Friday,
Former Armenian Security Chief To Set Up Party
• Nane Sahakian
Armenia -- Former National Security Service Director Artur Vanetsian is
interviewed by Armenian newspaper editors, Yerevan, February 5, 2020.
Artur Vanetsian, the former head of Armenia’s most powerful security service,
has announced his entry into active politics, saying that he will set up a party
to challenge Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s government.
In an interview with the editors of nine Armenian newspapers publicized on
Thursday, Vanetsian said the party will strive to disprove government claims
that the country’s former leaders are the main political rivals of the current
authorities.
“A very important practice has emerged in Armenia, which is called dividing the
society into [pro-government political] whites and [opposition] blacks,” he
said. “I think that it’s a false political agenda that has been brought to our
landscape; a political agenda whereby the former rulers are the alternative to
the current authorities. I can assure you that there is no such thing.”
“There will be no return to the past,” added Vanetsian. “I am someone who will
be fighting against a return to the past.”
Pashinian appointed Vanetsian as director of the National Security Service
(NSS), the former Armenian branch of the Soviet KGB, immediately after coming to
power in the “Velvet Revolution” of April-May 2018.
Vanetsian worked as a deputy chief of the NSS’s Yerevan division up until the
revolution. He quickly became one of the most influential members of Pashinian’s
entourage, overseeing a number of high-profile corruption investigations
launched by the new authorities.
Vanetsian was unexpectedly relieved of his duties in September just a couple of
months after being promoted to the rank of NSS general. He criticized
Pashinian’s “impulsive” leadership style following his dismissal, triggering a
bitter war of words with the premier.
Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian (L) and National Security Service
Director Artur Vanetsian visit the Football Academy in Yerevan, March 25, 2019.
Vanetsian, 40, claimed in his interview that he himself decided to step down. He
said his refusal to “participate in developments unfolding around the
Constitutional Court” was one of the main reasons for that decision. He referred
to controversial government efforts to replace the court’s chairman, Hrayr
Tovmasian, and six other justices.
The former NSS chief also pointed to the latest concerns voiced by Council of
Europe officials over the Armenian government’s and parliament’s standoff with
the high court judges. “That is a very serious issue for us also in terms of
national security because it relates to our country’s international standing,”
he said.
Pashinian’s public feud with Vanetsian was reignited last month by the “Haykakan
Zhamanak” newspaper controlled by the prime minister’s family. In an extensive
article, the paper accused him of organizing a smear campaign against
Pashinian’s family allegedly conducted by anti-government media. Hrachya
Hakobian, a pro-government parliamentarian and Pashinian’s brother-in-law,
alleged afterwards that Vanetsian was fired in September because he was plotting
a coup.
Pashinian stated later in January that Armenian security services have thwarted
a “hybrid” anti-government conspiracy hatched by current and former officials.
Vanetsian denounced the “Haykakan Zhamanak” article as slanderous. He went on to
call on the ruling Civil Contract party to consider installing a new prime
minister.
“A person who attempted a coup d’état should have been placed in an appropriate
institution,” Vanetsian told the editors of other publications. “Of course I did
not have such a desire.”
Armen Grigorian, the secretary of Armenia’s Security Council and a Pashinian
ally, scoffed at Vanetsian’s declared entry into politics later on Thursday.
Grigorian described him as an “echo of the past” who will hardly attract a large
following.
Armenia To Upgrade Iran Border Crossing
Armenia/Iran - The Arax river separating Armenia and Iran.
The Armenian government has secured over 21 million euros ($23 million) in
funding from the European Union and the European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development (EBRD) for its plans to modernize and expand Armenia’s sole border
crossing with Iran.
Finance Minister Atom Janjughazian and the head of the EBRD office in Armenia,
Dimitri Gvindadze, signed on Friday agreements to that effect at a ceremony in
Yerevan.
In a short statement, the Armenian Finance Ministry said EU grants will make up
just over half of the sum needed for the project’s implementation. An EBRD loan
will presumably pay the rest of the bill.
The statement did not specify when work on the new Armenian-Iranian border
facilities, located near the southeastern town of Meghri, will start and be
completed.
The Meghri checkpoint processes up to one-third of goods shipped to and from
landlocked Armenia.
Also, Iran is a major trading partner of the South Caucasus state. According to
Armenian government data, Armenian-Iranian trade rose by 12 percent, to $409
million, last year despite U.S. sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic.
Armenia has already rebuilt and upgraded in recent years its three border
crossings with Georgia, its most important commercial conduit to the outside
world. The $60 million project completed in 2017 was mostly financed by the EU
in the form of a loan and a grant.
Council Europe Scrutiny ‘Not Mandatory’ For Constitutional Changes
• Ruzanna Stepanian
Armenia -- Speaker Ararat Mirzoyan chairs a parliament debate on constitutional
changes, Yerevan, February 6, 2020.
A senior lawmaker stressed on Friday that the Armenian authorities are not
obliged to consult with the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission before holding
a referendum on controversial constitutional changes drafted by them.
The proposed amendments call for the dismissal of seven of the nine members of
Armenia’s Constitutional Court accused by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian of
remaining linked to “the corrupt former regime.” The Armenian parliament
controlled by Pashinian’s My Step bloc decided to put them on a referendum on
Thursday.
Amid a heated parliament debate on the issue, two representatives of another
Council of Europe structure, the Parliamentary Assembly (PACE), urged the
authorities in Yerevan to send the amendments to the Venice Commission for
examination “as soon as possible.”
“We believe that this opinion … would be valuable to all stakeholders, including
the Armenian electorate if a referendum were to be held,” they said in a joint
statement.
Commenting on that statement, Vladimir Vartanian, the pro-government chairman of
the Armenian parliament committee on legal affairs, said the authorities are
under no legal obligation to have the draft amendments examined by the
Strasbourg-based watchdog.
Vartanian said they might consider doing so only after President Armen
Sarkissian endorses the parliament’s decision to hold the referendum.
Armenia -- Bright Armenia Party leader Edmon Marukian speaks to RFE/RL, 7Feb2020.
Leaders of the two parliamentary opposition parties insisted, however, that
requesting a Venice Commission opinion is essential for the legitimacy of the
process. Naira Zohrabian of the Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) said this would
be a “sensible” move on the part of the authorities.
For his part, Bright Armenia Party (LHK) leader Edmon Marukian again claimed
that the far-reaching changes sought by Pashinian are unconstitutional and were
passed with serious procedural violations. They must also be scrutinized by the
Constitutional Court, he told RFE/RL’s Armenian service.
Marukian also accused Pashinian of illegally threatening and pressuring the
seven judges in a speech delivered on the parliament floor during Thursday’s
debate.
The BHK, which is led by businessman Gagik Tsarukian, has been more cautious in
opposing the proposed changes. Zohrabian said its final position on the
referendum depends on the findings of the Venice Commission. But she would not
say what her party will do if the authorities bypass the commission.
Three Armenian Soldiers Killed In Avalanche
Armenia - The Defense Ministry building in Yerevan.
An avalanche in southeastern Armenia killed three soldiers and injured another
on Friday.
The Armenian Defense Ministry said that rescuers found the bodies of the three
contract soldiers -- Private Karapet Nazarian, Sergeant Tigran Arzumanian and
Sergeant Nver Shahbazian -- at an Armenian army post in the mountainous Syunik
province which was hit by the powerful downslide.
The fourth soldier, Private Hamlet Mirzoyan, suffered minor injuries and was
rescued from under the snow, the ministry said in a statement. It described his
condition as “satisfactory.”
“An investigation is conducted to ascertain circumstances of the incident,”
added the statement.
The soldiers were apparently deployed on Armenia’s border with Azerbaijan’s
Nakhichevan exclave. The Defense Ministry did not reveal the precise location of
their outpost.
Avalanche casualties among military personnel and civilians in Armenian have
been relatively rare.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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