Bright Armenia’s leader to run for PM once Pashinyan resigns

‘The party is ready for the elections, waiting for PM Nikol Pashinyan to step down,’ Edmon Marukyan, leader of the parliamentary group Bright Armenia told 168.am in response to Pashinyan’s My Step MP and deputy speaker of the Parliament Lena Nazaryan’s statement. According to Nazaryan, her impression is that Bright Armenia and Prosperous Armenia parties avoid snap elections because they feel certain about their failure in securing enough votes to enter the parliament.

Marukyan argues that had PM Pashinyan wanted snap elections, he would already have resigned and organized the elections. Earlier another MP from Bright Armenia, Gevorg Gorgisyan said that there are MPs from Pashinyan’s My Step, who will vote for Marukyan’s candidacy for PM.  While Nazaryan ruled out such possibility, Marukyan reiterated his conviction that neither Pashinyan nor his My Step has the confidence that Marukyan will not be elected, otherwise, according to Marukyan, Pashinyan would resign and dissolve the parliament to hold snap elections.

Opposition alliance and PM candidate met residents of Armenia’s third city

‘We entered a destructive peace,’ told Vazgen Manukyan, joint PM candidate by ‘Homeland Salvation Movement’, a coalition of more than a dozen parties demanding PM Nikol Pashinyan’s resignation. In the framework of the Movement’s countrywide visits, Manukyan had a meeting with the residents of Vanadzor, Armenia’s third city.

Manukyan argued that it was possible to prevent the human losses during the recent Nagorno Karabakh war and retain the Armenian positions if not the ‘stupid [military] orders’ and if the army would have been better disciplined, tert.am reports.

Speaking about the Moscow-brokered truce statement, Manukyan found it evident that the Armenian side did not undergo any political negotiations to make the outcome more favorable for the Armenian side. He reminded that in addition to the loss of so many human lives and economic and military losses, hundreds of Armenian PoWs are in Azerbaijan now. According to the opposition leader, the Armenian side’s defeat is continuing.

Homeland Salvation Movement had started its countrywide visit from Gyumri on Friday, where a group of residents blocked the road to prevent Vazgen Manukyan to enter the city. Later, during his meeting with the Movement’s members in Gyumri, Manukyan said that Pashinyan’s My Step alliance paid those who had blocked the road. In response to this statement, Armenian Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan called Manukyan’s words ‘offensive towards the residents’ and urged political figures to refrain from expressions that could be considered offensive to people’s dignity.  

Armenia to file a complaint to ECHtR against Azerbaijan

Armenia’s Representative to ECHtR Yeghishe Kirakosyan told that Armenia will file a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights against Azerbaijan, Armenpress News Agency reports.

‘For a long time, we have been conducting preparatory works – evidence collection, evaluation, complaint preparations,’ Kirakosyan said adding that a complaint has been prepared and will shortly be filed to the Court. ‘The complaint will include a wide range of issues, from the protection of the rights of victims, the wounded, and the displaced to the claims on lost or damaged property, which, in our view, are quite many,’ Kirakosyan explained.

In Yeghishe Kirakosyan’s words, the complaint will address all violations of international law, including the international humanitarian law, that Azerbaijan committed during the recent Nagorno Karabakh war, using methods and means prohibited by law during a war.

Other news from Armenia

• Former Armenia’s Ambassador to the Vatican Mikayel Minasyan, who is also Armenia’s third President Serzh Sargsyan’s son-in-low and is considered as an influential figure in Armenia, said on Saturday that Ararat Mirzoyan, the President of Armenia’s parliament, is a special agent of the Turkish agents. According to the ex-Ambassador, who has been declared wanted after a Yerevan court issued an arrest warrant over a range of criminal charges, Mirzoyan appeared in the spotlight of Turkish special services in 2005 when he was conducting research in the US about the Armenian Genocide recognition process. In Minasyan’s words, Mirzoyan had to become a double-agent later when his activities were disclosed by the Armenian special services.
  
  Ararat Mirzoyan responded to the ex-Ambassadors statements, calling them ‘the next nonsense’ subject to criminal-legal assessment. ‘Minasyan must also take responsibility for this false accusation,’ Mirzoyan added.
  
  
• MPs Gor Gevorkyan and Sophya Hovsepyan have initiated a closed working discussion in the Armenian National Assembly over the issues of the return of the Armenians captured by Azerbaijani forces. The discussion was attended by Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan, representatives of the Armenian Foreign Ministry and National Security Service, human rights advocates Artak Zeynalyan and Siranush Sahakyan, and MPs from Bright Armenia parliamentary group. The participants discussed obstacles created by Azerbaijan, hindering the return of the captives, and made proposals on the next steps.
  
  
• Armenia’s Deputy PM Mher Grigoryan met with US Ambassador Lynne Tracy on Friday. The sides discussed U.S. government support for those affected by the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh and ‘efforts towards the safe return of detainees,’ US Embassy in Armenia informs. ‘The United States remains committed to strengthening our bilateral ties based on shared values and interests,’ the Embassy’s statement reads.