Friday, October 6, 2017 Mediators Discuss Armenian-Azeri Summit In Yerevan . Artak Hambardzumian Armenia - President Serzh Sarkisian (L) meets with the Russian, French and U.S. co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group in Yerevan, 6Oct2017. U.S., Russian and French mediators met with President Serzh Sarkisian in Yerevan on Friday to discuss preparations for his upcoming negotiations with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev which they hope will revive the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process. Sarkisian's press office said the meeting with the three co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group focused on "possibilities of pushing forward the process of a peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict, including issues related to organizing a meeting of Armenia's and Azerbaijan's presidents." It gave no details. According to the Armenian Foreign Ministry, the mediators "continued discussions" on the Armenian-Azerbaijani summit at their separate talks with Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian held earlier in the day. Russia's Igor Popov, France's Stephane Visconti and Andrew Schofer of the United States will travel to Baku on Saturday. Aliyev and Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said on Thursday that they too will discuss details of the planned summit with the three diplomats. "It seems to us that Armenia is returning to the negotiation process and that is a very important issue," Aliyev was reported to tell visiting officials from the European Union. The co-chairs already met with Nalbandian and Mammadyarov in New York late last month. In an ensuing joint statement, they expressed hope that the Aliyev-Sarkisian encounter will help the conflicting parties eventually "find compromise solutions to the remaining key settlement issues." The New York talks came just days after Aliyev and Sarkisian traded fresh accusations while addressing the UN General Assembly. The Azerbaijani leader also strongly criticized the international community for not helping Baku regain control over Karabakh. He similarly tweeted on Thursday that the Minsk Group "must exert more pressure on Armenia's occupier regime." For his part, Sarkisian again voiced support for the mediating powers' peace efforts when he met with Schofer separately on Thursday. The envoy, who took over as U.S. co-chair of the Minsk Group in August, visited Karabakh earlier this week. Eurasian Union Membership Good For Armenia, Says Putin Aide . Sargis Harutyunyan Armenia - Sergey Glazyev, an adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaks to RFE/RL in Yerevan, 6Oct2017. Membership in the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) is "very beneficial" for Armenia and its struggling economy, an adviser to Russia's President Vladimir Putin insisted on Friday. Speaking to RFE/RL's Armenian service (Azatutyun.am) in Yerevan, the official, Sergey Glazyev, also claimed that Azerbaijan's accession to the trade bloc would facilitate a peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Glazyev argued that by being part of the EEU Armenia is in a position to attract foreign investors interested in tariff-free access to the vast Russian market. "Armenia has unique relationships in the world," he said. "We know the pervasive influence of the Armenian Diaspora. We know the competitive advantages enjoyed by Armenian business circles in various countries of the world, including those such as America that are now waging an economic war against us." "So for international investors Armenia is a very well-known point of entry into the Eurasian market," Glazyev said, echoing statements by Armenian leaders. Pro-Western critics of the Armenian government say that EEU membership on the contrary hampers the country's economic development. They argue that economic growth did not accelerate after Armenia joined the bloc in January 2015. Some of its macroeconomic indicators have actually worsened since then, they say. "I will allow myself to express the view that if Armenia had not been part of the EEU the situation would have been worse," countered Glazyev. He said that the Russian Central Bank's tight monetary policy is primarily to blame for recent years' economic downturn in Russia which has adversely affected Armenia and other EEU member states. The Kremlin adviser, who deals with post-Soviet economic integration championed by Moscow, has long advocated stronger government intervention in the economy. He is also known for his hardline views on the West. Speaking on the sidelines of a Russian-Armenian intergovernmental forum in Yerevan, Glazyev also made a case for bringing more ex-Soviet republics, including Armenia's arch-foe Azerbaijan, into the EEU. "The enlargement of the EEU is a natural process because # all countries in the post-Soviet space co-existed for centuries, know each other well, know how to deal with each other, use Russian as a language of mutual communication, and share a common ancient culture of joint activity and joint building of huge empires. We jointly built the Russian Empire, the Soviet one, and can well build our future for the next 100 years," he said. Glazyev at the same time dismissed as "utter nonsense" claims that Putin's "Eurasian integration" drive is aimed at eventually restoring the Soviet Union. He insisted that the EEU will remain an "economic union" of sovereign nations. Glazyev also said: "If we want to have peace, mutual assistance and beneficial cooperation that would also help to end political problems, then we should integrate the entire Caucasus into the EEU." "I believe that if we form a common economic space, if long-term cooperative relationships emerge between companies and people, if our entrepreneurs do business together, then we will strengthen mutual trust, the economy will start getting ahead of politics," he went on. Azerbaijan's membership in the bloc would therefore create "additional possibilities" of resolving the Karabakh conflict, he said. Azerbaijan's leadership has shown little interest in joining the EEU so far. Armenia Set To Finally Pass Law Against Domestic Violence . Anush Mkrtchian Armenia - Young activists mark International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women in Yerevan, 25Nov2016. After years of foot-dragging and indecision, the Armenian authorities plan to enact soon a special law aimed at combatting domestic violence and helping its predominantly female victims. Violence against women had for decades been a taboo subject in the socially conservative and male-dominated Armenian society. It has been receiving growing publicity in recent years thanks to the activities of women's rights groups backed by international human rights watchdogs. According to the Yerevan-based Women's Resource Center, more than 50 Armenian women have been beaten to death and killed otherwise by their husbands or other relatives in the last five years. "This trend shows no signs of decline," said a representative of the group, Anahit Simonian. "I think this is a very serious number and this process [of a enacting a law] must not drag on further." Justice Minister Davit Harutiunian expressed serious concern over these figures on Thursday. "Violence is not the foundation of a real and strong Armenian family," he told a news conference. Harutiunian said that the Armenian government intends to tackle the problem with a law drafted by the Justice Ministry last year. Both he and another senior ministry official, Gohar Hakobian, expressed hope that the bill will be debated and passed by the parliament soon. If passed, the bill will introduce criminal and administrative liability for specific cases defined as domestic violence. It would also obligate the state to protect victims by providing them with special shelters or banning their violent spouses from approaching them and even their children. Women's rights groups say the Armenian police routinely tell assaulted and injured women to withdraw their crime reports on the grounds that they lack legal levers to prosecute attackers.Hakobian stressed that under the draft law the police will have to launch a criminal investigation even in case of such a withdrawal. A 43-year-old woman in Yerevan interviewed by RFE/RL's Armenian service (Azatutyun.am) claimed to have suffered physical, sexual and psychological abuse at the hands of her husband for 20 years. "I was pregnant when he once kicked me and fell from my bed," she said, adding that she now suffers from chronic health problems. The woman, who did not want to be identified for fear of further violence, said she has not divorced him because she cannot support their three children on her own and does not want to upset her parents."I was probably not very strong," she added. "But the main factor was the honor of my parents." The Justice Ministry posted the proposed law against domestic violence on its website over two weeks ago to receive feedback from civic groups and ordinary citizens. The latter were encouraged to vote for or against its passage. More than 560 website visitors have backed the bill while 505 others have opposed it since then. The almost evenly split vote highlights many Armenians' enduring conservative views on the subject that are backed by some nationalist groups and pro-government politicians. They say any government interference in family affairs would run counter to Armenian traditions and undermine the fabric of the society. This explains why similar legislations previously put forward by another government ministry and women's NGOs did not even reach the parliament floor. The non-governmental Coalition Against Violence has twice submitted a relevant measure to lawmakers since 2009. Its coordinator, Zaruhi Hovannisian, voiced support for the Justice Ministry bill on Friday. But, she cautioned, it is even more important to change attitudes of vulnerable women. "A person must not tolerate violence against them," said Hovannisian. "They must not get used to it." Press Review "Chorrord Ishkhanutyun" criticizes the Armenian parliament for ratifying on Thursday a Russian-Armenian agreement on bilateral "military-technical cooperation." The paper claims that the deal allows Russia to "control the use of weapons supplied to Armenia" and that the Armenian military will not be able to deploy them without Moscow's consent. Meanwhile, Arkadi Ter-Tadevosian, a retired army general who played a major role in the 1991-1994 war with Azerbaijan, stresses the significance of another treaty relating to a joint Russian-Armenian military force, in an interview with "Zhamanak." "We have to understand that a single state cannot act on its own and must form an alliance with another state," he says. "Everyone is allied to each other. There are no lone states. Having such an alliance, we will have a clear idea on what could happen." The signing of the Russian-Armenian accord last year was therefore a "very positive step," concludes Tadevosian. "Haykakan Zhamanak" reacts to President Serzh Sarkisian's visit on Thursday to an expanding textile factory mostly belonging to the family of Samvel Aleksanian, one of Armenia's wealthiest businessmen linked to his administration. An official press release on the visit said that the Alex Textile company now employs 470 people. Citing some government figures, the paper contends that only up to 308 of them are officially registered with tax authorities. "That in turn means that 162 of this company's 470 employees are part of the shadow [economy] and the employer withholds their income tax from the state budget," it claims. (Tigran Avetisian) Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL Copyright (c) 2017 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc. 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org