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| April 3 |
Parliament votes to reject
an opposition proposal calling for an immediate moratorium on the
government's privatization of the country's four regional energy distribution
networks. The dominant Unity bloc, comprising the Republican and People's
Parties, remains split over the issue with most of the Republican
Party deputies voting to reject the measure. The privatization plan
is an essential precondition to the continued financial assistance
by the World Bank. First Deputy Energy Minister Garen Galstian reports
that the government has established a strict set of parameters for
the sale, including restricting any one company from purchasing more
than 51 percent of the networks. The European Bank for Reconstruction
and Development (EBRD) has announced its intention to acquire twenty
percent of the networks.
The Union of Journalists of Armenia strongly criticizes the recent
arrest of Nagorno Karabagh journalist Vahram Aghajanian in Stepanakert.
Aghajanian writes for the opposition "Tasnerod Nahang" (10th
Province) newspaper and is a well known critic of the Gukasyan government.
Officials of the Nagorno Karabagh prosecutor's office have stated
that the journalist has been detained for "obstructing the implementation
of martial law" in Karabagh, which has been in effect since 1992.
Deputies of the opposition parliamentary Rights and Accord group echo
the criticism and add that the Karabagh government is attempting to
quell dissent and restrain the media. |
| April 3-4 |
At a press conference
in Stepanakert, Prosecutor-General Mavrik Ghukasian announces that
formal charges have been filed against former Defense Minister Samvel
Babayan in connection with the failed assassination attempt of Nagorno
Karabagh President Arkady Gukasyan on March 22nd. Babayan has reportedly
confessed to plotting and organizing the crime. According to the prosecutor-general's
office, authorities have uncovered evidence supporting the confessions
of the assassins alleging that Babayan had planned to lead a provisional
military regime in Karabagh following the assassination. Investigators
allege that Babayan and his brother Garen, the Mayor of Stepanakert,
began plotting to seize power through assassination after President
Gukasyan removed Babayan as Commander of Armed Forces last December.
In recent months, tension between Babayan and the Gukasyan-led government
had already escalated to the point that Prime Minister Anushevan Danielian
was assaulted by Babayan and a small group of armed men |
| April 4 |
At the request of the
prosecutor-general's office, the parliament votes to completely lift
the parliamentary immunity of former Interior Minister and Yerevan
Mayor Vano Siradeghian and allow for his incarceration. Siradeghian
has been accused of intimidating witnesses and obstructing the investigation
by Prosecutor-General Boris Nazarian. The Siradeghian trial started
in September 1999, but has been plagued by several delays, including
a repeated changes in defense attorneys for Siradeghian. The Armenian
National Movement (ANM), which ruled Armenia during the Ter Petrosian
period and was led by Siradeghian, condemn the move as a further attempt
by the Kocharian government to persecute members and supporters of
the Ter Petrosian administration. |
| April 5 |
During a three-day state
visit to Romania, Armenian President Robert Kocharian meets with Romanian
President Emil Constantinescu. The two leaders discuss plans for expanding
economic cooperation and Romania's support for Armenia's bid for full
membership in the Council of Europe. Several bilateral agreements
on agricultural production are signed and the presidents forge a new
plan to use Romanian free trade zones as transit points for Armenian
exports to Europe. The Karabagh conflict is also reviewed in anticipation
of Romania's ascension to the rotating chair of the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) next year. |
| April 6 |
After failing to locate
Vano Siradeghian after the parliament lifted his immunity from incarceration,
security officials issue an international arrest warrant for his capture
and request the assistance of the international law enforcement agency
Interpol. The Yerevan district court hearing the case against Siradeghian
postpones the case for seven days to allow for his apprehension. |
| April 6-7 |
The Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe's (OSCE) Minsk Group, the working group
empowered to facilitate mediation efforts for the Nagorno Karabagh
conflict, convenes in Vienna to review plans to launch a new rounds
of talks. The OSCE Minsk Group, chaired equally by France, Russia
and the United States, resolves to consider the drafting of new proposals
aimed at spurring negotiations. The current OSCE draft plan, accepted
by both Karabagh and Armenia but rejected by Azerbaijan, proposes
a "common state" framework comprising Karabagh and Azerbaijan
along vague and loose horizontal parameters. |
| April 8 |
The Nagorno Karabagh parliament
formally resolves to hold parliamentary elections on June 18th. The
election for a new 33-seat parliament will be based on a system of
single-mandate constituencies, or majority system, reflecting last
month's revision of the electoral laws, and will include candidates
from the seven political parties registered in Karabagh. The announcement
follows a recent meeting between the Central Electoral Commission
and the administrative heads of district-level government in Karabagh
to ensure the proper implementation of free and fair election procedures.
The session also votes to approve the government's draft state budget
for the year 2000. The adopted budget, with expenditures set at 15.4
billion drams (roughly $29 million) and some 5.4 billion drams in
expected revenue, contains a significant budget deficit, which the
government expects to cover with loans and grants from Armenia. Nearly
sixty percent of the budget is set aside for social programs, including
a job creation program seeking to establish 1500 new enterprises,
and measures seeking to extend aid to the neediest segments of the
population. |
| April 10 |
A monitoring mission of
the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) tours
the Nagorno Karabagh-Azerbaijan border area to verify the cease-fire
agreement in place in the region since May 1994. The OSCE mission,
led by representatives of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, also meets
with Karabagh Foreign Minister Naira Melkoumian and Defense Minister
Seyran Ohanian. The OSCE mission last visited the region in February. |
| April 11-13 |
An Armenian government
delegation led by Deputy Minister of Economics and Finance Pavel Safarian
meets with officials of the World Bank to discuss the planned $29.5
million credit package for the construction of schools, public works,
and public health facilities in Armenia. |
| April 12 |
Opposition journalist
Vahram Aghajanian is sentenced by a Nagorno Karabagh court to one-year
in jail for engaging in libel, slander and defaming the Karabagh government.
Additional charges of impeding the implementation of martial law in
Karabagh are dropped in the final stages of the court's proceedings.
The Armenia-based National Press Club and a number of leading Armenian
journalists issue statements condemning the decision and appeal for
Aghajanian's release.
The Yerkrapah Union of Karabagh Veterans launches an official newspaper
in Nagorno Karabagh. The new paper, "Fatherland Defender,"
is to be initially published monthly with a small circulation and
later move to weekly publication. |
| April 13-14 |
Armenian President Robert
Kocharian meets with the commanders of several Karabagh military units
in Stepanakert. Armenian Defense Minister Vagharshak Harutiunian and
Deputy Defense Minister and Yerkrapah Chairman General Manvel Grigorian
accompany the president on the visit. |
| April 15 |
Former presidential adviser
Aleksan Harutiunian is released from custody after being detained
for four months on charges of complicity in the October 27th attack
on parliament. The release follows an appeal court's upholding of
an earlier district court ruling which rejected the military prosecutor's
request to extend Harutiunian's detention. The military prosecutor's
office states that Harutiunian still faces charges despite his release
and adds that they may try to prevent him from returning to his presidential
advisor post for which he submitted a resignation that was never accepted.
The editors of the sole opposition "Tasnerod
Nahang" (10th Province) newspaper in Karabagh announces the suspension
of its publication, citing the recent conviction of one of its journalists
to a one-year prison term and alleging harassment and intimidation
by the Karabagh government. The newspaper, established only five months
ago, is reported to have been financed by Samvel Babayan and has engaged
in strong attacks on the Karabagh leadership, including harsh condemnations
of the president and prime minister while supporting Babayan.
In anticipation of the upcoming parliamentary elections, the "Democratic
Artsakh (Karabagh) Union," founded only a few weeks earlier,
convenes a party congress in Stepanakert. The congress formulates
a party platform strongly supporting the Gukasyan government and elects
an 18-member leadership council. The meeting includes official representatives
from Armenia's Unity bloc led by Gagik Minasian. |
| April 22 |
President Kocharian dismisses
a demand by Prime Minister Aram Sarkisian calling for the removal
of Interior Minister Haik Harutiunian for incompetence in allowing
Vano Siradeghian to flee the country. The demand follows recent reports
that some officials in the interior ministry, which was headed by
Siradeghian during the Ter Petrosian government, assisted Siradeghian
in his flight from the country. Siradeghian faces a number of serious
charges including the organization and implementation of several politically-motivated
assassinations and has not been seen since April 3rd. The trial was
indefinitely postponed two day earlier pending his apprehension. |
| April 24 |
Tens of thousands
of Armenians stage a solemn march to the Yerevan monument marking
the anniversary of the 1915 Armenian Genocide of over 1.5 million
Armenians by Ottoman Turkey. President Robert Kocharian, speaking
in a televised national address, states that Armenia will continue
to advocate the formal recognition of the 1915 Armenian Genocide by
the international community. The president adds that he will also
seek a "new kind" of relationship between Armenia and Turkey,
based on reconciliation, to ensure stability and to develop regional
cooperation |
| April 25 |
Breaking from their previous
opposition, a bill sponsored by the dominant Unity bloc is adopted
imposing a moratorium on all further actions in the privatization
of the country's four regional energy distribution networks. The original
moratorium, advocated by the opposition, was defeated by the Unity
bloc which had agreed to support the government's privatization after
meeting with the president. The change in the Unity bloc's position,
which ensured the measure's passage, results in an immediate halt
to the bidding by several international companies and jeopardizes
a pending $46 million World Bank loan package intended to cover the
state budget deficit, but which held the energy privatization as a
precondition.
The Unity and Stability (Kayunutiun) blocs, the largest two groupings
in the parliament, together to initiate impeachment proceedings against
President Robert Kocharian after the president issue orders blocking
Chief Military Prosecutor Gagik Jahangirian from testifying before
a parliamentary inquiry into the October attack on parliament. The
president warns that he will no longer tolerate Jahangirian's role
in the politicization of the investigation. According to the constitution,
the president can only be impeached for "high treason" or
other undefined "grave crimes." An impeachment vote also
requires a two-thirds majority of deputies and subsequent endorsement
by the Constitutional Court. That same day, Jahangirian submits his
resignation, which Kocharian refuses to accept, and calls for the
investigation to be transferred to the prosecutor-general's office.
Meeting in Moscow, Armenian Energy Minister Davit Zadoyan concludes
an agreement with Igor Markov, the head of the Gazprom subsidiary
ITERA, to restructure $11 million in Armenian arrears for natural
gas supplies. The agreement allows Armenia to repay $1 million now
and the remaining balance in July. The arrears led to a fifty percent
reduction in natural gas deliveries by ITERA to Armenia earlier in
the month. The reduction also coincided with Armenia's decision to
exclude ITERA from bidding for the energy distribution networks being
privatized by Armenia. |
| April 26 |
The Unity bloc and its
allied Stability faction postpones action on any impeachment proceedings
against the president. The political confrontation with Kocharian
intensifies, however, as an unsigned document is circulated in parliament
listing a dozen "offenses" committed by the president and
charging that the 1998 election of Kocharian, a Karabagh citizen,
was invalid. David Shahnazarian, the leader of the small 21st Century
Party, announces his support for the Unity bloc's suggestion of impeachment
while the parliamentary leaders of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation
(ARF), Orinats Yerkir and Rights and Accord bloc, affirm their opposition
to any attempt to impeach the president.
President Kocharian meets with Hrant Voskanian, the leader of the
Armenian Communist Party faction in parliament, and representatives
of the Stability group. Discussion focuses on easing rising political
tensions and the parliament's recent blocking of the energy privatization
effort. Opposition National Democratic Union (NDU) leader Vazgen Manukian
calls for a new government to be formed through new parliamentary
and presidential elections, and the adoption of a new constitution
as the only way to overcome the political tension between the president
and the prime minister's Unity bloc. |
| April 27 |
Following significant
criticism of the government for the arrest and conviction of an opposition
journalist for libel and slander stemming from a published article
critical of the prime minister, the Nagorno Karabagh Supreme Court
suspends the sentence and releases Vahram Aghajanian from detention
after ruling on his appeal. |
| April 29 |
The Nagorno Karabagh Central
Electoral Commission issues a report on the day of the deadline for
filing for registration as a candidate in the June 18th parliamentary
elections. According to the report, a total of 132 individuals have
filed for candidacy registration for the 33 seats to be contested.
In the capital Stepanakert alone, there are now 63 applicants to run
for the 11 single-mandate constituencies. The 132 applicants are to
be reviewed and formal registration is expected to be completed in
the next ten days. |
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