Friday, Armenian Speaker Adds To Pressure On Tsarukian • Astghik Bedevian Armenia - Speaker Ararat Mirzoyan speaks at a parliament session in Yerevan, March 5, 2019. Adding to pressure on Gagik Tsarukian, parliament speaker Ararat Mirzoyan has challenged the leader of the opposition Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) to publicly dispel “reasonable” doubts about the legality of his entrepreneurial activities. In a letter to Tsarukian, Mirzoyan said there are “legitimate concerns” about Tsarukian’s compliance with a constitutional provision that bars parliament deputies from engaging in business. Mirzoyan publicized the letter late on Thursday just hours after law-enforcement authorities pledged to investigate a small pro-government party’s claims that Tsarukian is flouting that ban. The party called the Citizen’s Decision also appealed to the speaker earlier this week. It urged him to set up an ad hoc ethics commission that would look into the matter and, if necessary, ask the Constitutional Court to expel Tsarukian from the parliament. Mirzoyan, who is a close associate of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, indicated in his letter that he will not initiate such a parliamentary inquiry. Still, he said that Tsarukian “should at least present detailed public clarifications regarding the issue.” A senior BHK lawmaker, Sergey Bagratian, essentially dismissed the demand on Friday. He said the onus is on the authorities to prove that Tsarukian has violated the constitution. “It’s not Mr. Tsarukian who should prove that he has not been engaged in business,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am). “It’s the political force making such statements which must prove that Mr. Tsarukian is engaged in business.” Armenia - Gagik Tsarukian and other deputies of his Prosperous Armenia Party arrive for a parliament session in Yerevan, April 8, 2019. Bagratian argued that neither the Central Election Commission nor any political force, including Pashinian’s My Step bloc, had objected to his participation in the December 2018 general elections. Tsarukian and his associates maintain that while the BHK leader owns dozens of businesses they are not run by him on a day-to-day basis. My Step lawmakers began questioning these assurances last month amid mounting tensions between Pashinian’s bloc and Tsarukian’s party, which is Armenia’s largest parliamentary opposition force. They cited Tsarukian’s calls for the government to impose hefty tariffs on imports of cement to Armenia. The tycoon owns the country’s largest cement plant which is increasingly struggling to compete with cheaper cement imported from neighboring Iran. He has warned that it could lay off the vast majority of its 1,100 workers. Earlier in April, Tsarukian criticized the Pashinian government’s economic policies, saying that they have not attracted major investments and boosted living standards in the country. Some of his businesses were raided by tax officials afterwards. The State Revenue Committee denied any political reasons for the tax audits. The inquiry into Tsarukian’s involvement in business, which was ordered by prosecutors, raised the possibility of the tycoon being stripped of his parliament seat. Vahe Enfiajian, another senior BHK figure, on Thursday did not deny a newspaper report which said that all 25 other BHK deputies will resign from the 132-member parliament if their leader loses the seat. Armenian PM Vows To Promote ‘Christian Values’ • Emil Danielyan Armenia -- Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian kisses a cross held by Catholicos Garegin II during an Easter Mass at Yerevan's St. Gregory the Illuminator Cathedral, April 21, 2019. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on Friday reaffirmed his stated support for the Armenian Apostolic Church and pledged to promote “Christian values” in Armenia, saying that they hold the key to human happiness. “I will dare to say that the non-violent, velvet, popular revolution that took place in Armenia [in 2018] was for the most part based on the Christian values,” Pashinian said. “As a human being, as a politician, I myself regard the moment when I read and reread the New Testament as a turning point in my life.” “I believe that the doctrine at the heart of it is really revolutionary in all senses, including the state-building sense, and this is the formula which can bring happiness to the Republic of Armenia, its citizens and humankind in general,” he added. Pashinian made the comments at the inaugural session of a working group tasked with ascertaining his government’s relationship with the Armenian Apostolic Church. It comprises government officials and senior clergymen from the ancient church to which the vast majority of Armenians nominally belong. The supreme head of the church, Catholicos Garegin (Karekin) II, also attended and addressed the meeting. Pashinian said the working group should propose “joint decisions” on contentious issues such as continued teaching of the history of the church taught in Armenian public schools. His government is reportedly intent on restricting or modifying those classes that have long been criticized some civic groups. Those plans have been denounced by conservative and nationalist figures accusing the current authorities in Yerevan of undermining “traditional values.” Pashinian also signaled on Friday his government’s desire to review legal tax exemptions enjoyed by the church. In particular, he seemed to call for exploring the possibility of taxing some of the properties belonging to the church. Armenia - Worshipers light candles during a Christmas Eve service at the Surp Sarkis church in Yerevan, January 5, 2019. Speaking at the meeting, Garegin said the authorities should take into account “enormous human and material losses” suffered by the church during the Armenian genocide in Ottoman Turkey and anti-religious persecutions in Soviet times. “In this context, state support is important so that the Church can restore necessary conditions and capacities for accomplishing its mission in the homeland and the Diaspora,” he said. Without naming anyone, Garegin also criticized those who want to “restrict” that mission by citing the church’s separation from the state declared by the Armenian constitution. He argued that the constitution also recognizes the church’s “exceptional” role in the country’s history and social life. Pashinian likewise acknowledged its “special significance” for many Armenians when he met with Garegin in Echmiadzin in November. It was apparently their first one-on-one meeting since Pashinian swept to power in May in a wave of mass protests. The premier had been very critical of Garegin in the past. In June, an obscure Armenian group launched a series of protests against Garegin, accusing him of corruption and close ties with the country’s former government. Dozens of its members partly occupied his Echmiadzin headquarters in July. Police waited for several days before forcing the protesters out of the Mother See. The perceived slow response prompted strong criticism from the former ruling Republican Party (HHK) and other conservative critics of Pashinian. The HHK subsequently failed to push through the parliament two bills that would ban any demonstrations inside church premises and require the state to provide Garegin with bodyguards on a permanent basis. Pashinian’s government and political allies spoke out against the bills. Yerevan Wants Eurasian Union To Extend Trade Concession • Sargis Harutyunyan Armenia -- Cars parked at a customs terminal in Yerevan. The government will ask the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) to continue to waive its hefty tariffs for used cars imported to Armenia in increasingly large numbers, Economic Development Minister Tigran Khachatrian said on Friday. Armenia had to replace its traditionally liberal trade regime with more protectionist policies pursued by the EEU member states when it joined the Russian-led trade bloc in 2015. It was allowed to temporarily exempt around 800 types of goods, including key foodstuffs and fuel, from higher customs duties set by Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. Import duties collected from these products are due to be raised to the EEU levels by 2020, meaning that they would become more expensive in Armenia. The tariff increase will be particularly sharp for second-hand cars imported from beyond the EEU. Armenian car imports have grown rapidly in the last few years amid strong demand from not only local residents but also buyers from Russian and Kazakhstan, where such vehicles are more expensive because of the higher EEU tariffs. This growth seems to be accelerating further in anticipation of the expiry in January 2020 of the trade preference enjoyed by Armenia. The Armenpress news agency quoted the chief of the Armenian customs service, Shushanik Nersisian, as saying that 9,481 cars were imported the country in April this year, sharply up from 4,324 cars in April 2018. Khachatrian said the Armenia government hopes to secure a full or partial extension of the tariff waiver. “There has been no official application [to the EEU] yet,” he told a news conference. “But it’s a process that has to be launched and discussions regarding it are now in progress.” The minister cautioned that getting the other EEU member states to agree to such an extension will not be easy. “If the [planned] renegotiation was only about Armenia’s internal market, its outcome would probably more predictable,” he said. “But as we know, this situation where customs duties on imported cars are lower here than in any other EEU member state leads people to register cars here and sell them there.” “That is now visible,” Khachatrian went on. “In some cities of those states the number of cars with Armenian license plates is now so large that their citizens are wondering why these [import] taxes are collected in Armenia but not in their countries. Why? Because those duties are lower in Armenia. Now, as you can imagine, we have to argue during negotiations why this should remain the case.” Minister Sees Major Improvement In Armenian Investment Climate • Sargis Harutyunyan Armenia -- Minister for Economic Development and Investments Tigran Khachatrian at a news conference in Yerevan, May 3, 2019. Armenia’s business environment has improved significantly since last year’s “velvet revolution,” Economic Development Minister Tigran Khachatrian insisted on Friday. He said the current Armenian government has broken up economic monopolies, created a level playing field for all businesses and eliminated “systemic corruption” since taking office in May 2018. Western donors and lending institutions have for decades urged successive governments in Yerevan to take such measures, saying that they are essential for the country’s faster and sustainable economic development. “We now talk about equal competition, equal opportunities for entering the market or the absence of systemic corruption so easily as if that should be taken for granted,” Khachatrian told reporters. “But these are the kind of fundamental changes that have come about … They confirm that any citizen willing to engage in any economic activity can do it now.” “This should be considered the main achievement of the revolution,” he said. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has also repeatedly made such statements. He has said that the improved investment climate puts his government on track to carry out an “economic revolution” in Armenia. Pashinian’s political opponents and other critics dismiss these statements, saying that the government’s economic policies have not led to greater investments or faster economic growth. They argue that the Armenian economy grew more slowly in 2018 than in 2017. Khachatrian confirmed an 8.6 percent year-on-year fall in Armenian exports recorded by the Statistical Committee in the first quarter of this year. The minister blamed it on a downturn in Armenia’s mining industry. The government had forecast an 8 percent rise in exports in 2019. Press Review “Zhamanak” reports that parliament speaker Ararat Mirzoyan has sent a letter to Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) leader Gagik Tsarukian urging him to publicly respond to allegations that he illegally combines his political activities with business. The paper notes that the letter was made public late on Thursday right after a meeting of the governing board of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s Civil Contract party. It says this means that the “yellow card” to Tsarukian was “at least approved” by Pashinian. The authorities, it says, are serious about their threats to strip Tsarukian of his parliament seat. “Haykakan Zhamanak” says that the current political agenda of the Armenian government’s opponents is “false.” In particular, the pro-government paper dismisses BHK assurances that Tsarukian is not personally engaged in business. “Equally false is the discourse about the criminal case against [former President] Robert Kocharian being fabricated,” it says. “Looking people in the eyes, they want to make them believe that firearms were use against citizens in the center of Yerevan for several hours [in March 2008] without the then head of state’s knowledge and orders.” The paper also dismisses allegations by senior representatives of the former ruling Republican Party that the current authorities’ are undermining Armenia’s national security with their foreign policy. “Aravot” dismisses as “artificial” the outcry sparked in Armenia by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s behavior at a Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) meeting in Yerevan which many felt was disrespectful towards Pashinian and his Russian language skills. “In my view, the [Armenian] prime minister’s knowledge of Russian, English and, according to specialists, French is quite satisfactory,” writes the newspaper editor, Aram Abrahamian. “It is natural to speak in the official language of that organization at EEU events. As for Medvedev, if he was untactful that is his problem. It was meaningless to wrangle over that [on social media.]” (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