August 13, 2023

Dear Colleagues,

The EaP CSF Secretariat is ready to organize a Meeting of delegates, but the agenda of that session cannot include the election of an ANP facilitator, because the ANP has an acting facilitator.

The June 23 “Decision of the Meeting of CSF delegates from Armenia” to express no confidence in Hovsep Khurshudyan and terminate his powers has no legal force because:

1) The proposal of 14 organizations to terminate the powers of Hovsep Khurshudyan was already discussed and voted on and not accepted at the Meeting of delegates on June 9. The results of the voting held on June 9 cannot be considered invalid, and the allegations that the June 9 ANP Conference/Delegates’ Meeting was held with procedural violations are baseless. They are unfounded because Seda Shiganyan, the representative of the Yerevan press club, was properly notified about the meeting and its agenda (by e-mail included in the ANP Google group), and therefore also about the upcoming vote of the HAP coordinator’s question.

At the assembly, the YPC representative was aware of the meeting and the agenda, and the status of a delegate implies that she should also have been aware that the issue of expressing no confidence in the ANP facilitator can only be voted within the powers of the Delegates’ Meeting. However, Ms. Shiganyan did not participate in the meeting and did not vote. The fact that the delegate does not know her competence is not a ground for invalidating the vote of the Meeting.

2) In addition to the fact that the question of expressing no confidence in the ANP facilitator could not be voted a second time in the Meeting of delegates, the indicated “Meeting of delegates on June 23” is illegal without reservations, because the 18 delegates were notified of the meeting of delegates scheduled for June 23 about its place and time, and that place was the hall on the 8th floor of the Confederation of Trade Unions, and the time was 4:30 p.m., while there was no meeting of the delegates at the specified time because the 10 delegates left the specified place and gathered in another place, without informing the other 8 delegates. However, even if they were informed, it would not comply with clause 3.8.7 of the АНП Charter, according to which the participants should be informed about the sessions, venue, day, time, and agenda of the Meeting of CSF delegates from Armenia and the General Assembly of the members of the CSF from Armenia at least 96 hours before the convocation time by e-mail or through a phone call (attached is the proof, the recording, where Mr. Ashot Melikyan announces during the ANP General Assembly held on June 23, that he and several other colleagues will leave and hold a meeting in another place, but does not inform about the new place and time of the supposed meeting to be held).

In addition to the above. On June 22, EaP CSF Steering Committee Co-chairs and the director of the CSF Secretariat expressed their opinion, that it will be right to refrain from further actions regarding the situation in the ANP, about which the ANP coordinator informed the members of the ANP Assembly held on June 23, including the 10 delegates present there.

After the legal vote held on 9 June 2023, as well as the spread of misinformation by 10 delegates about the alleged dismissal of the ANP facilitator, Hovsep Khurshudyan continued his normal activities as the ANP facilitator, including the participation in the EaP CSF Steering Committee meetings, cooperation with the CSF Secretariat, the European Union Delegation to Armenia and other international and diplomatic structures, various state bodies of the RA, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Security Council and other institutions, in the form of effective cooperation with the delegation.

Based on the above and reconfirming its readiness to organize a Meeting of the Delegates, including the Meeting of the delegates, the EaP CSF ANP Secretariat does not consider it possible to organize a Meeting of the delegates with the agenda of the election of a new ANP Facilitator, for the simple reason that the ANP has an existing facilitator. And he considers convening and holding a Meeting of delegates with such an agenda as illegitimate and self-righteous, and any decision made during it is null and void.

We urge you to keep the ANP Charter and stay within the framework of constructiveness.

With respect,

Council of the EaP CSF ANP Secretariat