Sometimes Armenian Protests Are Just Armenian Protests

May 22, 2018 By administrator

When a leader is deposed by street protests in any Russia-allied post-Soviet country, analysts from Washington to Moscow jump to geopolitical conclusions faster than you can say “George Soros.” But sometimes, as in Armenia these past several days, government-toppling protests are just government-toppling protests.

On April 23, Serzh Sargsyan resigned as Armenia’s prime minister under pressure from mass civil unrest, led mainly by young people, in the capital, Yerevan. The streets of the city turned into an exhilarating carnival of people power that surprised most Armenians.

But we should not expect this to have geopolitical repercussions beyond Armenia’s borders, nor should we see it as a signal of Russian decline or as a prompt for potential Russian intervention. Sargsyan’s downfall is not about geopolitics. At most, it is a sign that post-Soviet regimes are not as secure as they look from a distance and that the region’s old regimes are perfectly capable of crumbling peacefully without any push from the outside.

Armenia is a difficult country to characterize. It does not fit into a neat international category. It is small, with only 3 million people, but its far-flung diaspora, from Boston to Beirut, keeps it on the map. It’s an ally of Russia but with a strong connection to California and the U.S Congress through its diaspora. Despite being overwhelmingly Christian, it has a good relationship with the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Armenia’s people are poor but highly educated, and its current political system is neither authoritarian nor democratic. Since 1999, one party, the Republican Party of Armenia, has dominated, and two men, once close friends — Sargsyan and Robert Kocharian — have served as president. In April, Sargsyan’s second and final term as president ended, leaving this ruling group with a quandary about how to perpetuate its time in power.

The business-political elite that run the country wanted continuity and Sargsyan to stay as leader, this time as prime minister under a changed constitution in which the role of president would be downgraded and the head of government became the de facto leader of the country. In 2014, Sargsyan said he would not take the prime ministerial job. This month, he took it all the same — either because he was dissembling and wanted power for himself in perpetuity or because the ruling elite needed him to.

We may never know his real motivation because on April 23 Sargsyan resigned as prime minister, less than a week after taking the job and in the face of mass street protests. This was all unexpected, even to the protestors themselves. They do not have any formal organization and barely any representation in parliament. Their de facto leader, Nikol Pashinian, is a former newspaper editor who does not lack courage or ideas but who is mostly untested in high politics.

This was a rejection of Sargsyan for sure. But it is worth pointing out that, within the limits of the one-party system he sat atop of until recently, Sargsyan had done a fairly good job in recent times. He made some good appointments and diversified Armenia’s foreign policy away from complete reliance on Russia. His prime minister, Karen Karapetyan — who had the job a couple of weeks ago and looks set to get it back — delivered 7 percent economic growth and greater investment. A new Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement was signed between Armenia and the European Union last year to balance its membership of Vladimir Putin’s Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union.

We shouldn’t look at the events in Armenia, then, through a geopolitical prism. They are decidedly not a rejection of Russia. Armenia looks out at two closed borders, with Azerbaijan and Turkey — a result of an ongoing 30-year-old conflict over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. The country’s military alliance with Russia stems from that and is deemed essential to national security. (The new opposition wants to lessen Russia’s economic hold over the economy, but that is a different matter.) Nor does Pashinian, the de facto opposition leader, dissent from the consensus line of the political establishment, which is opposed to making concessions over Karabakh, which Armenians fought over with Azerbaijan and have held since 1994.

The events of April 23 are about more than one man. They are the result of a system that has formed over 20 years in which business and politics have fused, in which many criminal types and veterans of the Karabakh conflict seized lucrative sectors of the economy and have not surrendered them. Over that period, emigration has become a safety valve, bleeding the country of some of its brightest talents, who could not find proper employment in this system.

In this respect, Armenia is no different from other post-Soviet countries, such as Russia, Belarus, and Azerbaijan. The Achilles’s heel of this regime — that it chose not to crush the protests by force — was also to its credit. Sargsyan came to power a decade ago in controversial circumstances in which opposition protests in March 2008 were suppressed and 10 people died. He evidently did not want to pick an even bigger fight this time.

This article was originally published by Foreign Policy.

Anti-Putin protests sweep across Russia

May 5, 2018 By administrator

Under the banner “He is not our tsar,” Russians have taken to the streets to decry a fourth term by President Vladimir Putin. Police have arrested opposition leader Alexei Navalny along with dozens of other protesters.

Russian police on Saturday arrested dozens of protesters rallying against President Vladimir Putin ahead of his inauguration on Monday.

In central Moscow, police arrested Navalny along with several others. “Navalny appeared on Pushkinskaya Square and was quickly detained,” said opposition politician Leoni Volkov. “The detention was absolutely illegal.”

At least 15 people including a journalist were detained in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, according to an independent monitoring group. “Detentions were conducted in a rough manner,” said the monitor OVD-Info.

An additional ten protesters were arrested in southern Siberian city of Barnaul, according to opposition leader Navalny’s team.

In St. Petersburg, hundreds of people crowds gathered, chanting: “He is not our tsar.”

He is not our tsar’

Navalny, who was blocked from running in the March presidential election, had urged Russians to take to the streets and protest against Putin’s fourth presidential term.

“Craven old man Putin thinks he is a tsar,” the opposition leader said in another tweet ahead of the protests. “But he is not our tsar.”Although protests have sprung up in scores of cities across Russia, authorities have refused to give organizers permission.

Right to protest’

Human rights groups have warned Russian security services from taking a heavy-handed approach against protesters, with Amnesty International on Friday urging authorities to allow peaceful protests to go ahead unhindered.

“The Russian authorities must learn from their past mistakes, when the repeated refusal to grant permission to hold protest rallies has been a patent violation of human rights,” said Denis Krivosheev, who serves as Amnesty’s deputy director of Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

Protests shut down Armenian capital after ruling party blocks opposition leader’s bid for premiership

May 2, 2018 By administrator

In an unprecedented show of defiance, protesters including many elderly people and housewives paralysed the Armenian capital, with nearly all streets closed to traffic and numerous stores shut.

Officials said that suburban train services were disrupted and the road linking Yerevan with its airport was blocked.

Crowds of protesters across the city of one million people waved national flags, blew vuvuzelas and shouted “Free, independent Armenia!”.

Leading supporters on a march through the city, Mr Pashinyan pledged to ramp up pressure on the authorities.

“Various scenarios are under discussion, under each scenario the people will win,” said Mr Pashinyan, who was wearing his trademark khaki-coloured T-shirt and a baseball cap.

The underground system and railways have been paralysed and a number of universities and schools have joined the protest movement, he added.

In parliament, lawmakers could not convene for a session due to the absence of a quorum, with the opposition Prosperous Armenia party declaring a boycott.

“There is an emergency situation in the country. Our faction declares a political boycott,” said Prosperous Armenia lawmaker Vahe Enfiajyan.

Under Armenian law parliament should again gather in a week to try and elect a prime minister. If it fails, the legislature will be dissolved and early elections called.

In the second city of Gyumri – which hosts a Russian military base – and the smaller town of Maralik demonstrators occupied the mayor’s office and demanded local authorities join the protest movement.

Mr Pashinyan urged Armenians to launch a general strike after the ruling Republican Party on Tuesday blocked his bid for prime minister following two weeks of anti-government protests that ousted veteran leader Serzh Sarkisian.

Protesters said they would stay on the streets for as long as it takes to oust the ruling elites from power and get Mr Pashinyan elected premier.

“The people will not give up, protests will not subside,” Sergey Konsulyan, a 45-year-old businessman.

Armenian opposition leader calls for more protests from Sunday: Interfax

April 28, 2018 By administrator

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Armenian opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan called on people to resume demonstrations from Sunday, Interfax news agency reported.

Armenia, a close ally of Russia, has been rocked by two weeks of anti-government protests against the ruling elite which led on Monday to the resignation of Serzh Sarksyan as prime minister. Sarksyan had previously been president for a decade.

Iran hit in anti-government protests

December 30, 2017 By administrator

Anti-government demonstrations that began in Iran on Thursday have now spread to several major cities.Large numbers reportedly turned out in Rasht, in the north, and Kermanshah, in the west, with smaller protests in Isfahan, Hamadan and elsewhere, BBC News reports.The protests began against rising prices but have spiraled into a general outcry against clerical rule and government policies.

A small number of people have been arrested in Tehran, the capital.

They were among a group of 50 people who gathered in a city square, Tehran’s deputy governor-general for security affairs told the Iranian Labour News Agency.

The US State Department condemned the arrests and urged “all nations to publicly support the Iranian people and their demands for basic rights and an end to corruption”.

What is behind the unrest?

The protests were initially against economic conditions and corruption but appear to have turned political.

Slogans have been chanted against not just Mr Rouhani but Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and clerical rule in general.

Demonstrators were reportedly heard yelling slogans like “The people are begging, the clerics act like God”. Protests have even been held in Qom, a holy city home to powerful clerics.

There is also anger at Iran’s interventions abroad. In Mashhad, some chanted “not Gaza, not Lebanon, my life for Iran”, a reference to what protesters say is the administration’s focus on foreign rather than domestic issues.

Kurd Spring fourth consecutive day: Protests rock Iraq’s Kurdistan region

December 22, 2017 By administrator

Protests rock Iraq’s Kurdistan

Hundreds of angry protesters have faced off with security forces in Iraq’s northern semi-autonomous Kurdish region, demanding the resignation of politicians accused of graft and corruption.

Violent protests raged for a fourth day in several parts of Iraqi Kurdistan Thursday amid widespread anger over unpaid salaries and corruption.

Police reinforcements deployed Wednesday night including in the center of Iraqi Kurdistan’s second city Sulaymaniyah. Police were also deployed en mass in the town of Ranya, where Kurdish security forces fatally shot five protesters Tuesday.

Around 20 party offices and a town hall have been set ablaze across the troubled region since Monday.

This comes as angry protesters ramped up calls for the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to quit.

The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) has expressed its deep concern about violence and clashes during the demonstrations, urging all sides to show restraint.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has also warned against attacking protesters in the country’s Kurdish region.

Frustration over unpaid salaries to teachers and other civil servants, in addition to the deterioration of basic services and widespread corruption have been described as the main reasons behind mass protests in Iraq’s Kurdistan region.

The Kurdistan region has been suffering from financial and economic hardships as a result of disagreement with the central government in Baghdad over distribution of crude oil revenues extracted from the northern oilfields.

Tensions have been running high between Baghdad and the KRG after the Kurds held a controversial referendum on the independence of Kurdistan on September 25.

The referendum on secession of the Kurdistan region was held despite strong opposition from Iraqi authorities, the international community, and Iraq’s neighboring countries, especially Turkey and Iran.

Following the vote, Baghdad imposed a ban on direct international flights to the Kurdish region and called for a halt to its independent crude oil sales.

On October 12, an Iraqi government spokesman said Baghdad had set a series of conditions that the KRG needed to meet before any talks on the resolution of the referendum crisis could start.

Argentina: Scores injured as violent protests breakout against pension reform plans

December 19, 2017 By administrator

Rallies outside Argentina’s Congress have turned violent, with as many as 150 people reportedly injured. Opponents of the proposed pension reform bill say it would reduce payouts for 17 million Argentinians.

Protests on the streets of Argentina’s capital turned ugly on Monday, as masked demonstrators hurled firecrackers, bottles and gasoline bombs at police officers guarding the Congress building.

Security forces in Buenos Aires responded with water canons and fired rubber bullets at demonstrators. According to reports, as many as 150 people were injured in the ensuing clashes, including many bystanders and peaceful protesters. Forty-eight people were arrested.

The rallies came in response to a pension reform plan being debated in Congress. The proposed legislation has angered many retirees and prompted trade union leaders to call a general strike.

Argentina’s largest union, CGT, began a 24-hour general strike at 12:00 p.m. local time (1500 GMT) on Monday in protest of the bill. Hundreds of airline flights were grounded and large areas of Buenos Aires ground to a halt.

“We have no one to defend us,” said 70-year-old retiree Cristina Sanmero, who found herself caught in the violence. “At my age, I have to come here and defend my contributions of 30 years. We’re governed by inept people who think that it’s easier to take away from the old.”

Demonstrators in several Buenos Aires neighborhoods also took to the streets banging pots and pans. The gesture holds a deep symbolic meaning for Argentinians who marched during the 2002 economic crisis with pots and pans, before eventually forcing then-President Fernando de la Rua to resign.

Mauricio Macri’s pension package

The proposed pension plan is part of Argentinian President Mauricio Macri’s push to reduce the government’s deficit, which currently stands at 3.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

Proposed legislation would change the way pension increases are calculated, with payments adjusted every quarter based on inflation, rather than twice-yearly based on wage hikes and tax revenue.

Armenian Renaissance protests outside consulate general office in Glendale

July 22, 2017 By administrator

Members and supporters of the Los Angeles chapter of the Armenian Renaissance protested outside the Consulate General of Armenia in Glendale on July 16, demanding the release of dozens of people they say were taken into custody one year ago in Yerevan, Armenia.

It was widely reported that Armenian police used excessive force against peaceful protesters and journalists, and more than 28 have been in custody.

Albert Rostomyan, chapter member, said the Consulate General has not been open and transparent with the diaspora community of Los Angeles regarding the treatment of its citizens in Yerevan, and the protest was meant to express that the chapter will not accept silence.

Consulate officials did not return phone calls or emails asking for comment.

“Some are still detained for supporting the uprising,” Rostomyan said. “This brutal regime is beating people without consequences. We ask the U.S. government to stand next to the people of Armenia against corrupt government.”

The clash between antigovernment protesters and police boiled over during four days in July 2016 in Yerevan, linked to a hostage situation at a police station.

According to various news reports, the gunmen demanded the resignation of President Serzh Sarkisian and the release of one of its own opposition leaders.

The small act by a fringe opposition group sparked a deeper widespread conflict fed by discontent with the government.

Human rights groups stated that in the weeks following the end of the clash, Armenian police arbitrarily detained dozens of people linked to the protests, beating them and handing down unjustified criminal charges against some.

Posters with phrases such as “Serg Sargsyan Dictator” and “Down With Illegal and Corrupt Gov of Armenia” lined gates in front of the consulate Sunday evening. There were also photos displayed of the Yerevan protesters who were arrested last year.

Armenian Renaissance members protested outside the consulate for 13 days in 2016 during the height of the uprising. Many on Sunday called the political prisoners “heroes” and alleged that Russia is ruling the Armenian government.

“The government tried to mark them as terrorists,” said Gurgen Mkhitaryan, an Armenian Renaissance member. “We see them as heroes. We see Armenia as a dictatorship. There’s no freedom of speech.”

Rostomyan said they’ve delivered a letter about what they demand from the consulate and are willing to meet to discuss the issues.

“We’re still waiting, still calling,” Rostomyan said.

Source: http://www.latimes.com/socal/glendale-news-press/news/tn-gnp-me-armenian-protest-20170721-story.html

Azerbaijan: Media report on mass violations during Constitutional Referendum

September 26, 2016 By administrator

vaiolation Constitutional referendum in Azerbaijan was marked by opposition protests and unjustified detentions of activists, website of Institute for War and Peace Reporting writes.

“These amendments are intended to perpetuate the power of the Aliyevs. It is clear that they are already preparing the throne for Heydar Aliyev junior. They turn the republic into a monarchy, where power passes from father to son. A third generation of the Aliyevs, that is the worst that could happen to the country,” said Ulvi Hasanli, a board member of the youth movement NIDA.

As highlighted in the article, thousands of people took part in these protests. But although the rallies were sanctioned by the municipality, police detained dozens of activists both before and after the events.

Meanwhile, Global Risk Insights writes that it is clear that the constitutional changes have been proposed in order to entrench the position of the Aliyev regime within Azerbaijan. However, there are certain factors that have stimulated the regime to feel the need to find “legal” means to strengthen its position.

Reportedly, economic discontent is rampant throughout Azerbaijan, and the level of corruption and repression is higher than the norm. It is no surprise that the oil and gas sector represents the “greatest source of corruption in the country” as it makes up around three-quarters of government revenue. A recent drop in Azerbaijan’s national currency has had a large impact on the socio-economic situation of ordinary Azerbaijanis and many have voiced their frustrations on the streets.

In addition to this, it is no coincidence that the Turkish coup attempt took place on the 15th July and the declaration of the referendum in Azerbaijan was announced on the 26th July. It is highlighted that Aliyev was afraid that oppositional forces within the country would put an end to his regime. He thought that these constitutional changes may act as a further defense against such forces.

Meanwhile, website of the Azerbaijani newspaper Azadliq writes that there has been mass ballot-stuffing during the Constitutional Referendum in Azerbaijan.

One of the voters, Javid Hajibeyli, told Azadliq that the authorities use “carousel voting” at the polling station N 82 in Aghjabedi.

The editor of the newspaper, Rovshan Hajibeyli, who is an observer at the polling station N 121 in Yeni Yasamal district of Baku, noted that the ballots are thrown into the boxes in piles.

“They do not require any identification documents here. They give several ballots to one person. People are brought to vote by cars, and then they are sent to vote at other polling stations. Here, the ‘carousel’ works very well,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Baku bureau of Radio Liberty writes that according to the chair of the National Council of the Democratic Forces, Jamil Hasanli, “the Azerbaijani nation has refused to participate in the Referendum en masse.”

“The numbers cited by the Central Voting Committee about the population’s participation in the voting are false. Those, who vote, are state employees. They were told to go to work that day and create an illusion of voting. Just now, a group of ‘carousel’ participants went from one polling station to another,” he said.

According to him, the Azerbaijani government refused to accept opposition’s appeal for an observer mission. “In any case, in the evening, they will announce the number they have prepared beforehand,” Hasanli noted.

The Baku bureau of Radio Liberty also reports that opposition party Musavat has issued a statement about the violations during the Constitutional Referendum.

For example, in Binagadi rayon, teachers entrust parents to participate in the voting at the nearest polling station, even if those people are registered in other places. Every teacher has to provide the attendance of 6 parents.

At the polling stations 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7 in Salyan, the observers noted that there were “carousels” at the fourth polling station. At the third polling station, it was announced about the participation of 343 people, and at the fifth – of 430 people. However, the observers recorded only 8 and 5 voters respectively.

In Jalilabad, groups of doctors, teachers, and high school students were created, and they go to different polling stations to vote. The “carousel” takes place under the noses of the administrative organs of the region.

In the 45^th polling station in Absheron, the voters are called to participate in the referendum with the help of loudspeakers fixed on cars.

Several voters state there have been serious violations at the 45^th polling station in Absheron. They say that ballots are thrown into the boxes in packs.

In its turn, news agency Turan writes that at the polling station created in the school N 108 in Mashtaga municipality, ballots are given to eight-grade students, who are not eligible to vote yet.

“By 9 in the morning, the boxes were already filled with ballots. I was also offered several ballots,” a voter said.

A doctor from the Ministry of Healthcare told Turan reporter that although she lives in Yasamal rayon, she was ordered to go and vote in Nasimi rayon of the capital. She was threatened to be dismissed in case of refusal. It is highlighted that many other state officials are in a similar situation.

On July 18, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree to send a Project of Referendum Act on Introducing Amendments to the Constitution of Azerbaijan to the Constitutional Court of the country for consideration. The suggested amendments propose to introduce the institutes of the first vice-president and vice-presidents, who will be appointed and dismissed by the president of the country. In addition, the minimum age limit for a presidential candidate, which is now set to 35 years, will be eliminated. It is also planned to increase the presidential term from five to seven years. It is proposed to introduce an amendment in the Constitution providing for the dissolution of the parliament, a provision, which is not provided in the current Constitution.

Azerbaijani oppositionists and experts called the Constitutional amendments retrogressive considering them directed towards the strengthening of the authoritarianism in the country, which will lead to serious human rights violations.

Archbishop Aram Atesyan to be Met With Protests in Armenia

June 17, 2016 By administrator

Archbishop Aram Ateshyan, General Vicar of the Armenian Patriarch of Turkey, will be met with protests in Armenia following his statement contending German Bundestag’s vote recognizing the Armenian Genocide. (Source: ArmRadio)

YEREVAN (ArmRadio)—Archbishop Aram Ateshyan, General Vicar of the Armenian Patriarch of Turkey Aram Atesyan will be welcomed by protests at Zvartnots airport.

The move comes after the Archbishop’s highly controversial message to the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan following the German Bundestag’s vote on the Armenian Genocide.

“At a time, when Bundestag MPs of Turkish descent urge to ban Erdogan from Germany, we, as descent children of the Armenian nation, which respects the memory of the 1.5 million canonized victims of the Armenian Genocide, won’t allow Atesyan to enter Armenia,” reads a statement of a Facebook initiative, which calls itself “We won’t allow Aram Atesyan to enter Armenia.”

Historian Gevorg Yazichyan believes that the Armenian Foreign Ministry should have declared about the inexpediency of Atesyan’s visit. He’s disappointed by attempts of some clergymen to justify the Archbishop’s behavior.

Member of Parliament, Zaruhi Postanjyan, said that Aram Atesyan’s statement is “anti-human, not anti-Armenian.”

To many Armenians across the globe, it is unacceptable that Aram Atesyan remains a member of the Supreme Religious Council of the Armenian Apostolic Church and will visit Armenia to participate in the meeting of the Council. According to Yazichyan, the assertions that the Armenian Church has no right to defrock Archbishop Atesyan are groundless.