Thursday,
Armenia Not Eligible For U.S. Aid Scheme
• Nane Sahakian
Armenia - First Deputy Prime Minister Ararat Mirzoyan speaks at a cabinet
meeting in Yerevan, 22 May 2018.
Armenia can no longer qualify for a multimillion-dollar U.S. aid program
because of what the World Bank regards as growth in living standards in the
country, according to First Deputy Prime Minister Ararat Mirzoyan.
The administration of former U.S. President George W. Bush launched the
Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) program in 2006 in an effort to reward
developing nations committed to major reforms. Shortly afterwards Armenia
received $177 million in MCA funding for the rehabilitation of its rural
irrigation networks.
The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a U.S. government agency running
the aid scheme, also planned to allocate $60 million for the reconstruction of
the country’s rural roads. But it scrapped that allocation shortly after a
disputed 2008 presidential election that was followed by a government crackdown
on the Armenian opposition.
Former President Serzh Sarkisian’s government tried unsuccessfully to get the
MCA to unfreeze aid to Armenia. U.S. officials said, among other things, that
it is not doing enough to combat widespread corruption.
The United States signaled its readiness to boost its economic assistance to
Armenia following a democratic revolution that swept Nikol Pashinian and his
allies to power in early May. U.S. Ambassador Richard Mills said in late May
that Washington is now exploring possibilities of doing that, including the MCA.
Mirzoyan discussed the issue with U.S. officials when he visited Washington
last week. He said he was told that Armenia is not eligible for MCA funding
anymore because the World Bank recently upgraded its status from a “lower
middle income” to an “upper middle income” country.
Mirzoyan said he suggested that the U.S. government consider other channels of
financial support for the new authorities in Yerevan. “If we no longer meet MCA
criteria, then I think it’s definitely possible to think about a new mechanism
whereby the U.S. would provide assistance to democracy in Armenia,” he told
RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am).
Ambassador Mills said last week that Washington is still considering increasing
assistance to Armenia. “We are looking at what is possible, including changes
in levels of our funding through the USAID and other U.S. government agencies,”
he told reporters.
Suren Sargsian, an Armenian political analyst, was skeptical about the
Pashinian government’s chances of securing greater U.S. aid. “I consider that
unlikely at least at this stage, under the Trump administration, because the
Trump administration’s [international] priorities are a bit different,” he said.
Sargsian suggested that the situation might change if the Democratic Party
gains control over the U.S. Congress in the November mid-term elections.
Democratic lawmakers have traditionally been more supportive of causes
championed by the Armenian-American lobby groups than their Republican
colleagues.
Kocharian Questioned Over 2008 Crackdown
• Artak Hambardzumian
Armenia -- Former president Robert Kocharian gives an interview to RFE/RL,
Yerevan, 5Sep2015
Investigators interrogated former President Robert Kocharian on Thursday in
connection with a deadly 2008 crackdown on opposition protesters in Yerevan
which he ordered during the final weeks of his rule.
Armenia’s Special Investigative Service (SIR) had for years avoided questioning
Kocharian or his successor Serzh Sarkisian amid opposition allegations of a
cover-up of the use of lethal force against supporters of Levon Ter-Petrosian,
the main opposition candidate in the February 2008 presidential election.
Ter-Petrosian staged nonstop demonstrations against what he regarded as
fraudulent results of the vote that gave victory to Sarkisian. Eight protesters
and two police servicemen were killed as security forces quelled the protests
on the night from March 1-2, 2008. Nobody has been prosecuted in connection
with those deaths so far.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, who was a key backer of Ter-Petrosian in 2008,
told the SIS to finally solve the killings when he appointed a new head of the
law-enforcement agency, Sasun Khachatrian, on June 12. Shortly afterwards, the
SIS decided to question Kocharian as a witness in the case.
The SIS gave no details of the interrogation which apparently lasted for
between two and three hours. Khachatrian told reporters earlier in the day that
it will be videotaped. He made clear that the video will not be made public.
Journalists waiting outside the main entrance to the SIS headquarters in
Yerevan did not see Kocharian. The 63-year-old ex-president, who governed
Armenia from 1998-2008,made his way into the building through another entrance.
Kocharian has repeatedly defended the post-election crackdown in the past,
saying that it prevented a violent of seizure of power by the Ter-Petrosian-led
opposition. Earlier this year, he blamed Pashinian for the post-election
bloodshed. Pashinian was the main speaker at the anti-government protest broken
up on that night.
Early this month, the SIS issued an arrest warrant for retired General Mikael
Harutiunian, who served as defense minister during the 2008 unrest. It charged
Harutiunian with illegally using the armed forces against the protesters,
saying that amounted to an “overthrow of constitutional order.”
Kocharian declared a state of emergency and ordered army units into downtown
Yerevan late on March 1, 2008 amid vicious clashes between protesters and
security forces trying to disperse them. According to the SIS, Harutiunian
started “illegally” deploying troops in the Armenian capital a week before the
unrest.
On July 9, a spokesman for Kocharian denounced the accusations levelled against
the fugitive ex-general as a “mockery of the law”
Kocharian Charged Over 2008 Crackdown
• Artak Hambardzumian
Armenia -- Former president Robert Kocharian gives an interview to RFE/RL,
Yerevan, 5Sep2015
Investigators moved to arrest Armenia’s former President Robert Kocharian on
Thursday after filing criminal charges against him stemming from a deadly 2008
crackdown on opposition protesters in Yerevan which was ordered by him.
The Special Investigative Service (SIR) charged Kocharian with “overthrowing
constitutional order of Armenia” during the final weeks of his rule. The SIS
asked a Yerevan court to remand him in pre-trial custody.
The extraordinary move followed Kocharian’s first-ever interrogation by SIS
officials investigating the use of lethal force against supporters of Levon
Ter-Petrosian, the main opposition candidate in the February 2008 presidential
election.
Ter-Petrosian staged nonstop demonstrations against what he regarded as
fraudulent results of the vote that gave victory to Serzh Sarkisian,
Kocharian's preferred successor. Eight protesters and two police servicemen
were killed as security forces quelled the protests on the night from March
1-2, 2008. Nobody has been prosecuted in connection with those deaths so far.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, who was a key backer of Ter-Petrosian in 2008,
told the SIS to finally solve the killings when he appointed a new head of the
law-enforcement agency, Sasun Khachatrian, on June 12. Shortly afterwards, the
SIS decided to question Kocharian as a witness in the case.
The SIS gave no details of the interrogation which apparently lasted for
between two and three hours. Khachatrian told reporters earlier in the day that
it will be videotaped. He made clear that the video will not be made public.
Journalists waiting outside the main entrance to the SIS headquarters in
Yerevan did not see Kocharian. The 63-year-old ex-president, who governed
Armenia from 1998-2008,made his way into the building through another entrance.
Kocharian has repeatedly defended the post-election crackdown in the past,
saying that it prevented a violent of seizure of power by the Ter-Petrosian-led
opposition. Earlier this year, he blamed Pashinian for the post-election
bloodshed. Pashinian was the main speaker at the anti-government protest broken
up on that night.
Early this month, the SIS issued an arrest warrant for retired General Mikael
Harutiunian, who served as defense minister during the 2008 unrest. It charged
Harutiunian with illegally using the armed forces against the protesters,
saying that amounted to an “overthrow of constitutional order.”
Kocharian declared a state of emergency and ordered army units into downtown
Yerevan late on March 1, 2008 amid vicious clashes between protesters and
security forces trying to disperse them. According to the SIS, Harutiunian
started “illegally” deploying troops in the Armenian capital a week before the
unrest.
On July 9, a spokesman for Kocharian denounced the accusations levelled against
the fugitive ex-genera l as a “mockery of the law”
Defiant Kocharian Decries ‘Political Vendetta’
Armenia - Former President Robert Kocharian is interviewed in his office,
Yerevan, 8Apr2015. (Photo courtesty of 2rd.am)
Former President Robert Kocharian on Thursday rejected as baseless and
politically motivated coup charges levelled against him by an Armenian
law-enforcement body investigating the 2008 post-election violence in Yerevan.
“This is an absolutely fabricated accusation,” Kocharian told the Yerkir Media
TV channel in an interview.
“This is clear political persecution, a vendetta by the ‘velvet revolution,”’
he said, adding that Armenia’s new government wants to “neutralize” him ahead
of parliamentary elections expected in the coming months.
The Special Investigative Service (SIS) charged Kocharian with “overthrowing
constitutional order” in the wake of a February 2008 presidential election
official results of which gave victory to his preferred successor, Serzh
Sarkisian. The main opposition presidential candidate, Levon Ter-Petrosian,
rejected those results as fraudulent and held nonstop demonstrations in the
Armenian capital, demanding a rerun of the disputed ballot.
Security forces broke up those protests on March 1-2, 2008. Eight protesters
and two police servicemen died as a result.
Kocharian said that the coup charges brought against him ran counter to the
decisions of Armenia’s Central Election Commission and the Constitutional Court
that validated the official election outcome. He insisted that Ter-Petrosian
garnered only 21.5 percent of the vote.
“As incumbent head of state, I was the carrier and guarantor of constitutional
order. Did I overthrow myself in some strange way?” he said.
The SIS announced its decision to prosecute the ex-president and ask a Yerevan
court to allow his arrest just hours after interrogating him in connection with
the March 2008 unrest. It had summoned him to testify as a witness in the case.
Kocharian said SIS investigators told him right at the beginning of the
interrogation that they now consider him a criminal suspect. “As soon as they
changed my status I decided not to give testimony because when I read that
indictment I was stunned,” he said.
The ex-president also made clear that he will not try to flee the country to
avoid arrest. “I will go to jail and will fight till the end,” he said. “Where
would I flee?”
Press Review
“Zhoghovurd” sees a serious toughening of Armenia’s official rhetoric in the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The paper says that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian
has repeatedly stated that the existence of an “atmosphere conducive to peace”
is essential for making progress towards the conflict’s resolution. “It is
evident that Pashinian’s statements are primarily addressed to the
international community, namely the world powers and the co-chairs of the OSCE
Minsk Group,” it says. “After all, it is the international community which must
be consistent in reining in Azerbaijan.”
“Zhamanak” reports that a radical opposition group whose armed members seized a
police station in Yerevan in July 2016 plans to participate in snap
parliamentary elections which are due to be held in Armenia later this year or
in the first half of 2019.“Many believe that this force will be playing an
unconstructive role and, having no big political prospects and being conscious
of that, will heighten tensions,” writes the paper. It says it is too early to
say whether the movement led by Zhirary Sefilian will revert to armed struggle
in case of faring poorly in the elections.
“Aravot” questions the need for pre-term municipal elections in Yerevan, saying
that former Mayor Taron Markarian or one of his allies could have continued to
run the city under the new central government. “The main thing is for
law-enforcement authorities to closely monitor things and prevent corrupt
practices,” the paper writes in an editorial.
“We need reforms and other changes badly,” writes “Hraparak.” “The swap that
was formed in Armenia over the decades is anathema to any progress and
development. There is no doubt that our country needed fresh air brought by
Nikol Pashinian and the public. It is only natural that people took to the
streets in hopes of seeing positive change and is now patient. This is another
reason why our young rulers are in a hurry. That haste is fraught with many
dangers. One thing is clear: Nikol Pashinian’s government has hit various
sectors and individuals and has moved many things at a time. It therefore runs
the risk of failure.”
(Tigran Avetisian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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