Category: 2020

Political scientist: Nikol Pashinyan has serious disagreements with Soros

Ani Kharatian
News.am, Armenia
Aug 15 2020

00:18, 15.08.2020
                  

HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur to Pashinyan: People’s’ hopes seem to have been dashed

Emil Lazarian
Panorama, Armenia
Aug 14 2020

“It’s more than two years now since you swept into power with very high hopes for the so called ‘velvet revolution’. When I look at Armenia today it seems many Armenians feel that those hopes have been dashed. What has gone wrong?” BBC HARDtalk presenter Stephen Sackur asked Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan at the beginning of an interview on Friday.

The premier, however, did not agree with the presenter’s claim. “All citizens of Armenia live in a democratic country. And in 2019 we had the biggest economic growth in Europe, and we had big economic success, our country made tremendous progress in all international ratings in terms of democracy, freedom of speech, independent judiciary, anti-corruption policy,” the PM said.

“The pandemic situation interrupted our flight, but we will continue,” Pashinyan added.

Touching upon the Armenian government’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, Sackur stated it has been a real failure.

“I think it’s too early to have conclusion,” the premier responded, adding conclusions should be drawn after the pandemic is defeated worldwide.

Sackur, however, recalled that Armenia’s coronavirus death rate is approximately six times higher that neighboring Georgia’s and significantly higher than Azerbaijan’s, which suggests the Armenian government failed to control the pandemic.

“We are in the process of overcoming this pandemic, and as I said it’s too early to make conclusions on that,” Pashinyan said.

The presenter observed that people judge the Armenian leader on his specific actions, referring to Pashinyan’s participation in a dinner to celebrate the inauguration of the Artsakh president in late May, where he was seen amongst many people not wearing a face mask or practicing social distancing.

“And only a few weeks later in early and mid-June your country was in the midst of a terrible crisis with more than 600 cases of Covid-19 per day. You castigated your own people saying, ‘people simply disobey the rules on face masks’, but you have done it yourself,” he stressed.

In response, the PM said on that day they acted according to the rules that existed in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Stephen Sackur next quoted the Republican Party of Armenia as saying in a statement that the premier has made many mistakes in the coronavirus response and should resign.

“Armenia is democratic country and opposition is free to express themselves. I am very glad that now opposition in Armenia is acting much easily than before the revolution,” Pashinyan replied.

The presenter also reflected on the developments around the Constitutional Court of Armenia, noting that the removal of its three judges are connected with second President Robert Kocharyan’s case.


Opposition MP reflects on Pashinyan’s interview on BBC’s HARDtalk

Emil Karabekian
Panorama, Armenia
Aug 15 2020

Lawmaker Edmon Marukyan from the opposition Bright Armenia Party has reflected on Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s “awkward” answer to a question about Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) during an interview on the popular BBC program HARDtalk on Friday.

“The Armenian forces have never committed a war crime in any operation,” Marukyan stressed.

“The awkward response of the Armenian prime minister to famous presenter Stephen Sackur is incomprehensible, as the latter overtly accused Armenians of committing gross human rights violations and war crimes in Artsakh in 1980s and 1990s, proposing the PM to apologize for them,” he said.

According to the lawmaker, the premier should not only have offered a clear response and publically ruled out such actions by the Armenian forces, but also should have recalled the atrocities committed by the Azerbaijani forces both during the Artsakh Liberation War and the 2016 April War, including beheadings of Armenian soldiers and the murder and mutilation of civilians in their homes, the brutal murder of Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan in 2004 and the glorification of axe-murderer Ramil Safarov by the Azerbaijani authorities.

“We must constantly speak about all this on all platforms, never miss an opportunity or be embarrassed when we are accused of committing a violation,” the lawmaker stressed.

“Otherwise, when the perpetrator of a war crime is made a victim during a program watched all over the world, it seems that they are trying to clear is from the consequences of responsibility by placing it on those who are fighting for their homeland.

“We must take a clear stance and give clear answers, equating the incumbent authorities of Azerbaijan with those of a state waging wars in the style of a terrorist organization,” Marukyan wrote. 


View from Moscow: There is no real alternative to Pashinyan in Armenia

Lilit Nahapetian
Arminfo, Armenia
Aug 15 2020

ArmInfo. Against the background of complete disunity and the inability of the opposition to unite efforts, we have to admit that there is no real political alternative to Nikol Pashinyan in Armenia. Chief Researcher of the IMEMO RAS, the President of the Scientific Society of Caucasian Studies Alexander  Krylov expressed a similar opinion to ArmInfo.

“The Armenian Prime Minister distinguishes himself for his rather  tough methods of fighting his political opponents. It is important to  note that we are talking not only about the representatives of the”  former regime “, but also about his potential opponents. In my  opinion, Pashinyan’s such policy, in spite of numerous forecasts  about his imminent failure, brings its dividends and success. During  his 2 years in power, of course, there were manifestations and  discontent. However, I do not notice signs of radical changes in  public sentiment, “he said. This state of affairs, according to  Krylov, testifies to the prime minister’s success in resolving  socio-economic problems. At the same time, there is a slight decline  in Pashinyan’s popularity in Armenian society. The latter in addition  to the coronavirus is explained by the slow pace of reforms and the  unmet public demand for their acceleration and radicalization.

Against this background, the political scientist notes a radical  change in the power model in Armenia.  Pashinyan’s coming to power  publicly instilled Armenian politics with publicity that it  previously seriously lacked. Before the “velvet” revolution,  decisions were made in offices, on the sidelines, anywhere, but not  in a public, open space. And according to Krylov, practically all the  main political figures were participants in the backstage processes.  Everyone who could not or did not want to play such games ended up  outside the political process.

The political scientist compared the essence of such a model of power  to the game of chess so beloved by Serzh Sargsyan. With one “but” –  the former president simultaneously moved both white and black pieces  on the board. And such a “game” could continue for a long time, given  that it was conducted on condition of formal observance of the  Constitution. And the country even held elections, the outcome of  which, however, was initially shaped and determined by only one  person, not the people.

“Thus, the change of power in Armenia from” chess “to public was the  result of many years of violation of the rule of law and democracy,  violation of the right of citizens to participate in governing the  country. The instrument of Pashinyan’s arrival in Sargsyan’s place  was the same mass protest of society. It is illegal in its form, but  in its essence returned to the Armenian people, the citizens of  Armenia the right and the opportunity to really participate in the  management of the state> the Russian political scientist concluded.

Armenia reiterates need for int’l investigation mechanism of ceasefire breaches at Azerbaijan border

George Mamian

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 12:50,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 14, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has highlighted the need for introducing international mechanisms of investigations of ceasefire violations at the Armenia-Azerbaijan border.

Pashinyan was speaking to BBC HARDtalk about the Azerbaijani military attack in the direction of Tavush Province, Armenia in mid-July.

“Azerbaijan started military attack against Armenia and it wasn’t separate action. Within long time the Azerbaijani president developed bellicose rhetoric saying he was going to solve the Nagorno Karabakh conflict using military force. As a result of that bellicose rhetoric, Azerbaijani government is facing a challenge to explain to their own society why they couldn’t solve the Nagorno Karabakh conflict through force”, he said, adding that the Azerbaijani attack failed even when the Azerbaijani government had spent billions of dollars on military at the expense of the Azerbaijani people’s welfare. He said the failure also diminished the myth of the Azerbaijani military superiority against Armenia.

“I can understand the situation of international community, every time hearing mutual accusations of each other on who violated ceasefire, and this continues again and again, that is why we propose to establish international mechanism for investigating ceasefire violations, and this is valid proposal by Armenia”, PM Pashinyan said.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

Glad to see opposition is acting easier than before the revolution, says Pashinyan

Bedik Zaminian

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 13:00,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 14, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan says he is happy to see that the opposition in Armenia is currently acting much easier than before the 2018 revolution.

“Armenia is democratic country and opposition is free to express [themselves] and I am very glad that now opposition in Armenia is acting much easily than before the revolution,” Pashinyan said during an interview with the BBC HARDtalk.

Pashinyan also reminded that in 2020 Armenia registered the largest two-year Democracy Score improvement in the history of the Freedom House’s Nations in Transit 2020 report.

Editing by Stepan Kocharyan

Armenians in NK face existential threat – PM addresses ruling out military solution

Hovik Karapetian

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 13:13,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 14, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan rules out any military solution to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

He mentioned his proposed formula for the resolution during an interview on BBC’s HARDtalk.

“Peace can’t be achieved through the unilateral actions of Armenia because we will be able to have real peace if Azerbaijan will reciprocate Armenia’s efforts. Becoming Prime Minister of Armenia, I proposed a new formula for peace and the formula is the following: Any solution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict should be acceptable for people of Armenia, for people of Nagorno Karabakh and for people of Azerbaijan, and I am first Armenian leader ever saying that any solution of Nagorno Karabakh conflict should be acceptable for the Azerbaijani people too, but unfortunately the Azerbaijani president didn’t reciprocate to my proposal,” PM Nikol Pashinyan said.

Speaking about his “Artsakh is Armenia, period” statement, Pashinyan noted that for many millennia Nagorno Karabakh has been populated with indigenous Armenian people.

“Artsakh name is aged for several thousand years. The document of UNSC didn’t mention Republic of Armenia or Armed Forces of Armenia, there is written about Nagorno Karabakh Armenians Self Defense forces. The reality is in the moment of this conflict 80-90 percent of population of Nagorno Karabakh was Armenian and Azerbaijan tried to clean this land from Armenians and conflict started from this moment”.

Pashinyan disagreed with host Stephen Sackur’s description of Armenia’s stance to be “nationalistic”, saying that Armenians in Nagorno Karabakh are facing an existential threat.

“Azerbaijan is exercising the policy of isolation and blockade of Nagorno Karabakh, and for Armenia too. Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh are under existential threat, and we are proposing Azerbaijan to renounce any possibility of use of force for Nagorno Karabakh conflict solution we should agree on very simple formula that there is no military solution for Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

Any war is a chain of tragedies, that’s why we say let’s refuse any possibility of using force for solution of Nagorno Karabakh conflict, and any peace is comprise, and Armenia was and is ready for compromise”, he said.

The Armenian PM also reminded about the Armenian victims of the Sumgait and Baku pogroms, noting that these tragedies had a key role in the NK conflict issue.

“The European Court has a catalogue on Azerbaijani atrocities against Armenians. We should mention the Sumgait events that happened in late 1980s, when the Azerbaijani government and Azerbaijanis initiated pogroms against Armenians of Sumgait city of Azerbaijan and in the capital”, he said.

Editing by Stepan Kocharyan

Armenian PM rules out influence on investigation

Vanyan Gary

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 14:15,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 14, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian government’s purpose is to strengthen and establish rule of law, an independent judiciary and advance the anti-corruption policy, PM Nikol Pashinyan said in an interview with BBC HARDtalk.

“As far as criminal cases are concerned, or arrests et cetera, I should say we have courts, investigations bodies and prosecutor offices and it isn’t me to decide who should be detained and who should be released. Our purpose is rule of law, independent judiciary and anti corruption policy. And international community recognized our huge success on all those areas”, Pashinyan said.

Editing by Stepan Kocharyan

Pashinyan addresses high court developments in BBC HARDtalk

Boshkezenian Garik

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 13:10,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 14, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian authorities are seeking to do everything possible to have a high court fully compliant with the constitution, PM Nikol Pashinyan said in an interview with BBC HARDtalk.

“We tried to have a constitutional court fully compliant with our constitution, because we had description of the constitutional court in our constitution but we had a totally different constitutional court in reality so we are going [ahead] and we are doing that to have a constitutional court fully compliant with our constitution,” he said, referring to the ruling bloc’s parliamentary decision on suspending several justices.

Editing by Stepan Kocharyan

BBC HARDtalk: Pashinyan talks about Armenia’s relations with Russia, the United States, Iran and EU

Emil Lazarian

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 14:23,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 14, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has spoken about Armenia’s relations with Russia, the EU, the United States and Iran.

In an interview with BBC’s HARDtalk, Pashinyan said Armenia is maintaining good relationships with all of the above mentioned.

“Russia is strategic partner of Armenia in terms of security. We are member of Eurasian Economic Union, which is economic union, and we have comprehensive and enhanced partnership agreement with European Union and by the way now the European Union is our main partner in our reform agenda implementation. We have quite effective cooperation with NATO, and by the way we are participating in peacekeeping missions in Afghanistan, in Lebanon, in Kosovo, in Mali, and we have quite effective military cooperation with United States too”, the Armenian PM said.

Pashinyan reiterated that by saying “strategic” partnership he means long-term cooperation, and that at the same time Armenia has good relations with Iran and with the US.

“We have good relations with Iran and we are doing our best to keep our good relations with United States and with Iran, and in the same time be fully devoted to our international commitments.

Editing by Stepan Kocharyan