After six weeks of protests, the opposition closes its tent camp in central Yerevan

The participants of the protest action, held in central Yerevan since late April, have rolled up their tents and will now join the activists seeking the resignation of Nikol Pashinyan in their street protests.

Ishkhan Sagatelyan, an oppositional MP and a Vice-Speaker of the Armenian

0Parliament said that the tent camp had fulfilled its mission, and now the activists will act according to the new strategy. The opposition will try with all its efforts to disrupt the conclusion of a peace treaty of the Pashinyan’s government with Azerbaijani authorities, Mr Sagatelyan has added.

The opposition will regularly hold street actions, rallies, marches and discussions; it will set up its subdivisions, including in Nagorno-Karabakh. According to the oppositionist, the main issue – the removal of Nikol Pashinyan from power – remains unresolved, but over these months, the movement has had serious achievements.

According to him, before the street struggle, only “the voice of defeat and compromise” was heard from Armenia, which was also noticed by the international community: “The Armenian people have shown that the current government does not have a mandate for new concessions”.

Saghatelyan assured that the international community heard the opposition’s approach. The oppositionist called this circumstance a historical achievement:
“No matter how much [the authorities] try to ignore it, this movement is discussed at the highest level. They no longer think they can do whatever they want with Armenia,” said Sagatelyan as cited by JAM News.

However, as the Caucasian Knot writes, experts believe the protest movement has no broad public support. The movement has reached a critical point, Armen Badalyan, a political strategist, stated on June 13. He believed that coordinators made tactical mistakes, and since May 4-5, the actions have been going on by inertia. Opposition supporters have been holding protests in Armenia since April 25; mass detentions and clashes accompanied them. The most significant incident occurred on June 3 in Yerevan, when 39 policemen and 21 demonstrators received trauma.

Sources:

• JAM News, „‘We did not give up‘: Armenian opposition changes its tactics after over a month of protests“, https://jam-news.net/we-did-not-give-up-armenian-opposition-changes-its-tactics-after-over-a-month-of-protests/
• Caucasian Knot, Opposition closes its tent camp in central Yerevan, https://www.eng.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/60438/
• Caucasian Knot, “Armenian political analysts note the absence of public support of opposition”, https://www.eng.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/60416/

Armenia‘s parliament opposition faction leader gives up a seat in the legislature

Arthur Vanetsyan, the head of the “I have the honour” oppositional parliamentary faction, has announced his resignation of his parliamentary powers and the withdrawal of his “Fatherland” Party from the Parliament, reports Caucasian Knot. According to his version, the Parliament can no longer defend the interests of Armenia and de facto Nagorno-Karabakh.

“Today, in the manner prescribed by law, I have submitted a petition to resign from my parliamentary mandate (…). The reason is obvious: Armenian citizens had voted for us to stop the destructive activities of these authorities and to bring the country out of the disaster. However, in my opinion, this Parliament has ceased to be an effective platform for achieving the goal,” said Vanetsyan, as cited by News.am.

He added that the Board of the Homeland Party had decided to continue its activities outside the Parliament. “By the decision of the party, the “With Honor” bloc we formed with the [former ruling] RPA [party] (…) [hereby] de jure and de facto ceases to exist,” he said. As News.am writes, the next candidate on the “With Honor “bloc’s electoral list is former MP Martun Grigoryan. It is unknown whether he will take the mandate or not.

Sources:

• Caucasian knot, „Head of opposition faction in Armenian Parliament denies his mandate“,
  https://www.eng.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/60510/
• News.am, „Armenia parliament opposition faction leader gives up a seat in the legislature“, https://news.am/eng/news/708286.html
• News.am, „Who will replace Artur Vanetsyan in Armenian Parliament?“, https://news.am/eng/news/708322.html

Construction of the tallest statue of Christ suspended shortly after the groundbreaking ceremony

The ceremony for the construction of the statue-complex of Jesus Christ was held on the top of Hatis Mountain in Armenia on July 9. The statue itself would be 33 meters tall, and with the pedestal, 77 meters – more than double the height of Rio de Janeiro’s Christ the Redeemer statue, becoming the tallest statue of the saviour in the world.

The tycoon and former opposition leader Gagik Tsarukyan announced his plan to build the statue earlier this year. Attending the ceremony were Economy Minister Vahan Kerobyan and Secretary-General of the World Tourism Organization Zurab Pololikashvili. “It was with excitement that I witnessed the groundbreaking ceremony for the installation of the statue of Christ in Armenia,” Pololikashvili said in a Twitter post.

He thanked the Minister of Economy of Armenia, Vahan Kerobyan, and Tsarukyan for the invitation. The Armenian government at first greenlighted the project, with the Armenian PM claiming it would attract more tourists to Armenia. But the culture ministry had other ideas. On July 10, it said that Tsarukyan’s charity foundation had never responded to queries it had sent about the statue’s proposed location and that the proposal would have to be reviewed in light of Armenia’s law on the protection of historical sites. The next day, the environment ministry announced that construction had been suspended. The same day, the Ministry of the Environment reported that it had not received the paperwork from Tsarukyan’s foundation required for its approval, as well.

The Hatis Mountain is the site of some 20 sites registered in Armenia’s list of cultural and historical monuments that are protected by the law, including a Bronze-Iron Age fortress discovered in 2019. But Tsarukyan owns 146 hectares of land on the mountain, which he bought in 2008, including the top of the mountain on which the statue is to be built.

Sources:

• MEJLUMYAN Ani, Eurasianet.org, „Construction of massive Jesus statue in Armenia suspended“, https://eurasianet.org/construction-of-massive-jesus-statue-in-armenia-suspended
• GHAZANCHYAN Sirubash, Public Radio of Armenia, „Ground was broken for Jesus Christ statue in Armenia“, https://en.armradio.am/2022/07/10/ground-broken-for-jesus-christ-statue-in-armenia/

Armenia moves to bolster government control of the military

Armenia’s National Assembly voted 58-0 on July 7. to pass amendments to the country’s defence law that restructure the Defense Ministry’s leadership structure. The changes, which Defense Minister Suren Papikyan announced last month, would see the chief of the general staff, who oversees the army, serve automatically as the first deputy minister of defence as well, writes Civilnet.am

In most Armenian government agencies, the first deputy minister will take over for the minister in the case of their absence, but the new amendments specifically prohibit this in the Defense Ministry.

Only lawmakers from the ruling Civil Contract party were present at the vote, but the party has enough seats to push bills through Parliament without any support from the opposition, which has been boycotting legislative sessions since April.
Papikyan has presented the changes as a way to streamline and simplify the structure of Armenia’s military. In contrast, the opposition has decried the move as an effort by the government to exert greater control over the army.

Eurasianet.org reminds us that the move comes a year after the military leadership called on Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to resign in the aftermath of the 2020 war defeat to Azerbaijan, in what Pashinyan called a “coup attempt.”
“The armed forces must report to the defence minister and the commander-in-chief,” Defense Minister Suren Papikyan told the members of Parliament.

Pashinyan promised a significant military reform shortly after the 2020 defeat, but this is the first considerable restructuring. It appears to be motivated by the events of February 2021, when dozens of high-ranking officers, including the chief of staff of the armed forces Onik Gasparyan, called on Pashinyan to resign.

Pashinyan ultimately dismissed Gasparyan and more than 40 other officers, but it was the sharpest moment in the long-running political crisis he has faced since 2020. Armenia has gone without a chief of the general staff since then.

Sources:

• MEJLUMYAN Ani, Eurasianet.org, „Armenia moves to bolster government control of the military“, https://eurasianet.org/armenia-moves-to-bolster-government-control-of-military
• DOVICH Mark, Civilnet.am, “Armenia’s Parliament approves Defense Ministry restructuring“, https://www.civilnet.am/en/news/667414/armenias-parliament-approves-defense-ministry-restructuring/

Azerbaijan’s religious prisoners start hunger strike

On June 3, Azerbaijan’s most prominent religious-political prisoner Taleh Baghirzade started a hunger strike, with several other members of his group joining in. They are protesting what they describe as police abuse and blasphemy, writes Eurasianet.org.

In a letter from prison in Gobustan, where he is serving a 20-year sentence, Baghirzada demanded that police stop “cursing God while torturing citizens.”
That appeared to refer to two members of the movement who reported that police had beaten them while in custody on May 20. “They pushed me onto the ground with my face down and started kicking me in the head,” one of the men, Suleyman Alakbarov, told news outlet Vetenugrunda.az. “Then they started jumping up and down on my back. They were swearing with the ugliest words. They were also cursing God,” he recalled, as cited by Eurasianet.org.

Muslim Unity Movement’s Razi Abbasov, who was sentenced on May 20 to six years in prison on drug charges, also said police officers had insulted God as they tortured him. Five more members of the group were detained outside the hearing, with three of them sentenced to 30 days in prison on charges of resisting police. They also claimed to have been tortured while in police custody.

On June 18, three more religious activists from Azerbaijan’s second-largest city, Sumgayit, were detained after writing graffiti on a wall calling for the police officers who insulted God to be punished. During a live broadcast on YouTube on June 19, Elgiz Mammadov, a member of the Muslim Unity religious movement who was detained a month ago and later released, stated that he was raped while being detained by police.

In his letter, Baghirzada – who was convicted in 2017 on charges including plotting to overthrow the government – said he would not stop the hunger strike until every officer involved in the episode was punished. As Eurasianet.org reminds us, the Azerbaijani government has been for years steadily increasing its control of Islamic practices in Azerbaijan. Religious activists have long been thought to pose a political threat potentially more serious than that of the secular opposition.  At the same time, the government continues to dabble in Islamic piety when it is politically convenient.

On June 9, India’s Ambassador to Baku was summoned to Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry over some remarks about the prophet Muhammad by an Indian official. “It was noted that the Islamophobic position shown by Indian officials affected the feelings of Muslims around the world, and the Indian ambassador was informed that Azerbaijan condemned this behaviour,” the ministry said in a statement.

Sources:

• ISAYEV Heydar, Eurasianet.org, Azerbaijan’s religious prisoners start hunger strike
• AGHAYEV Ismi, OC Media, “Hunger strike of Azerbaijani religious leader continues“,
  https://oc-media.org/hunger-strike-of-azerbaijani-religious-leader-continues/
• JAM News, „Azerbaijani Muslim Unity member, claims he was raped by police while in detention“, https://jam-news.net/azerbaijani-muslim-unity-member-claims-he-was-raped-by-police-while-in-detention/
• Caucasian Knot, Human rights defenders: religious activists in Azerbaijan punished too severely, https://www.eng.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/60506/

The EU Commission recommends denying Georgia candidate status

On June 17, the European Commission recommended that Georgia be denied EU candidate status later that month, stating that Ukraine and Moldova should be offered immediate candidacy to join the bloc. The commission has recommended that Georgia gain a “European perspective” and be admitted as a formal candidate for European Union membership once it fulfils certain conditions.

Announcing the decision, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the decision was based on a number of political and economic criteria. She said Georgia’s application had “strength” and that its application could be reassessed in the future if the country met a number of criteria.

“The sooner you deliver, the sooner there is progress”, she said in an address to Georgia. “Therefore, it is in Georgia’s hands to speed up and be clear.” She said Ukraine was a “robust presidential-parliamentary democracy” while praising Moldova’s “decisive step towards reforms”. Von der Leyen said that Ukraine and Moldova would still need to carry out a number of reforms in parallel to their candidacy.

Ruling Georgian Dream party chairperson Irakli Kobakhidze has pledged that the government would “do everything” needed to improve its democratic institutions and join the European Union in response to the European Commission’s Opinion today, which recommended that Georgia should meet conditions before being granted a candidate status.

However, citing recent remarks by French President Emmanuel Macron, MP Kobakhidze laid blame on geography rather than the country’s democratic performance for failing to immediately obtain candidate status, unlike Ukraine and Moldova. He expressed hopes that geography would “no longer be a reason for Georgia to be denied candidate status or membership status.”

Albeit noting that “candidate status does not give a country any financial or other material privileges,” MP Kobakhidze emphasised that “not receiving the status at this stage is, to some extent, disappointing for us.” MP Kobakhidze said against the backdrop of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as well as subsequent economic and humanitarian consequences for its neighbouring Moldova, the two countries received candidate status as a “small incentive” from the European Union.

“We understand, however, that Georgia, unlike Ukraine, and even Moldova, has not made the necessary sacrifices to obtain this status today. We understand that the sacrifices and bloodshed 14 years ago [meaning Russo-Georgian War of 2008 – editor] and even 30 years ago and 300,000 IDPs, unfortunately, have already lost their relevance for our European partners.”
Asked whether the ruling party would take responsibility for carrying out the reforms recommended by the Commission, MP Kobakhidze said the outlined requirements coincide with existing conditions in the Association Agreement, which the government had already taken responsibility for. “Relevant reforms will be implemented according to each of these points,” he said, as cited by civil.ge.

Local opposition, on the hand, criticised the government for being responsible for not getting the status. “The West made it clear that its door remains open, and we can knock at it once the commitment to “de-oligarchization” is fulfilled. Do you put up with the oligarch? Do you want to see Bidzina Ivanishvili’s personal guards who do not care about the state interests in top positions? Then, it’s up to you to decide… This government has no will to implement successful democratic reforms… It is naïve to think that the oligarch will give up his levers unless Georgian people express its firm will…” claimed Nika Melia from United National Movement.

MP Giorgi Vashadze, Strategy Agmashenebeli, said that opposition and civil society had worked hard “to prevent the door from closing for Georgia “. He also called on people to take part in the demonstration on July 20. On July 24. the European Council granted Ukraine and Moldova the membership candidate status, while Georgia was granted a “European perspective”. Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova jointly applied for EU membership. Georgia applied for EU membership on March 3. All three countries filled out the EU questionnaires, where they answered more than 3,000 questions.

On July 13, The European Commission decided to push back re-examining Georgia’s membership application until next year in order to give the country sufficient time to work on implementing reforms. The decision was announced by Michael Rupp, the European Commission’s representative at the European Parliament, during a session on Georgia’s implementation of the Association Agreement. The tentative deadline was originally understood to be December.

Sources:

• GABRITCHIDZE Nino, Eurasianet.org, „Georgia recommended for EU candidacy, but with conditions“, https://eurasianet.org/georgia-recommended-for-eu-candidacy-but-with-conditions
• OC Media, „EU Commission recommends denying Georgia candidate status“, https://oc-media.org/eu-commission-recommends-denying-georgia-eu-candidate-status/
• KINCHA Shota, OC Media, EU pushes back re-examining Georgia’s candidacy until 2023, https://oc-media.org/eu-pushes-back-re-examining-georgias-candidacy-until-2023/
• Jam News, „Georgian government: Geographic location prevented us from obtaining EU candidate status“, https://jam-news.net/georgian-government-geographic-location-prevented-us-from-obtaining-eu-candidate-status/
• Civil.ge, “Georgian Dream Reacts to Commission’s Opinion“, https://civil.ge/archives/496673
• Civil.ge, „Georgian Opposition Reacts to EU Commission’s Opinion“, https://civil.ge/archives/496798
• Agenda.ge, “PM highlights ‘historic day‘ as European Council recognises country’s European perspective“, https://agenda.ge/en/news/2022/2409