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Hosts
Introduction
Hello, and welcome to the Armenian
News Network, Groong, Week in
Review. This Week we’re going to talk about the following major topics:
●
Snap on - June 20th! [RFE/RL]
[168]
●
Gas through Azerbaijan [ArmRadio]
●
Military exercises by Armenia and Azerbaijan [EurasiaNet]
To talk about these issues, we have with us:
David
Davidian, who is a Lecturer at the American University
of Armenia. He has over a decade of experience in technical intelligence
analysis at major high technology firms. David was the first person to use the
internet for Armenian causes.
And
Emil
Sanamyan, who is a senior research
fellow at USC’s Institute of Armenian Studies specializing in politics in the
Caucasus, with a special focus on Azerbaijan.
Topics This Week
Snap On: June 20th
Early election politics
Well after weeks of delays, head of the Barkavaj Hayastan party Gagik Tsarukyan
and prime minister Pashinyan finally met, following
which Pashinyan announced that Armenia will hold
early parliamentary elections on June 20th.
If you’ll recall, Tsarukyan
had said he didn’t want to meet Pashinyan, rather he
wanted him to resign. What changed?
Pashinyan and My
Step had been working on a new electoral reform bill before the snap elections.
It appears that Pashinyan has now backed off from
carrying out those reforms before the elections.
Why were these proposed reforms important enough
to become a matter of horse trading between the ruling party and the
opposition, and finally unlocking the gridlock around the early elections?
Pashinyan: Turkey, Enemies No More?
News of
early elections were positively received in Turkey; Deputy Chairman of the
Foreign Affairs Committee of the Turkish Parliament Ahmet Berat
Çonkar stated that Ankara welcomes Pashinyan's decision on early parliamentary elections in
Armenia. Even Erdogan chimed in on Armenia’s internal affairs saying that the
Armenian people have a right to make their choice.
Meanwhile, Pashinyan has started visiting the regions, probably starting his reelection
campaign. He told the crowds that opening regional communications is good
for Armenia and Azerbaijan. He also
said that Armenia is perceived as an enemy in the region because it perceives
enemies - meaning Turkey and Azerbaijan.
He said: there’s no telling where the starting point of
all this enmity is.
How can Pashinyan not remember where the enmities started? There
are at least 1.5 million reasons.
Gas through Azerbaijan & Energy Security
Aliyev “ready” for open communications
Earlier in the week, Ilham Aliyev also noted
that he’s ready for open communications
with Armenia. This was a day before the Gazprom announcement. A day later
Gazprom announced that gas to Armenia would be re-routed through Azerbaijan,
during the time when the pipeline section going through Georgia is undergoing
maintenance.
The pipeline systems of Armenia and Azerbaijan
are not connected to our knowledge. Is this a test by Russia of Aliyev’s will
to be open and cooperative?
Coincidentally, it was mentioned that the Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant is going offline for 5 months
for repairs around
the same time as the Gazprom rerouting, and he director of
the Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant raised
alarm alluding to the fact that the previously
announced 10-year extension of the operating life for the 2nd bloc of the plant
was at risk, meaning that the plant would cease operation by 2026. This was
followed by more optimistic
news from the Russian side assuring that they will
support the plant until 2036. However, Vardanyan is quoted as saying that the
plans for extension are preliminary.
Armenia does have some strategic reserves for
oil and gas, but can it afford to have this energy dependence on Azerbaijan?
Last year Armenia refused a loan from Russia
related to the 10-year life extension. Why?
Military Exercises by Armenia and Azerbaijan
On March 10th Azerbaijan announced military
exercises to start on March 15th - an unusually short lead time. The drills
were a near repeat of its exercises of May 2020. Probably in response, on March
12th Armenia announced military exercises to start on March 16th.
The exercises are done and thankfully passed
without incident. But what’s the deal with these dueling military exercises?
Don’t these events raise the regional temperature, where the slightest error
could spark clashes? Or is that the point?
Wrap-up
That concludes our program
for This Week in Review episode. We
hope it has helped your understanding of some of the issues from the previous
week. We look forward to your feedback, and your suggestions for issues to
cover in greater depth. Contact us on our website, at groong.org,
or on our Facebook Page “ANN - Groong”,
or in our Facebook Group “Groong - Armenian News Network”.
Special
thanks to Laura Osborn for providing the music for our podcast. On behalf of
everyone in this episode, we wish you a good week. Don’t forget to subscribe to
our channels, Like our pages and follow us on social
media. Thanks for listening and we’ll talk to you next week.
Keywords
Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, Early elections, June 20, Gagik Tsarukyan, Edmon Marukyan, Robert Kocharyan, Elections, Snap Elections, My Step, Bright Armenia, Prosperous Armenia, Nuclear Power Plant, Military Exercises, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Syria, Russia,
Additional: David Davidian, Emil Sanamyan, Ceasefire,
Ceasefire Agreement,