Friday,
Putin Again Talks To Armenian, Azeri Leaders
• Aza Babayan
RUSSIA -- Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev
and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian attend a joint press conference
following a trilateral meeting at the Kremlin, January 11, 2021
In separate phone calls, Russian President Vladimir Putin has again discussed
with the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan the implementation of a
Russian-brokered agreement that stopped last year’s war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
The Kremlin reported on Friday that Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev
and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian “noted with satisfaction” that the
ceasefire regime in the Karabakh conflict zone is holding and that “the
situation in the region remains by and large stable and calm.”
In a statement, it said both Aliyev and Pashinian praised Russian peacekeeping
forces that were deployed in and around Karabakh after the ceasefire agreement
entered into force on November 10.
“Also touched upon were issues relating to the unblocking of economic and
transport links in the South Caucasus,” the statement said, adding that the
three leaders praised a Russian-Armenian-Azerbaijani working group formed by
them for that purpose in January.
The group co-headed by deputy prime ministers of the three states has held a
series of meetings on practical modalities of opening the Armenian-Azerbaijani
border for commercial and other traffic.
It was supposed to submit by March 1 a timetable of “measures envisaging the
restoration and construction of new transport infrastructure facilities.” No
such document has been made public so far.
The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said earlier on
Friday that both Baku and Yerevan have taken a “constructive approach” to the
work of the trilateral task force.
The truce agreement commits Yerevan to opening rail and road links between the
Nakhichevan exclave and the rest of Azerbaijan that will presumably pass through
Armenia’s southeastern Syunik province. Armenia should be able, for its part, to
use Azerbaijani territory as a transit route for cargo shipments to and from
Russia and Iran.
Zakharova declined to comment on Aliyev’s recent threats to force Yerevan to
open a transport “corridor” between Azerbaijan and Nakhichevan. Aliyev also
described Syunik as “historical Azerbaijani lands.”
Pashinian Aide ‘Investigated’
• Robert Zargarian
Armenia - Deputy Justice Minister Anna Vardapetian is interviewed by RFE/RL's
Armenian Service, July 28, 2019.
Law-enforcement authorities have pledged to look into allegations that an aide
to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian is illegally directing a criminal
investigation into a fugitive businessman critical of the Armenian government.
Earlier this week the 168.am news service accused the official, Anna
Vardapetian, of issuing written instructions to the top investigator in the
criminal case opened against the businessman, Ruben Hayrapetian.
Hayrapetian left Armenia for Russia in March last year shortly before he and his
son were charged with kidnapping, violent assault and extortion. Both men deny
the accusations.
The controversial tycoon has long been affiliated with former President Serzh
Sarkisian’s Republican Party. He headed the Football Federation of Armenia from
2002-2018.
The online publication published on Wednesday what it described as screenshots
of an e-mail sent by Vardapetian to Artur Ayvazian, a senior Investigative
Committee official in charge of the high-profile case. It claimed that the
letter contained instructions regarding Hayrapetian’s indictment.
Hayrapetian’s lawyer, Amram Makinian, was quick to seize upon the allegations
and portray them as further proof that the charges leveled against his client
are politically motivated. He also said Vardapetian committed a crime and must
be prosecuted.
Armenia’s Office of the Prosecutor-General responded by saying that it has
ordered the National Security Service (NSS) to investigate the 168.am claims.
Vardapetian has not commented on the allegations so far. She again could not be
reached for comment on Friday.
The 35-year-old lawyer served as a deputy minister of justice in 2019 and joined
Pashinian’s staff a year ago.
Pashinian’s press secretary, Mane Gevorgian, said on Friday that she will not
comment until the NSS completes the inquiry.
Ayvazian, the law-enforcement official at the center of the scandal, reportedly
told the prosecutors that unknown individuals accessed his e-mail account and
uploaded false information there.
Daniel Ioannisian of the Yerevan-based Union of Informed Citizens, expressed
concern at the allegations and said they must be “comprehensively” investigated.
“They should also confirm or rule out Anna Vardapetian’s possible interference
in other criminal cases and its consequences,” Ioannisian told RFE/RL’s Armenian
Service.
Foreign Minister Denies Coup Attempt In Armenia
UAE -- United Arab Emirates’ Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al
Nahyan meets with his Armenian counterpart Ara Ayvazian, Abu Dhabi, March 11,
2021.
Contradicting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, Foreign Minister Ara Ayvazian
insisted on Friday that the Armenian military’s unprecedented demands for the
government’s resignation did not amount to a coup attempt.
“Of course, the results of the aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan had a negative
impact on internal stability in Armenia, but I strongly disagree with the
characterization of the [recent events as an] attempted coup d’état in Armenia,”
Ayvazian told Al-Arabiya television during a visit to the United Arab Emirates.
“This was a kind of political positioning by some members of [the Armenian
army’s] General Staff,” he said in an interview publicized by the Armenian
Foreign Ministry. “They just made a political statement, which is not an
attempted coup in itself. This was also the assessment of different countries
and international organizations.
“There are no elements of a coup d’état in Armenia. Armenia continues to be a
democracy, and the current situation, as I said, will be dealt with according to
democratic standards in our society.”
In a February 25 statement, the Armenian military’s top brass demanded the
resignation of Pashinian and his government, accusing them of putting the
country “on the brink of destruction” after last year’s war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Pashinian rejected the demand as an attempt to stage a military coup. He twice
held rallies in Yerevan to counter what he called opposition-backed attempts to
end “the people’s power.”
The prime minister also sacked General Onik Gasparian, the chief of the army’s
General Staff. Gasparian denounced the move as unconstitutional and said he will
challenge it in court.
Pashinian did not accuse the military of trying to seize power when he met on
Wednesday with other generals who signed the February 25 statement. Instead, he
thanked them for their military service.
“I trust in you and believe that you have served the country in good faith,”
added Pashinian.
Armenian Army To Hold Exercises
Armenia -- Smerch multiple-launch systems fire rockets during an Armenian
military exercise, May 21, 2020.
Armenia’s armed forces will hold major military exercises next week for the
first time since the war in Nagorno-Karabakh stopped by a Russian-brokered
ceasefire on November 10.
The Armenian Defense Ministry announced on Friday that the five-day exercises
will start on March 16 and involve 7,500 soldiers, about 100 tanks and armored
vehicles, some 300 artillery and anti-aircraft systems as well as warplanes and
helicopters.
A ministry statement said they will take place in “all operational directions of
the armed forces” in accordance with the Armenian army’s training plan for the
first half of this year.
The statement added that the drills are designed to “check the combat-readiness
of troops” and their ability to “rapidly act in the existing situation.”
Azerbaijan will also hold next week military exercises involving thousands of
soldiers. The Defense Ministry in Baku said earlier this week that they will be
held in unspecified mountainous areas.
The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said on Friday that
the Azerbaijani war games scheduled for March 15-18 were planned beforehand and
will not jeopardize “stability and security in the region.”
Zakharova declined to comment on Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s recent
threats to force Yerevan to open a transport “corridor” between Azerbaijan and
its Nakhichevan exclave passing through Armenia’s Syunik province. Aliyev
described Syunik as “historical Azerbaijani lands.”
During and after last year’s Karabakh war Russia deployed soldiers and border
guards in Syunik to help the Armenian military defend it against possible
Azerbaijani attacks. Armenian Defense Minister Vagharshak Harutiunian did not
rule out last month the possibility of more Russian troop deployments to the
area that also borders Iran.
Armenia -- Soldiers at an Armenian military base lined up for inspection, March
9, 2021.
Harutiunian also said that Russia is now helping Armenia restructure and
modernize its armed forces. He said concrete “recommendations” have already been
made on how to rearm the Armenian army but did not give any details.
Incidentally, Harutiunian had another phone call with Russian Defense Minister
Sergei Shoigu on Wednesday. According to the Defense Ministry in Yerevan, they
discussed bilateral military ties and Russia’s ongoing peacekeeping operation in
Karabakh launched immediately after the November ceasefire.
Yerevan announced plans to further deepen Russian-Armenian military cooperation
following the six-week war.
Russian Set To Gain Official Status In Karabakh
• Marine Khachatrian
NAGORNO-KARABAKH -- Russian soldiers of the peacekeeping force man a checkpoint
on a road outside Stepanakert, November 26, 2020
Authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh have endorsed a proposal to make Russian the
Armenian-populated territory’s second official language.
The measure was proposed last month by three of the five political parties
represented in the Karabakh parliament. One of them, Free Fatherland, is led by
Arayik Harutiunian, the Karabakh president.
Harutiunian’s administration approved this week a relevant bill drafted by the
three parties, paving the way for its passage.
The bill cites Karabakh’s history of “cultural, military and economic links”
with Russia and says that giving Russian an official status would deepen them.
Its proponents have also argued that this would facilitate communication with
Russian soldiers and aid workers deployed in Karabakh after last year’s
Armenian-Azerbaijani war.
Some local lawmakers have voiced objections to the bill. They include Metakse
Hakobian of the opposition Artarutyun (Justice) party, one of the bill’s three
co-sponsors.
Hakobian reiterated on Friday that the proposed legislation must be amended to
guarantee the supremacy of the Armenian language. “Russian should have more of a
working than official status and the two languages should not be equated,” she
told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
Several Karabakh academics have also spoken out against making Russian an
official language. One of them, Yana Avanesian, said the bill in question is
“unfounded” in its current form.
Free Fatherland’s Aram Harutiunian, one of the authors of the bill, insisted
that Armenian will remain Karabakh’s main official language.
“We are not going to immediately switch to Russian,” he said. “We want to solve
a technical issue in the first instance. Namely, to use [Russian] when
necessary.”
Russia’s presence in Karabakh increased dramatically after Moscow brokered a
ceasefire agreement that stopped the six-week war on November 10. The deal led
to the deployment of about 2,000 Russian peacekeeping troops in Karabakh as well
as along a land corridor connecting the disputed territory to Armenia.
The peacekeepers have helped tens of thousands of Karabakh Armenians, who fled
the fighting, to return to their homes.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2021 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
Category: 2021
HALO Trust denies claims of handing minefield maps to Turkish forces during or before Karabakh war
19:57,
YEREVAN, MARCH 11, ARMENPRESS. The British Halo Trust charity organization engaged in demining works denies the information that it handed minefield maps to Turkish forces before or during Karabakh war.
”The HALO Trust is aware of a claim that it handed minefield maps to Turkish forces before or during the 2020 conflict over Karabakh. There is absolutely no truth to this claim. For over 20 years HALO has worked in Karabakh to make the local people safe. The HALO Trust is only able to operate in conflict zones around the world because it is a totally non-political and neutral organisation. The claim is totally false”, ARMENPRESS reports the organization said in a statement.
Armenpress: President Sarkissian will not sign decree on appointing Artak Davtyan Chief of General Staff
President Sarkissian will not sign decree on appointing Artak Davtyan Chief of General Staff
21:09,
YEREVAN, MARCH 11, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian returned with his objections the PM’s proposal to appoint Artak Davtyan Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Armenia and the draft decree attached to it. On the same day, the Prime Minister’s substantiations on the President’s objections were received.
As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the President’s Office, Armen Sarkissian will not sign the draft decree and will not apply to the Constitutional Court.
Chess: Armenian champions
The Spectator, Australia
Armenian champions
In the 21st century, which country has won more international chess Olympiads than any other? Russia? USA? China? None of the above — it’s Armenia, which won gold three times (2006, 2008 and 2012). Despite a population of just 3 million, the country has a healthy number of top flight grandmasters, and Levon Aronian (the current world no. 5, and former world no. 2) has been its pre-eminent player for many years. So Aronian’s announcement that he will switch federations, representing the USA in future events, is significant. He will relocate to St Louis, which has become a major chess centre in recent years, with the backing of the American philanthropist Rex Sinquefield. Aronian’s move bolsters an already exceptional US team, with Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So, Leinier Dominguez Perez and Hikaru Nakamura all in the world’s top 20.
It may seem odd that a player’s affiliation is not simply bound by citizenship, but it does make sense to permit such transfers. Notwithstanding patriotic considerations, disagreements between players and their federations are common, so the possibility of a switch ensures that individuals are not beholden to their federations. (A prominent example is that of Alireza Firouzja, from Iran, who looks likely to represent France in future). To prevent abuse, the adopting federation is obliged to pay a significant fee to the old federation — €50,000 for a player of Aronian’s stature.
In a statement published on Facebook, Aronian harshly criticised the diminished support and attention that chess has received from the new Armenian government. (Until 2018, chess in Armenia enjoyed significant support and recognition from the country’s president, Serzh Sargsyan, who resigned amid the ‘velvet revolution’ of that year.) One can only speculate whether tragic events in 2020 may also have influenced Aronian’s decision. In March, his wife Arianne Caoili died of her injuries from a car crash in the capital Yerevan, while later in the year Armenia was engaged in a bloody war with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh.
Aronian is already out of the current world championship cycle and at 38, is significantly older than many of his rivals. But I’m in no doubt that, with the right support, he could still mount a serious challenge to Carlsen. I hope that a new start provides the boost he needs.
Meanwhile, a stunning combination from the recent Armenian championship:
Robert Hovhannisyan–Arman Pashikian
Armenian Championship, February 2021
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 Nf6 4 O-O Nxe4 5 Re1 Nd6 6 Nxe5 Be7 7 Bf1 Nxe5 8 Rxe5 O-O 9 Nc3 Ne8 10 Nd5 Bd6 11 Re1 c6 12 Ne3 Be7 13 c4 Nc7 14 Nf5 Bf6 15 Nd6 Bd4 16 Qg4 Qf6 17 Qg3 Bxf2+ 18 Qxf2 Qxd6 19 c5 Qg6 20 a4 With this imaginative rook deployment, White gets dangerous compensation for the sacrificed pawn. d6 21 Ra3 dxc5 22 d4 Re8 23 Bf4 Rxe1 24 Qxe1 Ne6 25 Rg3 Qh5 (see diagram) 26 d5!! A brilliant idea. cxd5 26…Nxf4 allows 27 Qe8 mate. Or 26…Qxd5 sees White forcibly open the e-file: 27 Rd3 Qh5 28 Rd8+ Nf8 29 Rxf8+ Kxf8 30 Bd6+ Kg8 31 Qe8 mate. 27 Rg5! Qh6 28 Rxd5 Qxf4 29 Rd8+ Nf8 29…Nxd8 30 Qe8# 30 Qe7 h5 30…Qd4+ 31 Rxd4 cxd4 32 Qe8! ties Black in knots. 31 Rxf8+ Kh7 32 Bd3+ Bf5 Black won’t last long after 32…f5 33 Qe8! Qd4+ 34 Kh1. 33 Bxf5+ Qxf5 34 Rxa8 Qb1+ 35 Kf2 Qxb2+ 36 Qe2 Once the checks run out, White’s extra rook mops up comfortably. Qd4+ 37 Kf1 Qa1+ 38 Qe1 Qxa4 39 Re8 f5 40 Re5 Qf4+ 41 Kg1 c4 42 Qe3 Qg4 43 h3 Qd1+ 44 Kh2 Qd6 45 Qf4 c3 46 Qxf5+ g6 47 Qe6 Qxe6 48 Rxe6 b5 49 Re7+ Kh6 50 Rxa7 b4 51 Rc7 Black resigns
Armenian President once again refused to sign General Staff appointment motion –
TASS, Russia
The head of state will also not challenge this motion in the Constitutional Court
YEREVAN, March 12. /TASS/. Armenian President Armen Sarkisyan once again refused to sign Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s motion to appoint Artak Davryan as the new Armed Forces General Staff head. According to the presidential press service, the head of state will also not challenge this motion in the Constitutional Court.
“The president of the republic will not sign the draft order and will not turn to the Constitutional Court. We remind that, on , the president has already contacted the Constitutional Court, asking to decide on whether the law ‘on military service and the status of serviceman’ complies with the norms of the Constitution. The Constitutional Court’s ruling and adoption of necessary measures may have a significant effect on legal procedures of dismissal and appointment of a General Staff head,” the press service said.
Earlier, Pashinyan filed the motion to appoint Davtyan as the new General Staff head for the second time. Once such motion is filed, the president must either sign it within three days of challenge it in the Constitutional Court.
Davtyan already served as the head of the General Staff between 2018 and June 2020, but was dismissed by the Prime Minister’s motion. Later, Pashinyan appointed Onik Gasparyan to this position. This Wednesday, Pashinyan stated that Gasparyan was dismissed, because the president failed to sign the motion or challenge it in the court within three days. Gasparyan said his resignation is unconstitutional and announced his intention to challenge it in the court. In the meantime, Sarkisyan asked the Constitutional Court to review the law “on military service” for compliance with the constitution. The opposition demands that Gasparyan keeps his position.
This political crisis in Armenia started on February 25, when Gasparyan and other senior military staff called for resignation of Pashinyan. The Prime Minister viewed such move as an armed coup attempt, and has already filed two motions to the president to dismiss the General Staff head.
CivilNet: Majority of Armenians Back Snap Polls, Says New Survey
CIVILNET.AM
12 Mar, 2021 10:03
By Mark Dovich
The majority of Armenian citizens “definitely” or “somewhat” believe that early parliamentary elections should be held, according to a newly-published public opinion survey. That finding directly contradicts a February 7 statement from the ruling My Step alliance claiming that “there is no demand for snap elections among the general public.” The study, conducted last month, was spearheaded by the Center for Insights in Survey Research at the International Republican Institute (IRI), a Washington-based group that bills itself as “the premier international democracy-development organization.”
According to the study, 55% of respondents reported “definitely” or “somewhat” believing that early elections should be held, while 42% reported “somewhat not” or “definitely not” believing that snap elections should take place. Breaking down responses by demographic categories and political beliefs, the poll found that support for early elections was highest among residents of Yerevan (43% of whom said elections “definitely” should be held), those who reported believing that “Armenia is heading in the wrong direction” (52%), and those who reported an “unfavorable view of the prime minister’s office” (54%). By contrast, 48% of respondents who reported believing that “Armenia is heading in the right direction” said they opposed snap polls.
The issue of holding early elections has dominated Armenia’s politics since late last year, when Armenian forces’ disastrous handling of the September-November war in and around Nagorno-Karabakh boiled over into seething discontent with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. Several prominent institutions and individuals in the country, including President Armen Sarkissian, the Armenian Apostolic Church, the National Academy of Sciences, the Armenian General Benevolent Union, and, most recently, the Armed Forces, have backed snap polls and/or the prime minister’s resignation. The Homeland Salvation Movement, a recently-formed alliance of nearly 20 opposition parties, has demanded that Pashinyan resign and an interim government of national unity take over to oversee the vote.
Meanwhile, Pashinyan and his My Step alliance, whose overwhelming majority in the National Assembly (Armenia’s parliament) has largely stymied opposition demands for Pashinyan’s dismissal, have repeatedly flip-flopped on the issue of whether to hold early elections. Late last year, Pashinyan publicly stated his openness to the possibility of holding snap polls. Within two months, though, My Step had backtracked, culminating in the February 7 statement claiming that “there is no demand” for such a vote. However, on March 1, at a large rally in downtown Yerevan, Pashinyan again said that he is open to holding early elections. As of March 11, talks over snap polls between the My Step alliance and the two opposition parties with seats in the National Assembly, Bright Armenia and Prosperous Armenia, remain ongoing.
The IRI survey suggests that Pashinyan’s government would likely win such a vote, were it to be held in the near future. In response to the question “please tell me which political party, if any, you would vote for if national parliamentary elections were held next Sunday,” the top two answers were “none” at 42% and “Civil Contract/My Step” at 33%.
Prosperous Armenia received support from 3% of respondents, while Bright Armenia, the former ruling Republican Party, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), and “17 parties” (a reference to the Homeland Salvation Movement) each received support from one 1% or less of those polled. Under the current Electoral Code, individual political parties must pass a threshold of 5% to enter the National Assembly. For political alliances, like My Step and the Homeland Salvation Movement, that threshold is 7%.
The fact that more respondents answered “none” than My Step — and that support for all other parties remains low — suggests that a potential third party could mount a serious challenge to Pashinyan’s government. Moreover, My Step’s 33% level of support in the February 2021 poll represents a massive decline from the level it once enjoyed: in a September-October 2019 IRI poll, 55% of respondents answered “My Step” when asked the same question, while only 10% of respondents said “none.” Nonetheless, My Step apparently remains Armenia’s most popular political force.
Conversely, when asked “for which of these political parties, if any, would you never vote,” the most popular answers were the Republican Party (25%), “I am against everyone else” (24%), and Prosperous Armenia (17%). 14% of respondents said “Civil Contract/My Step,” while 11% said “there is no party I will never vote for.” Those numbers suggest that opposition to the Republican Party has declined in recent years: in the 2019 IRI survey, the majority (59%) of respondents said they would never vote for the party. Still, the Republican Party seemingly remains the most unpopular political force in the country.
Among other questions, respondents were also asked if they planned on voting in the next parliamentary elections, regardless of when they are held. 82% of respondents said they “definitely” or “probably” would vote, while only 16% said they “definitely” or “probably” would not. In the most recent parliamentary election, held in December 2018, turnout did not even top 50%. In that election, My Step won more than 70% of the vote.
Respondents were also questioned about their support for term limits on prime ministers. In response, overwhelming majorities in all demographic and political belief categories answered “yes.” In total, 59% of respondents said they believe prime ministers should be term-limited. Of those respondents, 61% said two terms was an appropriate limit. Under the current Armenian Constitution, prime ministers are not term-limited.
CivilNet: New Polls Highlights Armenians’ Declining Trust in Public Institutions
CIVILNET.AM
12 Mar, 2021 10:03
New Polls Highlights Armenians’ Declining Trust in Public Institutions
By Mark Dovich
Armenians are increasingly distrustful of key public institutions, results from a newly-published public opinion survey show. The poll was conducted last month by the Center for Insights in Survey Research at the International Republican Institute (IRI), a Washington-based “international democracy-development organization.”
According to the survey, the majority of Armenians have a “very” or “somewhat” favorable opinion about only six institutions: the army (73%), the police (63%), the Human Rights Defender’s Office (60%), local authorities (56%), the prime minister’s office (54%), and the Armenian Apostolic Church (52%).
At the same time, the majority of respondents reported holding a “very” or “somewhat” unfavorable opinion about seven institutions: political parties (73%), the National Assembly (64%), the president’s office (60%), courts (57%), the Constitutional Court (55%), the cabinet of ministers (53%), and the prosecutor’s office (53%).
These statistics suggest that trust in public institutions has fallen considerably in recent years. For instance, in a September-October 2019 IRI poll, only four institutions received a “very” or “somewhat” unfavorable rating from the majority of respondents: the courts (57%), the prosecutor’s office (55%), political parties (52%), and the Constitutional Court (51%). Notably, public distrust in political parties has surged by a whopping 21 percentage points between the two surveys.
Conversely, in the 2019 survey, there were nine institutions that garnered “very” or “somewhat” favorable opinions from the majority of the public, as compared to only six in 2021. Five of the six were rated trustworthy by the majority of Armenians in both polls; only the police did not receive “very” or “somewhat” favorable opinions from the majority of respondents in 2019, but did in 2021.
In addition to the six institutions listed in the 2021 survey, the majority of Armenians in 2019 also reported favorable views about the president’s office (82%), the cabinet of ministers (63%), and the National Assembly (63%). Intriguingly, all three of those institutions are now distrusted by the majority of the country.
Moreover, public trust in four of the five institutions that the majority of Armenians reported trusting declined between the two surveys. In that period, trust in both the prime minister’s office and the Armenian Apostolic Church declined by a massive 22 percentage points, while trust in the army dropped by 18 points and trust in the Human Rights Defender’s Office fell by 3 points. Only the local authorities improved their position, from 55% in 2019 to 56% in 2021.
Data from the Caucasus Barometer also support the view that trust in public institutions is largely on the decline in Armenia. The barometer is an annual household survey organized by the Caucasus Research Resource Centers, a prominent think tank network in the South Caucasus. The most recent survey was conducted in Armenia in February-March 2020, roughly four months after the 2019 IRI poll, but about a year before the 2021 IRI survey.
Case in point: In the 2020 Caucasus Barometer poll, 88% of respondents reported “fully” or “rather” trusting the army. This figure lies between 2019’s 91% and 2021’s 73%. Likewise, 80% of respondents in the Caucasus Barometer survey reported “fully” or “rather” trusting the religious institution to which they belong — relatively close to 2019’s 74% level of trust in the Armenian Apostolic Church, but much higher than 52%, the 2021 statistic. (The vast majority of Armenians identify as belonging to the Armenian Apostolic Church.)
The apparent decline in Armenians’ trust in public institutions comes as the country grapples with an explosive political crisis following ethnic Armenian forces’ disastrous losses in the September-November war in and around Nagorno-Karabakh. Talk is swirling of snap elections, though meetings about early polls between the ruling My Step alliance, on the one hand, and the two opposition parties represented in the National Assembly, on the other, have so far yielded few concrete results.
No secret that Turkey plays extremely destabilizing role in our region: Armenia FM
Al Araboya, UAE
Armenia’s Foreign Minister Ara Aivazian heavily criticized Turkey on Thursday, saying it was no secret that Ankara plays a destabilizing role in the region.
“Well, it’s not a secret that Turkey played and continues to play extremely destabilizing role in our region. That role was vividly exposed during the recent 44 days of aggression unleased by Azerbaijan,” Aivazian told Al Arabiya in an interview.
“That country not only merely supported Azerbaijan but was directly involved in all military actions and phases of this aggression starting from planning to ground operations,” he added.
After six weeks of fighting late last year, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a Russia-brokered ceasefire for the enclave, which is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but mainly populated by ethnic Armenians.
Turkey backs Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, and has criticized the co-chairs of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)’s so-called Minsk Group for not resolving the long-running conflict in decades of mediation. The Minsk Group is led by the United States, France and Russia.
“Turkey, I would like to recall together with Azerbaijan on the threshold of the war, conducted a large-scale military drill with the involvement of Turkish Air Force. That country resorted to the now usual toolkit, if the expert of foreign terrorist fighters to our region for its power projection,” Aivazian said.
Aivazian warned that lessons must be learned from its experience of the Armenian genocide, which Turkey still refuses to acknowledge fully.
“160 years have passed since the Armenian genocide, yet Turkey continues to spearhead new atrocities against Armenia now in our region. And yet the South Caucasus is not the only target of Turkey,” he said.
(With background input from Reuters)
Watch the video interview at the link below
Armenian president’s office says he’s back at work after medical checkup
National Post, Canada
Armenian president’s office says he back at work after medical checkup
Reuters
MOSCOW — Armenia’s president has returned to work after a medical checkup, his office said on Friday, following media reports that said he had been admitted to hospital over COVID-19 complications.
“Armenian President Armen Sarkissian has undergone an examination at the Astghik Medical Center today. The president has already finished the examination and returned to his usual work,” his press office said.
That time before Harry when Meghan messaged Piers and they went out for drinks
Russian news agencies, citing the office, had earlier reported that Sarkissian, 67, was being treated for COVID-19 complications.
The Interfax news agency also cited local media reports saying Sarkissian was undergoing treatment for heart problems.
Sarkissian declined on Thursday to sign a decree on the appointment of a new head of the army’s general staff after Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan sacked the previous chief during a political crisis in which the army urged Pashinyan to resign. (Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Writing by Alexander Marrow; Editing by Timothy Heritage and Gareth Jones)