Armenian News... A Topalian... 12 editorials

ArmenPress.am

20 Dec 18

Washington Post includes Armenia in ‘Three Countries Where Democracy Actually Staged A Comeback” article

. The Washington Post has included Armenia in its “Three countries where democracy actually staged a comeback in 2018” article by contributing columnist Frida Ghitis.

The two other countries are Ethiopia and Peru, where drastic domestic changes have also taken place.

Referring to Armenia, the Washington Post notes that the country has experiences a “dramatic turnaround”.

“When President Serzh Sargsyan, already in office for a decade, staged a power grab by changing the constitution and becoming prime minister, the journalist-turned-activist Nikol Pashinyan leveraged the people’s anger to drastically change the country’s direction. Pashinyan led a massive march followed by crippling demonstrations, paralyzing the country until the parliament — which had named Sargsyan prime minister — finally relented. The nonviolent people power of Armenians forced Sargsyan to resign and persuaded legislators to name Pashinyan prime minister. But the biggest shift was still to come.

A week ago, Armenians elected a new parliament, handing Pashinyan’s bloc an astonishing 70 percent of the vote. The previous ruling party, Sargsyan’s Republicans, didn’t even manage the 5 percent minimum required to enter parliament. Bolstered by the vote of confidence, Pashinyan has now launched a comprehensive anti-corruption campaign aimed at cleaning up the system of government.

These countries and their leaders still face dangerous obstacles ahead along the path to a durable liberal democracy. Their experiments could still fail. But the very fact that they have managed to make meaningful democratic strides against such steep odds should give encouragement to those battling the forces of damaging corruption and creeping authoritarianism in other places”, the columnist writes.

Caretaker Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s My Step Alliance has won a landslide victory in the December 9 general election with more than 70% of votes.

Earlier The Economist named Armenia the Country of the Year.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan

RFE/RL Report

EU Leaders Congratulate Pashinian On Election Victory

December 21, 2018

The two top European Union officials have congratulated Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on his My Step alliance’s landslide victory in Armenia’s parliamentary elections held on December 9.

“The elections were held with respect for fundamental freedoms and enjoyed broad public trust,” Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, and Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission president, said in a joint letter made public on Friday.

“You received a strong mandate for reforms from the citizens of Armenia. The European Union stands ready to support you in your reform agenda,” they added.

An EU foreign policy spokeswoman likewise praised the Armenian authorities’ handling of the snap elections in a December 10 statement. She said the EU looks forward to “working with the democratically elected new Parliament and the future Government.”

Tusk and Juncker already expressed the EU’s readiness to help Armenia’s new government implement sweeping reforms promised by Pashinian when they met with 

the latter in Brussels in July.

Shortly after those talks Pashinian criticized the 28-nation bloc for not boosting its financial assistance to Armenia following this spring’s “velvet revolution” that brought him to power. The head of the EU Delegation in 

Yerevan, Piotr Switalski, countered at the time that Pashinian’s government needs to propose specific reform-oriented projects before demanding greater aid.

In their congratulatory message, Tusk and Juncker also stressed the significance of the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) 

signed by the EU and Armenia in November 2017.

They described the 350-page agreement as an “ambitious blueprint for reforms.” “It will also support a resilient economic and social system conducive to building Armenia's prosperity,” they said.

On Wednesday Pashinian chaired a meeting of an interagency government commission tasked with coordinating Armenia’s compliance with the CEPA. “I am 

calling on you to work more actively towards the agreement’s implementation,” he told its members.

The CEPA commits Yerevan to carrying out political reforms and gradually “approximating” Armenian economic laws and regulations to those of the EU.

ArmenPress.am

19 December, 2018

Nothing new in NK conflict settlement issue, says Pashinyan

There is nothing new in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement issue, caretaker Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told reporters today, addressing the statement of Azerbaijan’s FM Elmar Mammadyarov who said that a mutual-agreement has been reached during a meeting with Armenia’s FM in Milan, Italy.

“In Milan, the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers, with the co-chairs, have agreed upon a joint statement, and it has been said that for a long time such a statement was not succeeded to be agreed upon. There is nothing new in the Karabakh issue. And the activeness is to the extent which you see,” Pashinyan said.

Speaking about his meeting with OSCE Personal Representative of the Chairperson in Office Andrzej Kasprzyk, the premier stressed that the ambassador is regularly visiting the region and that his visits are strictly of a working nature.

“There were cases when his visits weren’t published at all, but I have tasked my staff to cover all contacts, because the process must be transparent,” Pashinyan said.

Pashinyan also noted that whenever a comment is voiced from Azerbaijan that contains a certain element of optimism, he is concerned over the interpretations of a number of Armenian commentators, whose first presumption is that there is some kind of a conspiracy.

“And why is there such a presumption? Why isn’t there a presumption on the Armenian government having succeeded in bringing decisive arguments?” Pashinyan said.

To an observation that perhaps similar interpretations happen because it is Azerbaijan that first announces it, Pashinyan said: “I remember one thing, when I came to Gyumri at night from St. Petersburg and when I was participating in the 30th anniversary of the earthquake events the next day, the Azerbaijani presidential press service published information that a conversation has taken place between myself and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in St. Petersburg, while we had agreed that we would give a brief information about this. Very big conclusions are being made from the fact that they were the ones to first give this information. I say again, and anyone can study what I say, no government has been so transparent than ours in the Nagorno Karabakh issue.”

Asked if the St. Petersburg and Vienna agreements remain a priority for Armenia, Pashinyan said that the problem is that from the very beginning Azerbaijan has insisted that such agreements don’t exist at all.

“As far as these agenda, these are the agenda of the official negotiations process, that have taken place in participation of the co-chairs. I personally have not participated in an official negotiations process, I’ve had a conversation twice with Ilham Aliyev, and in Dushanbe it so happened that we reached an agreement. I want to once again speak about this contradiction, whenever there is an agreement, whenever something is stabilizing, the commentators are saying – what conspiracy is this, whenever there is nothing like this, commentators say it is war and that the government is unable to prevent it,” Pashinyan said.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan

Vestnik Kavkaza

Dec 21 2018

Pashinyan dissolves Armenian ministries

Employees of Armenia's Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Diaspora have started a labor strike this morning. They are protesting the republic's acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s intention to dissolve these two ministries.

As a result of reorganization of the Armenian government structure, the number of ministries is expected to be reduced from 17 to 12.

The demonstrators noted that if there are too many ministries in Armenia, let them study and try to resolve this problem, but this has nothing to do with the main functions of the Ministry of Culture.

Employees of the Ministry of Diaspora noted that the dissolution of their ministry was a wrong decision, and that the respective view of the Armenian diaspora was not considered when making this decision.

Employees of the ministries, who were demonstrating outside their ministries’ building for an hour, marched to the government building to hand over a letter addressed to acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to a government representative.

"We ask that a response be given by Monday morning. We demand a meeting with the Prime Minister. If our request is not considered, we are ready to go on labor strike; we’ll do a sit-in, too," News,am cited the letter as saying.

The writer, journalist, Vesti FM radio station host Armen Gasparyan, speaking with Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that liquidation of Mindiaspora has political reasons. "Not all representatives of the diaspora in the world supported the events, which took place in Armenia in April-June. 

Most likely, Pashinyan understands that there is a very serious political danger: much depends on the diaspora's views on events in the republic, and from this point he simply doesn’t need the Ministry of Diaspora. 

One can expect that there will be a structure subordinated to him personally or through the government apparatus, which will be engaged in building the necessary ties and disposing of possible negative statements. There is tough situation for Pashinyan: he was striving to power with the slogan of the political monopoly elimination, but eventually created his own monopoly, which caused unpleasant questions from the Diaspora," he explained.

The unification of the Ministry of Culture with the Ministry of Sport and the Ministry of Education and Science can be explained only by an attempt to save money. “I don’t see any advantages here, because these are three completely different spheres. In this case, Pashinyan turns out to be a hostage of the promises he made - that it is necessary to lower the number of bureaucrats. Obviously, it’s much easier to unite culture, sport and education, rather than the ministries of economy, defense and internal affairs, But still it’s difficult to understand what this will lead to. Pashinyan received absolute power, so let's see how his election statements will be implemented. Being an opposition is one thing, but  leading the republic in a very difficult foreign policy situation is quite another," Armen Gasparyan stressed.

ArmenPress.am

19 December, 2018

Pashinyan assures strategic initiative in Nakhijevan section is in hands of Armenian Armed Forces

Armenia’s acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan commented on the statement of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev according to which in 2018 Azerbaijan managed to completely take 11.000 square meters of land in Nakhijevan section under its control, reports Armenpress.

“Certain movements of positions have taken place in Nakhijevan section, and this took place from both sides. I officially announce that the territories, which have been under the control of the Armenian Armed Forces before May 8, continue to be under the control of the Armenian Armed Forces”, Pashinyan said.

He stated that even as a result of these processes the positions of the Armenian Armed Forces have improved, and the strategic initiative has been and remains in the hands of the Armenian Armed Forces.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan

IHS Jane's 360

Dec 20 2018

Azerbaijan’s partial replacement of troops with border guards likely indicates de-escalatory posture towards Armenia, reducing war risks

Alex Melikishvili - Jane's Intelligence Weekly 

While the Border Guards commander claims that the order reflects their high standard of combat-readiness, IHS Markit assesses that Aliyev's move is likely based on the calculus that, after winning Armenia's recent early general election by a landslide, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has a sufficiently broad mandate to negotiate a resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with Azerbaijan. 

It represents the most significant de-escalatory measure since the hostilities broke out in April 2016, very likely intended to obtain reciprocal confidence-building measures from Armenia. 

A reduced frequency of ceasefire violations and the removal of heavy weapons back from the Line of Contact and the border will be among further indicators to be monitored. 

Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev has ordered that the regular troops deployed on two sections of the state border with Armenia be replaced with border guard personnel.

On 14 December 2018, President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree replacing the regular troops deployed along two sections of the Armenia-Azerbaijan border (in Qazakh and Agstafa districts) with border guard units. The commander of the State Border Guard Service, Colonel-General Elcin Guliyev, later commented that this decision was due to the border guards having achieved a high combat readiness level and earning the President's trust in the process. Prior to this, the Azeri border guards only defended the state frontiers with Iran and Russia, which both have friendly relations with Azerbaijan.

Indicators of a tentative thaw

President Aliyev's decision comes against the backdrop of other developments that indicate a moderate improvement in Azeri-Armenian relations. Chief among them is the informal agreement between the two leaders reached on the sidelines of the CIS summit in Dushanbe in September 2018, setting up a direct hotline to mitigate the escalatory risk of incidents at the front line. 

On 6 November, while Azerbaijan's Ministry of Defence denied that there is any direct communication channel with its Armenian counterpart, it admitted that a designated official from another state agency had been made responsible for manning the phone line.

ARKA, Armenia

Dec 20 2018

Armenia’s foreign trade deficit ups by 25% in 11 months to $2.319 billion

Armenia’s foreign trade deficit in the first 11 months of 2018 amounted to $2.319 billion, having upped from $1.859.4 billion, reported for the first 11 months of 2017. The growth, according to the National Statistical Committee, was 24.7%. 

According to the NSC, Armenian exports in the reporting period of time amounted to $2.202.3 billion, which is 9.8% more than in the same period of 2017. Imports amounted to $4.521.3 million, an increase of 24.2%.

In November 2018 Armenian exports decreased by 5%, when compared with November 2017, while imports grew by 12.5%. ($1 - AMD 484.55). 

Panorama, Armenia

Dec 21 2018

Export volumes of Armenian wine growing

The export volumes of Armenian wine have grown by 30 per cent for the past six months to compare with the data of the same period of the previous year,” Executive Director at Armenian Vineyard and Winemaking Foundation Zaruhi Muradyan stated on Thursday at a year-end event, summing up the Foundation activities in 2018.

In Muradyan’s words, the growth was recorded due to the Foundation’s work and despite the decline resulting from this year’s adverse weather conditions. The Head of the Foundation also informed that growth is recorded in the internal consumption volumes as well.

As the ministry of agriculture reports, in average 1,2 liters were consumed per capita during previous years while the number in 2018 is 2,6 liters.

Additionally, Armenian wineries have taken part in numerous international fairs that have resulted in number of agreements signed with foreign partners. Armenian wines are represented at around 30 countries and the main consumption markets are Russia, Switzerland, Ukraine, Georgia, China, and France. 

Pubic Radio of Armenia

Dec 21 2018

Armenia ranked 81st among Best Counties for Business 2019 

Armenia is placed 81st in the Forbes’ ranking of Best Counties for Business 2019. Despite the uncertainty surrounding Brexit, the United Kingdom ranked first for the second straight year on the strength of its workforce, innovation and lack of red tape. It is followed by Sweden and Hong Kong. Rounding out the top five countries overall are the Netherlands and New Zealand.

The data is based on published reports from Freedom House, Heritage Foundation, Property Rights Alliance, United Nations, Transparency International, World Bank Group, Marsh & McLennan and World Economic Forum.

Forbes has rated the business friendliness of the world’s biggest economies annually for the past 13 years.

The Best Nations for Business have been determined by rating 161 nations on 15 different factors: property rights, innovation, taxes, technology, corruption, infrastructure, market size, political risk, quality of life, workforce, freedom (personal, trade and monetary), red tape and investor protection. Each category was equally weighted.

PanArmenian, Armenia

Dec 20 2018

Six pairs of twins born simultaneously in Armenian medical center 

Six pairs of twins were born at the same time at the Research Center of Maternal and Child Health Protection in Armenia, Med Practic reports.

Two of the twins were conceived through in vitro fertilisation (IVF), while the other four were conceived naturally.

“We are currently taking care of six pairs of twins, which is something unprecedented,” says neonatologist Anaida Asatryan, who heads the neonatal resuscitation and intensive therapy at the center.

Panorama, Armenia

Dec 20 2018

Environmentalist. Bird deaths in Armenian capital point to ecosystem's poor health

The growing bird death rates in Yerevan, Armenia’s capital, is a sign of the ecosystem's poor health, environmentalist Karine Danielyan told Panorama.am.

“Poor ecosystem may cause such phenomena. The bird mortality will in tun lead to other consequences, but bird experts had better talk about it,” she said.

Speaking to the news agency, Silva Adamyan, the head of the Bird Center, a Yerevan-based NGO, named poisoning, climate changes, lack of food, magnetic field exposure and diseases among the possible causes of the avian deaths.

The Food Safety Inspectorate is conducting a laboratory expertise to reveal the exact reasons behind the deaths, with its results to be available on Friday, the inspectorate spokesperson, Anush Harutyunyan said.

“The most likely cause is an epidemic, which spreads very quickly. An avian flue is also not ruled out. But I don’t want to make assumptions at the moment not to cause a panic. We are constantly in touch with the citizens and the inspectorate,”  Adamyan said.

She says Yerevan residents keep sending them photos of dead birds, including magpies, doves and other species. They have also received bird death alerts from Armenia’s regions.

“They may be linked to one another, but I don’t want to make strong claims in this case,” she said, urging to wait for the results of the laboratory expertise. 

DutchNews. The Netherlands

Dec 21 2018

Armenian family living in church will be deported: Nu.nl

 

The Armenian family Tamrazyan, who have been living in a church in The Hague since the end of October in an effort to avoid deportation, will not be given the right to stay, news website Nu.nl has reported.

A spokesman for the Bethel church has told news website Nu.nl that junior justice minister Mark Harbers has told the family he will not use his powers of discretion to grant them a residency permit.

The church, which describes the minister’s position as ‘hard and unjust’, told Nu.nl it will continue to hold 24-hour church services so that police cannot enter the property and pick the family up. Some 650 volunteers have been involved in keeping the service going round the clock.

CNN, the New York Times and Time magazine are among the dozens of news organisations worldwide covering the progress of the family.

The Tamrazyan family – mother, father and three children – lived at a refugee centre in Katwijk before moving into the church and have been in the Netherlands for nine years.

Oldest daughter Hayarpi, who studies econometrics at Tilburg University, said in a Twitter message in September that her family was granted refugee status at three separate court hearings but that the Dutch state went to appeal each time. They were eventually rejected three years ago.

This case is particularly embarrassing for the coalition government because Hayarpi is an active member of ChristenUnie, which campaigned for changes in the child amnesty rules before becoming part of the coalition government.