Armenian
News Network / Groong
Guests
Hosts
Introduction
Hello,
and welcome to the Armenian News Network, Groong,
Week in Review. This show was recorded on Monday, May 2, 2022.
This
week Hovik Manucharyan and I will talk about the following major topics:
Here
are this week’s major topics:
● “Peace Agenda” in Motion
● It’s not the Crime, it’s the Cover-Up
● Opposition Initiates Civil Disobedience
● What a Nice PM Armenia Has! 🤥
To talk about
these issues, we have with us:
Tevan
Poghosyan, who is
president of the International Center for Human Development. Mr. Poghosyan was
an MP in the National Assembly between 2012 and 2017 from the Heritage party.
From 1997 to 1999 he served as the Nagorno-Karabakh Public Affairs Office
Director in Washington, D.C.
Hello and welcome back to our
show Tevan
Topics This Week
This week the
opposition to Nikol Pashinyan moved their struggle to
the streets, commencing a series of actions that included student walkouts,
strikes, as well as other types of civil disobedience. The news is replete with
instances of police brutality against the protesters, which we’ll cover later
in the show. For now, let’s begin with the issues that are the cause for the
opposition’s revolt.
“Peace Agenda” in Motion
Azerbaijan-Armenia “Peace Deal”
After the
trilateral meeting in Moscow in November of 2021, by Putin, Pashinyan and
Aliyev, and later in April ‘22 by Charles Michel, Pashinyan and Aliyev, a
commitment was made to establish a border demarcation commission and sign a
peace agreement. Russian FM Sergey Lavrov is now planning to host a meeting of the Armenian and
Azerbaijani FMs in Mid-May, on the sidelines of a EAEU summit in Dushanbe,
Tajikistan.
Over the past
month, the outlines of the so-called “peace agreement” are beginning to emerge
as PM Pashinyan’s speech in parliament hinted at signing an agreement that
recognizes Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, leaving Artsakh within it. The
EU, NATO, Turkey and Azerbaijan have been raising the
pressure on Armenia to accept this solution, with the EU promising to talk with
Azerbaijan about undefined accommodations for the Armenians of Artsakh to
remain in their homeland, only AFTER the agreement is signed.
Aliyev has been
saying that he wants Maps of 1918 or before to be used for border demarcation.
According to him, Syunik and Yerevan were Azerbaijani lands back then. FM
Mirzoyan has asked
why we should limit ourselves with 20th century maps, Armenians would be OK
using maps of the 5th Century, or 1st Century BC, or even 2nd Century AD…
● What considerations are floating around in the
Armenian Azerbaijani negotiations?
● NSC chair Armen Grigoryan
will meet Hikmet Hajiyev today. What will be discussed?
Turkey has been
dangling the carrot of opening the border and establishing diplomatic relations
with Armenia, but it’s clearly delaying, to see Armenia sign a full
capitulation to Azerbaijan. And the US has been lobbying Azerbaijan to not cause border escalations, in order for Armenia to feel safe enough to
sign the agreements. Meanwhile, Russia’s approach has been more nuanced; while
outwardly supporting the process, yet hinting for Armenia to conduct a more
thorough process that achieves a more balanced agreement, including keeping
Russian forces in Artsakh indefinitely.
After Pashinyan’s
return from Moscow to Yerevan, on April 28, Maria Zakharova said in a press
conference that there are “principled disagreements” between Armenia and
Azerbaijan on the status of Artsakh.
● This seems to be the first time that such a
disagreement was highlighted by Russia. Last week, on our podcast Benyamin
Poghosyan said that the EU & the West are interested in pressuring Armenia
to sign a so-called peace deal with Azerbaijan, while Russia is not interested
in an urgent signing. Do you agree with Benyamin and is this another
manifestation of Russia’s policy?
● What are these “principled disagreements”?
Pashinyan Meets Artsakh President
This past week Pashinyan also met with Arayik Harutyunyan, the president of Artsakh Republic, to explain
that his “peace agenda” is actually good for the people of Artsakh. This was
probably necessitated by the strong rebuke Pashinyan’s parliamentary speech
received earlier in April from the legislature of Artsakh.
After the meeting
Harutyunyan stated that he supported the “peace agenda”, but that Artsakh would
not deviate from the path of self-determination.
● What does this mean?
Turkish FM claims deal on Armenia-Turkey border has been reached
In conjunction
with negotiating with Aliyev, the Pashinyan administration seems to be inching
closer to a warming of relations with Turkey. Today, Turkey’s FM Cavusoglu said
that an agreement with Armenia has been reached on the demarcation of the
Armenia-Turkish border, without specifying details.
While Armenia has
not openly challenged the mutual border with Turkey and there is a Turkey-USSR
officially recognized border, Turkey has in the past called for the Republic of
Armenia to officially recognize and sign the Treaty of Kars as a precondition
to establishing diplomatic relations. And, if we are to believe the words of
Cavusoglu, Armenia is set to accept yet another precondition, meanwhile loudly
proclaiming that there are no preconditions.
It’s not the Crime, It’s the Cover-Up
On Wednesday,
April 27th, PM Pashinyan’s motorcade left his residence and made its way in a
giant, police-facilitated hurry towards the National Assembly. Only a few
hundred meters later, near the corner of Leo-Baronyan
and Broshyan streets, one of the cars in his
motorcade hit a woman, Sona Mnatsakanyan, who was
crossing the street with the right of way.
None of the cars
in the motorcade stopped. 28-year-old Sona Mnatsakanyan
was shortly rushed to the hospital, which was only half a kilometer away, but died of her injuries. She was married, and pregnant with her first
child. She was one of the founders of the charity organization “Support Our
Heroes” and was managing projects being implemented in Artsakh.
How did the Prime
Minister react?
First, the
motorcade made no effort to stop, they sped away to the PM’s meeting.
Reportedly the meeting was later interrupted with news of the death from the
hospital. Armenian law requires everyone involved in such an accident to stop
and deal with it. Ironically, Pashinyan has claimed as one of his achievements
that his motorcade observes Armenian traffic laws! Not a single car in the
motorcade stopped to help the dying victim.
Second, the PM’s
office made excuses
why they didn’t stop. The PM’s deputy chief of staff, Taron Chakhoyan said that
the PM didn’t know at the moment what had happened, but later gave appropriate
instructions. About why the car involved in the accident didn’t stop to deal
with the situation, it was apparently because it would have stopped the entire
motorcade, obstructed traffic and delayed the
ambulance.
This
administration is notorious for consistently pointing blame away from itself
and for its complete disregard for the pain it has inflicted on the people. In
the case of this accident, ridiculous and unimportant concerns like causing a
traffic jam may have taken precedence over the crucial first response minutes
that might have saved Sona Mnatsakanyan’s life.
This case is
exemplary of the bad decision-making endemic to this Pashinyan government, who
hasn’t felt the pain or taken responsibility for the 5000 Armenians who
perished in the war a year and a half ago and has not resigned for losing the
war.
One wonders:
could Pashinyan stand in the middle of Broshyan Ave
and shoot somebody, and not lose voters?
Terrible and
tragic accidents happen, and they take wonderful people away. We grieve for the
loss of this bright young lady, with her family.
Opposition Initiates Civil Disobedience
Meanwhile, the
opposition protests seem to be gathering steam now going on to their 7th or 8th day of street demonstrations demanding
the resignation of the government. Needless to say the
behavior of the government has further incensed and fired up the opposition
groups. Armenian police report that more than 200 people have been detained
just today.
● What is your take on this event?
● How would you evaluate the ruling party’s response?
On Tuesday, parents and relatives of the fallen soldiers in the war in
2020 were out on the streets of Yerevan, protesting Pashinyan’s statements in
parliament in April. He had said that Armenia could have averted the war, “as a result of which we would
have had the same situation, but of course without the casualties.”
What a Nice
PM Armenia Has 🤥
Note: We didn’t have time to get to this topic
during the show. However, Hovik discussed it with Ruben Melikyan, during an ANN/Groong Twitter Space
conversation after the show, Live from France Square in Yerevan.
This week the
constitutional court upheld a 2021 law that made it illegal to “insult” Armenia officials and public figures. The
former HR Ombudsman, Arman Tatoyan, asked the court to review the law, and the
appeal was rejected.
Dozens of people
have been arrested, most of them for insulting PM Pashinyan. Since most of them
are not journalists, the prosecutors have argued that the law is not infringing
on the free press.
● What is the effect that this law is having on
society? The Press?
● How has the international community reacted to
this law?
● How does this compare to Turkey’s Article 300,
“Insulting Turkishness” law?
Wrap-up
That
was our Week in Review show, and we hope it helped you catch up with
some of the issues in and around Armenia from this past week. As always, we
invite your feedback and your suggestions. You can find us on most social media
and podcast platforms, or our website Groong.org.
Thanks
to Laura Osborn for the music on our podcasts. Don’t forget to subscribe to our
channel on YouTube, Like
our pages and follow us on social media. On behalf of everyone in this episode,
we wish you a good week, thanks for listening and we’ll talk to you next week.
Groong
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Keywords
Tevan Poghosyan, Ruben Melikyan, Sona Mnatsakanyan,
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Yerevan, Protests, Civil Disobedience, Russia,
Borders, Border Demarcation, Peace Agenda, Agenda of Peace, Peace Agreement,
Rearming, Military reform, Press Freedoms, EU, European Union, Criminalization
of Insults, Freedom of Speech, Motorcade,