Thursday, New Armenian Government Structure Approved Մարտ 07, 2019 • Nane Sahakian Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian holds a cabinet meeting in Yerevan, March 7, 2019. Կիսվել • 9 Կարդալ մեկնաբանությունները Տպել The Armenian government on Thursday made the final decision to reduce the number of its ministries from 17 to 12 and lay off some of their employees. A government bill setting a new structure of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s cabinet was sent to the parliament for approval. Its passage by the National Assembly controlled by Pashinian’s My Step alliance is widely seen as a forgone conclusion. As expected, the bill would abolish the post of first deputy prime minister, meaning that Pashinian will have only two deputies. More importantly, it would dissolve the Armenian ministries of agriculture, energy, culture, Diaspora, and sports and youth affairs. In particular, the ministries of education, culture, and sports and youth affairs would be turned into a single agency. A similar merger of the ministries of energy and local government would lead to the creation of a new Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures. The Diaspora Ministry is due to be scrapped altogether. The government announced plans for such a restructuring in December, sparking street protests by hundreds of Diaspora and culture ministry employees fearing a loss of their jobs. Pashinian countered that the planned change is in tune with his repeated pledges to downsize the government made during campaigning for the December 9 parliamentary elections won by his bloc. Pashinian insisted on Thursday that the government will operate more efficiently as a result of the changes. He also confirmed that at least some employees of the affected ministries will be laid of s but did not give any numbers. “Yes, there will be staff cuts but those staffs will follow an evolutionary pattern,” he said at a cabinet meeting in Yerevan. A leaked government document publicized this week by a senior member of the former ruling Republican Party (HHK) suggested that as many as 10,000 civil servants will be laid off in the coming weeks or months. Finance Minister Atom Janjughazian effectively denied that when he spoke to RFE/RL’s Armenian on Tuesday. Some public administration experts have questioned the wisdom of having fewer government ministries. They say that the new “super ministries” would only slow down the work of the state bureaucracy. Armenia Reports ‘Political’ Deal On Greater Imports Of Iranian Gas • Sargis Harutyunyan Iran - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian inspect an Iranian honor guard at a welcoming ceremony in Tehran, February 27, 2019. Armenia has reached a “political” agreement with neighboring Iran on importing larger amounts of Iranian natural gas, outgoing Energy Minister Garegin Baghramian said on Thursday. Baghramian also told RFE/RL’s Armenian service that Armenian and Georgian officials are already negotiating on possible Iranian gas supplies to Georgia that would be carried out via Armenia. The gas issue featured large during Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s official visit to Tehran last week. Speaking after talks with Pashinian, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said his hydrocarbon-rich country is ready to sell more gas to Armenia and also use Armenian territory for gas exports to Georgia. Pashinian said that Yerevan is willing to boost imports of Iranian gas. He admitted, though, that the two sides have yet to agree on its price. Armenia currently receives up to 500 million cubic meters of Iranian gas each year under a swap scheme that also involves exports of Armenian electricity to the Islamic Republic. Its overall gas imports total roughly 2 billion cubic meters per annum and they mostly come from Russia. According to the current and former Armenian governments, Russian gas is cheaper for the South Caucasus state than Iranian. In Baghramian’s words, Rouhani and Pashinian instructed relevant Iranian and Armenian bodies to look into ways of implementing their “political understandings” on the gas issue, and a commercial deal could take different forms. “There could be an increase in [Iranian gas] volumes for the purpose of a transit to Georgia,” explained the minister. “If there is a mutually beneficial price offer, there could be an increase in gas volumes in the form of direct sales [to Armenia.]” “Not only we are negotiating [with Georgia] but also Iranian companies have reached certain understandings with Georgian companies,” Baghramian, adding that Armenia is ready to serve as a transit route for Iranian gas supplies to Georgia. Baghramian further insisted that Russia’s Gazprom gas giant cannot block or impede greater Iranian gas supplies to Armenia. Gazprom not only meets the bulk of Armenia’s gas needs but also owns the country’s gas distribution network. The latter in turn controls the Armenian section of a pipeline delivering Iranian gas. The pipeline can pump at least 2 billion cubic meters of gas annually. Report Details Destruction Of Ancient Armenian Cemetery In Azerbaijan • Harry Tamrazian Iran -- An Armenian priest prays on the Iranian-Azerbaijani border against the backdrop of Azerbaijani soldiers destroying Armenian cross stones at the Djulfa cemetery, December 2005. (Photo couresty of Djulfa.com) A detailed report published in an American art journal sheds more light on the reported destruction of an ancient Armenian cemetery in Azerbaijan’s Nakhichevan exclave. The cemetery located near Djulfa, a small town close to the Iranian border, used to have the largest collection of traditional Armenian cross stones, or “khachkars,” dating from the 9th to the 16th centuries. Amateur videos that emerged in late 2005 showed Azerbaijani troops smashing the UNESCO-protected gravestones. They prompted condemnation from the European Parliament and other bodies. The Azerbaijani government denied their destruction at the time. However, a 2006 article by the London-based by the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) confirmed that the cemetery has vanished. The report published by the Hyperallergic.com journal last month presents more details of the destruction of thousands of stones encrusted with crosses, Armenian inscriptions and patterns. Its authors, Armenian-born political science lecturer Simon Maghakyan and Yale University scholar Sarah Pickman, compare the “erasure of indigenous Armenian culture” in Nakhichevan to the destruction of Syria’s ancient Palmyra by the Islamic State. Azerbaijan - Soldiers in Nakhichevan are photographed destroying tombstones at the Djulfa cemetery, December 2005. (Photo courtesy of Djulfa.com) In an interview with RFE/RL’s Armenian service, Maghakyan, who is based in Denver, insisted that Azerbaijan’s government committed a “cultural genocide” and “crime against humanity.” “It’s not just about the Djulfa khachkars,” he said. “We are talking about a complete destruction of Armenian heritage of Nakhichevan.” Maghakyan claimed that 89 Armenian churches, 5,800 “khachkars” and 22,000 tombstones were destroyed in Nakhichevan from 1997 to 2006. “Even in [historical] western Armenia where Turkish authorities wiped out around 3,000 Armenian churches we can still find remnants of churches and some churches there were even renovated. But in Nakhichevan no traces of Armenian culture have been left,” he said. “I am very happy that many Azerbaijanis who assisted in our research also condemn that,” said Maghakyan. He singled out Arif Yunus, an exiled human rights campaigner, and Akram Aylisli, a prominent author who has endured years of intimidation after writing about massacres of ethnic Armenians in Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani authorities have refused to allow international inspectors to visit the Djulfa cemetery site. In 2011, the then U.S. ambassador in Baku, Matthew Bryza, travelled to Nakhichevan but was barred from inspecting the site. “Such stonewalling renders independent verification difficult, but the sheer amount of forensic evidence that Maghakyan and Pickman present makes a rock-solid case for at least not being deterred,” Britain’s “The Guardian” newspaper wrote in a March 1 article about the Hyperallergic.com report. Pashinian Reveals Conditions For Major EU Aid To Armenia Belgium - European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker (C), Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy Johannes Hahn (R), and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian at a press conference in Brussels, March 5, 2019. Armenia may have to increase its public debt in order to receive large-scale economic assistance from the European Union, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said on Thursday. Speaking two days after his latest visit to Brussels, Pashinian said that the EU is prepared to finance “mega-projects” proposed by the Armenian government. The projects relate to the construction and renovation of roads, schools, water reservoirs and even prisons, he told members of his cabinet. “While being ready to help, the EU is not prepared to finance those projects by 100 percent and it expects Armenia to seriously participate in those projects,” Pashinian went on. In order to be able to co-finance those projects the Armenian government needs to significantly improve tax collection and/or obtain more foreign loans, he said. Pashinian added that he will discuss the matter with relevant government bodies and the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) in the coming weeks to see whether the country could manage a higher public debt. The premier said nothing about the amount of additional aid which the EU is ready to provide to Armenia or possible external borrowing required for obtaining it. He hinted only that the government could consider raising a legal limit on the size of its outstanding debts to local and foreign creditors. That debt ceiling is currently set at 60 percent of GDP. Armenia’s overall public debt, which also includes sums owed by the Central Bank, was on course to reach $7.1 billion in December 2018. The figure is equivalent to roughly 57 percent of the country’s GDP. The Armenian state budget for this year sets aside $735 million for debt servicing. The sum will account for over one-fifth of the government’s overall budgetary expenditures. Debt repayments are projected to peak at $800 million in 2020. Pashinian met with European Council President Donald Tusk, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and other senior EU officials in Brussels on Tuesday. Speaking after the talks, Tusk praised the Armenian government’s ambitious reform agenda and said the EU is ready to support it with “enhanced technical and financial assistance.” But he did not give any numbers. Press Review “Zhoghovurd” quotes Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian as reporting a major increase in cash receipts issued by Armenian shops, restaurants and other businesses in January and February. Speaking in the parliament, Pashinian said Armenians thus responded to his appeals to help the government tackle tax evasion and thus make their contribution to an “economic revolution” promised by him. “There is now a much more serious obstacle to the economic revolution: the current state of economic legislation,” comments the paper, calling for “revolutionary” amendments to those laws. “Zhamanak” reports on Pashinian’s renewed calls for Nagorno-Karabakh’s involvement in Armenian-Azerbaijani peace negotiations. “In essence, Pashinian declared in the Armenian parliament that the problem is the format of the negotiations,” writes the paper. “Baku has said that there will be no change in that format. Pashinian said in Brussels that at their upcoming meeting he and [Azerbaijan’s President Ilham] Aliyev will talk about this as well.” The paper wonders whether these public statements could lead to the cancellation or delay of the meeting. “Aravot” says that Pashinian’s recent visits to Berlin, Brussels and Tehran were a success. “Any unbiased person will agree that the changes which have occurred in Armenia in the past year have had a positive impact on our foreign relations developing in these directions and our partners are now ready for closer cooperation with our country,” editorializes the paper. But it cautions that this will not quickly translate into tangible benefits for Armenia and its people. It says Armenian government bodies need to work hard to capitalize on these foreign policy gains. (Lilit Harutiunian) Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL Copyright (c) 2019 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc. 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org