2018 in Armenia explained

The following lists events that occurred in 2018 in Armenia.

Incumbents

• President

Serzh Sargsyan (until 9 April), Armen Sarkissian (from 9 April)

• Prime Minister

Karen Karapetyan (until 9 April, acting Prime Minister from 9 April to 17 April), Serzh Sargsyan (17 April to 23 April), Karen Karapetyan (acting Prime Minister from 23 April to 8 May), Nikol Pashinyan (from 8 May)

• Speaker

Ara Babloyan

Events

February

• 9–25 February  - 3 athletes from Armenia competed at the 2018 Winter Olympics.^{[1] [2] [3]}

April

• 17 April  - Protests intensify after Serzh Sargsyan former President of Armenia is appointed Prime Minister of Armenia, in what opposition figures have described as a "power grab".^[4]
• 22 April  - Protest leader Nikol Pashinyan is arrested by police after a short meeting with Prime Minister Sargsyan, who left after three minutes alleging he was blackmailed to resign.^[5]
• 23 April  - Serzh Sargsyan officially resigns as Prime Minister after 11 days of protests and released Pashinyan who was detained yesterday, reportedly stating "The street movement is against my tenure. I am fulfilling your demand," and "You were right; I was wrong".^[6]

May

• 8 May  - Nikol Pashinyan is elected as Prime Minister of Armenia.^[7]
• 12 May  - The Pashinyan government is formed.^[8]
• 28 May  - Celebrations of the centennial of the founding of the First Armenian Republic.^[9]

June

• 16 June  - Former Deputy Defense Minister and parliamentarian Manvel Grigoryan was arrested in Vagharshapat by the National Security Service and was charged with the possession of firearms and ammunition illegally.^[10]

July

• 26 July  - The Special Investigative Service (SIS) arrests and charges former President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan with “overthrowing constitutional order of Armenia” in response to the 2008 Armenian presidential election protests in the final weeks of his tenure.^[11] That same day, Colonel General Yuri Khachaturov was indicted on the same charge of disrupting constitutional order during the protests when he was the then-Commander of the Yerevan Garrison.^[12]

September

• 23 September – Yerevan City Council elections were held.

October

• 3 October  - Pashinyan fires six members of his cabinet after their respective political parties, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation and the Tsarukyan Alliance supported a parliamentary bill which would effectively limit the role of the prime minister in calling snap elections to the National Assembly.^[13]
• 16 October  - Pashinyan resigns in protest of the actions taken by the two parties and promises to serve as the acting head of government until elections are held.

November

• 1 November  - Pashinyan announces that his country will try to begin the process normalizing relations with Turkey without preconditions, saying that recognition of the Armenian genocide is a "security issue", rather than a matter of Armenian-Turkish relations.^[14]
• 6 November  - The European Party of Armenia is founded in Yerevan by filmmaker Tigran Khzmalyan^[15]

December

• 9 December  - The My Step Alliance won the parliamentary elections with an overwhelming majority of the vote, resulting in the coalition winning 88 of the 132 seats in the assembly.^[16]

Deaths

• 28 February - Albert Mkrtchyan, People's Artist of Armenia^[17] (b. 1937)
• 1 October - Charles Aznavour, French-Armenian singer, lyricist, actor and diplomat (b. 1924)

Notes and References

1. News: Shahbazyan . Lusine . 21 January 2014 . Sochi 2014: Armenia's 4 Olympians are announced . News.am . 21 January 2014 .
2. Web site: Cross-country Skiing Quota List for Olympic Games 2018 . 12 December 2017 . www.data.fis-ski.com/ . International Ski Federation (FIS) . 16 December 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20171222051351/https://data.fis-ski.com/dynamic/olympic-quotas-list.html?sectorcode=CC&listid=2018 . 22 December 2017 . dead .
3. News: Skier Sergey Mikaelyan wins Armenia's first 2018 Winter Olympics quota . News.Am . Yerevan, Armenia . 11 December 2017. 16 December 2017.
4. Web site: Lawmakers Approve Sarkisian As Armenia's PM Despite Countrywide Protests. RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. en. 2018-04-17.
5. Web site: Armenia unrest: Protesters rally after leader detained . 2018-04-22 . 2018-04-30.
6. Web site: Shock as Armenia's prime minister steps down after 11 days of protests . . 2018-04-23 . 2018-04-30.
7. Web site: Armenia protest leader Nikol Pashinyan elected prime minister. Judith Vonberg. May 8, 2018. CNN.
8. Web site: Government - Structure - The Government of the Republic of Armenia. Helix Consulting. LLC. www.gov.am.
9. Web site: Upcoming events - Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia . 2018-05-25 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180617115726/http://www.mfa.am/en/events/ . 2018-06-17 . dead .
10. Web site: Etchmiadzin: Manvel Grigoryan and Artur Asatryan Arrested on Illegal Arms Charges. Hetq.am.
11. Web site: Kocharian Charged Over 2008 Crackdown. «Ազատ Եվրոպա/Ազատություն» ռադիոկայան.
12. Web site: Armenian investigators charge head of Russia-led security bloc with "subverting public order". Eurasianet. 11 May 2019.
13. News: Armenia: Six Government Ministers Get the Boot - Hetq - News, Articles, Investigations. 2019-05-11. en.
14. News: Pashinyan presents vision for normalization of relations with Turkey. Armenpress. 1 November 2018.
15. Web site: Հայաստանի Եվրոպական կուսակցության հիմնադիր համագումարի անցկացման ժամանակի և վայրի, ինչպես նաև կուսակցության կանոնադրության և ծրագրի նախագծերի հիմնական դրույթների մասին հայտարարություն - Հայտարարություններ - Հայաստանի Հանրապետության ինտերնետով ծանուցման պաշտոնական կայք. www.azdarar.am. 2020-02-02.
16. Web site: Armenia Parliament Dissolved, Early Elections Set For December. RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. 2019-05-11.
17. Web site: President Serzh Sargsyan conveys condolences on demise of Albert Mkrtchyan - Telegrams of Condolence - Updates - The President of the Republic of Armenia. www.president.am.