Friday, 

Dissenters Defy Armenian Opposition Party


 . Anush Muradian


Armenia - Zaruhi Postanjian, an opposition mayoral candidate,
campaigns in Yerevan, 8May2017.

Two members of Yerevan's municipal assembly representing a radical
opposition party made clear on Wednesday that they will not resign
their seats after being accused by the party leadership of "treason."

The Yerkir Tsirani party headed by Zaurhi Postanjian, an outspoken
opposition politician, won 5 seats in the 65-member city elected on
May 14. It decided to take up those seats despite accusing the ruling
Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) of rigging the municipal elections.

Postanjian and two other Yerkir Tsirani councilors clashed with
Yerevan's Republican Mayor Taron Markarian and his allies at a June 16
session of the council. The two other councilors, Hayk Petrosian and
Mnatsakan Parakshiev, kept a low profile during the heated debate.

The party's leadership accused the two men of "treason" and demanded
that they give up their council seats the following day. In a
statement, it charged that Petrosian and Parakshiev "deviated from the
party line, failed to fulfill their obligations, undermined teamwork,
and betrayed the party and the people of Yerevan."

Another Yerkir Tsirani statement released on Friday condemned their
"inactivity" during the June 16 meeting of the council.

The dissenters rejected the accusations at a news conference held
earlier in the day. They said they simply favor a different style of
political activity.


Armenia - Mnatsakan Parakshiev and Hayk Petrosian, members of
Yerevan's municipal council at a news conference, .

"We fight against vicious phenomena such as cynicism, arrogance,
intolerance and complete absence of a sense of realism," said
Petrosian. "It's very important that we ourselves do not become like
that and that we stay open to pluralism and healthy criticism."

"Our primary task should have been the implementation of Yerevan's
[development] program," he added. "But our colleagues sought to add
emotional elements to every issue, something which we believe is not
productive."

"In my view, work in the municipality must not be turned into a
theatrical performance," Parakshiev said for his part, referring to
his colleagues' behavior at the council session.

Accordingly, both men said that they will continue to serve in the
municipal council as independent members. They also said they have no
plans to join another faction or set up their own party.

The ruling HHK holds 46 seats in the council. The remaining 15 seats
are controlled by the mainstream opposition Yelk alliance.

Postanjian lambasted Yelk last week, saying that it was created by the
Armenian authorities to weaken their genuine political
opponents. Davit Khazhakian, the young leader of the Yelk faction in
the Yerevan council, shrugged off the allegation.



Minister Claims Rising Investments In Armenia


 . Nane Sahakian


Armenia - Prime Minister Karen Karapetian (C) and Economic Development
Minister Suren Karayan (R) visit a textile factory in Yerevan, 19
June, 2017.

The Armenian government has already secured more than a third of
around $850 million in investments which it promised to attract into
the domestic economy this year, Minister for Economic Development
Suren Karayan claimed on Friday.

Prime Minister Karen Karapetian repeatedly gave such promises during
campaigning for last April's parliamentary elections. He said the sum
equivalent to over 7 percent of Armenia's Gross Domestic Product will
come from foreign and local private investors as well as the state
budget and foreign loans extended to his government.

Karayan insisted that "approximately 37-40 percent" of the promised
investments are already in progress. But he declined to specify their
sources.

"We can't publicize names, it's a commercial secret," he told
reporters. "I can only specify the sectors where those investments
have been made."

The minister stated earlier that at least 10,000 new jobs will be
created in Armenia, mostly in the manufacturing sector, in the course
of this year.

The government's political opponents and other critics are skeptical
about these pledges.Speaking in the Armenian parliament earlier this
week, Edmon Marukian, a leader of the opposition Yelk alliance,
pointed out that Karapetian has not visited any western European
country since he became prime minister in September.

"What is being done to attract those investments?" Marukian
asked. "Who is supposed to go [to Europe,] meet those people and bring
the investments?"

Karayan dismissed that argument, saying that "many" potential European
investors have visited Armenia in recent months. "Just a few days ago,
French partners were visiting," he said. "They are going to invest in
our light industry and place production orders. And on Monday our
partners from Denmark will arrive."

The Armenian economy was essentially stagnant last year amid a
continuing recession in Russia, Armenia's leading trading
partner. Karapetian's cabinet expects that it will grow by at least
3.2 percent in 2017. The World Bank and the International Monetary
Fund have forecast slightly lower growth rates.



Hovannisian Seeks Opposition Consolidation


 . Astghik Bedevian


Armenia -- Opposition leaders Raffi Hovannisian (C), Vartan Oskanian
(L) and Seyran Ohanian lead a pre-election march in Yerevan,
28Mar2017.

Opposition leader Raffi Hovannisian will again call on Armenia's
opposition groups to join forces during Sunday's congress of his
Zharangutyun (Heritage) party, which is no longer represented in the
national parliament.

A senior Zharangutyun member, Susanna Muradian, said on Friday that
the appeal will be addressed to both "parliamentary and
extraparliamentary" forces opposed to President Serzh
Sarkisian. Hovannisian's party is already negotiating with some of
them, she said.

"Zharangutyun does not expect them to rally around it," Muradian told
RFE/RL's Armenian service (Azatutyun.am). "If it turns out as a result
of discussions that it's better to rally around someone else # we will
be ready to rally around someone else who will come up with a better
action plan."

Zharangutyun already teamed up with former Defense Minister Seyran
Ohanian and former Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian's Consolidation
party to run in the April 2 parliamentary elections. Their ORO
alliance polled only 2 percent of the vote, falling well short of a 7
percent threshold for having seats in Armenia's new parliament.

The ORO leaders rejected the official vote results as fraudulent but
refrained from staging post-election street protests. But they have
kept a low profile since then.

So far Hovannisian's proposal has not met with a positive response
from other opposition forces, including those that won seats in the
National Assembly.

Earlier this month, Ohanian did not rule out the possibility of ORO's
transformation into a single political party. He also said that the
Armenian opposition must be prepared for "a force majeure situation"
that would require anti-government protests.

Zharangutyun's Muradian similarly said that street protests could be
the only realistic way for the opposition to challenge the
government. "If the so-called constitutional reforms [enacted in 2015]
were supposed to lead to such `elections' then we will have to opt for
other methods and ways of struggle," he said.

In a separate development, Hovannisian met on Friday with the
U.S. ambassador to Armenia, Richard Mills. "Mills and Hovannisian
discussed a broad array of matters relating to American-Armenian
relations, regional security, and pressing global developments," read
a short statement released by the U.S.-born opposition leader's
office.



Press Review



"The Republicans no longer deny that Serzh Sarkisian will remain at
the helm of power after his presidential term expires in April 2018,"
writes "Zhoghovurd." "They hinted at that during the parliamentary
debates on the government program." The paper speculates that senior
representatives of the ruling HHK thus responded to Prime Minister
Karen Karapetian's latest statement that he is "prepared" to retain
his post next year.

"Aravot" disapproves of the fact that the government formulated its
policies for the next five years. "Five governments may change within
the next five years," argues the paper. "And given that every new
government is not held answerable for what the previous one did or did
not do, we won't know what to demand from whom. For example, the
former government promised to raise the minimum national wage to
65,000 drams ($135) by 2017, which did not happen. The current
government is promising to do the same by 2022. A new government that
may be installed tomorrow will give a different number or won't give
any numbers at all. All this does not contribute to the emergence of
an atmosphere of public trust, to say the least."

"Armenia badly needs this government to succeed because we have
reached the final point of a bad situation," writes "Azg." "There is
no longer room for any deterioration. On top of that, there is an
unfavorable regional environment # We need to get out of this vicious
circle more than ever before: to break up the state of economic gloom,
inject blood into the economy and, by extension, the Armenian state
and statehood. Everyone -- and the government in particular --
realizes this."

"Haykakan Zhamanak" reports that the Russian ruble is again
depreciating due to falling oil prices, threatening to slash the value
of dollar-denominated remittances from Armenian migrant workers in
Russia. "A large part of Armenia's population lives off the
remittances," the paper says.

(Tigran Avetisian)


Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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