Category: 2018

Police Chief orders to drop administrative proceedings over traffic violations for April 13-25

Manouk Vasilian
| 16:07 | April 26 2018
Category
Society

Armenia’s Police Chief has ordered traffic police to drop administrative proceedings which were launched on traffic violations in the period of April 13 – 25 , 2018, police spokesman Ashot Aharonyan said on Facebook.

“This relates only to those violations which were detected by traffic enforcement cameras and were committed as result of deliberate traffic obstruction or street blocking during rallies.

Administrative proceedings will be dropped based on legal regulations under Articles 17 and 27 of the Administrative offenses code.

Taking into account that initiators of the rally have already made public calls for maintaining traffic rules, police are notifying that the practice of dropping administrative proceedings will not continue and [future] violators will be subjected to administrative accountability. The decision of the Police Chief is agreed with the Acting Prime Minister,” Aharonyan said.

“Would you respect me?” – Acting finance minister on theoretical future work with opposition’s team

Karagyozian Lena
| 16:31 | April 26 2018
Category
Politics

Acting minister of finance Vardan Aramyan responded to a question from a reporter at an April 26 briefing on whether or not he would theoretically work in the team of opposition MP Nikol Pashinyan, if the opposition leader were to be elected Prime Minister.

“If I were to tell you now, you know what, I am now going to reject HHK [ruling party] and work, would you respect me?” Aramyan said.

The reporter asked if he wouldn’t even work with the opposition’s team for the sake of the country, to which Aramyan responded by saying that in that event he should’ve been a member of Pashinyan’s team.


Turkish press: Armenian opposition protesters rally in Yerevan after talks called off

Emil Karabekian
COMPILED FROM WIRE SERVICES
ISTANBUL
Published5 hours ago

AA Photo

The leader of the Armenian opposition is holding talks with parliamentary factions in order to secure support for his candidacy as the country’s next prime minister, as opposition supporters held rallies in the Armenian capital.

Nikol Pashinian spearheaded two weeks of protests against Serzh Sargsyan, who was the country’s president for 10 years before taking the prime minister’s seat earlier this month. Faced with massive protests against the move Sargsyan resigned on Monday.

The Armenian parliament is expected to vote on the new prime minister in the coming days.

Pashinian said on Thursday he met with the leader of the parliament’s second-largest faction to seek his support. Sargsyan’s party holds a majority in the parliament, however.

Tens of thousands of opposition supporters rallied in the Armenian capital Wednesday, calling for the leader of the protest to become prime minister.

The Armenian parliament will elect the country’s new prime minister on May 1, according to a statement posted on the parliament’s website on Thursday.

Armenia, which has been gripped by a political crisis for two weeks, is then expected to hold new parliamentary elections.

Serzh Sargsyan quit as prime minister on Monday.

“Armenia is starting a new chapter in its history,” Armenian President Armen Sarkissian said in a statement.


Turkish press: Turkey rejects Trump’s description of 1915 events

Jane Topchian
  • 09:58:18

Turkey on April 25 rejected United States President Donald Trump’s “inaccurate expressions and the subjective interpretation of history” regarding the 1915 events, according to a statement by the Foreign Ministry.

President Donald Trump issued an annual commemoration of the 1915 events using the Armenian term “Meds Yeghern” (“Great calamity” in Armenian) in a statement on April 24.

“We reject the inaccurate expressions and the subjective interpretation of history in the written statement by Mr. Donald Trump, President of the U.S.A., released on 24 April 2018 regarding the events of 1915,” the statement said.

The statement said Turkey’s expectation from the U.S. administration was a “fair assessment of a period during which all the peoples of the Ottoman Empire suffered tremendously.”

The Foreign Ministry reminded President Trump that “during the same period more than 500,000 Muslims were slaughtered as a result of the events in which Armenian insurgents took part.”

It added that Turkey continues to offer the establishment of a Joint Historical Commission “in order to shed light on this painful period of history and has opened its archives to researchers.”

The statement said Ottoman Armenians who lost their lives during World War I were commemorated on April 24 in a ceremony held at the Armenian Patriarchate of Istanbul “suiting the respect they deserve and befitting the 800-year long friendship between Turks and Armenians.”

It also recommended that the U.S. administration considers the message of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to the Armenian Church in Istanbul during the commemoration ceremony “addressing the descendants of Ottoman Armenians, which reflects Turkey’s approach to this sensitive issue.”

The Turkish president offered condolences to the families of Ottoman Armenians who lost their lives during the 1915 events. He also offered condolences to the Turkish nation over the loss of millions of Ottoman citizens’ lives due to wars, migrations, conflicts, and diseases during the same period.

“Besides all these points, we think it is in line with common sense that the statement made by the U.S. president remained within international legal norms and did not refer to baseless genocide allegations,” it added. Turkey’s position is that the deaths of Armenians in eastern Anatolia in 1915 took place when some sided with invading Russians and revolted against Ottoman forces. A subsequent relocation of Armenians resulted in numerous casualties.

Ankara does not accept the alleged genocide, but acknowledges that there were casualties on both sides during the events of World War I.

Turkey objects to the presentation of the incidents as “genocide,” but describes the 1915 events as a tragedy for both sides.

Ankara has repeatedly proposed the creation of a joint commission of historians from Turkey and Armenia plus international experts to tackle the issue.

Trump, 1915 events, Turkey

Turkish press: Armenians protest as acting leader suggests new elections

Jalatian Sonya
  • 15:50:24

Police took up positions in the center of the Armenian capital on April 25 as tens of thousands of people protested against the ruling elite and the acting prime minister suggested new parliamentary elections to defuse the political crisis.

“The fight is not over!,” said 21-year-old Susana Adamyan, one of the demonstrators, who was clutching a placard calling on people to take a stand as policemen looked on.

Other protesters, many of them young people, held portraits of government officials whose faces had been crossed out with red paint.

Though protests have so far been peaceful, the sudden upheaval has threatened to destabilize Armenia, a Russian ally in a volatile region riven by its decades-long, low-level conflict with Azerbaijan.

Moscow, which has two military bases in Armenia, is closely watching events.

The crisis has seen tens of thousands of people take to the streets in anti-government protests in the last two weeks and looked to have peaked on April 23 when Serzh Sargsyan, the object of protesters’ fury, resigned as prime minister.

Demonstrators, led by opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan, had accused Sargsyan of manipulating the constitution to cling to power and crowds wildly celebrated after he quit.

Pashinyan had been due to hold talks with Karen Karapetyan, the acting prime minister, to decide on the next steps.

Those talks were canceled after the two sides failed to agree an agenda.

Karapetyan suggested on April 25 that early parliamentary elections be held so as to test the level of popular support for Pashinyan and his potential viability as prime minister.

“What does ‘people’s candidate’ mean?,” Karapetyan told a news conference.

“I don’t know any country where a prime minister is chosen like that. There are elections for that. If he [Pashinyan] is the people’s choice, that means the people will choose him.”

The economy of the landlocked South Caucasus country of three million would face problems if the crisis continued, Karapetyan said.
He did not say when new elections might be held.

In a sign the unrest could already be affecting the economy, Pashinyan said protesters had blocked a customs post at the border with neighboring Georgia.

Separately, President Armen Sarkissian said he would start talks with political forces to try to resolve the crisis.

“I am starting consultations with parliamentary and non-parliamentary representatives to discuss the situation that has been come about in the country and a way out of it,” Sarkissian said in a statement.

Although thousands of people have taken to the streets and rallied behind him, political forces in parliament loyal to protest leader Pashinyan hold only about 8 percent of seats.

However, the second biggest party in parliament said on April 25 it was joining the protest movement and would encourage its supporters to take to the streets.

Armenia, protest, new election law

Turkish press: Azerbaijan ‘to become top investor in Turkey’

Hunanian Jack
  • 18:19:00

Azerbaijan is set to become the leading foreign investor in Turkey, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on April 25, hosting his Azeri counterpart Ilham Aliyev in Ankara.

“We will soon launch TANAP,” Erdoğan said during a joint press conference, referring to the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Project that will carry Caspian gas to Turkey before it reaches Europe.

This will be good news for both our nation and the world ahead of the [July 24] elections. Azerbaijan will therefore become the largest investor in Turkey,” he added.

For his part, Aliyev said the energy and transportation map of the Eurasia region is being “reshapen.”

“Such projects will increase our power, improve regional cooperation, and bring in sustainability,” he added.

TANAP will start to operate at the end of June, General Manager Saltuk Düzyol had said on April 18.

Aliyev said Turkey has invested some $12 billion into Azerbaijan and investments in the opposite direction stood at around $14 billion.

Turkey hopes the Karabakh issue between Azerbaijan and Armenia will be resolved urgently within the scope of U.N. resolutions, Erdoğan also said.

“Our biggest desire about the issue is that it will be resolved urgently within the scope of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, inviolability of its borders, and within the scope of U.N. resolutions,” he added.

The Khojaly Massacre is seen as one of the bloodiest and most controversial incidents of the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan for control of the now-occupied Upper Karabakh region.

On Feb. 26, 1992, on the heels of the Soviet Union’s dissolution, Armenian forces took over the town of Khojaly in Karabakh after battering it with heavy artillery and tanks, assisted by an infantry regiment.

The two-hour offensive killed 613 Azerbaijani citizens, including 116 women and 63 children, and critically injured 487 others, according to Azerbaijani figures.

In addition, 150 of the 1,275 Azerbaijanis that the Armenians captured during the massacre remain missing.

Azerbaijan , investor, Turkey

Turkish press: Armenian struggle for change

Hunanian Jack
By MUSTAFA AYDIN

The resignation of the newly appointed Armenian Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan on April 23 after 11 days of mass demonstrations by the public have briefly brought back the sparkle of colored revolutions of the early 2000s to the Caucasus. 

The situation could not be more different.

The Armenians took to the streets on April 13 to “reject Serzh” as the decade-long Sargsyan rule has brought nothing to the country than the deterioration of economy, increased corruption, strengthening of the oligarchs, and further Russian domination. The protests started before Mr. Sargsyan had actually been elected to his new empowered post as prime minister by the Armenian National Assembly on April 17.

The fact that he was in or close to power in one way or another even before Armenia became independent, first serving as the member of the Supreme Council of Armenia in 1990, then being a part of the government in various ministerial roles since 1993, and finally becoming prime minister on April 4, 2007 and president on April 9, 2008, explains why the protestors connect him with most of their grievances.

His resume clearly shows his push for change in the Armenian political system from a presidential to parliamentary one was not motivated by his desire to move his country towards a greater democracy, as he had explained, but to prolong his grip on it. As predicted by many, he broke his promise not to seek the premiership when the constitutional revision was discussed in the country, and became prime minister eight days after he resigned from the now largely ceremonial post of president.

It is clearly the Putin-Medvedev model in Russia of changing posts inspired him to alter the system to prolong his stay in power. Although some have argued he had not been willing to extend his stay but was bound by duty by his wider political clan of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians, the end result was the same for ordinary Armenians. Thus, what started as street protests in Yerevan by the opposition parties to register their displeasure for the country’s economic problems, corruption, and monopolistic control of economy and politics by the oligarchs, quickly turned into a massive rally with the participation of other groups and finally, unarmed Armenian soldiers.

It seems that Sargsyan, who has had a bad reputation in dealing with public unrest and has dispersed them with the use of force with casualties more than once, could not resist the popular demand this time and resigned suddenly, although no one expected such a quiet step down from him.

As Armenia is a key Russian ally in the Caucasus, one that has been thoroughly penetrated by it, all eyes were on Russia and its President Vladimir Putin since the outbreak of the protests. Many still vividly remember the Kremlin’s reaction to similar protests in Ukraine in 2014, following the Russian intervention and then the annexation of Crimea. So far, Russia has kept quiet, accepting the resignation and announcing it would not become involved in Armenia’s internal politics.

The fact that the current acting Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan is an old ally of Sargsyan and thus, is part of the governing group explains Russia’s current aloofness. Should the developments in Armenia in coming days prove too much for the governing clique to cling onto power and real change could be triggered in the country if public protests are successful, entailing a possible break with the dominance of Russia and its oligarchs on Armenia, then the Kremlin’s stance might differ as well.

Since the protesters have already tasted success by forcing Sargsyan’s resignation, it is not clear whether they would accept a change that would meet them halfway or force a real one. We will see in the upcoming days…

Armenia, Armenian, Serzh Sargsyan, Sargsyan, Sarkissian, Sarksyan, unrest, public unrest, protests, prime minister, resignation, resigned, opinion, Karen Karapetyan, Caucasus

RFE/RL Armenian Report – 04/26/2018

Mary Lazarian 
                                        Thursday, 
Armenian Ruling Party Open To Talks With Pashinian
ARMENIA -- A woman reacts during a rally held by supporters of Armenian 
opposition leader Nikol Pashinian in Yerevan, 
Facing growing pressure to hand over power to Nikol Pashinian, the ruling 
Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) said late on Wednesday that it is ready to 
discuss “any issue” with the opposition leader following Prime Minister Serzh 
Sarkisian’s resignation.
The HHK also indicated that it will replace Sarkisian, who technically remains 
the party chairman, with a new leader.
The HHK’s parliamentary faction made the announcement after its members met 
with Sarkisian and acting Prime Minister Karen Karapetian to discuss the 
continuing political crisis in Armenia.
In a statement, it said Sarkisian, who served two presidential terms from 
2008-2018, gave “more detailed explanations” for his decision to step down just 
six days after being elected prime minister by the HHK-controlled parliament. 
The ex-president also urged HHK lawmakers to regard “stability and the 
country’s security” as their chief priority.
According to the statement, the “second half of the meeting” was held in 
Sarkisian’s absence and focused on the government’s standoff with protesters 
led by Pashinian. The participants agreed to declare that “the HHK faction is 
prepared to discuss any issues with all sides without preconditions,” added the 
statement.
The meeting came as Pashinian, who leads the opposition Civil Contract party, 
held another big rally in Yerevan to demand that the parliament appoint him as 
interim prime minister and call snap elections. “We demand an explicit and 
unconditional capitulation of the Republican Party to the people,” he said.
Pashinian warned that his supporters will “blockade” the parliament building 
and the prime minister’s office in Yerevan if the HHK majority in the National 
Assembly moves to install Karapetian as prime minister. He accused the latter 
of illegally occupying the country’s top executive post.
“We are saying at this square that the Armenian people have a candidate for 
prime minister and the National Assembly factions must reckon with this 
political reality and nominate that candidate by consensus,” Pashinian said, 
clearly referring to himself. He urged supporters to continue to demonstrate 
and block streets and roads on Thursday.
Pashinian and Karapetian had been scheduled to meet on Wednesday morning. The 
meeting was called off after the acting premier rejected preconditions set by 
Pashinian.
Armenian Parliament To Choose New PM On May 1
        • Karlen Aslanian
Armenia -- The National Assembly meets to elect Serzh Sarkisian prime minister, 
17Apr2018
The Armenian parliament will meet on May 1 to elect the country’s new prime 
minister after two weeks of sustained street protests which forced the previous 
premier, Serzh Sarkisian, to step down.
Sarkisian’s successor is expected to serve on an interim basis, until the 
holding of snap parliamentary elections now demanded by most Armenian political 
factions.
Opposition leader Nikol Pashinian, the main organizer of the massive protests, 
has been pressing the National Assembly controlled by Sarkisian’s Republican 
Party (HHK) to appoint him to that post. Pashinian claimed on Wednesday that 
some HHK parliamentarians are ready to vote for him.
In an overnight statement, the HHK’s parliamentary faction offered to “discuss 
any issues with all sides without preconditions.” The statement followed its 
members’ meeting with Sarkisian and acting Prime Minister Karen Karapetian.
Pashinian refused to comment on the HHK statement as he again led thousands of 
supporters marching in Yerevan on Thursday.He also declined a comment on his 
late-night meeting with Gagik Tsarukian, a businessman leading the second 
largest parliamentary force, the Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK).
The BHK on Wednesday told its members to take to the streets and join 
Pashinian’s movement. But it has yet to officially confirm whether its 
parliament deputies will vote to elect Pashinian prime minister.
While continuing to rally supporters, the 42-year-old opposition leader urged 
Armenians to stop blocking streets in the capital for now. He argued that the 
daily blockades are increasingly abused by unruly car drivers, resulting in 
traffic chaos.
Meanwhile, President Armen Sarkissian, who has largely ceremonial powers, 
hailed Pashinian’s “popular movement” on Thursday in his latest address to the 
nation. “We are now opening a new page of Armenian history,” he said. “We live 
in a New Armenia.”
Sarkissian called on the parliamentary forces to jointly end the political 
crisis which was triggered by Serzh Sarkisian’s controversial decision to 
extend his decade-long rule.
Senior Armenian Officials Visit Moscow
        • Emil Danielyan
        • Arman Hovhannisyan
RUSSIA -- A view of Kremlin' Grand Kremlin Palace, center, Towers, Churches and 
frozen Moskva (Moscow) river in Moscow, February 14, 2018
Armenia’s Deputy Prime Minister Armen Gevorgian and Foreign Minister Edward 
Nalbandian held talks with Russian officials in Moscow on Thursday amid the 
continuing political crisis in their country.
An Armenian government statement said Gevorgian met with senior officials from 
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s staff. It said they discussed, among other 
things, “the internal political situation in Armenia.”
Putin’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, did not confirm the information, 
however. “I am not aware of that,” the Interfax news agency quoted him as 
telling reporters. “As you know, we are in Saint Petersburg right now.”
According to the TASS news agency, Peskov reiterated that the street protests 
that have forced Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian into resignation are Armenia’s 
“internal affair.” “We want to hope that the situation will be settled as soon 
as possible within the constitutional framework,” he said.
Putin phoned his new Armenian counterpart, Armen Sarkissian, on Wednesday to 
discuss the lingering crisis. According to the Kremlin, he said that “all 
political forces in the country need to display restraint and readiness to 
solve existing problems through a constructive dialogue.”
Also on Wednesday, Russian diplomats in Yerevan met with Nikol Pashinian, an 
opposition politician leading the nationwide protests against Sarkisian and the 
ruling Republican Party of Armenia. Addressing thousands of supporters 
afterwards, Pashinian said he received assurances that Russia will not meddle 
in Armenian politics. He blasted “false” rumors that Moscow wants to see acting 
Prime Minister Karen Karapetian retain his post.
Meanwhile, Nalbandian met with Russian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian. 
“They discussed, in particular, the situation on the Line of Contact between 
Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan,” a Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria 
Zakharova, told reporters.Neither Zakharova nor the Armenian Foreign Ministry 
gave further details of the talks.
Earlier this week, the Armenian government and the Karabakh military accused 
Azerbaijan of massing troops and military hardware along the Karabakh 
frontlines. Yerevan warned Baku against attempting exploit the political 
turmoil in Armenia to launch offensive military operations. The Azerbaijani 
Defense Ministry denied the Armenian claims.
Responding to those claims, U.S., Russian and French mediators co-heading the 
OSCE Minsk Group issued a joint statement underscoring “the critical importance 
of the sides respecting the ceasefire at this delicate time and, in particular, 
keeping heavy equipment positioned in the rear of the frontlines.”
Putin Weighs In On Armenian Crisis
        • Emil Danielyan
        • Arman Hovhannisyan
ARMENIA -- Armenian opposition supporters attend a rally in downtown Yerevan, 
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday called for a quick solution to the 
political crisis in Armenia which would reflect the outcome of last year’s 
parliamentary elections won by Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party (HHK).
Putin telephoned Armenia’s acting Prime Minister Karen Karapetian to discuss 
the continuing political crisis in the country.
“It was emphasized that the settlement of the crisis situation in Armenia must 
happen in the solely legal field, within the framework of the current 
constitution, and on the basis of the results of the legitimate parliamentary 
elections held in April 2017,” the Kremlin said in a readout of the phone call.
In that context, Putin “accentuated on the importance of the election by the 
parliament of the republic’s prime minister scheduled for May 1, 2018,” it 
added.
The two men spoke as Karapetian and the HHK faced growing pressure to hand over 
power to Nikol Pashinian, the organizer of ongoing nationwide protests in 
Armenia that have forced Sarkisian to resign as prime minister. Karapetian’s 
reluctance to let Pashinian become interim prime minister drew a furious 
reaction from the opposition leader on Wednesday.
RUSSIA -- Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) and his Armenian counterpart 
Serzh Sarkisian speak in front of guests as they visit the exhibition of 
Armenian painter Martiros Saryan in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, November 
15, 2017
Pashinian met with Russian diplomats in Yerevan earlier on Wednesday. 
Addressing thousands of supporters afterwards, he said he received assurances 
that Russia will not meddle in Armenian politics. He blasted “false” rumors 
about Russian support for Karapetian, a former Gazprom executive who lived in 
Russia from 2011-2016.
Putin spoke with Karapetian as Armenia’s Deputy Prime Minister Armen Gevorgian 
and Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian held talks with other Russian officials 
in Moscow.
An Armenian government statement said Gevorgian met with top Kremlin officials. 
It said they discussed, among other things, “the internal political situation 
in Armenia.”
Putin’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, did not confirm the information, 
however. “I am not aware of that,” the Interfax news agency quoted him as 
telling reporters. “As you know, we are in Saint Petersburg right now.”
According to the TASS news agency, Peskov reiterated that the street protests 
are Armenia’s “internal affair.” “We want to hope that the situation will be 
settled as soon as possible within the constitutional framework,” he said.
Meanwhile, Nalbandian met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. “They 
discussed, in particular, the situation on the Line of Contact between 
Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan,” a Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria 
Zakharova, told reporters. Neither Zakharova nor the Armenian Foreign Ministry 
gave further details of the talks.
Earlier this week, the Armenian government and the Karabakh military accused 
Azerbaijan of massing troops and military hardware along the Karabakh 
frontlines. Yerevan warned Baku against attempting exploit the political 
turmoil in Armenia to launch offensive military operations. The Azerbaijani 
Defense Ministry denied the Armenian claims.
Responding to those claims, U.S., Russian and French mediators co-heading the 
OSCE Minsk Group issued a joint statement underscoring “the critical importance 
of the sides respecting the ceasefire at this delicate time and, in particular, 
keeping heavy equipment positioned in the rear of the frontlines.”
Armenian Protest Leader Offers Talks With Government
        • Karlen Aslanian
        • Ruzanna Stepanian
Armenia - Opposition leader Nikol Pashinian addresses supporters in Yerevan's 
Republic Square, .
Opposition leader Nikol Pashinian on Thursday offered to negotiate with acting 
Prime Minister Karen Karapetian, while insisting that the ruling Republican 
Party of Armenia (HHK) must let him become interim premier.
Pashinian ruled out any “compromise with the corrupt and anti-democratic 
government system” as he addressed thousands of supporters in Yerevan.
“There can be no deals behind the people’s back,” he said. “Either I will be 
elected prime minister through the people and with the support of the people, 
or no prime minister of Armenia will be elected at all.”
“We expect all factions in the National Assembly to unconditionally recognize 
the victory of the people,” he said.
Pashinian went on to declare that he is ready to meet Karapetian to discuss 
these demands on Friday. But he said the meeting can only be held in the 
presence of the press.
“We won’t be negotiating with the HHK behind the closed doors,” he told the 
crowd repeatedly chanting “Nikol, prime minister!”
The two men had already been scheduled to meet on Tuesday morning, the day 
after massive street demonstrations led by Pashinian forced Prime Minister 
Serzh Sarkisian to resign. Those talks were cancelled after Karapetian rejected 
preconditions set by Pashinian.
The HHK on Wednesday expressed readiness to discuss “any issue” with Pashinian 
“without preconditions.” The party’s chief spokesman, Eduard Sharmazanov, 
reaffirmed this on Thursday.
“We do not reject the agenda put forward by Pashinian or other figures,” 
Sharmazanov told RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am). “But we also expect 
the same constructive approach from our partners.”
Sharmazanov declined to specify concessions which the HHK is ready to make to 
the Pashinian-led opposition. Nor would he say whether it could install him as 
interim premier and hold snap parliamentary elections.
Armenia - Acting Prime Minister Karen Karapetian (R) meets U.S. Ambassador 
Richard Mills, Yerevan, 25Apr2018
Sharmazanov also denied Pashinian’s earlier claims that Karapetian has no 
mandate to negotiate on behalf of the HHK. “Karen Karapetian has the full 
support of our team,” he said.
The HHK, which has until now been headed by Serzh Sarkisian, controls 58 of the 
105 seats in Armenia’s parliament. The National Assembly is scheduled to meet 
and elect the next prime minister on May 1.
So far only the opposition Yelk alliance, of which Pashinian is a leading 
member, has explicitly backed his demands. Yelk holds 9 parliament seats.
The Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) of businessman Gagik Tsarukian is 
represented in the parliament by 31 deputies. The BHK voiced support for 
Pashinian’s popular movement on Wednesday. Tsarukian and Pashinian met later in 
the day.
A senior BHK representative, Nair Zohrabian, declined to say on Thursday 
whether the BHK lawmakers will vote for Pashinian on May 1, saying that 
negotiations with the protest leader are “going on.” “I can only say that 
Tsarukian’s bloc will take the people’s voice into account when making a 
decision,” she said.
Pashinian also announced that he will hold a rally in Gyumri on Friday evening 
and take his campaign to Vanadzor the following day. The demonstrations in 
Yerevan, will resume on Sunday, he said.
Earlier in the day, Pashinian urged supporters to stop blocking streets in the 
capital. He argued that the daily blockades are increasingly abused by unruly 
car drivers, resulting in traffic chaos.
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

Avghan Hovsepyan: I am not a political figure to say whether it was a revolution or not (video)

Alex Jidarian
  • 13:03 | April 24,2018 | Politics
  • Armenian:
  • Rus

Chairman of the RA Investigation Committee Aghvan Hovsepyan found it difficult to answer journalists’ questions in Tsitsernakaberd.

He noted that in any case he would continue his work with the authorities.

“I have always worked – I have served the Republic of Armenia and I do not intend to resign,” he said.

On the question of whether there was a revolution in Armenia yesterday, Aghvan Hovsepyan:

“What happened yesterday was a change of power, I am not a political figure to say whether it was a revolution or not. I welcome our people,” added Aghvan Hovsepyan.


Differing April 24 (video)

Khoyetsian Rose
  • 21:40 | April 24,2018 | Politics
  • Armenian:
  • Rus

About five hours one cannot reach the Eternal Flame. The hill leading to the Tsitsernakaberd memorial complex is unusually populous.

From Republic Square, Nikol Pashinyan, Deputy of the National Assembly, marched in the direction of Tsitsernakaberd. There were not so many people accompanying him as those who waited for him in Tsitsernakaberd. Many citizens, after seeing a crowd of people, never rose to the memorial complex, some, however, decided to wait a few hours, to lay their flower at the Eternal Flame.

Citizens note that this April 24 differs from the previous ones, as the people are experiencing an unspeakable shock, in connection with yesterday’s resignation of Serzh Sargsyan.