Category: 2018

Speaker of the National Assembly Ara Babloyan made a statement, with which he appealed to the representatives of Artsakh to leave no response to some of the statements being made during the pre-election days, which are most likely the result of incorrect wording of thoughts. 

“Dear colleagues, dear friends, some events developing during the campaign for the extraordinary parliamentary elections in recent days could not leave me indifferent. These events have compelled me to appeal again to you all as a senior friend.

The 30-year history of the Republic of Armenia has proven that there are values ​​that are not subject to any manipulation, abuse, bargaining, and these values ​​cannot be reduced to the level of personal or political pre-election interests. Artsakh has its own place in those values. Just two years ago, in April, we all confirmed again and made sure that the security of Artsakh and the right to self-determination of our compatriots living in Artsakh are under our care. Each of us showed that we stand behind Artsakh and the people of Artsakh, proved that all our strength is directed to the protection of Artsakh and the people of Artsakh.

Blacks, reds, whites or greens should not exist among us regarding Artsakh. The divisions of political colors, if we cannot give up on them, should be extended exclusively to the political struggle, and Artsakh and the Republic of Armenia have only one unified color, and that is the Armenian tricolor. Moreover, what has been said applies equally to all political forces.

Dear friends, the tricolor is common, just as the security of Artsakh and the Republic of Armenia and the future of Artsakh and the Republic of Armenia are common. Therefore, I urge all of you to unite around a single position on the issue of Artsakh, by a gentleman’s agreement to remove the subject of Artsakh or the name Artsakh altogether from the everyday vocabulary of pre-election speeches and debates.

I appeal to my brothers and sisters in Artsakh.

Please, in these pre-election days, refrain from inflaming passions and leave no response to some statements that are most likely the result of incorrect wording of thoughts. As I already mentioned, the security and prosperous future of Artsakh and the Republic of Armenia is the common goal of all of us,” Ara Babloyan said in the statement.

Recently, information was received in the high-tech crimes, trafficking, fight against illegal migration and counter-terrorism department of the main police department of the KHRDP that Nibu Haven, a citizen of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, entered Armenia illegally through the “Zvartnots” airport on October 7, according to Mike Njibu Muela, with a fake passport of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

According to the received information, he destroyed the mentioned passport in Armenia, then applied with his birth certificate to the migration service of the RA Ministry of Territorial Administration and Development and received an asylum seeker’s certificate.

On November 12, after realizing the information received, the law enforcement officers brought Nibu Heven to the main department of the KHDP police. A criminal case has been opened. An investigation is underway.

The wiretapping of the telephone conversation of RA NSS director Artur Vanetsyan and SIS chief Sasun Khachatryan is from Armenia. Such a claim was made by the head of the NSS, Artur Vanetsyan, in a conversation with journalists, but he refused to name names.

“At the moment, I cannot give specific names, reveal the scope. Without saying it, it is clear to everyone where the frame is from,” said Vanetsyan. The latter said that the circles were from Armenia, but refused to answer the question whether it was about the former government or not.

“Let’s not go too far, let me just say something to end this topic. The National Security Service carries out operational work. In carrying out operational work, the National Security Service cooperates with various people whose work is not visible, but believe me, their work is invaluable. Information is obtained from these people in an operational manner. Information is received, but, unfortunately, it is not possible to document this information, that is, to have clear data that you can provide to the investigative body,” he said.

The director of the RA NSS also said that the people who did the case knew from the beginning that the NSS and the entire legal system would spare no effort to uncover the case. “They were very well prepared and, unfortunately, they did not leave any traces with which we can bring charges,” Vanetsyan added.

To the question: is it possible that one day they will find these people and punish them, Artur Vanetsyan answered:

“You know, time will put everything in its place, time will tell. At the moment, I don’t know if we will be able to document and prosecute those people, I’ll just say one thing. “Honestly, it just probably didn’t occur to anyone that they could take such a step and eavesdrop on the director of the country’s national security service and the head of the Special Investigation Service, and make those conversations public,” he said.

Artur Vanetsyan said that the recording of the telephone conversation between him and the CSI chief was posted on the Internet since September 6, but became available to the general public on September 11. “The reason for this is that in order to spread the information and not leave traces, they had to act very carefully, because if we could fix the source, it is clear that we would be able to destroy the coil,” said the director of the NSS.

Serzh Sargsyan’s brother Alexander Sargsyan is ready to return the 30 million dollars he has in one of the Armenian banks to the state budget. Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced this during the pre-election rally in Ijevan.

According to him, after his previous speech, Sargsyan made a statement that he was ready to provide a part of those funds for some purposes.

“But they tell me that he recently expressed his willingness to return all those 30 million dollars to the state budget,” Pashinyan announced.

It should be noted that responding to Nikol Pashinyan, Alexander Sargsyan called on the latter and other law enforcement officers to “return to the field of legality”, to immediately return the property belonging to him and his family, to release the money belonging to him and his family from custody.

“At the same time, I publicly announce that in case of the above-mentioned actions and real legality is established in the Republic of Armenia, I am ready to donate some part of the funds belonging to me legally as charity to the Republic of Armenia in order to develop the field of my choice and build a truly powerful Motherland, which I have always done by default,” he stated, adding that these amounts are not subject to return to the state budget in accordance with the law.

According to the counting of almost 100 percent of the ballots, Salome Zurabishvili won the second round of the presidential elections in Georgia, supported by 59.6 percent of the citizens who participated in the voting.

The candidate of the united opposition, Grigol Vashadze, received 40.4 percent of votes, according to CEC data.

Before that, the results of the Exit poll conducted by Gallup on the order of “Imedi” TV station were published, according to which Salome Zurabishvili, who enjoys the support of the ruling team, won in the second round of the presidential elections, receiving 58 percent of the votes.

According to the same survey, the oppositionist Grigol Vashadze received 42 percent of the votes.

The former president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, who was sentenced to prison in absentia in several criminal cases in Georgia, closely followed the elections from abroad. He announced that he does not accept the results of the elections after the data of the exit polls were published.

Saakashvili called on the citizens of Georgia to go out on the streets, regardless of the election results. “From tomorrow morning, it doesn’t matter what results will be published, we will start the mass actions of disobedience,” said Mikheil Saakashvili, the third president of Georgia.

The former president noted that the Georgian society must realize the dangers and save Georgia. He called on the Georgian police and army to leave the “criminal gang”.

“I urge you to take responsibility for the salvation of Georgia. All of us should join hands and think that the fate of Georgia is being decided these days. I call for unity,” Saakashvili said, calling for civil disobedience actions the day after the elections.

Grigol Vashadze also made a statement, stating that they will protect every vote of Georgia that voted for them. However, unlike Saakashvili, he did not call his supporters to civil disobedience. “Saakashvili’s opinion should be accepted as the opinion of one person. If it was the opinion of our headquarters, it would have sounded from this podium,” he said, noting that the united opposition still plans to organize a rally on November 29.

“All of us together finally renounced the past, which was the main obstacle to our progress, strengthening and freedom,” said Salome Zurabishvili, the presidential candidate supported by the ruling “Georgian Dream” and won the exit polls.

He thanked the citizens of Georgia for showing high activity in the second round of the elections. “Today, a fundamental choice was made in my country. This election is of great importance for today’s and tomorrow’s Georgia,” Zurabishvili said.

According to the CEC, voter turnout in the second round of presidential elections was 56.23% (1,975,845 voters). The highest activity was registered in Keda – 72.72%, the lowest – in Tsalka – 43.12%. 55.9% of registered voters participated in the second round of the presidential elections in Tbilisi.

It should be noted that the turnout in the first round of the presidential elections was 46.74 percent (1,637,956 voters).

In Javakhk, an Armenian-resident of Georgia, the candidate who enjoys the support of the government, Salome Zurabishivli, won.

On the day of the election, around 22:20, supporters of “Georgian Dream” set off victory fireworks in the center of Akhalkalaki, in front of the pre-election headquarters.

Then Vahagn Chakhalyan and supporters started shouting “Victory, strong Javakhk, strong Georgia”. They also sang excerpts from the song “Full of Wine”. They attached the flag of Georgia and the “Georgian Dream” party to the cars and started driving around the city.

VERELQ talked about the course of the campaign and internal political developments with Naira Zohrabyan, a deputy of the “Tsarukyan” faction, a candidate for deputy nominated by the PAP in the Syunik and Vayots Dzor marzes.

– Ms. Zohrabyan, it is the fourth day of the campaign. what are your impressions, how is the campaign going?

– My impressions of Syunik and Vayots Dzor marzes are not new. This region has 36 villages and I have been to almost all of them and today I will summarize my campaign in the Sisian region by visiting a few more. I have to say that there are two regions in Armenia where poverty, unemployment, emigration are simply extreme: Shirak region with Gyumri and Syunik with Sisian region. People don’t have jobs, people don’t have cash, trade is not in money, but exclusively in barter: potatoes are exchanged for beans, beans are exchanged for cabbage, and this is how people survive. And it seems that this region has been neglected and abandoned by the government for years, Syunik has had a deputy for 20 years or more, but as Arshak Sadoyan once said, “All the deputies of Syunik were, in fact, tombstones.” Let’s remember some of them: Sashik Sargsyan. was an elected deputy from Syunik, but if the CEC had not informed him that he was a deputy from Syunik, that person would not have known. In the villages, I ask if your deputies have ever, ever, ever discussed with you an issue that concerns you, have they raised it, they say no, deputies have never entered the villages after being elected. And during the campaign, as many told, some MPs, including my own, came and slept in the adjacent room during club meetings. This is the tragedy of the situation.
Emigration is reaching catastrophic proportions and no matter how much we talk today, no matter what we talk about, until we are able to solve the problem of jobs in Vayots Dzor in this region, everything will be just talk.

– With what message are you going to the voter and why should the voter give you a vote of confidence?

– Very simple. My message is very clear: today the country’s budget does not have the opportunity to restart enterprises, create jobs. Our budget is sufficient for social spending and only for the Nagorno Karabakh problem, and we should not forget that we have that problem. There is only one solution to prevent unemployment, jobs, emigration, and that is investment, which can and only does Gagik Tsarukyan today either with its own investments or by bringing in foreign investments. And yes, Mr. Tsarukyan is also ready to make serious investments in this region, which will solve the most important problem – jobs. 

I won’t forgive the Republicans for much, but the worst thing they have done is to break people’s hope and faith. You look into people’s eyes – there is no hope, no faith, this proud nation, which is also our border guard, is thinking about what to do to be included in the list of beneficiaries. My message is: I will not do anything to add your family to the list of beneficiaries, but I will do everything in my power to ensure that you have a decent job and a decent workplace. Only in this way we will be able to solve the existing problems. Tomorrow I will already move to the villages of the Goris region and try to be as much as possible in this short period of time in Syunik Marz and Vayots Dzor communities.

– Ms. Zohrabyan, however, people were also nominated by the rating electoral system, who clearly won’t be able to do anything in the parliament, but since “local patriotism” sometimes works, don’t you think that many people can this time vote for a friend, a relative, who was nominated by rating, but it is obvious that he will add to the list of “tombstones” you mentioned?

– Yes, it is a very big problem and it is one of the distortions of the rating system. And it is no coincidence that I persistently fought for the adoption of a new EC, but unfortunately, because of one vote, we have this distorted system today. The people of Syune and Vayotsdzor really think very soberly and the way of thinking here and in Yerevan is really very different, because here people understand security and its price much better and understand that you can’t go on an adventure and you can’t send unprepared people to the National Assembly, who will go, sit and in the best case will do nothing, and in the worst case will directly harm the state. but nevertheless, there is a class that thinks according to the principle “it’s a matter of tasib”, that is, “let’s vote for the one who grew up in the same yard as us”. This is the most dangerous thing, especially now that we all understand that this parliament will be quite a difficult parliament and it is possible that there will be quite difficult problems and dilemmas before this parliament. I don’t want to open brackets, but sending unprepared people to the parliament, who will either keep silent or harm the state, for me, considering the current challenges of Armenia, is something like state treason. And this is also the message I am trying to send to the residents of Syun and Vayotsdzor – to you take the hand of a neighbor or friend and explain: dear boy, dear girl, your place is not in the parliament, go to private business, take care of your affairs, and there should be politicians in the National Assembly. And if we are talking about the parliamentary government system, then we should have a qualitatively new parliament.

– There are reports that the district authorities continue the previous way of working: they meet with different village heads, offer them money, because they cannot distribute mass election bribes, but so that each of the village heads secure certain votes in their favor in their community. After all, we know that village chiefs are generally elected by the member of the largest clan in the given community.

-Unfortunately, there is such information and I again want to draw the attention of the National Security Service, our government and the prime minister to this issue. yes, I myself receive alerts that various candidates, “grandfathers” of candidates go, meet with village heads, they are interested in one way or another in order to secure certain votes from a specific village. This is a criminal offense and I urge the legal system to be very attentive, to be vigilant, because this problem still exists today and must be prevented, otherwise we will have another illegitimate election and we will have another batch of tombstones in the National Assembly, who will come, sit and remain silent, thus harming the state as well. If a couple of criminals are caught, I am sure that we will be able to solve this problem before the elections.

And one more issue, on which I also draw the attention of the CEC president. clearly instruct the committee members that the scandal that happened during the 2017 National Assembly elections, when votes were taken from within one party and placed on the ballot of another candidate, especially in remote villages, so that this phenomenon does not continue. If this happens again, it is a serious blow to our electoral system and the credibility of the elections will be greatly questioned.

– Ms. Zohrabya, it is the fourth day of the campaign, but it seems that this time again, there is no programmatic debate between the political forces, the process has once again moved into the field of personal insults, threats, even Artsakh is being manipulated…

– I am very detached from the atmosphere of internal political intrigue in Armenia and I don’t manage to fully follow the situation, but it became obvious to me again that, unfortunately, we once again do not respect the voter and once again do not give him programs and the opportunity to choose between programs. “Mordoboy” and “ring” have started once again, which is unacceptable. It is even more unacceptable to talk about Artsakh in general, especially now. Come here, see how people live just a few kilometers from the border, from the posts. Yesterday I was in one of the border villages with Nakhijevan, from where the houses of Nakhijevan villages could be seen… how can one not consider these risks and make the Artsakh issue a subject of speculation and try to make some comparisons? This is not allowed. And very poorly perceived by the public. Maybe the perceptions are a little different in Yerevan, but here people live under firefights and risks every day, the election fight cannot be transferred to the ring. That is what has been done for years, as a result of which we have had illegitimate elections, the results of which have been unreliable. 

I call on all political forces. we still have 8 days of campaign, that time is not enough, but we can deliver programs to the public. The public will not choose who boxed whom better in the ring, but will choose which political force’s program is more viable, more feasible and more optimal. Let’s give the public at least one chance.
Lia Khojoyan

Armenian President Armen Sarkissian and Chancellor Angela Merkel met today at the residence of the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Welcoming the official visit of the President of the Republic of Armenia to the Federal Republic of Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel said that she has very good memories of her last visit to Armenia.

He noted that he was particularly impressed by the “TUMO” center of creative technologies, and at the moment the German side is discussing the possibilities of cooperation.

“Armenia views Germany as an important political and economic partner and friendly country,” said President Sargsyan and noted that he is happy to meet again and continue discussions on the expansion of Armenian-German relations. According to him, the two countries can successfully cooperate in the fields of high and information technologies, where Armenia has great potential. “Our country can be a platform for various startups,” Armen Sargsyan emphasized.

The President of Armenia and the Chancellor of Germany also highlighted the expansion of the rather effective cooperation in the cultural and scientific-educational spheres from the point of view of strengthening the ties between the two friendly peoples. They also talked about cooperation in the field of tourism, as well as exchanged ideas on the issue of visa liberalization.