Revolution in Armenia 2018

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Protests on Republic Square in Yerevan on April 22, 2018

The protests in Armenia (also called Velvet Revolution ; Armenian : Թավշյա հեղափոխություն) have taken place in the capital Yerevan and other cities in the country since Serzh Sargsyan's election as Prime Minister on April 17, 2018, and were directed against him and the ruling Republican Party , whom the protesters accused, among other things, of being responsible for corruption and nepotism in Armenia . The leader of the demonstrations , in which several hundreds of thousands took part, was the opposition politician and member of parliament Nikol Pashinyan .

On April 23, Sargsyan bowed to the protests and resigned from the post of prime minister after just six days. This was followed by cheering rallies across the country.

Karen Karapetjan took office as Deputy Prime Minister, the 1st round of a new election in the National Assembly was on May 1st. The only candidate was Pashinyan, who did not receive the required majority. In the second ballot on May 8, he was finally elected as the new Prime Minister.

The demonstrations are considered the largest in an ex-Soviet republic since the EU- friendly Maidan movement in Ukraine in 2013/14 and the largest in Armenia since the late 1980s.

prehistory

Protesters on April 14th

In 2015, the conversion of the semi-presidential to a parliamentary system began in Armenia . This gave the parliament greater powers, while the president was left with primarily representative tasks.

Serzh Sargsyan , who was elected president in 2008, was therefore not allowed to run again after two terms. His successor, Armen Zarkissyan , was elected by the National Assembly on March 2, 2018 and took office on April 9.

Zargsyan became Prime Minister on April 17, 2018 with significantly greater powers than his predecessor Karen Karapetjan , as this office had been significantly upgraded as a result of the constitutional reform. In April 2014, Serzh Sargsyan had ruled out at a meeting with the members of the special commission for the impending constitutional amendments to run again for the office of president or for the office of prime minister.

The first protests broke out in March 2018 after the leadership of the Republican Party no longer ruled out nominating Sargsyan for the post of prime minister. When the party wanted to officially nominate him on April 14, demonstrators blocked the party headquarters, which is why the nomination had to take place outside Yerevan.

Demonstrations and Sargsyan's resignation

The leader of the protests, Nikol Pashinyan, on April 13th

Actions of civil disobedience began on April 16 under the motto Take a Step, Reject Serzh . A day later, on the day of Sargsyan's election, protesters tried to block the entrances to the National Assembly building to prevent the vote. However, the police made sure that they could not get into the building.

After the election of the prime minister, protests widened despite hundreds of arrests . On April 21st, 50,000 demonstrators gathered in the streets of Yerevan for the first time, and there were protests in other cities in the country.

The new prime minister repeatedly called for talks with the leader of the protest movement, Nikol Pashinyan , despite the fact that he had said he was only willing to discuss the terms of the prime minister's resignation. Finally, Pashinyan agreed to meet the Prime Minister on April 22nd at 10:00 a.m., but also stressed that Serzh Sargsyan's resignation was the issue.

April 22nd - Pashinyan and Sargsyan meet and Pashinyan arrested

The meeting between Pashinyan and Sargsyan lasted only three minutes. The Prime Minister warned protesters that they had not learned "the lessons of March 1st". This was a reference to the 10 demonstrators who had been killed by police 10 years earlier during protests against his election and was understood as an open threat of violence.

Soldiers take part in the protests in Yerevan (April 23)

After the meeting, Pashinyan and the two opposition activists, Sasun Mikaeljan and Ararat Mirsojan, were arrested by the police. In the evening around 115,000 demonstrators came to Republic Square and demanded Sargsyan's resignation. There were a total of 232 arrests.

April 23 - Pashinyan released and Sargsyan resigned

According to media reports, army soldiers also took part in the protests for the first time , which was later confirmed by the Defense Ministry.

At 3 p.m. Pashinyan was released. Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan announced on his website at 4:30 p.m. that he would resign from the post of Prime Minister. Verbatim he declared: “I was wrong and Nikol Pashinyan was right.” Vice-Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan took over the office.

More than 200,000 people, including police officers and soldiers, celebrated Sargsyan's resignation as a popular victory in Yerevan and across the country.

Call for a Prime Minister Pashinyan

On April 24, the day of remembrance for the victims of the Armenian genocide , for which the opposition had already announced major rallies, many Armenians gathered, as they do every year, and moved to the central Zizernakaberd memorial outside Yerevan. In addition to calling for international recognition of the genocide , especially by Turkey , they also called for new parliamentary elections and the election of Pashinyan as prime minister.

April 28th - Official nomination of Pashinyan

Mass demonstration on April 20, 2018 against the then Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan on Republic Square in Yerevan

The opposition parties in the Armenian parliament nominated Nikol Pashinyan for the prime ministerial election, which parliamentary president Ara Bablojan scheduled for May 1st. For an election he needs at least six votes from the Republican Party , which does not want to put up its own candidate, but considers Pashinyan to be "personally unsuitable". The opposition announced that they would continue to demonstrate until Pashinyan became prime minister.

May 1st - First attempt to elect the Prime Minister

The election of the prime minister was awaited with great excitement. Around 250,000 supporters of the opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan gathered across the country and followed the debate in parliament on large screens or in cafes and restaurants. He received 45 votes, 55 MPs voted against him, which means that the required majority of 53 votes was not achieved. The second ballot was scheduled for May 8; Should no candidate win a majority even then, there would be new parliamentary elections. Pashinyan then called on his supporters to a general strike and further demonstrations.

May 2nd - Peaceful protests continued

There were further peaceful acts of civil disobedience and a general strike across the country . Important streets and squares in Yerevan were blocked, as well as the entrances to government buildings and the access road to Zvartnots International Airport . Many railways and the metro in Yerevan did not run. Soldiers in uniform again took part in the actions . The police tried occasionally to break up the protests, but refrained from using force. All in all, everything remained very quiet, even where the blockade resulted in miles of walking to the airport. In the evening, around 150,000 supporters came to a rally on Republic Square, at which Pashinyan said that the actions were successful and that the Republican Party had declared that it would support him in the next ballot.

Election of Pashinyan as head of government

Nikol Pashinyan , Prime Minister of Armenia since May 8, 2018

The second ballot took place in Parliament on May 8th. The Republican Party had already announced in advance that it would support Pashinyan. He received 59 votes, only 42 MPs voted against him, whereby the required majority was achieved. Once again there were jubilation rallies across the country.

Within days, Pashinyan sacked the national security chief and the police chief.

Although Pashinyan was able to reshape the government, he still had to rule against a majority of his opponents in parliament. In contrast, his party won a majority in the city council and mayor's post in the city of Yerevan at the end of September. At the beginning of October, the parliament elected in 2017 decided to make the dissolution of the National Assembly and thus new elections more difficult. The power of the streets had to be mobilized again in order to induce at least part of Parliament to give in. In October 2018, Pashinyan announced his resignation in order to create an occasion for new elections , which were set for December 9, 2018 at the beginning of November. The Pashinyan alliance won a majority of 70 percent with a turnout of 49 percent.

See also

Web links

Commons : Revolution in Armenia 2018  - Images, Videos and Audio Files Collection

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Stuttgarter Zeitung, Stuttgart, Germany: After mass protest: Armenia's Prime Minister Sargsjan resigns . In: stuttgarter-zeitung.de . April 23, 2018 ( archive.org ). After mass protest: Armenia's Prime Minister Sargsyan resigns ( Memento of the original from April 24, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.stuttgarter-zeitung.de
  2. ↑ 50,000 demonstrators: arrests during protest in Armenia . ( zdf.de [accessed on April 23, 2018]).
  3. ↑ Andrew Roth: Serzh Sargsyan resigns as Armenia's prime minister after protests. April 23, 2018, accessed April 23, 2018 .
  4. ↑ a b After mass protests in Yerevan: Armenia's Prime Minister resigns . In: Spiegel Online . April 23, 2018 ( spiegel.de [accessed April 23, 2018]).
  5. ↑ a b Armenia: Parliament votes against opposition leader Pashinyan . In: Spiegel Online . May 1, 2018 ( spiegel.de [accessed May 1, 2018]).
  6. ↑ a b tagesschau.de: FOCUS: Voting in Armenia: Pashinyan elected head of government. Retrieved on May 8, 2018 (German).
  7. ↑ Mittelbayerische.de: Armenian Prime Minister gives up . In: Mittelbayerische Zeitung . ( Mittelbayerische.de [accessed April 30, 2018]).
  8. ^ Thomas Schrapel: Mass protests in Armenia force the prime minister to resign. April 2018, accessed on April 24, 2018 (German).
  9. ↑ Serzh Sargsyan Promises Never to Run for President Again | Epress.am . In: Epress.am . April 10, 2014 ( epress.am [accessed April 24, 2018]).
  10. ^ Sargsyan officially nominated for office amid continuing protests . ( eurasianet.org [accessed April 30, 2018]). Sargsyan officially nominated for office amid continuing protests ( Memento of the original from April 22, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / eurasianet.org
  11. ↑ Arminfo: Armenian opposition protests against Serzh Continues Sargsyan`s premiership . ( arminfo.info [accessed April 30, 2018]).
  12. ↑ More Streets In Yerevan Blocked By Hundreds Opposition Protesters. In: www.avarot-en.am. Accessed April 30, 2018 .
  13. ↑ 50,000 demonstrators: arrests during protest in Armenia . ( zdf.de [accessed April 30, 2018]).
  14. ↑ Agencies: Armenian opposition leader detained amid political unrest. April 22, 2018, accessed April 30, 2018 .
  15. ↑ Police take action in Armenia . ( zdf.de [accessed April 30, 2018]).
  16. ^ Armenian opposition leader arrested, but protesters rally . ( eurasianet.org [accessed May 5, 2018]).
  17. ↑ tagesschau.de: Armenia in crisis: resignation after mass protests. Accessed April 30, 2018 (German).
  18. ↑ Clara Weiss: Armenian prime minister resigns after mass protests . ( wsws.org [accessed May 5, 2018]).
  19. ^ After resignation in Armenia: Parliament elects head of government . ( zdf.de [accessed April 30, 2018]).
  20. ↑ Opposition blocks roads: Armenia is about to change power . ( zdf.de [accessed April 30, 2018]).
  21. ^ Armenia's revolution continues, as its opposition leader nears power. Retrieved May 5, 2018 .
  22. ↑ "Paschinjan not elected" . ( zdf.de [accessed on May 1, 2018]).
  23. ^ Armenia: "Broad Protest Movement" . ( zdf.de [accessed on May 2, 2018]).
  24. ^ Early victory celebration in Erewan , NZZ, May 3, 2018; "the country is paralyzed and yet in a festive mood"
  25. ↑ Amie Ferris-Rotman: Armenia's pro-democracy leader tells his jubilant followers they can ease up . In: Washington Post . May 2, 2018, ISSN  0190-8286 ( washingtonpost.com [accessed May 5, 2018]).
  26. ↑ The Armenian President has dismissed the heads of the National Security Service and the police , Novaya Gazeta, May 10, 2018
  27. ↑ Pashinyan resigns , Novaya Gazeta, October 16, 2018
  28. ↑ New elections to complete Armenia's revolution , NZZ, November 6, 2018
  29. ^ SRF Nachrichten , 9./10. December 2018