Armenian protesters Archives

Nikol Pashinyan A moment in Armenian History

Thousands of people rallied in Armenia’s capital on Wednesday to protest the election of former president Serjik Sargsyan as prime minister, viewed by the opposition as a power grab.

Police detained dozens of protesters who sought to block one of Yerevan’s major thoroughfares, an AFP reporter said.

Activists also massed outside Sarkisian’s residence earlier on Wednesday. They were protesting against the 63-year-old’s election to the post of prime minister after a decade serving as president from 2008.

Parliament voted in Sarkisian as prime minister on Tuesday, sparking the largest protest in Armenia in years, with tens of thousands taking to the streets.

Heeding a call from opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan, protesters had held rallies over recent days to denounce a change in the political system that they say is a bid to ensure Sarkisian can remain in power.

A constitutional amendment approved in 2015 has transferred governing powers from the presidency to the premier.

The opposition denounced Tuesday’s parliamentary vote to make Sarkisian prime minister, saying the pro-Moscow politician lacked popular support.

Pashinyan has called for “a peaceful velvet revolution” and urged his supporters to set up “revolutionary committees” across the country.

Sarkisian, a former military officer, has been in charge of the landlocked South Caucasus nation of 2.9 million people for a decade.

He also held the office of prime minister from 2007 to 2008.

The country’s new president, Armen Sarkisian, was sworn in last week but his powers will be weaker under the new system of government. Even though the two men share the same surname, they are not related.

Protests began in the capital Yerevan on Friday and have since spread to the country’s second and third largest cities, Gyumri and Vanadzor.

On Monday police used stun grenades against protesters who tried to break through a barbed wire cordon to get to the parliament building.

Authorities said 46 people, including six police and opposition leader Pashinyan, sought medical help.

A group of peaceful demonstrators protesting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s official visit to the United States, were attacked by pro-Erdogan groups at the Sheridan Circle near the residence of the Turkish Ambassador to the U.S, The Armenian Weekly reports.

“[This was] the type of violence you would never expect to see in America’s capital. It was the type of violence you’d expect to see in Erdogan’s Turkey and in other dictatorships,” said Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) Executive Director Aram Hamparian, who captured parts of the attack and streamed the aftermath live on the ANCA’s Facebook page. “This is the very type of intolerance that has come to predominate in Turkey and it has now been exported here,” he added.

The demonstration, which began at Lafayette Square at noon, was organized by a coalition of organizations, including the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) and the American Hellenic Council. Several different groups, which included representatives from the Armenian, Greek, Kurdish, and Assyrian communities, participated in the protest, while President Erdogan met with U.S. President Donald Trump a the White House.

“This is exactly the type of violence you see in Ankara and they are exporting it here. It’s one thing for the Turkish government to do that to its own citizens—[which is] a terrible thing. It is another thing for us, as Americans, to see that exported to the United States,” Hamparian said.

Erdogan’s security detail reportedly attacked protesters carrying the flag of the Kurdish PYD party outside the ambassador’s residence.

The government of Turkey believes that the Kurdish Peoples’ Protection Units (YPG) in Syria are simply the Syrian arm of the PKK, which has waged a deadly insurgency inside Turkey since 1984.