their auspices, and will 
announce details at the appropriate time,” added their statement.
The date and venue of the ministers’ meeting has not been announced yet.
Judge Declines To Deal With Kocharian’s Immunity Claim
        • Naira Nalbandian
Armenia -- Judge Vazgen Rshtuni holds a court hearing in Yerevan, June 3, 2019.
The chairman of Armenia’s Court of Appeals, Vazgen Rshtuni, accepted on Monday 
prosecutors’ demand that he recuse himself from hearings on immunity from 
prosecution claimed by former President Robert Kocharian.
Kocharian and his legal team cite an article of the Armenian constitution which 
stipulates: “During the term of his or her powers and thereafter, the President 
of the Republic may not be prosecuted and subjected to liability for actions 
deriving from his or her status.”
Earlier this year they asked a district court in Yerevan to free the 
ex-president and throw out coup charges brought against him in connection with 
the 2008 post-election violence in Yerevan.
The court ruled on April 12, however, that Kocharian cannot be protected from 
prosecution. It thus accepted prosecutors’ claims that the constitutional 
provision does not apply to him because his actions in February-March 2008 were 
illegal.
Kocharian and his lawyers appealed against that ruling before the case was 
assigned to Rshtuni.
Hrach Musheghian, a senior law-enforcement official leading a probe of the 2008 
violence, said last week that Rshtuni cannot be impartial because he publicly 
approved of another Court of Appeals judge’s decision in August to free 
Kocharian from custody and uphold his immunity from prosecution. The 
prosecution backed Musheghian’s demand.
But one of Kocharian’s lawyers, Samvel Khudoyan, objected to it. “In my view, 
the consideration of our appeal has nothing to do with the opinion expressed by 
[Rshtuni,]” Khudoyan told RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am) on Monday.
Nevertheless, Rshtuni agreed to have another judge consider and rule on the 
appeal. He argued that “one of the parties to the trial lacks trust in me.”
Rshtuni also pointed to media allegations that he was instrumental in the May 
18 decision by a district court judge, Davit Grigorian, to order Kocharian 
released from prison pending a verdict in the high-profile case. Rshtuni, who 
has strongly denied the allegations, said he wants to be exonerated by 
“relevant bodies.”
Grigorian also controversially decided to suspend Kocharian’s trial which began 
on May 13. He cited a “suspicion of discrepancy” between the Armenian 
constitution and the charges. And he suggested that the constitution does give 
the ex-president immunity from prosecution.
Parliament Panel To Investigate 2016 War In Karabakh
        • Ruzanna Stepanian
Nagorno-Karabakh -- Ethnic Armenian soldiers stand next to a cannon at 
artillery positions near the Nagorno-Karabakh's town of Martuni, April 7, 2016
The pro-government majority in Armenia’s National Assembly has set up an ad hoc 
parliamentary commission tasked with investigating the April 2016 war in 
Nagorno-Karabakh.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian called for the creation of such a commission on 
May 20 as he lambasted the Armenian judiciary and accused it of having ties 
with the country’s former leadership.
Pashinian claimed that “specific forces representing the former corrupt system” 
are also “using their corrupt connections to carry out false propaganda” 
against him in Karabakh. He suggested that they are intent on provoking a war 
with Azerbaijan, losing “some territories” to the enemy and blaming that defeat 
on his government.
Pashinian did not name anyone involved in the alleged conspiracy. He announced 
instead that “the time has come to form an investigative parliamentary 
commission to examine circumstances of the April 2016 war and find answers to a 
number of questions preoccupying us.”
Some opposition politicians and other critics of the Armenian government 
denounced Pashinian’s statement, saying that the prime minister is playing the 
Karabakh card for domestic political purposes.
The commission was formally set up late last week after 47 deputies 
representing Pashinian’s My Step alliance signed a petition in support of its 
creation. It will be headed by Andranik Kocharian, the pro-government chairman 
of a standing parliament committee on defense and security, and also comprise 
10 other lawmakers.
The commission, which will hold its first meeting on Tuesday, is specifically 
tasked with scrutinizing the Armenian military’s response to an Azerbaijani 
offensive in Karabakh that led to the four-day hostilities, which left around 
80 Armenian soldiers and volunteers dead. It will not only be able to question 
senior government and military officials but also have access to classified 
documents.
Four of the commission members are supposed to be named by the opposition 
Prosperous Armenia (BHK) and Bright Armenia (LHK) parties.
Naira Zohrabian, a senior BHK parliamentarian, hit out at the parliament 
majority on Monday, saying that it did not consult with her party before 
setting up the special panel.
“Nobody from My Step approached us,” Zohrabian told RFE/RL’s Armenian service. 
“Moreover, we learned from the media that the investigative commission has been 
created by the signatures of 47 My Step deputies. I regard this as [a 
manifestation of] a non-businesslike atmosphere in the parliament.”
My Step’s parliamentary leader, Lilit Makunts, dismissed the criticism. She 
said that the parliament majority has followed legal procedures and 
requirements regulating the formation of such commissions.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2019 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
www.rferl.org