Category: 2022

The Armenian opposition will not end its street protests aimed at ousting PM Nikol Pashinyan and his government, Hayastan alliance MP Ishkhan Saghatelyan, one of the opposition leaders, has reaffirmed.

“if the fight drags on, we should not be disheartened, but rather fix the problems and move forward,” he said, addressing a rally in Yerevan’s France Square on Friday evening.

“If the battle drags on during the war, we suffer losses and some even flee the battlefield, it does not mean that we should lay down our arms and surrender. On the contrary, we need to regroup, mobilize our forces, prepare for a prolonged struggle and pursue victory,” Saghatelyan said.

He reiterated that the opposition would go back to the Armenian parliament only with its own agenda.

“I must once again repeat what I’ve been saying for the past three months: if the opposition returns to the parliament, it will do so only with its own agenda set by the people,” Saghatelyan said.

“The agenda is crystal clear: Nikol’s removal, efforts to counter threats facing Armenia and Artsakh and initiatives to solve pressing issues.”

He dismissed as “blackmail” the threats of the ruling Civil Contract faction MPs to strip opposition deputies of their seats, saying the ruling team “cannot draw us into its anti-national conspiracies through blackmail.”

“To put it simply, the Armenian people, unfortunately, have no platform for expressing their common will other than this square. There is no alternative to our struggle in the streets at this point,” Saghatelyan stated.

The Armenian opposition will hold its next anti-government rally in Yerevan on September 2, marked as Independence Day in Artsakh, opposition leader Ishkhan Saghatelyan said on Friday.

“Rallies and other events are scheduled to be held in Artsakh on the same day,” he said, addressing protesters in France Square.

No rallies are likely to be held in the Armenian capital in August, Saghatelyan said, adding next month the opposition plans to continue visits to Armenia’s regions where it has already set up councils.

The resistance movement also plans to hold a “pan-Armenian” forum in Yerevan in mid-August, which is expected to bring together famous political figures and intellectuals from Armenia, Artsakh and the Diaspora.

The shots fired at the houses in Artsakh’s Taghavard and Karmir Shuka villages and other ceasefire violations by the Azerbaijani military in recent days confirm that the Azerbaijan leadership will not change its policy of hatred, physical and psychological violence against Armenians in the foreseeable future, Artsakh’s State Minister Artak Beglaryan said in a social media post on Friday.

“No matter how much the Azerbaijani authorities play at being peaceful and civil, they still openly continue their policy of Armenophobia and aggression aimed at evicting Armenians from Artsakh and humiliating the Armenian statehood and all Armenians,” he wrote on Telegram.

“As long as the Azerbaijani authorities and people are not ready for a real and dignified dialogue and peace for all sides, the conflict cannot be resolved and there cannot be long-term stability in the region.

“There is no alternative to recognizing and defending the right of the Artsakh people to self-determination, because we are the masters of our fate in our homeland, and this is the only way to prevent a new genocide in the world,” Beglaryan said.

A former senior officer who held the post of commander in the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) Defense Army during the 2020 war has been arrested, Armenia’s Investigative Committee said in a statement on Saturday,

The colonel, identified only by his initials as S.A., violated the rules of combat duty established by a number of normative legal acts, the law enforcement agency said.

In particular, on September 26, 2020, he organized a feast to mark the formation of the military unit with the participation of around 100 officers. The commanders of the subordinate units on combat duty alerted him about the Azerbaijani build-up of manpower and equipment on the Artsakh border, which indicated a dramatic increase in the risk of the outbreak of hostilities. However, the colonel did not put the troops on high alert.

Moreover, from 6:10am on 27 September he was informed about the advance of Azerbaijani tanks and armored vehicles towards the frontline, but “continued to show inaction and failed to fulfill the powers and duties assigned to him by law”, the Investigative Committee said.

"Under these conditions, on September 27, 2020, at around 7:10am, the Azerbaijani military launched a large-scale attack along the defense line and in the following hours broke through the defense of a number of combat positions, inflicting heavy losses on the Armenian troops․.. As a result, the entire personnel of the military unit was forced to retreat, while the villages of Talish and Mataghis of the Martakert region fell under the control of the enemy,” reads the statement.

S.A. has been charged with violating the rules of combat duty or combat service during martial law, war or in a combat situation under Article 365 (Part 3) of the Criminal Code. He was placed under arrest on July 29.

The investigation is underway.