Category: 2019

Khosrov Harutyunyan, the former Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, former deputy of the RPA faction, believes that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s visit to Iran can be considered successful without the possibility of making a mistake. 

“Although the practical results of the visit will still be thoroughly analyzed in expert circles, today we can already record several remarkable facts from the meeting of the leaders of the two countries, which promise to raise the Armenian-Iranian relations to a new qualitative level. 

For the first time, the president of Iran publicly expressed his desire to participate in the construction of the North-South transport corridor. This is a new, in my opinion, a turning approach not only from the point of view of cooperation between our two countries, but mainly in the sense that Iran (perhaps for the first time in practice) emphasizes the importance it attaches to Armenia’s participation in the formation of regional infrastructure.

Basically, this is a record of the fact that Armenia is no longer just a northern friendly state for Iran, but also a new regional partner of greater importance. Moreover, the agreement reached between the leaders of the countries about connecting the Persian Gulf to the Black Sea through Armenia, increasing the volumes of Iranian gas supplied to Armenia, and moving the Iran-Armenia-Georgia tripartite gas supply, and the quadrilateral electricity exchange programs on practical grounds were determined by the recording of this new role of Armenia for Iran. 

Of course, agreements were also reached regarding mutually beneficial cooperation in other fields, but I think that the most tangible, which will make itself felt already in the medium-term horizon, is the fact that Iran will assign a new, even more important, role to Armenia in the region.

Of course, the reasons for the mentioned shifts in Armenian-Iranian relations need a separate analysis, but one thing is obvious, that this reality is a record of the recognition of the strategic importance of Armenia as a reliable partner, which is certainly a serious geopolitical capital and should be treated with extreme care and circumspection,” wrote Harutyunyan on his Facebook page.

Our compatriots should live in our lands and build our country. Artur Vanetsyan, director of the RA National Security Service, announced this during his visit to Artsakh.

“The program, which we call the resettlement program, will be the main guarantee of our country’s security in my and all of our objective assessment. Because those words, those expressions and those people who always speculate on the topic that the lands will be given back, negotiated, conceded, etc., as a result of that program, we will give a clear message to the entire Armenian people and the whole world that we do not intend to give back a single inch of land, but on the contrary, our compatriots should live in our lands and build our country,” said Artur Vanetsyan.

To remind, yesterday the President of the Republic of Artsakh Bako Sahakyan together with the Director of the RA National Security Service Artur Vanetsyan visited the southern part of the Artsakh-Azerbaijani border, got acquainted with the service of the soldiers and the prevailing situation.

The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group made a statement based on the results of the meetings with the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan in Yerevan on February 20 and with the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev on February 31 in Baku.

It is noted that the mediators discussed issues related to the preparation of the Pashinyan-Aliev meeting, including possible topics for discussion. The Prime Minister of Armenia and the President of Azerbaijan accepted the proposal of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs to meet under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group in the near future.

“The co-presidents positively evaluated the continuity of the absence of victims on the line of contact and welcomed the discussions developing in the region on preparing the peoples for peace,” the statement said.

Alexander Sargsyan, the brother of the third president of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan, has been charged with committing particularly large-scale fraud. This was reported to Iravaban.net by the National Security Service.

The accusation was made in the criminal case initiated in the National Security Service, under the 1st point of the 3rd part of the Article 178 of the Criminal Code.

The source states that if the case goes to court and a guilty verdict is handed down, Alexander Sargsyan faces 4-8 years in prison with or without confiscation of property, according to the aforementioned article of the Criminal Code.

VERELQ sources inform that the President of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili will pay an official visit to Armenia on March 13-14.

To remind, on February 27, Zurabishvili visited Azerbaijan, where he met with President Ilham Aliyev.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan received the members of the Public Council headed by the chairman of the council Vazgen Manukyan. This was reported by the press service of the tyranny.

Welcoming the SC members, Prime Minister Pashinyan first referred to the message he sent today in connection with the events of March 1, 2008.

“I am happy to see you and to discuss issues related to the Public Council’s activities. A little while ago, in connection with the events of March 1, 2008, I made a speech and as the Prime Minister apologized on behalf of the state for all the election frauds and political persecutions that occurred during the history of the Third Republic.

That message, words of apology are addressed to all political forces, politicians and citizens who were subjected to political persecution during the Third Republic. I want to emphasize that this message is also addressed to you, Mr. Manukyan, as a leader of a political force, a politician who has led an opposition political force in the Republic of Armenia for many years and was a victim of election fraud.

Ms. Bakhshyan: You have also been involved in opposition political activity in Armenia for many years and your political force has also been a victim of betrayals, persecutions, and political violence. Mr. Safaryan, you have also engaged in opposition political activity.

I consider it very important to record this message and position at the state level, because we must have the strength to say that the problems in Armenia, if not 100 percent, at least 90 percent or more, originated from the point when the political will of the Armenian people was distorted.

Unfortunately, apart from perhaps the first presidential election in the history of the Third Republic, and a reservation can be made regarding the parliamentary elections of 1999, although those results were also appealed to the Constitutional Court, in the rest of the cases, at least my political assessment is that the election results were either falsified, or opportunities were not created for the free expression of the people, or rather, everything was done to distort the free expression of the people.

I want to record and I hope that we have a public consensus according to which the page of electoral fraud, political persecution, corruption, illegality, permissiveness, insolence, violation of human rights is closed, and there will be no return to those manners. In any case, I consider this the most important mission of our government and of me as the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia.

I am sure that we will remain very determined and steadfast in the service of that mission, regardless of the rating of our force in any election and what percentage of citizens will vote for our political force.

This is as a preface, I know that our meeting is not related to these issues, but I guess we should have a discussion on many related issues today. Thank you.”

In his turn, Vazgen Manukyan noted. “Thank you, Mr. Prime Minister. We really need to talk about the Public Council, but I also want to address what you said. It would be desirable for March 1 to become a symbol, not of fighting against each other, but of solidarity. What happened happened, a page was closed with it, and after this we should remember March 1st not to fight against each other, but as a day where we learned a lesson from our history and made it a day of solidarity for our entire people.

Whoever has a certain sin, has a criminal offense, should be punished, that is not the question, but I perceive March 1 as a day of solidarity, unity and learning a lesson.

Turning to the Public Council, I think that it is a very important body, it is no coincidence that such a body exists in 70 countries. And now there are new possibilities because it has become a constitutional body. An interesting group of very useful people, who are in a sense above politics and dedicated to the state, do not represent any political party, have no political ambitions, but have ambitions to build the country, to create, to become an important link that provides constant connection between the society and the government.

During the meeting, Vazgen Manukyan presented to the Prime Minister the works carried out in the direction of the formation of the Public Council and the planned steps in the direction of the further activities of the SC.

Within the framework of the criminal case initiated in the investigation department of the RA Investigative Committee for Serious Crimes, the director of the limited liability company “SECURITY DREAM” recently testified that out of the 70 million AMD received monthly by the Traffic Police, 43 million AMD was embezzled by the founders of the company.

According to the statement, 27 million drams out of 70 million drams were actually spent, and 43 million drams were embezzled by the founders of the SP company. More information will be provided.

In connection with the events of March 1, 2008, led by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, a march was held today in the capital city of Yerevan.

The procession, in which the Prime Minister’s wife Anna Hakobyan and her daughters also participated, started from Yerevan’s Freedom Square, passed along Mashtots Avenue, Grigor Lusavorich Street and ended at the statue of Myasnikyan.

Prime Minister Pashinyan laid flowers and paid tribute to the memory of all the victims.

Earlier, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in his address on March 1 referred to the significance of the march, stating: “With this march, we will pay our respects to the victims of March 1, all political murders, and we will say our decisive no to violence, injustice, illegality, corruption, election fraud, and violation of rights.”

On the building of the Armenian Ararat football club in the Azeri-populated city of Tabriz in the north of Iran, unknown people have written: “Karabakh is an inseparable part of Azerbaijan.”

In addition, during the game of the Traktorsaz football club, the fans in the stadium chant “Karabakh is ours and will remain ours.” The videos also show some fans pointing their fingers at the symbol of the pan-Turkish group Gray Wolves.

Such pan-Turkish, nationalist and anti-Armenian posts and chants followed RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s visit to Iran in East Azerbaijan, the northern Azeri region of Iran.

Such anti-Armenian and pro-Azerbaijani actions should concern Iran’s special services as well, because such actions could not be implemented without serious organizational measures. It can be seen that the special services of Azerbaijan and Turkey are actively operating in the north of Iran, and at their instigation such anti-Armenian calls are being spread with the aim of opening an anti-Armenian front for Armenia from the south as well, across the Araks River.

Separatist, nationalist movements have always been active in Iran: Kurdish, Baloch, Azeri, Arab, etc.

However, in this case, RA and Artsakh should be particularly concerned about Azerbaijani nationalism in the north of Iran, because the East Azerbaijan region of Iran borders RA and Artsakh. This means that Baku and Ankara will try to form anti-Armenian groups here, which can also act against RA-Iran energy-transportation ties and interests, carrying out attacks on Armenian cars, tourists, and in case of war in Karabakh, create a new hotbed of tension from the south of Artsakh, so that Artsakh is surrounded by an Azeri ring from almost all sides.

Let’s not forget that the nationalist circles of Baku have a pan-Azerbaijani, pan-Turkish strategy to create a Greater Azerbaijan, within the framework of which Greater Azerbaijan should be created. It should include today’s borders of Armenia and Artsakh, the regions of Georgia, Borchalu or Kvemo-Kartli inhabited by Azerbaijanis.

Greater Azerbaijan should border Turkey in the future within the framework of Greater Turan strategy.

RA and Iran should counter this by establishing close economic and political ties, and Iran’s special services should be more active in the nationalist, separatist movements of their country.

The southern gates of RA, the border with Iran, are guarded by the border guard troops of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, thus Yerevan can feel safe from the south as well, saving human resources and concentrating them more on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and in Artsakh.

President of the Republic Armen Sarkissian had a meeting with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan at the presidential residence today.

President Armen Sargsyan. “Mr. Prime Minister, I am glad to see you again. Our traditional meetings continue. Before starting the conversation, I want to congratulate you because I heard that your visit to the Islamic Republic of Iran was very successful. I will be glad to hear the details of that visit. In any case, the feedback I have heard, both inside the country and from some friends abroad, has been positive.”

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. “Thank you, Mr. President. Yes, these working meetings of ours are periodic in nature, and it is very important that we regularly share the information that accumulates during our various contacts, working activities. And, of course, let’s discuss what to do next. Yes, I consider the recent visit to the Islamic Republic of Iran very important and very successful. Also, on Monday I am going to leave for an official visit to Brussels to discuss with our colleagues from the European Union what to do next.

We have a rich foreign policy agenda in the near future. Also, this year we are presiding over the Eurasian Economic Union, and one of the sessions of the intergovernmental council will take place in Yerevan. Another session of the Supreme Economic Council will take place in Yerevan. Of course, this entire foreign policy agenda is also important to serve the goals of our economic revolution. I am aware that during this period you also had some meetings that fit into this logic. And it is also important to combine this information so that further implementation of agreements becomes more effective.”

President Armen Sargsyan: “Mr. Prime Minister, I also have a lot to talk to you about. Of course, you are aware, but I would like to share more details with you, especially about my last two visits. one to France, where the 90th plenary meeting of the Armenian General Benevolent Union took place, in which I participated, and during which certain structural changes took place in the organization. The Charitable Union is one of the most important organizations of our national Diaspora. During that time, of course, I had meetings again in Paris in the framework that we have been talking about for a long time to support the economic development of Armenia, new technologies. There were meetings with many large French companies: Thales, Dassault, etc.

Next was my visit to Munich for the security conference, during which, as you know, a number of political meetings took place. Apart from them, I also had meetings at Heidelberg University, Technical University of Munich, Max Planck Institute. These meetings are also aimed at making Armenia a country of modern technologies and contributing to the rapid economic growth of our country. So we have a lot to talk about.”