After the war unleashed against Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) in the fall of 2020 and the signing of the shameful agreement on November 9 of the same year, the government of Armenia and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan became as inaccessible to the media as possible. According to Armenian News-NEWS.am’s information, Pashinyan has instructed his staff not to bother him with both oral and written questions of the media.
Proof of that is the ridiculous response sent to Armenian News-NEWS.am on behalf of Armen Khachatryan, the head of the Information and Public Relations Department of the Prime Minister’s Office.
Back on September 2, Armenian News-NEWS.am, referring to Armenia’s Constitution and the relevant articles of the Freedom of Information Law, had addressed a written request to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to find out whether according to the agreement reached in 2018 between him and the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, the operative connection with the ceasefire violations established between the two countries was restored after November 9, 2020. If so, what is its frequency?
After not receiving a response to the request for information within the timeframe set by law, Armenian News-NEWS.am in mid-September tried to contact Armen Khachatryan, the head of the department, but he left our phone calls unanswered.
At the urging of an employee of the Information and Public Relations Department, we sent the same request again on September 15. Not receiving an answer 24 days after the second attempt, Armenian News-NEWS.am called the department again and reminded about the existence of this inquiry.
Hours after our reminder, we received a letter on behalf of the head of the department, Armen Khachatryan, where it is literally noted: ” Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan reflected on the mentioned question during the question and answer session between the National Assembly and the Government on October 6, and we have nothing to add to the answer voiced by the Prime Minister.”
It turns out that the head of the government’s information and public relations department, who is authorized to liaise the prime minister and his staff with the media, did not want to disturb the prime minister, and waited until the prime minister will use the term “operative link” on one occasion to present it as a response to the media, considering that he has fulfilled his duties.
We have to disappoint Mr. Khachatryan because during the October 6 question and answer session, no MP addressed the question of our concern to the Prime Minister, and the Prime Minister did not address that question either.
At the October 6 sitting, Anna Mkrtchyan, a member of the opposition “With Honor” faction of the National Assembly, only spoke about the fact that Nikol Pashinyan had conceded from Armenia and Artsakh more than one could have imagined on the basis of verbal agreements, and according to the MP, the mentioned operative link serves exclusively for agreements, promises, maybe also for not publishing the information Turks have about him as the blackmailed version.
In response, the prime minister mocked the MP, noting: “That operative link is the head of your faction now. Go to the room with the faction, interrogate him, torture him, let him confess what he agreed upon and with whom. The operative link is absent today, but he is the head of your faction, I want to remind… And be careful, if you go consistently with that persistence, it may turn out that you are in a treacherous circle. Maybe you should leave the faction or remove him from the faction…”
It is at least ridiculous to think that by the wording “operative link is absent today” the Prime Minister meant that there is no operative link between him and Aliyev today. It was not difficult to guess that we are talking about Artur Vanetsyan, the former director of the National Security Service, the current leader of the opposition “With Honor” bloc faction, who was not present that day at the parliament’s question and answer session with the government.
Anyway, we hope that after all this, the head of the department will have the courage to go to the Prime Minister and finally report on the “unpleasant” inquiry addressed to him. Otherwise, it remains to state that the Prime Minister and his staff are in violation of Article 51 of Armenia’s Constitution and Articles 6 and 9 of the Law on Freedom of Information..
It should be noted that according to the Law on Freedom of Information, if the information holder does not have the requested information, or its provision is beyond his/her powers, he/she is obliged to inform the petitioner about it in writing within five days after receiving the written request.
In this case, the information holder not only did not inform that he did not have the information being sought, but by violating the terms of providing the information, he distorted the question raised by us and gave it a meaningless answer. Thus, it should be noted that the attempt of the Prime Minister’s Office to bypass the issue of “operative link” has failed, and this suggests that the Prime Minister and his staff are concealing the fact of an “operative link” with Aliyev.
By the way, today throughout the day Armenian News-NEWS.am did not manage to contact Armen Khachatryan and get clarification on the issue.