Armenian New... A Topalian... (10 editorials)

The Economist

Dec 7 2018

Armenia’s new government looks set to triumph

Critics fear an excess of hero-worship

NIKOL PASHINYAN, Armenia’s prime minister since May  still resembles the head of a movement more than that of a government. Ahead of an election rally in Abovyan, a town about 19km outside Yerevan, a screen mounted behind the stage where he is about to appear shows footage from the peaceful revolution which Mr Pashinyan, a former journalist, helped unleash this spring. One video shows him leading mass demonstrations. Another shows him, dressed in cargo pants and a baseball cap, confronting the man he and the protesters eventually forced to resign, the former president and prime minister, Serzh Sargsyan. Rousing action-film music helps set the mood. 

On stage, where he turns up in a coat and tie, Mr Pashinyan’s zeal appears undiminished, even amid pouring rain. “Everything constructed on the basis of fear will be destroyed,” he says, declaring war against inequality and corruption, to applause from several hundred supporters. “The new Armenia is here.”

The waves of discontent that brought Mr Pashinyan to power are set to carry him forward again on December 9th, when Armenians vote in an early election. The new prime minister forced the vote two months ago to cash in on his popularity and usher in what he calls the last stage of the revolution. Since he was elected by deputies following Mr Sargsyan’s ousting, Mr Pashinyan has had to run a government without a governing party. The mass protests began after Mr Sargsyan, in power since 2008 and increasingly unpopular, rewrote the constitution in an attempt to prolong his tenure.

Voters seem poised to give Mr Pashinyan a sweeping mandate. According to one poll, the prime minister and his political bloc, My Step, can count on the support of 68% of Armenians. In a September mayoral contest in Yerevan, the country’s capital and home to about a third of its 3m people, the party’s candidate received over 81% of the vote.

Support for the barnstorming Mr Pashinyan verges on hero-worship. Critics dismiss his rallies and live broadcasts on Facebook as publicity stunts. Most Armenians see them as evidence that they finally have a leader who listens. 

Across Yerevan, and even in the city’s dreary outskirts, people speak of a renewed sense of optimism, crediting the new government with bringing down rampant corruption, taming powerful oligarchs and paving the way for the first free and transparent election in a generation. (Previous ones were marred by fraud and vote-buying.)

Yet the limits to change, as well as the risk of revolutionary excesses, are also beginning to come into focus. The government has promised to break up monopolies, tackle poverty and attract new investment. None of this will be easy. Armenia is a poor, agrarian country. Income per person is around $4,000. The grey economy is almost as big as the formal one. The border with Turkey remains closed. The one with Azerbaijan bristles with troops and artillery. Trade with Iran, another neighbour, stands to suffer from renewed American sanctions. Dependence on Russia, which provides Armenia with cheap gas and security guarantees, acts as a brake on deeper relations with Western countries. “Armenians expect us to become the next Switzerland,” says Alexander Iskandaryan, an analyst. “This is crazy.”

As for the risk of excess, most Armenians applaud Mr Pashinyan’s determination to right former wrongs. Over the past months, a former president and the secretary-general of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, the Russian-led defence bloc to which Armenia belongs, have been charged over a deadly government crackdown against protesters in 2008. A former prime minister has been accused of abuse of power.

Critics, including members of Mr Sargsyan’s Republican Party, which has been polling at below 2%, accuse Mr Pashinyan of intimidating opponents and indulging his populist instincts. Some fear yet more arrests of former officials. Government ministers say those suspected of petty crimes will be left alone, but that crooked politicians and oligarchs will be held to account. “We can’t send thousands of people to prison,” says the deputy prime minister, Ararat Mirzoyan, “but we have to expose what happened, and make sure it doesn’t happen again.” The phrase “transitional justice” pops up constantly in conversations with officials.

At least some of Mr Pashinyan’s voters grasp the challenge ahead. “Change comes gradually, so we might have to wait,” says Feliks Petrosyan, an elderly pensioner holding a rainbow umbrella in one hand and his grandson’s hand in the other, on his way home from the rally in Abovyan. “But it’s nice to finally have hope.” 

RFE/RL Report

Armenian Party Leaders Hold Landmark TV Debate

December 06, 2018

Emil Danielyan

The leaders of 11 political forces running in Armenia’s snap parliamentary elections faced off late on Wednesday in a televised debate marked by bitter verbal exchanges between Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and the Republican Party’s Vigen Sargsian.

The ten men and one woman discussed political, economic and security challenges facing the country for three and a half hours.

The live debate, the first of its kind in Armenia, was hosted by the Armenian Public Television three days before the elections which Pashinian’s My Step alliance is widely expected to win.

Pashinian and Sargsian repeatedly clashed during the lively discussion, trading recriminations and interrupting each other. The mutual accusations escalated into a shouting match at one point.

Nevertheless, the two men shook hands at the end of the debate as did the other participants, including Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) leader Gagik Tsarukian, Dashnaktsutyun’s Armen Rustamian and two former Pashinian allies.

Pashinian again portrayed the upcoming vote as a final chapter of this spring’s “velvet revolution” that toppled Republican Party (HHK) Chairman Serzh Sarkisian’s government and brought him to power. “No vote will be stolen,” he said. “No vote bribes will be handed out.”

In his opening remarks, the 43-year-old prime minister called his socioeconomic policies a success, saying that his government has cut some taxes, raised poverty benefits, and lowered mortgage rates for young families. He also 

claimed to have eliminated “systemic corruption.”

“I’m sure that more corruption cases will be exposed soon,” said Pashinian.

Predictably, Sargsian strongly criticized the new government’s track record and said the HHK is the only party seriously challenging Pashinian and capable of 

holding him in check. Armenians, he said, can decide on Sunday whether country will become a “one-man dictatorship” or have a “balanced parliament.”

The former defense minister, who is also 43, blamed the government for the fact that economic growth in Armenia has slowed since April. He went on to accuse it of “poisoning” free speech, creating “serious threats” to Nagorno-Karabakh and damaging Armenia’s relations with Russia.

Citing Pashinian’s leaked phone calls with the head of Armenia’s most powerful security agency, Sargsian also claimed that local courts are acting on the premier’s orders.

“If this was really the case, 90 percent of your party would be in jail now,” Pashinian shot back. He again accused the former government of having systematically “plundered” the country.

“There cannot be a corrupt government in Armenia anymore because the people know now that it can be sorted out within a week,” he said, referring to the 

April-May mass protests.

Sargsian, who also faced verbal attacks from several other participants of the debate, countered that Pashinian is sticking to key policy decisions that were made by the HHK government, including Armenia’s accession to the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union.

“For 10 years you accused authorities of everything,” said Sargsian. “Now you refute what opposition leader Pashinian said on a daily basis.”

Pashinian was then challenged by Rustamian to elaborate on his position on the Karabakh conflict.

The Dashnaktsutyun leader seemed unconvinced by the premier’s assurances that no peace deal with Azerbaijan can be put into practice without popular approval. He touted his party’s hard line on the unresolved conflict and, in particular, its opposition to major territorial concessions to Baku.

Meanwhile, Tsarukian, who refrained from criticizing the current or former authorities, was unexpectedly attacked by Edmon Marukian, the leader of the Bright Armenia party that was until recently allied to Pashinian.

Marukian questioned the tycoon’s involvement in politics and said that the latter’s Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) has accomplished little despite finishing second in the last three parliamentary elections.

“What have you, Mr. Marukian, accomplished until now except talking?” Tsarukian asked after defending his entrepreneurial activities and asserting his desire 

to be “useful to our country.”

“I’m a politician,” replied Marukian. He reaffirmed Bright Armenia’s stated goal of being the second largest party in the new Armenian parliament.

PanArmenian, Armenia

Dec 5 2018

Armenia: New wiretapped phone conversation leaks online 

December 5, 2018 

A wiretapped phone conversation between Armenia’s National Security Service director, Artur Vanetsyan, and acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan landed online on Wednesday, December 5.

The two appear to be discussing the situation surrounding the Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization as well as individuals - particularly former President Robert Kocharyan - tied to the March 1, 2008 post-election crackdown, during which eight civilians and two police officers were killed after a standoff with security officials..

Vanetsyan then discusses the question with his SIS counterpart, Sasun Khachatryan.

On September 11, a recording of a conversation Vanetsyan had with Khachatryan, was leaked on social media and went viral. The conversation, the authenticity of which was confirmed by both, centered on the arrests and prosecution of individuals tied to the March 1, 2008 post-election crackdown. The two were discussing the arrest and the possibility of remand for Yuri Khachaturov, the secretary general of the CSTO who was Armenia’s deputy defense minister during the March 1 events. Khachaturov was charged with breaching Armenia’s constitutional order as was former president Robert Kocharian, who was remanded after official charges were filed. A higher court later reversed the remand decision. Khachaturov was set free on bail and was allowed to return to Moscow to continue his duties as CSTO secretary-general.

A video below offers the translated version of all the conversations.

The audio can be listened to at the link: http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/news/263123/Armenia_New_wiretapped_phone_conversation_leaks_online

Arminfo, Armenia

Dec 7 2018

Index: Armenia is the first country in Europe by the number of  believers

The American Analytical Center Pew Research Center has published data from studies conducted in Europe on the subject of religiosity of the population.

According to the results, 79% of the population of Armenia said that  they believe in God. According to this indicator, Armenia became the  first in Europe. 45% (2nd place) of Armenians said they pray daily,  and 53% (3rd place) that religion is important in their lives.  Moreover, only 34% (12th place) of Armenians attend churches at least  once a month. Based on all the criteria, Romania became the most  religious country in Europe, Armenia ranked second in terms of  overall performance, and Georgia was third.

Panorama, Armenia

Dec 7 2018

Monastery of Geghard and the Upper Azat Valley granted UNESCO Enhanced Protection status

During the 13th session of the Committee of the 1999 Second Protocol to the 1954 UNESCO Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, held in UNESCO Paris headquarters, the committee members made a unanimous decision on granting the Monastery of Geghard and the Upper Azat Valley an Enhanced Protection status, the foreign ministry informed.

Thus, Geghard Monastery and the Upper Azat Valley has become the first cultural property of Armenia that has been granted an enhanced protection status. The Geghard Monastery and the Upper Azat Valley have been included in the UNESCO World Heritage List since 2000, as a Cultural property for humanity.

“Enhanced protection” is a mechanism established by the 1999 Second Protocol to the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict. It aims to ensure full and effective protection of specifically designated cultural property during international or non-international armed conflicts.

Cultural property under enhanced protection benefits from high level immunity which requires the parties to a conflict to refrain from making such property the object of attack or from any use of the property or its immediate surroundings to support military action. In case where individuals do not respect the enhanced protection granted to a cultural property, criminal sanctions have been laid down by the 1999 Second Protocol.

As of today, 17 cultural properties were inscribed on the List of Cultural Property under Enhanced Protection.

Public Radio of Armenia

Dec 5 2018

Armenia the second largest exporter of diamonds in CIS 

Business Armenia has released a marketing package presenting investment opportunities of Armenia’s Jewelry sector. According to the research included in this package, Armenia is the second largest exporter of diamonds in the CIS region.

Last year, more than 50% of Armenian jewelry industry production was exported to Switzerland. The sector constitutes 13% of Armenia’s total export. The jewelry production increased by 36% in 2017 alone and the average annual growth of diamonds processing was more than 50% between 2014 and 2017.

Among the incentives in the jewelry industry is VAT discharge for import and sale of gold and valuable stones, no VAT for sale of unfinished gold jewelry, as well as the existence of a free economic zone for the companies operating in jewelry, watch-making and diamond cutting industries.

The video is part of Business Armenia’s “Make your move, Select Armenia” campaign.

ARKA, Armenia

Dec 5 2018

Armenia is second in the world to launch unique QR system of mobile payments

Armenia is the second country in the world after Singapore to have launched the Payment Express (PayX) system with the assistance of Visa International, PayX co-founder Smbat Nasibyan told reporters today. He said PayX is a single payment system that uses QR codes.

In his words, the PayX is a unique system because it provides the opportunity to all banks and payment systems to cooperate and provide services to their customers to make payment transactions via QR codes. 

He said the system works by using its own application, which can be downloaded to a smartphone. The customer needs to attach his/her credit card to it and pay for purchases through the contactless system, as well as online. It can also be used in already existing mobile applications of partner banks, in which a special integrated button will appear for making payments via PayX.

"In fact, users may not download additional applications, but use the new feature y from the mobile application of their bank," said Nasibyan.

According to another PayX co-founder, Benyamin Tadevosyan, to make a payment one just needs to click on the corresponding button in the mobile application on his/her smartphone, scan the QR code at the payment center and pay.

He said the company's plans also to offer another feature that will enable to connect terminals for making cashless online payments. Besides, he said, one can generate his/her own QR code to make money transfers, including at cash registers and in cooperation with vending companies, even at coffee machines, as well as pay for online purchases using QR push notifications.

He said PayX cooperates now with 10 payment systems, including seven Armenian banks - VTB, Ameriabank, Araratbank, Evocabank, Ardshinbank, IdBank, Unibank, as well as Armenian Card (ArCa), EasyPay, MobiPay and Visa International systems.

Armenian Central Bank Board member Vakhtang Abrahamyan said new startups and financial and technical companies are entering the market, giving additional flexibility to the financial sector for active work with customers.

PayX is an IT start-up. Its goal is to create a unified infrastructure of mobile payments in Armenia. The infrastructure will include sale and delivery services points and online stores. 

News.am, Armenia

Dec 5 2018

EU to provide €60 million to promote innovative technologies in Armenia 

                  

The EU intends to provide grants of 60 million euros to representatives of the private sector in Armenia to promote the development of innovative technologies, head of Cooperation Section of the EU Delegation to Armenia Gonzalo Serrano told reporters on Wednesday.

According to him, the EU intends to implement in Armenia a large-scale program, aimed at stimulating innovative technologies in the country. The corresponding cooperation deal between the EU and the Armenian government will be signed in December of this year. In the near future, separate deals with the Ministry of Education and Science will also be signed, and in early 2019, a cooperation agreement with the Tumo Creative Technologies Center.

The program will be implemented in two directions and is aimed at stimulating the development of innovative technologies both in Yerevan and in the Armenian regions

According to him, the first direction is to support the development of the “green sector” industry: agriculture, tourism and technological parks. The EU will provide ample opportunities for start-ups and small and medium-sized businesses operating in these areas. The second direction is education: grants in this segment will be directed to publishing textbooks, manuals and teacher retraining.

The EU official said that cooperation with the Tumo Center for Creative Technologies had already started, and in cooperation with the World Bank, in-depth teaching of mathematics and other sciences in Armenian schools would be promoted.

The implementation of the program will begin in March-April of the next year, Serrano added.

News.am, Armenia

Dec 5 2018

Armenian Americans regret evasive language on Armenian Genocide used by Ambassador-designate 

The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) regrets that Ambassador-designate Lynn Tracy used evasive language to avoid proper condemnation of the Armenian Genocide.

“We regret that Ambassador-designate Tracy, in her appearance before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was so very painfully and publicly reduced to using euphemistic and evasive language to avoid proper condemnation of the Armenian Genocide. She is, sadly, yet another victim of the lack of will on the part of successive U.S. administrations to reject Ankara’s open and arrogantly enforced gag-rule forbidding proper American remembrance of this crime,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Suren Hamparian.

“The Trump Administration and I personally acknowledge the historical facts of what took place at the end of the Ottoman Empire – of the mass killings, the forced deportations and marches that ended 1.5 million lives and a lot of suffering. And I will, if confirmed, do everything in my power to acknowledge and respect the losses and the suffering and commit myself to participating in any remembrance activities,” responded Ms. Tracy to the first of a series of questions, this one posed by Senator Markey on U.S. policy dealing with the Armenian Genocide. Sen. Markey responded, “It’s time for us just to stand up and call it what it was. It helps us in the future to have credibility,” Tracy said during the hearings.

ANCA thanked Senators Menendez and Markey for their constructive lines of questioning.

“In the coming days, we look forward to the Committee learning more – through her written responses - about how she intends to strengthen Armenia’s aid-to-trade transition, materially elevate U.S.-Armenia political, economic, and military relations, and drive actual progress on key deliverables, starting with a long overdue U.S.-Armenia Double Tax Treaty”, ANCA said in a statement.

“While we certainly appreciate the spirit of Ambassador-designate Tracy’s support for ‘fighting corruption, strengthening civil society and supporting an independent media,’ the fact is that Armenia has already made remarkable progress on all three of these fronts, far outpacing neighboring Azerbaijan and leading much of the region and even the world in terms of democratic development. Our American priority now should be leveraging these changes, pivoting on Armenia’s progress to materially upgrade bilateral ties – through a Tax Treaty, Social Security Totalization Agreement, trade missions, export promotion, non-stop U.S.-to Armenia flights, and other mutually beneficial initiatives,” added Hamparian.

Brown Political Review

Dec 6 2018

Unwavering Tension in Nagorno-Karabakh

By Leonardo Moraveg

In 1923, Joseph Stalin decided to shift the majority-Armenian region of Nagorno-Karabakh into Soviet Azerbaijan as an independent oblast. This decision has predisposed Armenia, which makes a cultural claim to both the region and Azerbaijan and holds de jurecontrol to continuous conflict. Competition eventually escalated into war between the two nations in 1991. Despite the cease-fire that was signed in 1994, the conflict has persisted. In 2016, deadly skirmishes erupted in the disputed territory. 

Wary of the long-standing stalemate, popular opinion in both countries increasingly gravitates towards the delivery of a decisive and violent blow through full-fledged military action against a perpetual enemy. With the global diplomatic efforts failing to negotiate peace in the region and diasporic groups lobbying against negotiations by the Obama Administration, this predisposition towards a military solution to the conflict is perhaps understandable. 

But even for the shortcomings of past negotiations, Azerbaijan and Armenia are not without options. These two countries should look to the United Nations’ Department of Political Affairs, which, through its internal heterogeneity, experience and diplomatic standing, can potentially negotiate an end to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Outside interests have largely corrupted past diplomatic efforts. The OSCE Minsk Group, created in 1992 by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, set forth a chain of meetings and negotiations intent on putting aside the differences of both Azerbaijan and Armenia. In an attempt to eliminate any power-dynamics or hierarchy of interests, the group took a multilateral approach including nations like France, the U.S., Russia, Italy, Hungary, Belarus, Germany, Portugal, the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland and Turkey. Yet the agendas of France, the U.S. and Russia, countries with large diasporas of Armenian people and strategic interests in Armenia, have dictated the group’s operation. Ultimately, the group’s negotiations never materialized into a real peace treaty. Though the OSCE Minsk Group continues its efforts to this day, many are wary of its interests due to its structure, which disproportionately lends influence to only a few global powers.

The legacy of the Soviet Union continues to have its impacts on the region, as Central Asia and the Balkans have not been able to reconcile ethnic and territorial conflicts caused by the Stalin administration’s imposition of oblasts

As an alternative, many have pointed toward the great past success of the United Nations Department of Public Affairs as a potential means to a solution to this ongoing crisis. A shift towards the utilization of this intermediary force, with its balanced system of head officials and activity in Central Asia, could prove more effective than diplomatic efforts in the past. Headed by Rosemary DiCarlo with aid from Taye-Brook Zeirhoun and Miroslav Jenca, strong experienced leadership in the office may prove to be crucial for the case of Armenia and Azerbaijan. Both Under-Secretary-General DiCarlo and Jenca have extensive experience in dealing with diplomacy in former Soviet states. Furthermore, since Department diplomats can effectively sidestep any bureaucratic slush, they are particularly well-equipped to aid countries in political turmoil.

Currently, the Department of Public Affairs of the UN has a presence in Central Asia, yet does not participate in the negotiations of Armenia and Azerbaijan. The Department could, however, expand its involvement in the region as long as the Secretary-General approves such a decision. The Azerbaijani Minister himself even agreed that if negotiations continue, Azerbaijan would accept the resolutions set forth by the United Nations Security Council. Ongoing negotiations of the OSCE Minsk group and political turmoil in Armenia are the main barriers limiting the head of the state’s flexibility to negotiate. 

It is difficult for the international community to select and support one side with all effort, as both sides have misconducted themselves in recent escalations. In total, both sides still claim 5,600 prisoners from a war that saw atrocities like the Khojaly and Maraghar Massacres. 

Analyses reveal that Azerbaijan and Armenia continue to acquire equipment and weapons from Russia and that both militaries remain in constant vigilance in case of conflict. Within the UN General Assembly, too many have not taken the initiative to push the Department of Political Affairs to take action. A prime example can be found in the controversial UN Resolution 62/243, which asked for “the immediate, complete, and unconditional withdrawal of all Armenian forces from all occupied territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan.” 100 countries abstained from voting, and France, Russia, and the U.S.- the three main heads of the OSCE Minsk group- were among the seven countries which rejected the resolution. While the resolution was adopted, its lack of enforcement mechanism left it toothless;  it only strained the relationship between the two countries. However, it was not the intentions behind this resolution that were flawed, but rather how suddenly it was proposed. Through the prevention and mediation operations side of the Department of Political Affairs, the Secretary-General could easily dispatch diplomats to mitigate the tension. 

This specific resource previously utilized to prevent tension from escalating after the end of the Cold War in satellite states of the Soviet Union has proven historically useful. Geopolitics obviously does not resolve itself quickly, but with one million displaced people due to the conflict, a push for more negotiations is necessary by the UN to enforce its legitimacy and capitalize on the concessions that Azerbaijan has given. While Armenia still stubbornly opposes certain aspects of a peace deal, the UN Department of Political Affairs has more resources, a diverse set of representatives, neutral status and more experience than other negotiating bodies and could realize a long-overdue peace.

The legacy of the Soviet Union continues to have its impacts on the region, as Central Asia and the Balkans have not been able to reconcile ethnic and territorial conflicts caused by the Stalin administration’s imposition of oblasts. Whether it be the conflicts regarding South Ossetia, Chechnya, the Republic of Abkhazia, or Caspian Sea tension, the region has an immense amount of work to do before they can achieve a state of peace. As for Armenia and Azerbaijan, they must use the convenient supranational organization at their disposal. The United Nations can prove to be the intermediary force that they desire to finally reach a mutual agreement regarding the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. While it will take great effort, it is a struggle that is worthwhile to promote future peace in the region.