Friday,
No Major Changes Planned In Armenian Cabinet
Armenia -- Government session, Yerevan, 22May2017
No significant changes will be made in the next Armenian government,
Eduard Sharmazanov, a leading member and spokesman for the ruling
Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) said late on Thursday.
Speaking to media after the meeting of the party's executive body,
Sharmazanov said that the HHK "has decided to give the current cabinet
of Karen Karapetan an opportunity to continue its work without
significant changes."
"At this stage we positively evaluate the work of the cabinet of Prime
Minister Karen Karapetian," he said.
According to Sharmazanov, one ministerial position, which is currently
held by the chief of government staff, will be abolished in the next
cabinet, and David Harutiunian, who held that position, will be
appointed minister of justice to succeed Arpine Hovannisian who was
elected to parliament and then become its deputy speaker.
"All other ministers, including our colleagues from the Armenian
Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), will be reappointed," the
HHK spokesman said.
The HHK and Dashnaktsutyun renewed their political cooperation earlier
this month forming a coalition in the wake of the April 2
parliamentary elections swept by the ruling party.
Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian, the leader of the HHK, signed
decrees late on Thursday, reappointing a majority of the
ministers. The head of state is expected to issue more decrees on the
reappointment of ministers soon.
EU Rep Says Sarkisian `Ready To Sign Ambitious Agreement'
. Sisak Gabrielian
Armenia - Armenian and European Union flags displayed during
negotiations in Yerevan, 4Nov2015.
The European Union hopes that Armenia will sign a new EU-Armenia
Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement, a senior European
parliamentarian said following a meeting with President Serzh
Sarkisian on Thursday.
Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament
David McAllister, who led a delegation on a visit to Armenia as part
of a regional tour, spoke at a press conference at the end of a
two-day visit that included meetings with top officials and political
representatives in Armenia.
McAllister said: "I am very thankful for the president giving us so
much of his precious time. We know that he is, of course, a very busy
man. But it also showed that President Sarkisian was very interested
in hearing the views of the members of the European Parliament and
answered our questions in a very detailed way."
Armenia was on track to sign a far-reaching association agreement with
the European Union in 2013, but in a surprise policy U-turn in
September that year President Sarkisian announced that his country
would join a Russian-led economic grouping, something that made the
planned deal with the EU impossible due to its major economic
component.
Since then Armenia and the EU have been negotiating a less ambitious
accord that was inched in Yerevan in March and is due to be signed at
the next Eastern Partnership summit in Brussels in November.
"Armenia is a member of the Eurasian Economic Union. What happened in
2013 happened. But now President Sarkisian is ready to sign an
ambitious agreement with the European Union and this is important for
us, as the European Union, because we make clear that our Eastern
Partnership policy isn't a zero sum game," the representative of the
European Parliament said.
"It's not about competition with other regional actors like Russia. I
strongly believe that each country of the Eastern Partnership needs a
tailor-made relation with the European Union which covers, of course,
not only our interest, but also the interest of the specific country."
McAllister expressed a hope that "the complicated negotiations in
detail can be concluded." "Because this will be beneficial for the
people in Armenia and for businesses," he underscored.
School Optimization Plans Raise Concerns In Armenia
. Tatev Danielian
Armenia -- The new school year begins on the Day of Knowledge -
September 1, Yerevan, 01Sep2016
The recently announced government plans to carry out the so-called
optimization of schools across Armenia have raised concerns among some
teaching staffs and parents, but Minister of Education and Science
Levon Mkrtchian sees no reasons to worry about the process.
"There will be no segmental, mass layoffs," Mkrtchian has told media.
Under Prime Minister Karen Karapetian's order the Ministry of
Education is due to submit a plan to optimize the work of some schools
in the country. It will apply to schools that are located in cities
and towns, have up to 300 students, occupy a disproportionately large
area compared to the number of students they have.
Concerns have been raised in Armenia recently that the program means
these schools will be closed down and their premises will be used for
other purposes. Another major concern is the possibility that some
teachers will lose their jobs. The Ministry still has no answers to
these questions.
Ashot Arshakian, the chief of the Ministry's Public Education
Department, said that this is still at the stage of calculations. "In
case of schools with fewer students enlargement schemes may be applied
and there can be readjustments in the case of schools with a larger
number of students. This is not yet determined," he said.
As a benchmark the Ministry has assumed the indices of the Asian
Development Bank, under which each student should have a space of 8-12
square meters.
Schools that use up to half of their territory, while the number of
their students does not exceed 300, are considered under-loaded. Along
with schools having fewer students, especially in capital Yerevan,
there are schools that have a reputation of elite learning
environments and are usually overloaded. The Ministry, however, is
vague on this issue, too.
In two schools in Yerevan with fewer than 200 students that were
visited by an RFE/RL correspondent principals said they were unaware
of their future status. Only as a result of the closure of these two
schools alone 60 teachers will become unemployed.
Teachers at the schools who agreed to talk off camera said they are
not going to give up easily if optimization plans affect them. The
parents of some students also said they are unhappy about such
plans. They think the government should first solve social problems.
"There are fewer students in the country because families don't want
to have many children without proper livelihood," a middle-aged woman
complained.
Education expert Serob Khachatrian does not agree with the term
"optimization" used by the government, considering that this term can
be used only when conditions are improved. The expert, meanwhile,
argues that this is not the case in the current process. "Social and
economic reforms are needed first and only then optimizations in the
education sector can be implemented, so that teachers or other
specialists who lose their jobs in schools can be provided with
alternative jobs," Khachatrian said.
Today nearly 37,000 teachers are employed in 1,385 schools across
Armenia attended by about 357,000 students. Studies have shown that
most of urban schools are either under-loaded or overloaded. The
number of schools with an average load makes about 16 percent.
According to the official website of the government, 20 schools have
already been identified for optimization. But education officials
still avoid giving their names.
Jailed Radical Opposition Leader Goes On Trial
. Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia -- Zhirayr Sefilian, a radical opposition leader, in
court. 26May, 2017
A trial of Zhirayr Sefilian began in Yerevan on Friday almost one year
after the radical opposition figure was arrested on charges of
plotting an armed revolt against the Armenian government.
Sefilian, who leads the Founding Parliament opposition movement,
stands accused of acquiring weapons and forming an armed group in late
2015 to seize government buildings in Yerevan. Several other suspects
in the case are also under arrest and are defendants in the trial.
Justice Tatevik Grigorian, the judge presiding over the proceedings,
made a decision today to adjourn the hearing as the lawyer of one of
the defendants was absent. The next court hearing is scheduled for May
30.
After the court hearing Sefilian's lawyer Tigran Hayrapetian claimed
that the investigative body had failed to prove the oppositionist
indeed committed the acts he is charged with.
State prosecutors claim that the alleged plot was foiled when the
weapons allegedly acquired by Sefilian were discovered by the
police. According to their indictment submitted to the court, some
members of the armed group also refused to participate in what the
prosecutor describe as Sefilian's plan to launch an attack that would
have endangered the lives of Armenian army soldiers. The investigators
have not yet elaborated on this allegation.
Sefilian and other senior members of Founding Parliament deny the
charges as politically motivated.
Sefilian was arrested in June 2016 less than one month before three
dozen gunmen affiliated with Founding Parliament seized a police
station in Yerevan. The gunmen demanded that President Serzh Sarkisian
free their leader and other "political prisoners" and step down. They
surrendered to law-enforcement authorities following a two-week
standoff which left three police officers dead.
Russian-led Trade Bloc Flaunts Economic Growth
. Aza Babayan
Russia -- Heads of government of the CIS countries meet in Kazan,
26May2017
For the first time since the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) was
established in 2015 all of its member states have registered economic
growth, Tigran Sargsian, the president of the Eurasian Economic
Commission's Board, said on Friday during a gathering of the prime
ministers of the Russian-led trade bloc in Kazan.
Sargsian, who represents Armenia's rotating presidency of the EEU,
said that it was only in 2016-2017 that the member states agreed to
eliminate 60 barriers in the internal market and reached major
agreements in the electricity, oil, gas and transportation sectors.
The EEU, whose founding members are Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan,
also include Armenia and Kyrgyzstan. Some opposition members in
Yerevan have criticized the government's decision to join the EEU
despite the fact that Armenia has no land border with the rest of the
union's members. Besides, some critics also believe that Armenia,
which has no fuel resources, does not fit into the customs union led
by such major oil and gas producers as Russia and Kazakhstan. They
pointed to the poor economic performance of Armenia that followed its
accession to the EEU. Armenia's government, on the contrary, has all
along defended its decision regarding the EEU membership, arguing that
otherwise the country would have fared much worse in conditions of
global economic turbulence.
Armenian Prime Minister Karen Karapetian attended the May 26 gathering
of the prime ministers of the Commonwealth of Independent States
(CIS), including EEU member states, in the capital of the Russian
republic of Tatarstan.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev stated that trade among EEU
member countries has increased almost threefold.
In Kazan, the heads of CIS member countries' governments signed a
number of documents aimed at deepening cooperation in various fields,
in particular in the fields of innovative cooperation and
international transportation. The next meeting of the CIS Council of
Heads of Government is scheduled to be held in November.
The Armenian governmental delegation led by Prime Minister Karapetyan
also participated in the official reception given on behalf of the
Russian prime minister to the delegations attending the gathering.
The only intrigue of the meeting was the absence of the Moldovan prime
minister, who boycotted the event due to some disagreements between
Russia and Moldova.
In Kazan, Karapetian also held a bilateral meeting with Belarus Prime
Minister Andrei Kobyakov. According to a press release of the Armenian
government, the prime ministers of the two countries discussed the
agenda of Armenian-Belarusian economic relations and prospects of
their further development.
Press Review
"Haykakan Zhamanak" suggests that Armenia's international soccer star
Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who became an UEFA Europa League winner together
with the English Premier League side, Manchester United, is making
history for Armenian soccer like Yerevan's Ararat club did in 1973 by
winning the USSR championship. The paper suggests that Armenian soccer
fans will long remember the crucial goals scored by Mkhitaryan and
trophies won by him.
The editor of "Aravot" writes that for him the most impressive thing
about Mkhitaryan was when he celebrated the victory in the Europa
League final with an Armenian tricolor, that is, the national flag of
the Republic of Armenia, wrapped around his shoulders. "And in this
sense this victory is bigger than victories of other world-renowned
Armenians who are citizens of other countries. We, ordinary citizens
of the Republic of Armenia, perhaps are not so talented, but we, too,
should feel this flag wrapped around our shoulders in our daily lives
- beginning from most common situations and ending with intricate
social relationships. We should remember that we are citizens of the
State," the editor stresses.
"Chorrord Ishkhanutyun" comments on President Serzh Sarkisian's recent
statement that by 2040 Armenia's population should reach at least 4
million: "It is already several days that different officials keep
stating that this is quite realistic. Maybe someone indeed has not
understood that for the population to increase it is necessary to curb
the current outmigration and encourage people to have more children#
According to official data, during the nine years of Sarkisian's rule
as president about 400,000 people have emigrated from Armenia. The
question now is what should change for emigration to be replaced by
immigration, for the birthrate and life expectancy to be increased?"
"Zhoghovurd" writes on Karabakh war veteran and activist Volodya
Avetisian, who was released from prison on Thursday and went straight
to the government building to start a protest there: "Avetisian is a
rare war veteran who, since 2012, has been consistent in raising
social issues of veterans. The campaign he launched did not pass
without consequences. Voices raising similar issues after him have
increased in number and the government had to make certain
reforms. Avetisian's release may become a new headache for the
authorities. The statements of the war veteran that his opinion about
the current government and personally Serzh Sarkisian has not changed
showed that imprisonment for more than three and a half years had no
impact on the activist's principles."
(Tigran Avetisian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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