RFE/RL Armenian Report – 11/23/2018

                                        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
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