Monday,
Russia In Rare Diplomatic Spat With Armenia
• Emil Danielyan
• Sisak Gabrielian
RUSSIA -- A view of the Russian Foreign Ministry building in Moscow, April 6,
2018
Russia has criticized Armenia, its main regional ally, in unusually blunt terms
following criminal charges brought by law-enforcement authorities in Yerevan
against Yuri Khachaturov, the Armenian secretary general of the Russian-led
Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).
Khachaturov was charged on Thursday with involvement in what an Armenian
law-enforcement agency now considers an “overthrow of the constitutional order”
that followed a disputed presidential election held in February 2008.
The vote sparked opposition demonstrations in Yerevan which were quelled by
security forces on March 1-2, 2008. Eight protesters and two police personnel
died as a result. Khachaturov was Armenia’s deputy defense minister at the time.
The Special Investigative Service (SIS) levelled the same criminal charges
against former President Robert Kocharian. He was arrested late on Friday after
angrily denying the charges as politically motivated.
Khachaturov served as chief of the Armenian army’s General Staff from
2008-2016. Russia, Armenia and four other ex-Soviet states making up the CSTO
appointed him as secretary general of the Russian-led defense pact in April
2017.
A spokesman for the Armenian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday that it has
formally asked the other CSTO members to “start a process of replacing the
secretary general.”
Armenia -- Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian (R) meets CSTO chief Yuri
Khachaturov, Yerevan, 17May2018
The move seems to have irked Russia. The official Russian TASS news agency
quoted an unnamed “high-ranking diplomatic source in Moscow” as calling it
“amazingly unprofessional.”
“It is all the more strange to hear such statements given that the changes that
occurred in Armenia did not reflect on the staff of the [Armenian] foreign
ministry which only recently submitted Khachaturov’s candidacy to the CSTO,”
the source said, adding that Yerevan must formally “recall” the Armenian head
of the alliance before asking the other members to replace him.
In a separate report, TASS said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made the
same point in a phone call with his Armenian counterpart Zohrab Mnatsakanian on
Thursday. “In particular, it was pointed out that in accordance with CSTO rules
and procedures, the Armenian side must officially recall its citizen from the
post of CSTO secretary general if such a decision was made in Yerevan,” it
cited the Russian Foreign Ministry as saying.
The Armenian side dismissed the criticism later on Saturday. The Interfax news
agency quoted “a highly placed source in Yerevan” as saying: “We regard as
ineffective public discussions and explanations regarding the statutes,
procedures and other documents of the CSTO which we know well.”
“We are committed to and respect the provisions of the CSTO statutes,” the
Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Tigran Balayan, insisted on Monday. “And
during our presidency of the CSTO we have done everything to strengthen the
CSTO.”
Speaking to RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyum.am), Balayan would not be
drawn on who could replace Khachaturov. “We have to wait for the decision on
replacing him,” he said.
Armenia - General Yuri Khachaturov, chief of the Armenian army's General Staff,
salutes troops from CSTO member states holding exercises at Marshal Bagramian
shooting range, 30Sep2015.
Russia has rarely made public statements critical of Armenia in the past. The
two nations have maintained close political, military and economic ties ever
since the break-up of the Soviet Union.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has repeatedly pledged to maintain this
“special” relationship since he swept to power in a wave of mass protests in
May. But he criticized it when he was in opposition to Armenia’s former
leadership.
Moscow signaled its concerns shortly after the SIS charged Khachaturov and
asked a court in Yerevan for a permission to arrest him. “We are closely
monitoring what is happening on this issue,” Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory
Karasin told TASS on Friday.
The district court agreed to grant Khachaturov bail a few hours later.
The SIS bases its case against Kocharian, Khachaturov as well as for Defense
Minister Harutiunian on a secret order that was issued to the Armenian military
during the post-election demonstrations organized by Levon Ter-Petrosian, the
main opposition candidate in the 2008 ballot. It says that military units were
told to move into Yerevan before Kocharian declared a state of emergency late
on March 1, 2008. According to the law-enforcement agency, that violated
constitutional provisions guaranteeing the political neutrality of the Armenian
armed forces.
Kocharian insisted on Thursday that the army was simply put on high alert in
order to prevent some of its soldiers and officers from heeding Ter-Petrosian’s
repeated calls for top military officials to join his opposition movement. The
ex-president also argued that army units were not involved in vicious clashes
between security forces and protesters which were followed by the introduction
of emergency rule.
Pashinian, who played a key role in the Ter-Petrosian-led movement, was the
main speaker at a March 1, 2008 rally held several hundred meters from the
scene of the deadly violence. Pashinian subsequently spent nearly two years in
prison for organizing “mass disturbances” in the Armenian capital. He denied
the accusations as politically motivated.
TV Comedian Picked As Pashinian Party’s Candidate For Yerevan Mayor
• Marine Khachatrian
• Anush Muradian
Armenia - Comedian Hayk Marutian speaks to journalists in Yerevan,
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s Civil Contract party has chosen a prominent
Armenian comedian as its candidate for the vacant post of Yerevan’s mayor.
The city’s previous mayor, Taron Markarian, resigned on July 9 under apparent
pressure from Armenia’s new government.
Markarian, who had been in office since 2011, is a senior member of former
President Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party of Armenia (HHK). He was reelected
by the current city council in May 2017.
The HHK-controlled council deliberately failed to select a new mayor on July
16, paving the way for pre-term elections of a new municipal council.
Civil Contract is the first Armenian party to field a mayoral candidate. Its
nominee, Hayk Marutian, is a 41-year-old actor famous for his performances in
popular comedy shows aired by Armenian TV channels. He has also produced his
own shows and films in the past several years.
A strong backer of Pashinian, Marutian actively participated in mass protests
in April and May that brought down Armenia’s former government. He joined Civil
Contract shortly after Pashinian became prime minister on May 8.
“If we win the elections I will be one of your and will be looking at city with
your eyes,” Marutian told reporters late after most members of the party’s
governing board backed his candidacy late on Sunday.
The popular comedian dismissed critics claims’ that his entertainment industry
background does not make him fit to run the Armenian capital. “Acting has made
up only 20 percent of my professional life for the last six years,” he said.
“The remaining 80 percent has been my organizational and managerial work in our
production company as well as … my political and civic activism.”
Marutian was one of four Civil Contract members vying for the party’s
nomination for Yerevan mayor. The three other hopefuls were parliament deputy
Alen Simonian, Deputy Labor Minister Zaruhi Batoyan and an aide to Pashinian,
Srbuhi Ghazarian.
Meanwhile, Pashinian’s government remains in no rush to dissolve the current
city council and call snap municipal elections. Minister for Local Government
Suren Papikian said on Monday that it wants to make sure that the Central
Election Commission has enough time to organize the polls.
“Yerevan is home to about half of the country’s population and we need to
properly prepare [for the elections,]” Papikian told RFE/RL’s Armenian service
(Azatutyun.am). He indicated that they will he held in September.
Kocharian To Appeal Against Arrest
• Artak Hambardzumian
• Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia - Lawyers and other representatives of former President Robert
Kocharian hold a news conference in Yerevan, .
Lawyers for Robert Kocharian said on Monday that they will appeal on Tuesday
against a Yerevan district court’s decision to allow law-enforcement
authorities to arrest the former Armenian president on coup charges which he
denies as politically motivated.
One of them, Aram Orbelian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am) that
they expect Armenia’s Court of Appeals to start considering their petition
already this week.
Kocharian was arrested late on Friday one day after being charged with
“overthrowing the constitutional order” in the wake of a disputed presidential
election held in February 2008 two months before he completed his second and
final term. The accusation stems from the use of deadly force on March 1-2,
2008 against opposition supporters demonstrating against alleged vote rigging.
Kocharian angrily rejected the accusations in televised remarks on Thursday. He
defended the legality of his decision to declare a state of emergency and order
Armenian army units into central Yerevan late on March 1, 2008. He also said
that the coup charges ran counter to the decisions of Armenia’s Central
Election Commission and the Constitutional Court that validated the official
election outcome.
Orbelian and the other defense lawyer, Ruben Sahakian, echoed that denial at a
joint news conference with Kocharian’s spokesman, Victor Soghomonian, held on
Saturday. They also condemned his pre-trial arrest as illegal, saying that the
Special Investigative Service (SIS) did not present any compelling evidence to
the lower court.
“This is a [political] order and they are going to execute it,” charged
Sahakian.
The lawyers also insisted that Kocharian enjoys immunity from prosecution in
line with Article 140 of the Armenian constitution. The article says: “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.”
Kocharian’s arrest was condemned as politically motivated by the former ruling
Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) of Serzh Sarkisian, who succeeded him as
president following the 2008 election and the ensuing unrest. The Armenian
Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), a political party represented in the
current Armenian government, also expressed serious concern about it.
By contrast, the arrest was hailed as a triumph of justice by political allies
of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, former President Levon Ter-Petrosian, who
led the 2008 protest movement, as well as some human rights activists and
relatives of protesters killed in the post-election violence. They have for
years accused the Sarkisian administration of covering up the killings.
Press Justice
(Saturday, July 28)
“Zhamanak” says that if the coup charges levelled against former President
Robert Kocharian are backed by Armenian courts it will mean that his successor
Serzh Sarkisian’s decade-long rule was illegal. “This logic makes Serzh
Sarkisian’s involved in this criminal case almost inevitable,” writes the paper.
“Haykakan Zhamanak” likewise says that the 2008 post-election violence occurred
“in order for power to be transferred to Serzh Sarkisian.” “He was ready to
hold on to power at any cost, including by using the army against protesting
citizens,” claims. “Had he not wanted the blood of ten people to be linked to
him he would have resigned after March 1 [2008.]”
The paper close to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian also hits out at another
former president, Levon Ter-Petrosian, who did not leave his home to join his
supporters demonstrating in Yerevan on March 1-2, 2008. “Only Ter-Petrosian’s
presence could have mitigated the bloody clash between security forces and
demonstrators,” it says. The paper goes on to assert that the three
ex-presidents must get together and publicly give answers about the events of
March 2008.
“Sometimes sticking to the letter of the law is more important that delivering
justice,” writes “Hraparak.” “The March 2008 case must definitely be solved,”
it says. “We need to understand who did what, who ordered what, how people got
killed. But that must not be done by wrecking the law and being guided by a
pre-election logic. And it’s not good when that is done by someone who was
imprisoned and endured other sufferings as a result of March 1: Nikol
Pashinian, whose personal interest may also be playing a role and indirectly
influencing courts in this case.”
(Tatev Danielian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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