Wednesday,
Armenia Reports Continuing Rise In Tourist Arrivals
Armenia - Tourists at the 13-14th century Noravank monastery in Vayots Dzor
province, August 20, 2016.
The number of foreign tourists visiting Armenia increased by 12 percent in the
first half of this year, a senior government official said on Thursday.
Susanna Safarian, the head of the Economy Ministry’s depart on tourism, told
the Armenpress news agency that Russian nationals accounted for the largest
share of 770,000 tourist arrivals recorded in that period, followed by citizens
of Georgia, the United States and Iran. All four countries have large ethnic
Armenian communities.
Safarian said her department is now striving to attract more European tourists
to Armenia.
Armenia already unilaterally abolished visas for citizens of the European Union
member states and the U.S. in 2012 and 2014 respectively. In 2017, it also
lifted visa requirements for citizens of Japan, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar
and several other nations and allowed Russians to visit Armenia with Russian
internal passports.
Official Armenian statistics shows that the number of foreigners visiting
Armenia has grown by roughly 9 percent annually since 2012. It reached a new
high of almost 1.5 million in 2018. The last several years have also seen a
major rise in new hotels and guesthouses across the country.
This growth appears to have been facilitated by the former Armenian
government’s decision in 2013 to liberalize the domestic civil aviation sector.
The average cost of air travel to and from Armenia has fallen considerably
since then.
The government’s Civil Aviation Committee reported recently a 9.4 percent rise
in the total number of passengers processed by the country’s two international
airports in the first half of 2019.
Former Yerevan Mayor Under Corruption Investigation
• Artak Khulian
Armenia -- Energy Minister Yervand Zakharian at a press conference in Yerevan,
January 14, 2015.
An Armenian law-enforcement body has launched a criminal investigation into a
former energy minister and mayor of Yerevan suspected of illegally privatizing
municipal land.
The Special Investigative Service (SIS) said on Wednesday that it has “factual
data” suggesting that in 2008 then Mayor Yervand Zakharian made a “baseless and
illegal” decision to sell a 10,000-square-meter green area to the owners of a
luxury hotel.
The area was then part of Yerevan’s largest and most popular public park. It
was “not subject to privatization,” the SIS said in a statement.
The SIS also said that the land was sold at a suspiciously low price of about
165 million drams ($346,000). It noted that the hotel owners subsequently used
the plot as collateral for obtaining a commercial bank loan worth as much as 12
billion drams.
The statement added that the SIS is holding an investigation into abuse of
power. It said investigators are taking necessary measures to “fully establish
the circumstances of the matter and identify the guilty.”
A spokesperson for the law-enforcement body declined to clarify on Thursday
whether Zakharian has already been formally charged or at least questioned as
part of the probe. For his part, Zakharian did not answer phone calls.
Zakharian was Yerevan’s government-appointed mayor from 2003-2009. He went on
to run the Armenian government’s Real Estate Cadaster Committee before being
appointed as energy minister in 2014 by then President Serzh Sarkisian. He held
that post until 2016.
Government Funds Pay Rise For Teachers
Armenia -- A primary school teacher in Yerevan welcomes students at the start
of a new academic year, Yerevan, September 1, 2019.
The Armenian government allocated on Thursday 1.7 billion drams ($3.5 million)
for financing this year a 10 percent increase in the salaries of schoolteachers
effective from September 1.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian promised the pay rise in March when he touted
additional tax revenues collected by the State Revenue Committee (SRC).
The measure will affect the nearly 38,000 teachers of Armenia’s public schools.
Their monthly salary has averaged approximately 80,000 drams until now.
The average monthly wage in Armenia currently stands at over 187,000 drams
($392), according official statistics.
“We certainly don’t regard this pay rise as revolutionary,” Pashinian said at
the latest cabinet meeting in Yerevan. “On the other hand, this is the
beginning of a process which will continue if we manage to put in place the
right mechanisms.”
Education Minister Arayik Harutiunian said in this regard that his ministry
hopes to raise the teachers’ minimum wage to 108,000 drams already next year
through the introduction of a “new formula for financing schools.” He denied
“false” reports about ongoing massive staff cuts in the chronically underfunded
schools.
“The staff cuts have been ordinary, just like they were in the past,” said
Harutiunian. “They are mainly to do with [teachers’] retirement age.”
Pashinian Aide Rules Out Kocharian’s Return To Power
• Sargis Harutyunyan
Armenia -- Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian's spokesman Vladimir Karapetian
speaks to RFE/RL, Yerevan, March 15, 2019.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s press secretary shrugged off the arrested
former President Robert Kocharian’s stated political comeback on Thursday,
saying that he stands no chance of returning to power.
Vladimir Karapetian said that Armenians “with normal consciousness” will have
access to shocking information about Kocharian’s role in the 2008 post-election
violence in Yerevan after his trial resumes on September 12.
“In light of that, I exclude that any serious political force or figure can
stand with that person,” Karapetian told RFE/RL’s Armenian service.
He claimed that Kocharian can count only on the backing of “those people who
are paid” to stage rallies in support of the man who ruled Armenia from 1998 to
2008.
Kocharian announced his return to active politics shortly after being first
arrested and charged in July 2018 with overthrowing the country’s
constitutional order in the wake of a disputed 2008 presidential election. He
subsequently called on opposition groups and individuals to rally around him in
challenging the current Armenian government.
Kocharian, who was arrested again in June this year, denies the coup and
corruption charges brought against him as politically motivated.
Kocharian’s official Facebook page posted on Wednesday a picture of the
ex-president and the following quote from him: “I have unique experience in
state and army building and implementation of large-scale socioeconomic reforms
as well as understanding of applying mechanisms of contemporary business.”
Press Review
“Zhamanak” says that Wednesday’s ruling by Armenia’s Constitutional Court means
that the latest legal battle between former President Robert Kocharian and the
Armenian authorities ended in a “draw.” The paper says the ruling at the same
time intensified conflicting interpretations of the Kocharian case and left “no
clues for the settlement” of this legal conundrum.
“Hraparak” says that the ruling triggered a new “wave of emotions” in Armenia.
“Some are delighted while others see a tragedy, even though there seems to be
no reason to be ecstatic or suffer,” comments the paper. “Especially given that
it is still not clear whether or not the country’s most important prisoner will
be freed as a result of this decision.” It says that “the society would not
gain anything” from Kocharian’s remaining behind bars or being released.
Lragir.am dismisses growing concerns over Russian-Armenian relations voiced by
opposition figures in Armenia. The pro-Western publication insists that “by and
large nothing has changed” in those relations and that “Russia is continuing
its traditional policy towards Armenia.” “Only some circumstances have
changed,” it says. It argues that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s government
is sticking to Russian-Armenian treaties. “It’s just that unlike the former
[Armenian] authorities, Yerevan has started bringing up problems that had
always existed,” concludes the publication.
“Aravot” sees growing signs of discord within Armenia’s ruling political team.
The paper points to conflicting views expressed by various government officials
and pro-government lawmakers on at least two major issues: the Amulsar mining
project and ratification of the controversial Istanbul Convention. “In effect,
[government decisions on] both issues have been postponed but, as they say, the
fallout is lingering on,” it says in an editorial. “The issues are different in
the procedural sense. The former is not in the parliamentarians’ domain while
the latter requires a vote by the National Assembly.”
(Lilit Harutiunian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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