Friday,
Armenia Signals Continuing Opposition To ‘Corridor’ For Azerbaijan
• Shoghik Galstian
Armenia - The main government building in Yerevan, March 6, 2021.
Armenia signaled on Friday its continuing rejection of Azerbaijan’s demands for
an extraterritorial corridor to the Nakhichevan exclave that would pass through
a strategic Armenian region bordering Iran.
Baku renewed those demands this month after Armenian leaders expressed hope that
the two South Caucasus states will sign a peace treaty soon. Azerbaijani
President Ilham Aliyev insisted on Wednesday that people and cargo transported
to and from Nakhichevan through Armenia’s Syunik province must be exempt from
Armenian border checks.
Aliyev’s top foreign policy aide, Hikmet Hajiyev, claimed last week that this
would not compromise Armenian sovereignty over Syunik. Hajiyev argued that the
European Union has a similar arrangement for Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave
sandwiched between EU members Poland and Lithuania. He said Baku is seeking the
same solution for Nakhichevan.
In written comments to RFE/RL’s Armenian Service sent on Friday, the Armenian
Foreign Ministry declined to clarify whether Yerevan has discussed it with Baku.
It said that the Armenian government’s “Crossroads of Peace” project unveiled by
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian last November should serve as a blueprint for
opening the Armenian-Azerbaijani border to travel and commerce.
The project says that Armenia and Azerbaijan should have full control of
transport infrastructure inside each other’s territory. Hajiyev criticized it in
a newspaper interview published on January 4.
By contrast, Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian praised the
project when he visited Yerevan late last month. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi
reportedly told a visiting Azerbaijani official in October that the “Zangezur
corridor” sought by Baku is “resolutely opposed” by his country.
Yerevan has not yet officially reacted to Aliyev’s latest comments on the
corridor. An Armenian pro-government lawmaker, Hovik Aghazarian, rejected them
on Friday.
“Just because we are in a difficult situation doesn’t mean Aliyev should make
such a statement … If he thinks that after achieving some military successes he
can dictate terms, he is badly mistaken,” said Aghazarian.
Yerevan Election Kingmaker Ditched By Party
• Astghik Bedevian
A screenshot of YouTube video posted by Vartan Ghukasian, May 25, 2023.
A fugitive video blogger who helped Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian install a new
mayor of Yerevan in October has accused the Armenian government of breaking up
his own party that did unexpectedly well in municipal elections.
Vartan Ghukasian, who is wanted by Armenian law-enforcement authorities, is a
former police officer who emigrated to the United States about a decade ago. He
has since attracted large audiences with his hard-hitting and opinionated
comments on political developments in Armenia. He has been notorious for using
profanities in his videos posted on YouTube.
About a year ago, law-enforcement authorities issued an international arrest
warrant for Ghukasian and arrested his associates in Armenia on charges of
blackmail, extortion and fraud strongly denied by them. The detainees include
Artak Galstian, the nominal head of a small party called Public Voice.
The blogger nicknamed Dog has been widely regarded as the party’s de facto
leader until now. His popularity was instrumental in the 10 percent of the vote
won by Public Voice in the September 2023 elections.
That performance put Public Voice in a position to effectively determine the
choice of the Yerevan mayor by the newly elected city council. Armenia’s ruling
Civil Contract party and another group allied to Pashinian fell short of a
majority in the council.
Public Voice and the two other election contenders in opposition to Pashinian
won a combined majority of council seats. However, Ghukasian’s party refused
back potential opposition candidates for the post of mayor. It also blocked an
opposition attempt to force a repeat election.
Ghukasian subsequently fell out most senior members of Public Voice loyal to
Galstian. In a statement issued earlier this week, the party said that it has
terminated the blogger’s membership because he holds Russian citizenship.
Ghukasian rejected the decision as illegal and scheduled a “real” congress of
the party for the end of this month. He argued that Galstian, who remains in
detention, also held a Russian passport when he registered the party a few years
ago.
Ghukasian went on to allege that Pashinian’s government ordered Galstian to
“blow up” Public Voice and neutralize him ahead of snap general elections which
he said will be held in Armenia soon.
Armenia To Phase In National Health Insurance
• Anush Mkrtchian
Armenia - A man undergoes surgery at the Nairi Medical Center in Yerevan,
January 24, 2023.
Health Minister Anahit Avanesian reaffirmed on Friday government plans to start
gradually introducing in July this year a system of mandatory health insurance
in Armenia.
Avanesian said that the system will initially cover medical costs for underage
and disabled citizens and several other vulnerable groups of people who are
already eligible for many free services. It will be extended to pensioners next
year and the entire population in 2027, she told a news conference.
The insurance plan calls for a special tax that will cover the cost of surgeries
and other essential medical services. The precise tax rate remains unclear, with
Avanesian saying only that a working citizen and/or their employer will pay up
to 200,000 drams ($495) annually for such coverage.
Minors, pensioners and persons with disabilities will be exempt from the tax,
she said, adding that Armenians earning less than the country’s average wage
will enjoy significant tax discounts. The official monthly wage currently stands
at 274,000 drams ($675).
Armenia - Health Minister Anahit Avanesian, January 19, 2023.
Another unanswered question is the diseases, surgeries, other medical procedures
and drugs that will be covered by the mandatory insurance. Avanesian did not
release their list. She only assured reporters that it will be detailed enough
to prevent “misunderstandings” among patients, hospitals and health authorities.
Other officials from the Armenian Ministry of Health said earlier that the new
system will pay for heart and cancer surgeries. They said it also envisages free
or subsidized medication for people suffering from chronic diseases.
Armenia’s former governments too had promised health insurance for all citizens.
But they eventually backed away in the face of financial difficulties. Some
medical experts have questioned the current government’s plan, saying that it is
short of specifics.
Public access to healthcare in the country declined following the collapse of
the Soviet Union as cash-strapped Armenian hospitals were allowed to charge
their patients. Most of those hospitals were privatized in the 1990s.
Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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