{"id":979,"date":"2021-04-08T06:08:09","date_gmt":"2021-04-08T06:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/armeniaglobe.com\/?p=979"},"modified":"2021-04-08T06:16:09","modified_gmt":"2021-04-08T06:16:09","slug":"is-ex-president-robert-kocharyan-making-a-comeback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/armeniaglobe.com\/hy\/is-ex-president-robert-kocharyan-making-a-comeback\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Ex-President Robert Kocharyan Making A Comeback?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In an attempt to overcome the post-war crises, the prime minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan announced<\/a> the scheduled date of snap elections \u2013 June 20, 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Against the backdrop of the decreasing popularity of the incumbent prime minister, many political figures previously in power show intentions of returning to active politics. The second president of Armenia Robert Kocharyan is one of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President of Armenia from 1998 to 2008, Kocharyan is determined to take part<\/a> in the upcoming parliamentary elections and win<\/em>. Absent from the political scene for years, he seems to be making a comeback in the toughest times. As it was the post-war period in the 90s when Kocharyan came to power, many believe he has the authority and needed experience to revive the country now too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though the situation was grave in the 90s and early 2000s, the country seems to be in an even deeper political crisis at the moment. Aside from the deepening internal crisis, Armenia is facing economic challenges too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if 20 years ago the victory in the First Nagorno Karabakh war<\/a> could overshadow the numerous challenges the county was facing, the demoralizing defeat of the 2020 Nagorno Karabakh war makes things worse. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the country\u2019s economy grew by 12% annually during Kocharyan\u2019s<\/strong> presidency (2001-2007) and Armenia could overcome the post-war challenges to a certain extent, many are not delighted for the ex-president\u2019s comeback. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is largely because of one of the bloodiest events in the history of independent Armenia \u2013 presidential election protests on March 1<\/a>, 2008. Nonetheless, Kocharyan is one of the few political figures that has a relatively large number of followers thanks to his long political career. Aside from serving as president of Armenia for two consecutive terms, Kocharyan was also the president of Nagorno Karabakh from 1994 to 1997 and prime minister of Armenia from 1997 to 1998. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

March 1 Case and Recent Developments\u00a0<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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When one of the leading figures of the 2008 protests Nikol Pashinyan came to power in 2018, a new impetus was given to the March 1 criminal case. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Charged with the overthrow of the constitutional law, Kocharyan was arrested in 2018 within the scope of events of 2008. As he was still president during these events and handed the reins to his ally Serzh Sarkissian<\/strong> only on April 9, 2018, Kocharyan is held responsible for the death of 10 people during the protests.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After over two years of trials with no significant developments, Armenia\u2019s Constitutional Court ruled to drop the case on March 26, 2021. The Court declared that Article 300.1 under which former president Kocharyan is charged \u201ccontradicts to Articles 78 and 79 of the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia and is declared void.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This disappointed many of Pashinyan\u2019s followers as one of his promises was to perform a judicial reform, solve the March 1 case, and punish the ones responsible for the night that took the lives of eight protestors and two police officers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On April 1, 2021, the Prosecutor General of the RA Artur Davtyan appealed<\/a> to the Constitutional Court in the case of former president Robert Kocharyan. In the report published by the Prosecutor General\u2019s Office, Artur Davtyan presents the articles according to which the Court cannot terminate the criminal prosecution. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the appeal of the Prosecutor General Artur Davtyan, the Court acquitted<\/a> Robert Kocharyan in the March 1 case on April 6. Ex-president Kocharyan<\/strong> is still on trial for corruption. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Foreign Policy and Nagorno Karabakh Issue <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Since the start of negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Armenian authorities seem to have always remained within the principles of realpolitik. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

They have always pursued the goal of solving the Nagorno Karabakh issue in a way acceptable both by Armenia and Azerbaijan despite the numerous proofs of Nagorno Karabakh being an integral part of historic Armenia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notwithstanding the constant efforts of Armenians trying to prove to the world that Artsakh is Armenia, those around the negotiation table have always refrained from making any historical claims. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being one of the leaders of the Karabakh movement, Kocharyan was the first to make a claim of a historical nature. In 2003, Kocharyan stated in his speech at a Council of Europe conference that \u201cNagorno Karabakh has never been part of independent Azerbaijan.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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