Friday, Pan-Armenian Charity Raises More Money For Karabakh US- The Hayastan All-Armenian Fund holds an annual telethon in Los Angeles, November 23, 2017. In an annual telethon broadcast from Los Angeles, a pan-Armenian charity has raised more than $11 million that will mostly be spent on its ongoing infrastructure projects in Nagorno-Karabakh. The Hayastan All-Armenian Fund received $12.5 million and $15.5 million in donations during similar fundraisers helds in 2017 and 2016 respectively. As always, the Thanksgiving Day telethon featured prominent members of the Armenian community in the United States and Karabakh Armenian leaders. It was broadcast by Armenian and U.S.-Armenian TV channels. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian made a live televised appeal to Armenians around the world when he visited Hayastan’s headquarters in Yerevan early on Friday. He urged them to donate more funds to the charity, stressing the importance of its projects implemented in Armenia and Karabakh. In a statement issued shortly afterwards, Hayastan said the sum collected by it this time includes $2.5 million donated by a “benefactor” who did not want to be identified. Two other wealthy donors, Armenian-American businessmen Antranig Baghdassarian and Albert Boyajian, contributed $1 million each. Most of the latest donations will be channeled into two projects in Karabakh launched by Hayastan last year. One of them is aimed at expanding local irrigation networks while the other seeks to support greater use of solar energy by Karabakh households. Nagorno-Karabakh - Cars on a newly constructed highway connecting Karabakh to Armenia. Hayastan has implemented over $350 million worth of projects in Karabakh and Armenia since being set up in 1992. The fund’s current Board of Trustees is headed by Armenia’s President Armen Sarkissian and comprises Pashinian, other senior Armenian state officials, Catholicos Garegin II as well as prominent members of Armenian communities around the world. In recent years the fund has partly financed, among other things, the construction of a second highway connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia. The 116-kilometer-long road was inaugurated last year. Hayastan’s activities were overshadowed in July by the arrest and ensuing resignation of its then executive director, Ara Vartanian. Although Vartanian admitted using Hayastan’s money for online gambling and other “personal purposes” he avoided prosecution after reportedly compensating the charity. Pashinian’s government has since pledged to help ensure greater transparency in the fund’s activities. Armenian Minister Sees Slower Growth In 2018 • Sargis Harutyunyan Armenia - Workers at a tech company based in the Engineering City in Yerevan, August 22, 2018. The Armenian economy is on course to grow by 5 to 6 percent this year, Economy Minister Tigran Khachatrian said on Friday. Economic growth in Armenia accelerated to 7.5 percent in 2017, according to official statistics. It hit 9.7 percent in the first quarter of this year, before the start of weeks of mass protests that led to the resignation of the country’s longtime leader, Serzh Sarkisian, and his government. Data from the Armenian Statistical Committee shows that growth has slowed down since then. The government agency has also reported a sharp drop in foreign investment. Political opponents of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, the protest leader who came to power in May, have seized upon these figures to criticize his economic record. They claim that his government’s policies are scaring away local and foreign investors. Khachatrian insisted that the dramatic regime change, commonly referred to as a “velvet revolution,” will benefit the domestic economy in the longer term. He argued that the new government has already broken up economic monopolies linked to the former regime and is taking other measures to improve Armenia’s business environment. “The revolution has led to a greater degree of economic freedom, easier access to the markets and more equal competition,” said Khachatrian. “These are factors that could and should create a more favorable environment for investment-related decisions. But they can’t produce solutions and results at once.” The minister predicted that the upcoming parliamentary elections, which Pashinian’s bloc is widely expected to win, will also contribute to faster growth. The resulting “stabilization of the situation” in the country will only encourage businesspeople to launch new projects, he said. Pashinian cited economic considerations when he started pushing for the holding of the snap elections in early October. He said political uncertainty resulting from his team’s modest presence in the current Armenian parliament is hampering economic activity. Pashinian Denies Electoral Foul Play • Anush Muradian Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian addresses a rally in Aparan, November 21, 2018. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian dismissed on Friday opposition claims that he abused his powers by holding rallies during work hours and before the official start of campaigning for Armenia’s upcoming general elections. Pashinian held the rallies when he visited two Armenian provinces earlier this week. He also discussed the conduct of the December 9 elections with local government officials. Former President Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party (HHK) denounced those gatherings, accusing Pashinian of using his government levers for electoral purposes. Two other groups running for parliament also criticized them. A top representative of Armenia’s leading anti-corruption watchdog voiced similar concerns on Thursday, saying that by “international standards” Pashinian’s actions constituted “abuse of administrative resources.” “Show me those international standards. Publish them on your websites,” Pashinian told journalists when he was asked to comment on the controversy. “I am calling on all citizens of Armenia to vote for the [ruling] My Step alliance in the forthcoming parliamentary elections. Am I abusing my administrative resources?” he said. In a statement released on Tuesday, the HHK cited election-related guidelines of the Council of Europe and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe which it said were violated by the premier. Pashinian insisted that he toured towns in the Gegharkunik and Aragatsotn provinces as part of his prime-ministerial duties. In any case, he said, the rallies held there did not breach the Armenian Electoral Code. The Central Election Commission (CEC) likewise said on Friday that the code does not ban election contenders from holding rallies before the start of the election campaign set for November 26. Pashinian was equally unrepentant about his decision to march through Yerevan with his supporters on Saturday. Asked why he did not want to wait until Monday, he said: “When we held a rally on August 17 did we break the law? Or did I break the law when I went to the Syunik, Vayots Dzor and Tavush provinces?” The HHK was accused by opposition leaders, including Pashinian, and media of abusing its administrative resources in various elections throughout its leader Serzh Sarkisian’s decade-long rule. Many public and even private sector employees were reportedly pressured to attend its campaign rallies and vote for HHK candidates. Press Review “Zhamanak” looks at the former ruling HHK’s election campaign motto: “If you are concerned, vote for Republicans.” “Apparently the HHK forgot to add what those concerns are about,” the paper comments scathingly. It says many supporters of the former ruling party must be “concerned” that they can no longer break laws, take bribes or rig elections. “Especially in the last 20 years Armenia’s water resources have been used, or rather wasted, in the most savage way,” alleges “Zhoghovurd.” “And that has been done for the enrichment of the former rulers.” The paper reports in this context that prosecutors have now launched criminal proceedings against the owners of 150 hydroelectric plants suspected of serious environmental violations. Lragir.am reports that Armenia’s Russian-managed railway network has decided to suspend a rail ferry service between Georgian and Russian Black Sea ports operated by it together with other firms. The online publication says the decision comes ahead of the entry into force of a Georgian government ban on the transit of trucks laden with wheat through Georgia’s territory. It fears that the move will disrupt imports of wheat to Armenia. “The situation resembles the early 1990s when Armenia was subjected to a gas blockade,” it says. “Past” says Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s decision to stage a “big march” in Yerevan on Saturday is clearly related to the December 9 parliamentary elections. “Pashinian and some other forces have already unofficially started their election campaigns, turning [the official start of campaigning on] November 26 into a symbolic date,” writes the paper.It says Pashinian’s rally is aimed at “mobilizing his core political base through one of the main techniques of regime change.” (Lilit Harutiunian) 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