Page 10 - ARUBA TODAY

A10 WORLD NEWS
Wednesday 9 May 2018

Armenia gets new leader, man who spearheaded protests

By YURAS KARMANAU a move that opponents
YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) — saw as allowing him to re-
The man who spearhead- main the country's leader
ed weeks of protests in Ar- indefinitely.
menia was chosen Tuesday Sargsyan was president for
to be the country's new a decade, but stepped
prime minister, and carries down this year because of
the weight of high hopes term limits. However, Arme-
for a turnaround in the im- nia has changed its govern-
poverished former Soviet ment structure, giving the
republic. prime minister more power
Prime Minister Nikol Pashin- than the presidency.
ian faces an array of chal- Soon after Sargsyan
lenges, including a parlia- stopped being president,
ment dominated by the he was named prime min-
party he denounced as ister by parliament.
corrupt and how to resolve Yet faced with weeks of
the volatile question of Na- mass protests, Sargsyan left
gorno-Karabakh, a region the premiership on April 23,
of Azerbaijan under the six days after his election.
control of ethnic Armenian In a concession last week,
forces. the Republicans agreed to
In one of his first moves af- support any prime minister
ter parliament elected him candidate nominated by
as prime minister, Pashin- a third of the parliament
ian announced he would members, paving the way
visit Nagorno-Karabakh on for Pashinian's election.
Wednesday. He said the Newly elected Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinian addresses the crowd in Republic Square The unresolved status of
self-declared government in Yerevan, Armenia, Tuesday, May 8, 2018. Nagorno-Karabakh con-
there must be a part of any Associated Press tributes to the economic
talks to end the long-stand- problems that are a key is-
ing frozen conflict. ist war ended in 1994, Na- ian, a 42-year-old city sub- declaring it's now in oppo- sue for Pashinian's support-
Although Armenian lead- gorno-Karabakh has been way worker. sition. ers. Both Azerbaijan and
ers traditionally visit the re- under the control of ethnic Such high hopes could "We do not consider it ex- Turkey have closed their
gion on May 9, the date Armenian forces backed lead to a hard fall, observ- pedient to cooperate with borders with Armenia over
on which many ex-Soviet by Armenia. Shooting fre- ers suggested, noting that the new government; it the conflict, inhibiting trade
countries mark the defeat quently breaks out across Pashinian has yet even to would be hypocritical to and leaving Armenia in
of Nazi Germany, Pashin- a demilitarized zone that articulate a platform. consider the issue of our semi-isolation. It has direct
ian's trip is likely to provoke separates the forces and "People are waiting for a participation in the new land access only to a nar-
resentment from Azerbai- Azerbaijan's soldiers, and a miracle, but the risk of dis- government," said Armen row border with Iran and to
jan. four-day war in 2016 killed appointment is very great Ashotyan, a Republican Georgia.
Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry scores on both sides. — the lack of a program faction leader. Pashinian, in a speech to
spokesman Hikmet Hajieyv Pashinian's election, cap- and of a team make Pa- Many Armenians have parliament before his elec-
issued a statement insisting ping weeks of political tur- shinian very vulnerable," stewed for years about tion Tuesday, said his revo-
"the Nagorno-Karabakh re- moil, delighted his support- analyst Vigen Akopian the country's poverty and lution will lead to the "rec-
gion, which is currently oc- ers, thousands of whom said. "The fight against cor- widespread corruption, but ognition of realizing the
cupied, has always been crowded the central ruption demands concrete Pashinian was able to gal- rights of Karabakh to self-
an integral part of Azerbai- square in the capital, Yere- actions from Pashinian. The vanize that discontent into determination."
jan." van. elites, sitting on the state's a mass movement that was He later said he was pre-
"What is this? Initial naivete, "We chose a new road in money sources, aren't raucous but largely peace- pared for talks, but only
ignorance of the subject, Armenia, where the driver ready for this and will op- ful. if the separatists were in-
the bravado of the victor or will be the people and not pose it." The protests focused on for- volved.
maybe all of these togeth- clans. Jobs will appear, The Republican Party, mer President Serzh Sargsy- Armenia is strongly depen-
er?" he later said of Pashin- people will return, corrup- which has a majority of an, who tried to hold onto dent on Russia, the source
ian's announcement. tion will disappear," said parliament seats, later un- power by switching from of about 30 percent of the
Since a six-year separat- demonstrator Tigran Aziz- derlined the difficulty by president to prime minister, country's imports.q