Pashinyan came to power in the wake of weeks of mass protests against corruption and cronyism in the ex-Soviet republic. The former newspaper editor, who was jailed for fomenting unrest in 2008, represents a dramatic break from the cadre of rulers who have run Armenia since the late 1990s. Former high-ranking officials were sacked and some were arrested following the power change. Kocharyan was Armenia’s second president, serving in the post from 1998 to 2008, when mass protests erupted over a disputed election. Though a ceasefire was agreed in 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia still regularly accuse each other of conducting attacks around Nagorno-Karabakh and along the Azeri-Armenian border.

Source: Egypt Independent December 09, 2018 09:45 UTC