Friday,
Pashinian Accused Of Bullying Opposition
• Astghik Bedevian
Armenia -- Deputies from the Prosperous Armenia Party attend a parliament
session in Yerevan, February 11, 2020.
The two opposition parties represented in Armenia’s parliament accused Prime
Minister Nikol Pashinian on Friday of trying to intimidate and muzzle them for
their growing criticism of his handling of the coronavirus crisis.
The Bright Armenia (LHK) and Prosperous Armenia (BHK) parties as well as other,
more outspoken opposition groups hold the authorities responsible for 15,281
coronavirus cases and at least 258 deaths recorded in the country of about 3
million. BHK leader Gagik Tsarukian demanded last week the resignation of
Pashinian and his entire cabinet.
Pashinian rejected the criticism on Wednesday, predicting the “political death”
of opposition groups. He specifically lambasted the BHK and the LHK the
following day, saying that they may have contributed to the rapid speed of the
coronavirus in Armenia. He pledged to investigate their “subversive activities.”
Lawmakers representing the two parties, which control 43 of the 132 parliament
seats between them, strongly condemned Pashinian’s statements.
“The events of the past week make me wonder if there is a dictatorial regime in
our country and we don’t know that,” said the BHK’s Shake Isayan.
“When the authorities, the prime minister said that we are in a
[coronavirus-related] hellish situation what did they expect from the largest
parliamentary opposition faction?” she told RFE/RL’s Armenian service.
Armenia -- Ani Samsonian of the Bright Armenia Party speaks at a parliament
session, February 11, 2020
“There is no other country in the world where the government is holding the
opposition responsible [for the coronavirus outbreak,]” said the LHK’s Ani
Samsonian.
“They too realize that they have made many mistakes and that people have started
to understand that,” said Samsonian. “And their sole objective now is to silence
all critics.”
Alen Simonian, a deputy parliament speaker and senior member of the ruling My
Step bloc, dismissed these claims and accused the opposition of trying to take
advantage of the coronavirus crisis. “They will get a very bad answer from both
the public and the elected, legitimate government of Armenia,” he said.
Azeri Man Held On Armenian Border
• Sargis Harutyunyan
Armenia - Clouds coming down on the eastern coast of Lake Sevan.
An Azerbaijani man was detained by the National Security Service (NSS) after
reportedly crossing into Armenia on Friday.
The NSS said that the 26-year-old man will be held in detention pending
investigation. It said it is now trying to “ascertain all circumstances of the
illegal border crossing.”
The detention was first reported by the head of the administration of Areguni, a
village in Armenia’s eastern Gegharkunik region bordering the Gedabey district
in western Azerbaijan.
The official, Sos Hovannisian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian service that the man, who
identified himself as Elshan Aliyev, was first spotted by another village
resident and escorted to his office in the morning. Hovannisian said he spoke to
him before alerting the NSS.
In Hovannisian’s words, Aliyev claimed to who have worked as a shepherd for an
Azerbaijani farmer in a Gedabey village and decided to flee to Armenia because
of being mistreated and not paid by his employer. “He told me: “I want to move
to a third country but if you give me a job here I’d love to stay with you
Armenians,’” said Hovannisian.
The village chief added that the young Azerbaijani was poorly dressed and had a
flour sack filled with his personal belongings. The NSS also said that he
carried a sack.
The Yerevan office of the International Committee of the Red Cross said that it
has already contacted the Armenian authorities in connection with the detention.
The Azerbaijani government did not immediately react to it.
Areguni is located on the eastern shore of Lake Sevan just a few kilometers from
one of the most mountainous sections of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.
Hovannisian claimed that another Azerbaijani national was detained in a nearby
Armenian village earlier this year. The Armenian authorities did not report such
an incident, however.
Throughout the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict dozens of residents of Armenian and
Azerbaijani border villages have crossed the heavily militarized frontier. The
vast majority of them are believed to have strayed into enemy territory
mistakenly.
In September 2010, a 20-year-old resident of another Gegharkunik village, Manvel
Saribekian crossed into Azerbaijan and was immediately accused by Baku of
planning to carry out terrorist attacks.
Saribekian was found hanged in an Azerbaijani detention center one month later.
Azerbaijani officials claimed that he committed suicide. But in a January 2020
ruling, the European Court of Human Rights backed Armenian forensic experts’
conclusion that young man was tortured to death.
Another Armenian villager, Karen Petrosian, was pronounced dead in August 2014
one day after being detained in an Azerbaijani village across the border. The
Azerbaijani military claimed that he died of “acute heart failure.”
The Armenian authorities believe, however, that Petrosian was murdered or beaten
to death. The United States and France expressed serious concern at Petrosian’s
suspicious death and called on Baku to conduct an objective investigation.
At least one Armenian national is known to be currently held in an Azerbaijani
prison. Karen Ghazarian, a resident of the Tavush province bordering Azerbaijan,
was captured in July 2018.
In February 2019, an Azerbaijani court sentenced Ghazarian to 20 years in prison
on charges of plotting terrorist attacks and “sabotage” in Azerbaijan. Yerevan
condemned the ruling and demanded Ghazarian’s immediate release.
No Azerbaijani villagers are known to have died in Armenian captivity.
Georgia, Lithuania Offer To Help Coronavirus-Hit Armenia
• Artak Khulian
• Marine Khachatrian
Armenia -- Medics at the Surb Grigor Lusavorich Medical Center in Yerevan,
Armenia's largest hospital treating COVID-19 patients, June 5, 2020.
The governments of Georgia and Lithuania have offered to send medical teams to
Armenia to help authorities there deal with the country’s worsening coronavirus
crisis.
It remained unclear on Friday whether the Armenian authorities have agreed to
deploy foreign doctors to Armenia’s increasingly overstretched hospitals
treating COVID-19 patients.
“Lithuania continues standing by our Armenian friends,” Lithuanian Foreign
Minister Linas Linkevicius tweeted on Wednesday. “Today Lithuanian Government
decided to send a medical team and experts to Armenia aimed at helping to combat
COVID-19.”
Yerevan received on Thursday similar offers from neighboring Georgia which has
been far more successful in containing the spread of the coronavirus. Georgian
Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia said his government is now discussing details of
its aid with the Armenian side. He said Tbilisi will likely send medics to
Armenia.
Georgian Health Minister Ekaterine Tikaradze spoke with her Armenian counterpart
Arsen Torosian by phone later on Thursday. Tikaradze said she reaffirmed her
government’s readiness to dispatch doctors as well as medical equipment.
Georgia - Two security officers wearing face masks check temperature at the
market entrance in central Tbilisi on June 3, 2020
The Armenian Ministry of Health made no mention of that offer in a statement on
the phone conversation. It said the two ministers discussed “possibilities of
mutual assistance” and agreed to set up a “permanent platform for the exchange
of experience” in the fight against COVID-19.
Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanian spoke, meanwhile, of a “long list” of
countries and international organizations ready to help Armenia tackle the
crisis. But he did not name any of them.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian implied, for his part, that his country does not
yet need foreign aid but will not refuse it either. “We believe that real
friends emerge in difficult times and we will certainly accept assistance from
those countries that make friendly gestures towards us,” Pashinian told a news
briefing on Thursday.
Torosian warned on June 4 that Armenia’s healthcare system is now so
overstretched that hospitals may soon be unable to admit all infected citizens
in need of urgent treatment. He announced afterwards that the health authorities
will set up soon 350 new hospital beds to treat the increased number of people
infected with the virus.
The health minister insisted on Thursday that Armenian hospitals are still able
to give life-saving treatment to all patients.
Lithuania - Vilnius, Lithuania, march 19, 2020. Medical staff in protective gear
collects samples for COVID-19 coronavirus at the drive-in mobile testing center
organized in Vilnius city, Lithuania
Torosian seemed more concerned about the daily number of new infections in
Armenia when he spoke to journalists on Friday. “All our actions must be aimed
at restraining the [infection] numbers and not just increasing [hospital]
capacity,” he said.
“Saying that let’s just increase capacity and hospitalize everyone means not
doing enough to save as many lives as possible,” he added.
Torosian’s ministry reported on Friday morning that the number of coronavirus
cases in Armenia rose by 612 to 15,281 in the past day. It also reported 13 new
deaths caused by COVID-19, bringing the official death toll to 258.
Georgia, which has a larger population, has registered only 837 coronavirus
cases and 13 deaths to date.
Armenian opposition groups regularly cite Georgia’s COVID-19 record in their
intensifying criticism of the Pashinian government’s response to the deadly
epidemic.
Responding to such criticism late last month, Torosian questioned the
credibility of the official Georgian figures and claimed that Armenia has a
better anti-epidemic capacity than its neighbor. His claims were denounced by
Georgian officials. The minister said afterwards that his remarks were distorted
by his Armenian detractors.
Armenia Again Extends Coronavirus State Of Emergency
Armenia -- People wear face masks in the center of Yerevan, June 10, 2020.
Citing the continuing spread of the coronavirus in Armenia, the government on
Friday extended by another month a state of emergency which it declared in March
to combat the epidemic.
The government announced the decision after the Armenian Ministry of Health
reported that the number of coronavirus cases in the country of about 3 million
rose by 612 to 15,281 in the past day. More than 520 hospitalized patients were
in a severe or critical condition.
The ministry also reported 13 new deaths caused by COVID-19, bringing the
official death toll to 258.
It said four other people infected with the virus also died on Thursday. The
ministry says other, pre-existing conditions were the main cause of their
deaths. The total number of such fatalities rose to 86.
A few days after declaring the state of emergency on March 16, the government
issued stay-at-home orders and banned most types of business activity. It began
relaxing those restrictions already in mid-April and lifted virtually all of
them by May 10 despite the growing numbers of coronavirus cases and deaths
reported by the Armenian health authorities on a daily basis.
Critics say that the government never properly enforced the lockdown and lifted
it too soon. Some of them have called for a renewed and tougher lockdown.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian indicated his continuing opposition to such a
measure when he spoke at a cabinet meeting that approved extending the state of
emergency until July 13. He said the authorities will instead continue to
encourage Armenians to practice social distancing, wear face masks and follow
other safety rules.
Earlier this month the government made it mandatory for everyone to wear a mask
in all public areas.
Speaking in the Armenian parliament later in the day, Pashinian made clear that
emergency rule will remain in place until the authorities achieve a significant
drop in infection rates. He said the daily number of new COVID-19 cases should
fall below 150.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2020 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.