Armenian News... A Topalian... Manuel Grigoryan case!
ARKA, Armenia
June 19 2018
Armenian prime minister on Manvel Grigoryan case
In comments on a criminal case, brought against a parliament member Manvel Grigoryan, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said today that the law-enforcement authorities used a string of collected operational data.
Pashinyan also said that if there is a need, inquiries into sales of weapons may also be conducted. "All those areas where inquires are needed will be checked. In this sense, we do not have obstacles. I think we should be guided in our work not by orders, but by necessity," Pashinyan said.
Manvel Grigoryan was detained by the National Security Service in his hometown of Etchmiadzin on June 16 after security forces raided his homes in Etchmiadzin and a nearby village finding illegally acquired weapons and stockpiles of food and other supplies, including anti-tank guns and rocket-propelled grenades, meant for the armed forces.
The Armenian parliament voted today to allow law-enforcement authorities to prosecute Manvel Grigoryan, who was elected to parliament in 2017 on the ticket of the Republican party of Armenia. The voting followed a request from the Prosecutor-General Artur Davtyan to strip Grigoryan of his parliamentary immunity.
June 19 2018
Armenia’s revolutionary government steps up anti-corruption purge
A former ruling party MP and mob boss are detained, and the nation cheers the crackdown.
Grigor Atanesian
Armenia's authorities have accelerated their campaign against officials in the former government with a series of anti-corruption arrests, heightening the battle between the new regime and the former elite.
After Nikol Pashinyan was elected prime minister May 8 largely on the strength of an anti-corruption platform, his new team took a cautious approach toward allegedly corrupt former officials. Pashinyan's pick to head the National Security Service (NSS), Artur Vanetsyan, emphasized the need to tackle corruption but took a relatively nonconfrontational approach.
Throughout May, the NSS publicly presented evidence of tax fraud committed by a number of companies, including those controlled by a former ruling Republican Party member of parliament. But Vanetsyan had said that he considered reimbursement of damages made to the state sufficient grounds for dropping criminal charges, and no high-profile arrests were made in connection to these charges.
But in June, the campaign has taken a more aggressive turn. On June 14, the NSS arrested two senior officials in the Yerevan city government, which is still controlled by Republicans. On June 16, in the city of Etchmiadzin, the houses of Republican MP Manvel Grigoryan, a retired lieutenant general in the Armenian armed forces, and mob boss Artur Asatryan (known as “Don Pipo”) were raided by masked NSS officers. Both men were arrested on illegal weapons procurement charges, with Asatryan also accused of kidnapping.
Grigoryan’s supporters and allies mobilized after his arrest. RPA spokesperson Eduard Sharmazanov called the arrest “unconstitutional and unlawful.” His concerns were reiterated by Armen Ashotyan, another high-profile Republican MP (Ashotyan later deleted his Facebook post). At the same time, supporters of the detained general gathered to protest at NSS headquarters and even tried to close down a street.
Returning from a short visit to Nagorno-Karabakh, Pashinyan also weighed in. In a Facebook live video, he claimed that at Grigoryan’s mansion, the NSS found not only arms but also food sent by schoolchildren in April 2016, intended for soldiers on the frontlines in Nagorno-Karabakh. A few hours later, footage of the search of Grigoryan’s house was broadcast by Armenian public television.
The video shook the nation. At Grigoryan’s country house, a small arsenal of guns, sniper rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, some 12,000 rounds of ammunition, explosives, and hand grenades was stocked next to Hummer and Range Rover SUVs and vehicles donated to the army, including an ambulance car.
The video also shows cans of food preservatives and first aid kits, labeled “for soldiers” and “not for sale” and accompanied by hand-written letters from kids. As head of the veterans union Yerkrapah, Grigoryan was responsible for delivering aid to the army. Instead, he used it to feed tigers and bears at his private zoo, the NSS said.
The chilling effect of these accusations deeply undermined support for Grigoryan. In subsequent statements, the RPA’s Ashotyan and Sharmanazov both appeared shaken and emotional. Grigoryan’s lawyer stepped down, refusing to defend him. From jail, Grigoryan addressed his fellow RPA lawmakers, asking them to strip him of immunity and promising to restore his good name. His son Karen Grigoryan, who served as a mayor of Etchmiadzin, resigned.
Armenians appeared both shocked and overwhelmingly supportive of the arrests. Facebook, Armenia’s primary space of political _expression_, exploded. “Vanetsyan Artur rocks :) Yes, I never thought I’d have a positive opinion about the NSS”, wrote Daniel Ionnisyan, founder of the Union of Informed Citizens, a Yerevan-based watchdog group. “How cool is that, when one feels safe because of the NSS,” echoed Arek Keshishian, an Aleppo-born architect who repatriated to Armenia few years ago. The head of the NSS said that the agency is currently receiving “thousands of job applications” from citizens.
For decades, the Grigoryans served as a symbol of ubiquitous corruption, lawlessness and systemic violence. They used to rule the city of Etchmiadzin, a home to the Mother See of the Armenian Apostolic Church, as a private fiefdom. Investigative outlets reported tax evasion; but city residents have been describing a grimmer reality, one in which Grigoryan and his cronies were assaulting, raping and torturing locals.
The arrest and resignation of the Grigoryans were met with celebration in the city, Armenian newspapers reported. Meanwhile, Vanetsyan has warned that the service has received reports of criminal groups' plans to kill both him and Pashinyan. This suggests that Pashinyan’s signature approachable style, including nightly walks in Yerevan's downtown, is likely to be restricted by the security services.
Grigor Atanesian is a freelance journalist who covers Armenia.
Azerbaijani Forces Down an Armenian Drone
19 June 2018
STEPANAKERT—Azerbaijani forces downed a drone belonging to the Artsakh army at around 11:20 a.m. local time on Tuesday, reported the Artsakh Defense Ministry.
In a statement, the Artsakh Defense Ministery said the drone was monitoring the southeastern section of the Artsakh-Azerbaijan border, known as the line of contact.
“Although the Azerbaijani side is trying to prevent these flights of Armenian drones through such actions, the command of the Artsakh Armed Forces remains resolute in continuing the process of monitoring [the border] and will take punitive actions to restrain the enemy’s activities in the air and on land,” said the Artsakh Defense Ministry’s statement.
Agence France Presse
June 18, 2018
Holy Land churches cry foul over Israeli legislation on lands
Three major Holy Land churches implored Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday to prevent the advancement of a draft bill they said was aimed at expropriating their lands.
Heads of the Armenian, Greek Orthodox and Catholic churches in Jerusalem also accused the Israeli authorities of failing to keep a committment made just a few months ago that brought an end to a major crisis between the sides.
In February, the Jerusalem municipality began enforcing tax collection on church property, while separately lawmakers in the parliament worked on advancing a law that would allow expropriation of church property.
The church leaders in protest closed the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the site in Jerusalem where Jesus is believed to have been crucified and buried, following which Israeli authorities froze both the tax measures and the legislation, committing to a dialogue with the Christians over the issues.
Rachel Azaria, a lawmaker with the centrist coalition party Kulanu, recently renewed work on a slightly revised bill that does not mention churches but would let the state expropriate the rights over lands sold by such bodies in Jerusalem, while offering compensation.
In their Monday letter to Netanyahu, the Christian leaders slammed the "scandalous bill," accusing its backers of an "unprecedented attack against the Christians of the Land".
"Certain elements in the government of Israel are still attempting to promote divisive, racist and subversive agendas, thereby undermining the Status Quo and targeting the Christian community on the basis of extraneous and populist considerations," they said.
The church leaders also said that despite the Israeli committment to communicate on these issues via a specially appointed committee headed by Regional Cooperation Minister Tzachi Hanegbi, "no dialogue whatsoever has taken place with us" since the end of February.
"We view such conduct, from those who promote the bill, as a flagrant violation and undermining of Your Excellency's commitment and of the basic and fundamental freedom of worship," the church leaders said.
They urged Netanyahu to swiftly "block the bill whose unilateral promotion will compel the Churches to reciprocate".
Large swathes of Jerusalem are owned by various churches, which in many cases reached long-term leasing agreements with the state.
Residents living in homes on such lands fear the churches could sell the lands to private developers, who would be free to do as they wish with their property, including raising rents or razing existing structures.
Azaria said her bill did not single out churches, and was aimed at solving the problem of "thousands of Jerusalem residents who could lose their homes due to the demands of developers".
There was no immediate comment from Netanyahu's office while Hanegbi refused to comment.
A spokeswoman for Azaria told AFP the bill was coordinated with Netanyahu and Hanegbi.
RFE/RL Report
EU Said To Help New Armenian Government
June 19, 2018
The European Union stands ready to help Armenia’s new government implement sweeping reforms promised by it, a senior member of the European Parliament said after visiting Yerevan on Monday.
David McAllister, the chairman of the EU legislature’s Committee on Foreign
Affairs, headed a multi-partisan delegation of EU lawmakers who met with Prime Minister Pashinian, other senior Armenian officials and civil society
representatives during the visit.
“This is a key moment for Armenia,” McAllister said in a statement. “To
strengthen its democracy, to deepen its relations with the EU and to make
long-lasting peace.”
“Armenia’s citizens want this, Armenia’s leaders have committed to this and the
European Union will be there to help every step of the way,” he added.
Pashinian reportedly briefed McAllister and either European Parliament members on his government’s stated efforts to combat corruption, break up economic monopolies hampering faster growth and democratize Armenia’s political system. “The purpose of our actions is to bring about real changes in the country,” he was quoted by his press office as saying.
The Armenian premier said last week that he will visit Brussels to meet top EU
officials later this month.
The EU closely monitored the political crisis in Armenia sparked by former
President Serzh Sarkisian’s attempt to hold on to power after serving out his
second presidential term on April 9. It repeatedly urged Armenian political
factions to end the standoff through dialogue.
Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, and Jean-Claude Juncker, the
European Commission president, sent a congratulatory letter to Nikol Pashinian, the main organizer of massive anti-Sarkisian protests, two days after he was elected prime minister on May 8.
“We look forward to cooperating with you in your new position to further
strengthen the relations between the European Union and Armenia, particularly through the implementation of the EU-Armenia Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA),” Tusk and Juncker wrote.
The CEPA was signed by the former Armenian government last November. It calls for political and economic reforms in Armenia. It also commits Yerevan to
gradually “approximating” Armenian economic laws and regulations to those of the EU.
Pashinian called for a quick ratification of the CEPA by all EU member states
when the Armenian parliament elected him prime minister.
McAllister said the European Parliament will vote on the 350-page agreement on July 4. The CEPA’s ratification and implementation will help Armenia attract
more EU investment and boost its trade with the EU, added the German lawmaker.
Pension Reform Bill Approved by Parliament
20 June 2018
The National Assembly approved on Wednesday the new Armenian government’s decision to complete an unpopular reform of the country’s pension system, which was launched four years ago.
The new Western-backed system is to cover 280,000 or so Armenian workers born after 1973. It requires them to earn most of their future pensions with monthly financial contributions to one of two private pension funds operating in Armenia. Both funds are owned by European companies.
The former government, which embarked on the pension reform in January 2014, said that the existing mechanism for retirement benefits is not sustainable because of Armenia’s aging and shrinking population. But it decided to make the new system optional for private sector employees until July 2018 in response to angry street protests.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan defended the reform when he presented his newly formed cabinet’s policy program to the parliament earlier this month. But in a major concession to Armenians affected by it, the cabinet approved on June 11 a bill that would temporarily cut their pension tax rate from 5 percent to 2.5 percent.
The move prompted Labor and Social Affairs Minister Mane Tandilyan, who was one of the organizers of the 2014 protests, to step down. Pashinyan has yet to formally accept her resignation.
Finance Minister Atom Janjughazyan presented the bill to the National Assembly on Tuesday. He insisted that the effective privatization of the pension system is “the only way to ensure that people get pensions worthy of their work after retirement.”
The parliament passed the bill in the first reading by 78 votes to 2. Seven other deputies abstained. All of them represent the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, Pashinyan’s coalition partner which has opposed the reform.
The ARF-affiliated Minister for Economic Development and Investments Artsvik Minasyan openly objected the bill on June 11. His objections clearly irritated Pashinyan, who said that all ministers must share “collective responsibility” for government policies.
Businessman Gagik Tsarukyan’s bloc, which is also part of the ruling coalition, has also criticized the reform in the past. Still, most of its deputies voted for making the new system mandatory for all Armenians aged 44 and younger. One of them, Mikael Melkumyan, said Janjughazyan’s remarks on the parliament floor largely dispelled their misgivings for the time being.
Deputies from the Yelk alliance, of which Pashinyan is a leader, likewise voiced conditional support for the bill. Edmon Marukyan, another Yelk leader, said he expects the new government to consider modifying the new system later on. Pashinyan made clear later on Tuesday that he is open to such discussions.
According to government officials, over 200,000 people are already covered by the new pension plan.
AS English
June 19 2018
Champions League qualifying draw: Celtic travel to Armenia, Ajax face Sturm Graz
Celtic will have to get through four qualifying rounds to progress to the Champions League group stages, with a trip to Armenia first up.
Celtic will have to overcome Armenian title-holders Alashkert in the first round of the Champions League qualifiers.
Brendan Rodgers' side are aiming to secure a place in the group stages of the competition for a third successive season, but will have to progress through four qualifying rounds to do so.
A trip to Alashkert is first up, with the second leg at Celtic Park set to take place on the 17th or 18th of July. Iceland's Valur Reykjavik or Norway's Rosenborg will await in the second round.
OC Media
June 19 2018
Could renewable energy take off in Armenia’s highlands?
19 June 2018 by Margaret Arakelyan
(Margaret Arakelyan/OC Media)
In many remote areas of Armenia, energy poverty remains a serious concern. With no connection to the gas grid, villagers resort to burning illegally cut wood or cow dung to keep warm during winter. But in the border village of Kut, high in the mountains of eastern Armenia, a new hope is emerging in the form of renewable energy.
Every morning Gayane stokes up glowing embers to heat the house before the family gets up. First, she cleans the stove in the dining room, to remove yesterday’s ashes. She puts paraffin on top of a pile of manure in the stove and lights the fire. Because there is no gas in the kitchen, meals are cooked on this stove.
Gayane Verdyan, 38, lives with her husband, Hrachik Chitchyan, and two children in the border village of Kut, located southeast of Lake Sevan in the Gegharkunik Province. The village, as well as the entire province, differs from other regions of Armenia: it has a large refugee population populating its mountainous landscape.
Hrachik’s family is no exception. They came to Kut in the early 1990s from Khanlar, Azerbaijan. In 1996, Hrachik married Gayane, who came from Hrazdan on the other side of Lake Sevan.
Gayane says Kut is a small village, with limited or even no jobs or education opportunities available. They generate income mainly from cattle farming and potato cultivation, both consuming and selling the produce. The villagers also sell cow’s milk for ֏150 ($0.30) per litre. The couple claim they have adapted to the food, jobs, and energy shortages.
Gayane's Neighbors — Artush, Asya, and Araksya (Margaret Arakelyan/OC Media)
Gayane notes that for more than two decades their biggest problem has been the lack of a sustainable energy source.
A village of 185
Sima Chitchyan, a relative of Hrachik’s, worked at the Kut Community Administration for more than 25 years before being appointed Kut Community Head. She says locals have tried to raise the energy issue at different levels of government, but have always been told it’s a non-starter.
‘Energy poverty is not our only challenge; the community doesn’t have a kindergarten, or school infrastructure, or an irrigation system. Due to the dilapidated condition of the administration building, employees can’t stay here long, especially in winter. The windows are broken, the roof is leaking. The building is literally falling apart’, Chitchyan tells OC Media.
Only one room is occupied in Kut's dilapidated administrative building during the winter (Margaret Arakelyan/OC Media)
‘Kut is a hard-to-reach area’ Chitchyan says, mentioning the condition of inter-village roads, which are almost impassable in winter due to heavy snow. During rainy seasons, the dirt roads are impossible to drive or walk through, she says, which is why many villagers drive old Soviet UAZ-469 military jeeps.
A lack of educational or extra-curricular opportunities for young people makes things worse, contributing to massive emigration rates. Gayane’s daughter, Laura, is enrolled at the Yerevan Financial Academy. She is not sure whether her daughter will return home after graduation.
Chitchyan says that four families left Kut just last year. Many go to large cities — the provincial capital, Vardenis, Yerevan, and even Moscow. The population here currently stands at just 185.
Hope in renewable energy
Armenia’s energy market is highly dependent on fossil fuels for residential heating and cooking — natural gas accounts for 63% of Armenia’s primary energy. Eighty percent of Armenia’s gas imports come from Russia, with the remainder coming from Iran, which is imported in exchange for electricity.
Around 150,000 people in 329 communities have no natural gas connection at all, according to data from Armenia’s Energy Ministry. This is about five percent of the population.
But according to official figures, the renewable energy sector is steadily growing in Armenia. In comparison to wind and biomass pellets, solar energy seems to be the most promising option given that Armenia is sunnier than most of Europe — it receives 1,720 kilowatt hours per square metre of sunlight every year, compared to an average of 1,000 in Europe.
In a recent interview with AFP, Armenia’s former Deputy Energy Minister Hayk Harutyunyan drew attention to the growing renewable energy sector stating that Armenia would at some point have to stop relying on its ageing nuclear power plant, and the country must be ready for this.
‘That’s why, over the past few years, Armenia has been stepping up efforts to develop all types of renewable energy — hydro, wind, and solar’, Harutyunyan said.
The ministry is currently launching a project to construct the country’s first large photovoltaic solar plant in Mets Masrik, a town just 10 kilometres from Kut. Gegharkunik Province could also see the arrival of wind power; Spanish firm Acciona began to assess the wind potential in the area in December 2017, installing a number of 2.8-metre-high wind monitoring stations.
Norayr Benohanian, Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy Projects Coordinator at Yerevan-based think tank the Acopian Centre for the Environment, is optimistic about renewable energy in Armenia. He says the country is not only diversifying its energy sources, but also implementing energy efficiency projects.
He points to a project the centre carried out in 2016 in Kalavan, also in the Gegharkunik Province, as a good example of how to minimise fuel consumption while keeping houses and public buildings warm during the winter.
The centre organised workshops on energy efficiency after which participants joined villagers in Kalavan to insulate the walls and roof of the village schoolhouse. Since then, the school has been warmer and fuel consumption has decreased.
‘Besides solar and wind power, which could be applicable in these areas, I would also recommend focusing on energy efficiency projects. In this regard, the Kalavan programme could be a good example for non-gasified communities. The villagers can insulate homes and minimise their firewood consumption, which will also minimise stress on the forests’, Benohanian tells OC Media, referring to widespread illegal logging that people often resort to in order to obtain firewood.
But for now, projects such as this are unsystematic and more of an exception, and the involvement of the government remains limited. Benohanian points to a 2013 project under the UNDP GEF programme in which three large residential buildings in Yerevan had thermal insulation installed, with financing provided by the Yerevan Municipality, as a good example of government involvement. A kindergarten in Yerevan was also recently insulated by Yerevan Municipality as part of a UNDP project.
Cow dung comes cheaper — but at a price
Gayane says that cow dung is easy to burn when it’s dried properly. Almost every villager has piles of cow manure either in the pastures or in the barns.
‘We collect the manure, shape it into patties, and then leave it to dry for months. Firewood is unaffordable. This year, it cost ֏25,000 ($50) per cubic metre. So, cow dung comes cheaper’, says Gayane. The downside is the fumes that spread through the house when the chimneys are not installed properly, she says.
Gayane's neighbour Margarit putting cow dung in her stove (Margaret Arakelyan/OC Media)
Despite its affordability, Diana Harutyunyan, UNDP Armenia’s Climate Change Projects Coordinator, warns of the dangers of heating houses with such stoves.
‘The fumes from burning firewood and dung are detrimental to people’s health, and can lead to diseases such as persistent coughing and chronic bronchitis’, she told OC Media.
‘But it doesn’t release as much carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere as fossil fuels like natural gas or coal do, which are harmful to the environment. Therefore, it doesn’t increase CO₂ emissions’, remarks Harutyunyan, noting that the villagers should be attentive to ventilate their houses properly.
A future in pellet fuel
Gayane says they have embarked on new renewable energy projects and are hopeful that things are improving. She is a member of a small agricultural co-op which was established within a project launched by Researchers for the Bio Heating Solutions NGO in 2013. The researchers built a passive solar greenhouse in Kut, the ultimate goal of which was to demonstrate biomass pellets — made of renewable substances like recycled wood waste, straw, and agricultural residues and used in residential buildings in specifically designed stoves — and energy efficiency within the agricultural sector, particularly in agricultural greenhouses. The passive solar greenhouse model was later replicated in Horbategh, in the neighbouring Vayots Dzor Province to the south.
The difference between a traditional greenhouse and a passive solar greenhouse is that traditional ones do not have walls. The greenhouse is specifically designed to be viable in high altitude areas, like Kut.
The Kut greenhouse has a large wall on the northern side, and smaller ones on the eastern and western sides. It often does not require heating at night or in winter.
The greenhouse is now operated by co-op members comprised of four families, who cultivate non-traditional crops such as Arugla and basil. According to Gayane, she generates an additional ֏40,000 ($82) per month from the greenhouse, which she says is not bad.
However, her long-term goal and wish is that one day the village will produce its own biomass pellets, contributing to both energy and job security in the village.
This article was prepared with support from the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) Regional Office in the South Caucasus. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views of FES.
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