Category: 2021

During a conversation with Armenian News-NEWS.am, Vice-President of the Union of Armenians of Russia Herman Ananyants said a criminal case has been launched against the Azerbaijanis who attacked Armenians at a bar in Tomsk under two articles of the Criminal Code of Russia (incitement of inter-ethnic division and battery).

According to him, the incident, the scenes of which were recently shown, took place at least two weeks ago.

According to Herman Ananyants, after the Azerbaijanis’ attack, three Armenians were transferred to the hospital and are now at home.

“During the fight, the Azerbaijanis made anti-Armenian comments and demanded that the Armenians leave the bar. One of the Azerbaijanis is under arrest and is giving testimony to the investigative body, and another one is wanted, and I’m certain that he will be found. All the participants of the fight are citizens of Russia,” Herman Ananyants said, adding that the situation is under the control of not only the Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia, but also the head of the regional unit of the Union of Armenians of Russia in Tomsk who used to be a colonel of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs.

First President of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan has issued a statement on the statement by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Armenia demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

Armenian News-NEWS.am presents the press release issued by ilur.am.

“I fully understand the frustration of the top command of the military and the position of the army to interfere in the political processes that are beyond its competence, which was caused by the careless attempt of the Prime Minister to throw the blame for his humiliating defeat on the army. Nevertheless, I welcome the military’s moderateness in response to the calls of certain forces to take unconstitutional actions. I assess this behavior as an exemplary manifestation of state mindset of the army’s leadership and sincere aspiration to keep the country from devastating turbulence, and this deserves the sincere gratitude of the entire nation.

At the same time, I consider extremely dangerous and condemnable the irresponsible statements by certain politicians to present military coup as a positive way for the country to recover and substantiate this with successful examples recorded in certain countries (South Korea, Egypt). There are such examples, but there are dozens of more cases when military coups literally led to destruction of statehood and long suffering of the people (Afghanistan, Sudan, Nicaragua, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Libya, Somali, Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, etc.).

Thus, it is the duty of all Armenians to be only guided by this and do everything to make sure Armenia doesn’t become one of those countries.”

YEREVAN. – PM Nikol Pashinyan had instructed his MPs to definitely flop the voting for the election of the new judges of cassation court because he is offended by the demeanor of individual judges who are human rights advocates. Gevorg Petrosyan, an independent MP of the National Assembly of Armenia, told this to a press conference on Monday.

“Since not all judges blindly carry out his will, he places that blame on the chairman of the Supreme Judicial Council [Ruben Vardazaryan], and they have completely forgotten what it is about,” Petrosyan added.

“Nikol Pashinyan says, ‘One of our [the incumbent authorities] mistakes was being loved [by the people].’ Are you loved [by the people]? If you’re loved, why do you walk around with bodyguards? (…). He has committed so many illegal acts during these months that he realizes that once he resigns, they [the law enforcement] will knock on his door and take him away one hour later,” the MP noted.

Also, Petrosyan announced that the ignorant had come to Nikol Pashinyan’s rally last week.

As for Pashinyan’s statement that Onik Gasparyan—chief of the army General Staff—has carried out ex-President Serzh Sargsyan’s order, Pashinyan is embarrassing himself with that. “That is, you are so ‘zero’ that Onik Gasparyan carried out the order of a person who does not hold a position,” Gevorg Petrosyan said.

YEREVAN. – PM Nikol Pashinyan is not responding to Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev, but he wants to intimidate our population by shouting; he says on one of his livestreams: “If you exceed the extent of political statements, I will arrest you.” Armenia’s independent MP Gevorg Petrosyan told this to a press conference on Monday.

“If you [Pashinyan] are such a brave guy, give an answer to Aliyev. He goes to Aliyev, sits down bowing down, [but then] comes here [to Armenia], starts shouting at our people. Who are you to decide the extent of political statements? And says, ‘We will arrest [you].’ With this, he betrays that the law enforcement agencies [of Armenia] are acting under his direct instructions. I am surprised that the Prosecutor General’s Office is unaware of this situation. We have not had such a leader to make such an impudent statement,” Petrosyan added.

And reflecting on the situation after the announcement of the General Staff of the Armed Forces—demanding the resignation of Pashinyan and his government, the lawmaker said: “The army must make a move. Today the only move left is of the army, and we end this ‘game.’ I can say for sure that if the army comes in united fashion, the police will not clash with the army because the police also are disgusted with him [i.e., Pashinyan].”

The first Human Rights Defender (Ombudsperson) of Armenia, Larisa Alaverdyan, has made an appeal to President Armen Sarkissian.

“I insist and call on President Armen Sarkissian to fulfill his constitutional obligations and not to participate in excesses in the country,” Alaverdyan told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

According to Article 123 of the Constitution of Armenia, the President is the head of state and oversees the implementation of the Constitution.

On February 25, the General Staff of the Armed Forces issued a statement calling on the government—led by PM Nikol Pashinyan—to resign.

Subsequently, the PM twice sent to the President the draft decree on the dismissal of the chief of the General Staff, Onik Gasparyan, but the President did not sign it twice.

In the second time, however, the President announced that he was going to petition to the Constitutional Court, but not regarding the draft decree, but to determine the constitutionality of the law on military service.

Lawyers interpret this situation differently, but they agree on one issue: the situation needs to be clarified in connection with the expiry of this petition’s deadline on Tuesday.  

The serving and retired officers of the armed forces of both Armenia and Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) have expressed support to the General Staff.

The President of Armenia is fully responsible for the situation created in the country, and one of the ways to solve the situation is for the head of state to observe the Constitution and apply to the Constitutional Court. This is what coordinator of the opposition Homeland Salvation Movement, representative of the Supreme Body of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun political party Ishkhan Saghatelyan told reporters on Marshal Baghramyan Avenue in Yerevan today, adding this is what the opposition expects from the President and that the opposition always has scenarios.

“We’ll determine our actions according to the situation tomorrow and go in that direction,” he said.

When told that various political parties are having meetings with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to hold snap elections, Saghatelyan said the only item on the opposition’s agenda is Nikol Pashinyan’s resignation. “We’re always ready to meet and discuss the roadmap for his resignation. As far as his calls for snap elections are concerned, in my opinion, Pashinyan doesn’t really want to hold snap elections. Pashinyan wants to distract the people’s attention with this. If Pashinyan is sincere, let him come to parliament, resign and designate snap elections. His decision doesn’t depend on the decision of other parliamentary forces at all. Pashinyan’s party is the ruling party in parliament. If he thinks the parliamentary faction won’t vote for another candidate for Prime Minister, this means Pashinyan’s faction isn’t the majority in parliament and must resign,” Saghatelyan said.