Category: 2021

Armenia’s opposition Homeland Salvation Movement has announced a new protest march in Yerevan on Tuesday evening.

In a statement, the coalition of 17 parties said the march will start from the area close to Aram Manoukian statue in downtown Yerevan at 6pm.

“We urge citizens to take an active part in the protest, which should be an adequate response to the police brutality against activists protesting outside the third government building today, injuries inflicted on citizens and unjustified detentions,” the statement said. 

Expert in international studies Suren Sargsyan says the U.S. may impose sanctions on Armenia after U.S.-made Boeing 737 aircraft, which was bound for Yerevan, ended up in Iran under yet unclear circumstances.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Civil Aviation Committee of Armenia said it has not received any confirmed information that the aircraft registered in Armenia “has been hijacked halfway”, as some reports suggest.

“The aircraft may have been hijacked but the committee is not aware of it,” Sargsyan wrote on Facebook, adding a probe into the circumstance of the incident is underway.

“Clear actions by the U.S. against Armenia, including sanctions, are not ruled out in the wake of the incident,” he said.

Sargsyan suggested returning the plane to Armenia and holding those responsible to account to avoid the possible negative consequences.

“In general, we should not interfere in confrontations of the superpowers at all and should maintain neutrality, especially when both are friendly states,” the expert said. 

A group of people, including political scientists and NGO representatives, on Tuesday held a rally outside the National Security Service of Armenia (NSS) in support of Ara Saghatelyan, a former chief of staff of the National Assembly, who has been placed under a two-month arrest in compliance with a court ruling.

Political scientist, head of the Voskanapat Analytical Center Hrant Melik-Shahnazaryan told reporters that they have gathered outside the building of the law enforcement agency to show both the public and the NSS investigators who Ara Saghatelyan is and how he counteracted the Azerbaijani propaganda machine to make Armenia’s position clear and accessible to all those dealing with the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

“We have brought materials which we will hand over to the NSS so that they understand who they are dealing with. I deeply regret that the agency intended to ensure security, leaving aside the issues of national security, actually serves the traitor and makes every effort to complete the betrayal started by Nikol Pashinyan in regard to the Artsakh issue,” he said.

According to Melik-Shahnazaryan, people who can offer pro-Armenian solutions in the current situation are factually isolated.

The political scientist strongly believes that Nikol Pashinyan has a plan and is consistently implementing it.

“He did everything possible to pave the way for our defeat in the war and the surrender of our homeland to the enemy. He signed documents, which will make it difficult to rectify the situation. Now he orders arrests of people who did their best for the Artsakh issue to be properly covered by the international media,” he said.

The political scientist stated that during the 2020 Artsakh war, when Ara Saghatelyan worked with foreign media representatives in Stepanakert, coordinating their work and using his personal ties and opportunities, the NSS wiretapped his phone calls.

“Let me bring an example: Saghatelyan managed to change the situation overnight amid the anti-Armenian propaganda in the Ukrainian media from the first days of the war. He did his best to change the situation in our favor. On these very days, the NSS wiretapped Saghatelyan’s phone calls, but failed to find anything,” Melik-Shahnazaryan said. 

Police officers pushed Sputnik Armenia photographer Aram Nersesyan to the ground while detaining opposition activists during a protest organized by the opposition Homeland Salvation Movement in Yerevan on Tuesday morning.

As reported earlier, police used brute force on the activists at the protest against PM Nikol Pashinyan outside the third government building, with reporters covering the civil disobedience act also being affected in the process.

Photos released by reporter Aksanna Hayrapetyan show photographer Aram Nersesyan lying on the ground. Fortunately, he suffered no injuries. 

Employees of Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS) met with participants in a rally held in front of the NSS building on Tuesday in support of arrested former senior parliament staffer Ara Saghatelyan and asked them to hand over the books placed in front of the entrance of the building to the NSS reception.

One of the participants, political scientist Armen Minasyan, told reporters that the protest action was successful in some sense.

“You all know who Ara Saghatelyan is. Those gathered here are members of a team that took efforts to counteract the Azerbaijani propaganda, and led by Saghatelyan, carried out a great deal of work. It might sound kind of immodest, but I can say that we are talking about a person who won the information war against Azerbaijan before, during and after the April 2016 war,” said Armen Minasyan, who is an author and co-author of films exposing Azerbaijani lies.

Minasyan stressed that the rally is aimed to show that Ara Saghatelyan is the last person to be accused of negatively influencing the war. He considers it absurd that Saghatelyan is being accused of Armenia’s defeat in the recent Artsakh war. 

“Some act which has had a negative impact on the recent war is ascribed to him. The absurdity has reached the point where after assessing the outcomes of the war, the authorities decided that Ara Saghatelyan was to blame for the defeat. As if it was he who ordered the transfer of servicemen to frontlines by trucks, with the latter being killed in Bayraktar drone attacks halfway. We have ended up in this situation. Today a man has been arrested who, by his very nature and biography, cannot be accused of what he is being accused of,” he said.

Armen Minasyan, who was the deputy head of the Public Relations and Information Center SNCO during Saghatelyan’s tenure, noted that in those years a large analytical base was created, valuable books were published, films and websites were created that exposed the lies of the Azerbaijani propaganda. The materials collected and published by the center were used by the Foreign Ministry.

“They were also used by the current authorities, but this is what we got,” he said.

“There is a real risk that the Armenian economy may occur on the brink of default,” Armenia’s former Ambassador to the Holy See Mikayel Minasyan wrote on his Telegram channel, commenting on the current state of affairs in economy. “The service of foreign debt is increasing day by day with higher loan repayment rates. This means, Armenia will be unable to not only borrow new debt, but international financial institutions may also request direct control of the country’s economy,” according to Minasyan.  

“A month ago, the government issued new Eurobond worth $750 million, thus increasing the public debt by 10%. These funds were envisaged to spend on economic activity and growth, increase the GDP, but as it turned out, the funds were envisaged to pay salaries and  bonuses to officials. After the change of the power in Armenia, the country’s national debt rose by 2.3 billion USD. By the end of the year, the state debt will exceed the established ceiling and reach 70% percent of GDP,” Minasyan wrote.

The former Ambassador reminded that the Armenian legislation establishes debt ceiling of 60% of GDP, while at present the state debt is around 65-66% of GDP. In his words, the national debt has thus crossed the established upper level of the debt.

Minasyan also reminded that 70% of the total debt is in foreign currency which poses another risk as the exchange rates are fluctuating. “At present, every citizen of the Republic of Armenia has a real debt of 2,960 USD. The citizens of Armenia pay a high price for  Nikol’s mistakes, including financially. They pay high price in place of their children, leaving huge debts and a country with uncompetitive economy to future generations,” Minasyan concluded. 

A protest march demanding the resignation of Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan kicked off in Yerevan on Tuesday evening.

The march, organized by the opposition Homeland Salvation Movement, started from the area close to Aram Manoukian statue in downtown Yerevan at 6pm.

Earlier on Tuesday, opposition activists gathered in front of the 3rd government complex to prevent Pashinyan from entering the building. The premier managed to enter the building amid the chants “Traitor!”.

Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF, Dashnaktsutyun) Supreme Council of Armenia member Ishkhan Saghatelyan announced during the protest that they were to march to the buildings of the National Security Service and Police of Armenia.

“Everything is crystal clear; we will not allow Nikol Pashinyan to establish dictatorship in our country relying on the police support. We will not allow dictatorship of one man to be established in our country through state terror. Dear police officers, I appeal to you, wake up, do not serve the madman, do not fulfil the illegal orders of the madman, stand by the people to save our country!” Saghatelyan said.

Drivers expressed support to protesters through signals as they reached Koryun Street. Ishkhan Saghatelyan said that in parallel to the march opposition activists blocked traffic on some streets in Yerevan in an act of disobedience.

The participants of the march reached the police building with large police forces deployed in the area. Opposition politicians laid flowers in front of the statue near the building.

“Police have become a tool of the current authorities to pressure its citizens and use violence against them,” Saghatelyan said, condemning the police brutality against protesters earlier today and stating that they will be held to account.

Also, he read out the names of the police officers who had committed illegal actions during the protest. Ishkhan Saghatelyan called on policemen not to abide by illegal orders.