Armenian News... A Topalian... PM calls for end to civil actions

TASS, Armenia

May 17 2018

Armenian PM calls for end of civil disobedience actions

All problems of the citizens will be gradually solved, Nikol Pashinyan said 

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has called on all protesters to stop the blocking of streets and other civil disobedience actions, he said on Facebook live on Thursday.

"I’m calling on everyone to stop all civil disobedience actions today at 15:00 (14:00 Moscow time). I understand that everyone has the right to such actions, but it was appropriate when there was no people’s government in Armenia. Everything is different now. You must create groups that will present your problems to corresponding agencies," Pashinyan noted, adding that "Those who do not want to sabotage the work of the new government should immediately respond to its appeal."

"As for demands for Yerevan Mayor Taron Margaryan’s resignation, the government will study this issue and will deliver a corresponding statement," the Armenian PM stressed, adding that "all problems of the citizens will be gradually solved."

"There should be no blocked streets in Armenia from now on," the republic’s prime minister said.

Since May 16, Yerevan has been a place of civil disobedience actions demanding to address a variety of current social problems.

News.am, Armenia

May 17 2018

Armenian Foreign Ministry comments on Aliyev's statements 

               

Saber-rattling of Azerbaijani president does not enhance his credibility and doesn't increase fighting capacity of his army, Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Armenia, Tigran Balayan told Armenian News - NEWS.am, commenting on Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's statement.

 

"Instead, he could say that he is ready to negotiate with the leadership of Karabakh for an early settlement of the conflict," Tigran Balayan said.

 

As the Azerbaijani mass media informed, Azerbaijani President  Ilham Aliyev said that long-range missiles deployed in Nakhchivan can destroy any enemy military target.

 

Arminfo, Armenia

May 16 2018

Premier: Construction of a new nuclear power plant in Armenia is one of the priorities of the new government of the country

Alexander Avanesov. 

The construction of a new nuclear power plant in Armenia is one of the priorities of the new government of the country. On the eve, introducing the new Minister of Energy Infrastructures and Natural Resources of the Republic of Armenia Artur Grigoryan, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated.

According to him, the new NPP will be designed to increase the reliability and security of the energy complex of Armenia.

Commenting on this statement of the Prime Minister, Deputy Director General of Armenian NPP CJSC, Director of the program for extending the life of the second power unit of the Armenian NPP, Hera Sevikyan stressed that the issue with the construction of the new unit is not new. The station has all the necessary infrastructure - a platform, water, personnel, the problem is only the power of the new unit and its type. The construction of a block with a capacity of 1200-1500 MW for Armenia is unacceptable, since in the absence of the necessary volumes of consumption this can lead to the destruction of the entire energy system of the country. The optimal option would be a 540-600 MW unit, but the problem is due to the lack of these units in operation, and Armenia has chosen a policy of using exclusively reference stations. Also, during the discussions there are variants of the block with a capacity of up to 40 MW, but in this case 12 modular nuclear power plants will have to be built to compensate for the capacities of the operating unit, which is also a problematic task. "Yes, and with fuel for these types of reactors can be difficult," - said Gera Sevikyan. In addition, he continued, it is necessary to retrain personnel for work on such units, which is a very expensive activity, as the personnel of the ANPP is accustomed to working and familiar with the WWER reactor.

"In any case, we will keep, as they say, a hand on the pulse," the Deputy General Director of the ANPP stressed, adding that there is still time for making a decision. The current block is capable of working without problems until 2040. "The reactor is not in jail, it is in excellent condition, the main equipment is upgraded, capable to work for another 30 years. Technically and technologically, the station has no problems to extend its resource for a longer period, during which a final decision on the new unit should be taken," - the expert emphasized. He regretfully stated that the Armenian NPP in principle performs a social function, supporting the energy tariff at a relatively low level.

At present, the Armenian NPP is implementing a $ 300 million program financed by the Russian government ($ 270 million is a loan, and $ 30 million is a grant) aimed at extending the lifetime of the second power unit for a period of 10 years. During this period, it was initially planned to build a unit with a capacity of 1,000 megawatts, then 600 megawatts, now we are talking about small modular units with a capacity of 50 megawatt, which are intended to become nuclear decentralization. Nevertheless, in Armenia, based on financial considerations, more and more people are coming to understand the need for full-fledged use of the existing NPP unit, up to the year 2040. Thus, the issue of building a new block can only be addressed by 2030.

Reactors of small and medium power, from 30 to 300 MW, so-called modular reactors, can come to replace not only classical atomic units, but also thermal generation units. Today, according to IAEA estimates, there are 50 projects and concepts of small and medium-sized reactors in the world. They can be both stationary and mobile. Moreover, both terrestrial and marine installations are developed, which can be controlled from the shore remotely. Among the countries developing these technologies, besides the United States, Japan and North Korea, are also Canada, France, China, Russia, India, Argentina and South Africa. In addition, in Argentina, China and Russia is already building a completely different technology for the installation. The idea to build independent modular reactors was fixed in the world in the early 2000s. However, then they were considered mainly as reserve sources for developing countries, as well as for remote settlements, production and mining complexes. That is, places where it is difficult to stretch electrical networks. Today these projects are considered as independent generation complexes for any places, including densely populated ones. The concept of their development is based on the policy of decentralization of production and supply of electricity. Unfortunately, giant energy projects have become very vulnerable. Any natural disaster or hacker attack can disable large stations - and millions of people in a moment will be left without electricity. But local stations reduce such dependence and suffer less from natural disasters, since they have tightly closed internal infrastructure. Due to their size and locality, modular reactors are much safer than larger nuclear power plants. The second Chernobyl will not be on them, because other technical solutions are involved in modular reactors.

ARKA, Armenia

May 17 2018

UN says Armenia’s population will dwindle to 2.7 million by 2020

Armenia’s population by 2050 will dwindle  to 2.7 million people, according to UN’s latest 2018 Revision of World Urbanization Prospects. 

According to Armenia’s  National Statistical Service, the country’s population as of April 1, 2018 stood at 2,969,900 people. Compared with the same period in 2017, the population reduced by 11,600 people.

According to the UN, the population of Armenia in the middle of the last century was 1.35 million people. By  1990 it had reached 3.5 million, and then began to decline gradually. The urban population  in 1950 was only 40.3% of the total number of population, growing to 67.4% by 1990. By 2050 it is supposed to constitute 74.3%.

According to the National Statistical Service, the number of urban population as of April 1 stood at 1,894,500 people (down by 4,500 year-on-year). Yerevan had 1,077,600 residents. In rural areas, the population decreased by 7,100 people to 1,075,400.

In 2017 the number of births decreased by 7.1% or 2,890  to 37, 699. The number of deaths in the reporting period increased by 3% to 27,367. -0-

EurasiaNet.org

May 17 2018

Erdoğan calls for ‘common sense’ from new Armenian government

In spite of new leadership in Yerevan, the fundamentals of conflict between the two sides remain unchanged.

Ayla Jean Yackley May 17, 2018

Pasjhinyan expressed willingness to resume ties with Turkey, but analysts say the fundamentals of the conflict remain unchanged. 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan this week called on Armenia to show “common sense” to bring stability to the region in the wake of Yerevan's political transition, suggesting he still expects Turkey’s neighbor to take the first step before ties between the two states can be reestablished.

Turkey has had no diplomatic ties with Armenia and has kept the border closed for a quarter-century to protest Armenia’s occupation of the Azerbaijani enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. Yerevan earlier this year officially shelved a set of all-but-dead protocols brokered by the United States in 2009 that laid out a path for the two countries to restore relations.

Now, Armenia has a new prime minister in Nikol Pashinyan, who led a peaceful revolt against longtime leader Serzh Sargsyan, forcing him to step aside last month. But the fundamentals of the conflict on either side remain unchanged.

“We support all efforts for lasting peace, development and welfare in the Caucasus and Central Asia. The only country missing in this positive tableau is Armenia. We especially await the days when we will see a reasonable approach and common sense from the Armenian administration,” Erdoğan said in a May 14 speech in London.

Erdoğan did not elaborate further, but analysts said his remarks underscore his belief that Armenia must first end its occupation of Nargorno-Karabakh, the mountainous enclave that is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but is now controlled by Armenian forces after a war during the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Pashinyan has sought to allay concerns among Armenia’s allies, primarily Russia, that he will now rewrite the country's foreign policy, pledging to hew close to his predecessors' approach to the outside world.

Yet last week, Pashinyan appeared to breathe new air into the stalemate with Turkey, saying he was ready to establish diplomatic relations without preconditions. Opening impoverished, landlocked Armenia’s frontier could deliver some of the $200 million in trade Turkey has in the south Caucasus.

Pashinyan’s remarks were cautiously welcomed by Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım.

“If Armenia is giving up the hostile stance it has exhibited toward Turkey for years, if it wants to open a new chapter, we would look at the details and give the appropriate response,” he told reporters on May 11.

However, Pashinyan’s pursuit of re-establishing ties with Turkey does not appear to be a departure from the previous administration’s position, said Aybars Görgülü at Public Policy and Democracy Studies, a think tank in Istanbul.

“This has long been Armenia’s official policy: that they don’t have preconditions. It is Turkey that does, and that’s the Karabakh matter. Unless Pashinyan is prepared to make a move on Karabakh, Turkey is quite limited in what it can do,” Görgülü told Eurasianet.

In fact, Turkey’s response to the sudden change in government in a part of the world where it seeks to project influence has been remarkably muted, likely due to its distraction by a myriad of other foreign policy priorities, from Gaza and Syria to tensions with the United States and the European Union.

It was Erdoğan who, as prime minister, suspended the protocols in 2009, arguing that normalization with Yerevan first required peace in Nagorno-Karabakh. That followed vigorous objections to the protocols from Azerbaijan, a key energy supplier to Turkey with whom it shares close ethnic and linguistic ties, over the protocols.

“Turkey’s Caucasus policies are viewed solely through the lens of Azerbaijan. So even if Armenia wants a breakthrough in Karabakh, Azerbaijan may not,” Görgülü said.

For his part, Pashinyan said Turkey’s preconditions on rapprochement are unreasonable.

"It is illogical to make conditions referring to a third country, when you want to establish relations," he said in a post-election speech in Stepanakert, the de facto capital of Nagorno Karabakh.

Issues beyond the Nagorno-Karabakh divide Armenia and Turkey, and historical disputes – primarily the World War One-era genocide in which as many as 1.5 million ethnic Armenians were killed – remain raw between the two nations. Turkey denies the killings were a state-orchestrated genocide.

Pashinyan touched on the dispute, arguing Armenia "remains committed to international recognition of the Armenian genocide.” Under the defunct protocols, Armenia did not seek Turkey’s official acknowledgement of the genocide.

Still, the election of a popular new leader could give impetus to reconciliation with both Turkey and Azerbaijan, wrote Mikayel Zolyan, a processor at Yerevan State Linguistic University, in commentary for the Carnegie Moscow Center think tank.

While Pashinyan maintains that a compromise can be reached on Nagorno Karabakh, he has indicated that Baku’s “aggressive rhetoric" make that impossible, Zolyan said. “Sargsyan used to say something similar, but it sounds somewhat different coming from Pashinyan.”

Ayla Jean Yackley is a journalist based in Istanbul.

ARKA, Armenia

May 18 2018

Armenia’s informal economy estimated at $2.5-$4 billion

Armenia’s informal economy is estimated at $2.5-$4 billion, economist Artak Manukyan said during a discussion organized today by the Club of Economic Journalists.  He said according to some estimates, the informal sector makes 22% of the total economy, while according to estimates based on Schneider's methodology it is 40%.

"As a result, we can say that the shadow turnover is estimated at $2.5-4 billion, and given political will and a correct positioning of the authorities, some 30% of informal economy can be brought to the taxation net in a short period of time," Manukyan said.

In his words, this means that in a year it will be possible to generate about $180 million in additional income.

He also argued that the government should grant tax amnesty against the background of public discontent and calls for ensuring equality. According to him, in the wake of the change of power, the society is actively demanding restoration of justice and bringing to the legal tax field those who have evaded taxes and worked in the shadow sector to this day.

"The tax amnesty should be granted cautiously, step by step, so that those working in the shadow are able to gradually legalize their businesses without losing them," Manukyan said.

According to the economist, this will allow the business to self-clean, legalize and work in the legal field. At the same time, he noted that the fight against the shadow sector could lead to higher prices for goods, which can be neutralized by the real and fair competition.

According to him, it is very important to understand that such steps can not be implemented in the short term.

"If the investments are channeled into education, science and healthcare, it will lead to the development of human capital that will trigger economic growth," Manukyan said, stressing that this will allow the residents of the country to feel all the changes. 

Panorama, Armenia

May 18 2018

The dream of families from regions of Armenia to have their own houses will be realized in 2018 as well - VivaCell-MTS

The settlement of issues that have become a social burden helps to improve the quality of a family’s life. Especially those living in regions feel its need most; the desire to build a home becomes a reason for them to look for a solution abroad choosing the way of emigration. To preserve the country as a homeland, however, they need to stay on their own land and have the faith to dream, live and succeed. The families who have solved the housing problems in different regions of Armenia are trying to set new goals and achieve them.

The housing program implemented by VivaCell-MTS and Fuller Center for Housing Armenia has proven its effectiveness over the years; homes were built or renovated in 56 communities for 150 families. It has been planned to continue the project in 2018, too. The partnering organizations have signed the contract for the current year.

“The decision has been made, the contract has been signed. This year, too, we will cooperate with the Fuller Center for Housing Armenia to fulfill the dream of our compatriots. The new challenges and the economic situation oblige us to specify the calculations, but when we see how the families, who have overcome the problem of housing many years ago, confidently set new dreams now, we try to be helpful to more families within the realms of our possibilities,” said VivaCell-MTS General Manager Ralph Yirikian.

“This is a program the result of which is assessed through the change in the life quality, through the sparkle of faith towards the future in the eyes of the families. Although considerable work has been done, we evaluate the years of cooperation with a more important criterion, that is - awakening faith in a bright future in people's hearts,” shared the Fuller Center for Housing Armenia President Ashot Yeghiazaryan.

The company also reminds about the mechanisms of the cooperation: the list of families to be included in the program is made by the Fuller Center for Housing Armenia, taking into account their social status, the presence of juveniles in the family, the crowdedness of the living space and a number of other criteria. VivaCell-MTS provides financial support, as well as participates voluntarily in the construction works.

RFE/RL Report

Armenian Tax Chief Resigns

May 17, 2018

In a move clearly related to regime change in Armenia, the head of the country’s State Revenue Committee (SRC), Vartan Harutiunian, resigned on Thursday after 18 months in office marked by improved tax collection.

The resignation was announced and accepted at a cabinet meeting in Yerevan chaired by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian. He said Harutiunian informed him 

about his decision to step down when they met the previous evening.

“We decided by mutual consent that that decision will be made at today’s government’s meeting,” Pashinian told ministers. He thanked Harutiunian for his work and announced that the SRC will now be run by Deputy Finance Minister Davit Ananian.

Harutiunian is a figure very close to former Prime Minister Karen Karapetian. 

In line with Karapetian’s economic reform agenda, he pledged to crack down on widespread tax evasion and corruption among tax officials after being named to 

run the SRC in October 2016.

The International Monetary Fund praised the Armenian authorities’ “efforts to improve tax administration” already in June 2017.

The improvement was particularly visible in the Armenian customs service, which has long been reputed to be one of the country’s most corrupt government 

agencies. Import duties collected by it soared by over 23 percent last year.

The total amount of taxes and customs duties collected by the SRC rose by more than 7 percent in 2017, helping the government to cut the state budget deficit to 3.3 percent of GDP. The SRC reported an even faster rise in state revenue in the first quarter of this year.

Incidentally, it was Karapetian who appointed Harutiunian’s successor, Davit Ananian, as deputy finance minister in October 2016. According to his official 

biography, Ananian, 46, worked as a tax inspector in the 1990s and ran a private tax and accounting consultancy from 2006-2016.

Institute for War and Peace Reporting, UK

May 17 2018

Where are the Women in Armenia's Revolution?

Female participation in the protests has not translated into political power.

By Sara Khojoyan

Women had a highly visible role in the peaceful protests that unseated Armenian premier Serzh Sargsyan last month, with female activists seen on the barricades and setting up the roadblocks in demonstrations that brought the capital Yerevan to a standstill.

But those who hoped that this level of involvement would lead to a new government with a fairer gender balance have been disappointed.

The journalist-turned-politician who led the protests, Nikol Pashinyan, promised the National Assembly on May 8 he would ensure proper representation for women, who he acknowledged “played a major role” in unseating Sargsyan and the ruling Republican party.

“We need to create equal opportunities for all women to continue being part of political decisions in the new Armenia,” Pashinyan said.

Some hailed this as a historic speech, the first time in Armenia’s history when a prime minister had highlighted the role of women in the country’s future success.

However, just a few days later, Pashinyan warned that that there would in fact be few female politicians in his cabinet due to an agreement he had reached to share positions amongst a number of other parties.  

Indeed, only two of the new government’s 17 ministers - for culture and for labour and social affairs - are women. All three deputy prime ministers are all men.

The extraordinary events that led to the fall of the government began on March 30, when Pashinyan began walking from Armenia’s second city Gyumri to Yerevan with the stated intention to bring down Sargsyan and his Republican party after more than 20 years’ rule.

Although Pashinyan was met by only a few thousand supporters in Yerevan on April 13, many more flooded the capital four days later when Sargsyan was re-elected as prime minister by a parliamentary vote. The streets were filled with tens of thousands of people angry over corruption and political reform that seemed calculated to concentrate power in the hands of a select few. Sargsyan resigned on April 23.

A handful of women were among those addressing the crowds gathered at Republic Square. The first was Maria Karapetyan, development director of the Imagine Centre of Conflict Transformation.

“I want to address my sisters who stand together, hand in hand and fought a double fight for the change of power in Armenia and for their equal rights in public. Long live sisters!” she told the crowds.

But although there was a high level of female involvement in the protests, they made up a far less visible part of the protest movement’s leadership.

This was the subject of much discussion on social media during the so-called velvet revolution, and there were hopes that the country’s new leadership would reflect a fresh approach to inclusion.

Ashot Khurshudyan, an economic expert at Yerevan’s International Centre of Human Development, said that it was important to note that, although the public speeches were dominated by men, the extent of female participation in the protests was unprecedented.

“Women are the most neglected part of our society. And these demonstrations are a signal not only to the system of governance but to the entire society that we have an able part of society which is alienated,” he said.

Armenia is still a patriarchal society where women are expected to conform to certain gender roles. It is ranked 97 out of 144 countries by the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report 2017.Armenian women lack access to political empowerment, making up around 17 per cent of the country’s parliament, with 18 female MPs out of 105.

There are no female governors or mayors anywhere in the country.

Barely two per cent of those with leadership roles in rural communities are women, according to a study carried out by academic Ruzanna Tsaturyan.

“In political discourse, women were viewed in reproductive roles typical for a patriarchal society,” she said. “Their child-bearing and maternal functions were emphasised. Women were presented in sexist and stereotypical feminine models in politician’s speeches. These texts were identical and one-dimensional,” Tsaturyan concluded.

Many female civil society activists who played a key role during the protests say that they are disappointed with how little the political culture has changed.

Lara Aharonian, the founder and manager of Yerevan’s Women’s Resource Centre, spent many days in April on the street protesting and was even detained at one point.

She said that as the role of women in social change had long been minimised in Armenian culture, Pashinyan’s public address marked a significant step forward.

“Women were active for years over many issues - environment, issues in the army or women's rights and etc. And it was the first time that women's role in all the fights was acknowledged.”

Nonetheless, Aharonian noted, “His speech doesn't mean we have reached our aims. There is still a long fight ahead to change the patriarchal values that almost everyone in Armenia has. Maybe with this new government, our chances to reach our goals have increased.”

Some have played down the gender imbalance in the new government. Political analyst Hrant Ter-Abrahamyan said that this should not be seen as a major issue.

“When we start counting, we start considering women as objects, as if enough women in the cabinet will solve the gender issues,” he said, adding, “We will have women ministers and women prime ministers in Armenia, and not because of their gender but for their respective qualities.”

However others argue that the only way to fight for gender equality is to institute quotas for women in public positions.

Yerevan city council member Zara Batoyan, from Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party, also spoke from the stage in Republic Square.  She said that more needed to be done to encourage women to take a public stance.

“I was calling on women through the whole process to make speeches on stage. Women were always involved in important issues and I was happy when four of them agreed to speak on one of the days because they actually had a say,” she continued, adding, “Yes, nobody forbade or hindered them, but as we know, not stopping doesn't mean supporting or encouraging.”

A1+

Armenia’s national football team keeps its place

May 17,2018  

Today, a new FIFA qualification table has been published.

The Armenian national football team has kept its place, occupying the 98th line. Our team earned 347 rating points.

The upcoming opponents of Armenia in friendly matches are teams of Malta and Moldova. The two teams occupy the 185th and 173rd places, respectively.

In the draw of the League of Nations of our opponents the highest position is occupied by the national team of Macedonia – 77th line. And the teams of Liechtenstein and Gibraltar are respectively on the 181st and 196th lines.

The new table of FIFA is headed by the world champion team of Germany. Brazil is on the second place, and Belgium is on the third