Friday, January 26, 2017
Russian Envoy Details New Deal On Karabakh Truce Monitoring
January 26, 2018
Armenia - OSCE observers escorted by Armenian army officers monitor
the ceasefire regime in Tavush province bordering Azerbaijan, 16Feb,
2017
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe is to deploy
seven more ceasefire monitors in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone
under an Armenian-Azerbaijani agreement finalized last week, a senior
Russian negotiator said on Friday.
The Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers agreed in principle to
expand an OSCE mission monitoring the ceasefire regime along the
Karabakh "line of contact" and the Armenian-Azerbaijani border when
they met Krakow, Poland on January 18. The measure designed to prevent
truce violations was proposed by the U.S., Russian and French
mediators co-chairing the OSCE Minsk Group and backed by
Armenia. Azerbaijan has been reluctant to accept it until now.
"There are some technical details that still need to be worked out,"
the group's Russian co-chair, Igor Popov, told the Azerbaijani APA
news agency. He said the OSCE mission will be boosted by an
"additional seven observers."
The existing, largely symbolic mission headed by a Polish diplomat,
Andrzej Kasprzyk, is similar in size. Its members travel to Karabakh
and the Armenian-Azerbaijani border once or twice a month to briefly
monitor the parties' compliance with truce agreements reached in 1994
and 1995.
The tentative agreement on the expansion of Kasprzyk's team reflects
some progress that seems to have been made in Armenian-Azerbaijani
peace talks in the last few months. Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian
and his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov met twice, in the
presence of the mediators, after an Armenian-Azerbaijani summit held
in Geneva in October.
Popov said that he and the fellow co-chairs from the United States and
France will again visit Baku and Yerevan early next month for further
discussions on the proposed measures to minimize truce violations. He
said they also expect to "ascertain" the conflicting parties'
positions on details of a Karabakh peace plan put forward by the
mediators.
"We are making efforts to propose to Baku and Yerevan variants
acceptable to them and this is what we will be talking about in the
region," said the Russian envoy.
In a joint statement issued in Krakow on January 18, the three Minsk
Group co-chairs said they discussed with Nalbandian and Mammadyarov
"core sensitive issues contained in the working proposals currently on
the table." They did not disclose those issues.
Popov also told APA that it is too early to say whether Presidents
Serzh Sarkisian and Ilham Aliyev might been again soon.
Sarkisian will complete his final presidential term on April 9. He may
well remain in power as Armenia's prime minister.
Jailed Oppositionists To Testify At Another Trial
January 26, 2018
. Karlen Aslanian
Armenia - The trial of opposition leader Zhirayr Sefilian and other
men accused of plotting an armed revolt in Yerevan, 19 Januay 2018.
The two arrested leaders of an armed opposition group that seized an
Armenian police station in 2016 will testify at the ongoing trial of
Zhirayr Sefilian, their prominent comrade prosecuted separately, a
court in Yerevan said on Friday.
Sefilian, who is the top leader of the Founding Parliament radical
opposition movement, was arrested in June 2016 on charges of plotting
an armed revolt against the government. He also stands accused of
planning to organize "mass disturbances" in Yerevan during the April
2015 official commemorations of the centenary of the Armenian genocide
in Ottoman Turkey.
Sefilian denies the charges as politically motivated. He and several
other men went on trial last May.
Sefilian was taken into custody less than a month before three dozen
members and supporters of Founding Parliament seized a police compound
in Yerevan's Erebuni district to demand his release and President
Serzh Sarkisian's resignation. The gunmen led by Varuzhan Avetisian
and Pavlik Manukian laid down their weapons after a two-week standoff
with security forces which left three police officers dead. They are
standing three separate trials.
Sefilian's lawyers petitioned a district court in Yerevan to summon
Avetisian and Manukian for questioning at his trial. The presiding
judge, Tatevik Grigorian, granted the request, saying that the two men
could shed more light on the riots that were allegedly planned by
Sefilian.
Grigorian ruled that they will be questioned as witnesses at the next
court hearing. According to the prosecutors, Avetisian and Manukian
were aware of Sefilian's alleged preparations for the street violence.
It is not clear whether Sefilian will be able to put questions to his
comrades. The Lebanese-born oppositionist has been frequently expelled
from the courtroom for contempt of court. The judge twice refused to
allow him to attend Friday's hearing.
Armenian Opposition Insists On Tax Cuts
January 26, 2018
. Astghik Bedevian
Armenia - Leaders of the opposition Yelk alliance hold an
anti-government rally in Yerevan, 19Jan2018.
The opposition Yelk alliance said on Friday that it will continue to
campaign for the scrapping of new government-drafted legislation that
raised income taxes for Armenians earning well above the average wage
in the country.
A Yelk parliamentarian, Gevorg Gorgisian, said it will table
amendments that would restore income tax rates that were in force
until January 1. "We are now working on a draft bill and it will again
be circulated [in the parliament,]" Gorgisian told RFE/RL's Armenian
service (Azatutyun.am).
He said the bill would also reverse increases in taxes on fuel,
tobacco and alcohol which also took effect on January 1. In addition,
Yelk will hold more demonstrations in Yerevan in support of its
demands, added Gorgisian.
The controversial changes made to Armenia's Tax Code raised from 26
percent to 28 percent the tax rate for monthly incomes ranging from
150,000 to 2 million drams ($310-$4,150). The rate for those Armenians
who earn more was set at 36 percent. The amended code at the same time
cut the tax rate from 24.4 percent to 23 percent for workers making
less than 150,000 drams a month.
Government officials insist that the more progressive tax will put a
heavier financial burden only on high-income individuals. They argue
that 90 percent of employed Armenians, who make between 150,000 and
280,000 drams, will not have any additional sums deducted from their
wages because of a complex method of income calculation. And those who
earn from 280,000 to 330,000 drams will pay an extra amount of only up
to 820 drams ($1.7) a month, the say.
The average monthly wage in Armenia stood at almost 188,000 drams
($390) as of November 2017, official statistics show.
Khosrov Harutiunian, the chairman of the Armenian parliament committee
on economic issues, dismissed opposition claims that the higher taxes
will hit the middle class hard. He too argued that 90 percent of
working-age people will not be negatively affected by them.
Accordingly, Harutiunian, who represents the ruling Republican Party
of Armenia (HHK), rejected the Yelk demands. He said the parliament
majority might only agree to an even more progressive tax that would
mean lower rates for wages not exceeding 150,000 drams and higher
rates for much higher incomes.
Yelk leaders pressed their demands for tax cuts when they rallied
hundreds of supporters in Yerevan last week in protest against recent
increases in the prices of fuel and some foodstuffs. The opposition
bloc blamed the fuel price hikes on the new Tax Code.
The authorities claim to be trying to ease the impact of the increased
prices. Harutiunian and another senior HHK lawmaker plan to introduce
a bill lowering a major tax collected from public transport
companies. It is aimed at discouraging them from raising bus and
minibus fares.
In a related development, the Agriculture Ministry announced on
Thursday that the government will subsidize the price of diesel fuel
widely used by farmers across the country.
Gorgisian dismissed these measures as "cosmetic." Yelk, which holds 9
seats in the 105-member parliament, will hold its next anti-government
rally on February 5.
Diaspora Philanthropist Makes $10m Donation To Armenian Army
January 26, 2018
Armenia - Defense Minister Vigen Sargsian inspects medical equipment
donated by Armenian-American philanthropist Mike Sarian, 25Jan2018.
A U.S. philanthropist of Armenian descent has donated modern medical
equipment and supplies worth about $10 million to Armenia's armed
forces, according to the Defense Ministry in Yerevan.
The ministry reported late on Thursday that the lavish donation by
Mike Sarian includes large quantities of nearly 100 items, including
X-ray and artificial respiration systems, ultrasound machines and
other medical diagnostic equipment. In a statement, it said Defense
Minister Vigen Sargsian inspected them during a visit to the central
warehouse of the Armenian army's medical service.
The donated aid will be distributed to the country's military
hospitals. Some of it will also be provided to civilian medical
institutions in towns and villages close to Armenia's border with
Azerbaijan, added the statement.
U.S. - Armenian-American philanthropist Mike Sarian, 5 May 2017.
Sarian is the president of Hospital Operations for Prime Healthcare
Services, an American hospital company based in California. He has
more than 25 years of executive management experience in healthcare in
the United States.
Sarian has regularly contributed large sums to Armenian-American
charities, schools and churches. In 2014, he donated through his
company $2 million worth of medical equipment to over a dozen
hospitals in Armenia.
Press Review
January 26, 2018
"Haykakan Zhamanak" comments on an attempted Azerbaijani military
incursion reported by the Nagorno-Karabakh military on Thursday,
saying that it has more political than military implications. "In that
sense, it even plays into the Armenian side's hands," writes the
paper. "We would have certainly not been able to draw such a
conclusion had the Karabakh army suffered casualties while repelling
Azerbaijani special forces."
"Zhoghovurd" says the incident followed the delivery to Azerbaijan of
a new batch of Russian weapons, mainly armored personnel carriers. "I
don't know on what terms Azerbaijan buys weapons from Russia,"
Vladimir Kazimirov, Russia's chief Karabakh negotiator from 1992-1996,
tells the paper. "At any rate, Azerbaijan's leadership should bear in
mind that Russia and Armenia cooperate very closely. It is nave to
hope to solve the Artsakh issue with a single local military
operation." Such an "adventure" would have negative consequences for
Baku, says Kazimirov.
"Chorrord Ishkhanutyun" dismisses Central Bank Governor Artur
Javadian's assertion that the price of butter in Armenia rose sharply
last year because of increased global demand that stems from recent
international research suggesting that butter is a healthier foodstuff
than cooking oil. The paper argues that the price of oil has not
fallen as a result. "Sugar also has not become cheaper even though
that product is often called `sweet death,'" it says.
"Hraparak" says that President Serzh Sarkisian's speech at the Council
of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) coincided with the
publication of a government bill on the structure and powers of a new
Armenian cabinet that will be formed after the end of his final term
in April. The paper says this is a further indication that Sarkisian
will become prime minister.
(Tigran Avetisian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2018 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
www.rferl.org
