Author: Diana Dabaghian

                                        Thursday, January 25, 2017

Next Armenian PM To Run National Security Body


 . Sargis Harutyunyan


Armenia - President Serzh Sarkisian holds a meeting with Prime
Minister Karen Karapetian (L) and other state officials in Yerevan,
27Oct2017.

The next Armenian prime minister will head a Security Council tasked
with formulating the country's policy on national defense, according
to a government bill approved on Thursday.

The bill drafted by the Justice Ministry stems from Armenia's
transformation into a parliamentary republic which will be completed
when President Serzh Sarkisian serves out his final term on April
9. The parliamentary system of government will make the prime
minister, not the president of the republic, the commander-in-chief of
the Armenian Armed Forces.

The bill approved by Prime Minister Karen Karapetian's cabinet
underlines the next premier's status as the country's most powerful
official. The Security Council to be chaired by them will be more
powerful than a similar presidential body currently advising Sarkisian
on national security.

It will comprise the deputy prime ministers, the ministers of defense
and foreign affairs, the heads of Armenia's police and National
Security Service and the chief of the Armenian army's General
Staff. Significantly, Armenia's next president as well the parliament
speaker and the Constitutional Court chairman will not sit on the
council.

Under the bill, the council will be empowered to determine "the main
directions of defense policy." It will act in a more advisory capacity
on broader security matters.

The Armenian parliament, which is controlled by the ruling Republican
Party (HHK), will almost certainly pass the bill before the end of
Sarkisian's decade-long presidency.

The outgoing president has still not publicly clarified whether he
will become prime minister in April. He has not ruled out such a
possibility.



Karabakh Reports Azeri Incursion Attempt


 . Naira Bulghadarian


Nagorno-Karabakh - An Armenian soldier shoots during a military
exercise, 20Nov2015.

Nagorno-Karabakh's Armenian-backed military claimed to have thwarted
an Azerbaijani commando raid on its frontline positions early on
Thursday, the first such incident reported by it in the last seven
months.

In a statement, the Defense Army said that shortly after midnight an
Azerbaijani "reconnaissance and sabotage group" was spotted by its
forces while attempting to attack one of its outposts in Karabakh's
southeastern Martuni district.

"As a result of preventive measures, the Azerbaijani special forces
were pushed back," said the statement. "According to preliminary data,
the enemy suffered casualties. Details are being clarified."

A senior aide to Bako Sahakian, the Karabakh president, said no
Karabakh Armenian soldiers were killed or wounded as a result. "No
other extraordinary incident has occurred since then," Davit Babayan
told RFE/RL's Armenian service (Azatutyun.am).

The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry was quick to deny the claim,
however. According to the APA news agency, it said that Azerbaijani
forces observed the ceasefire along the "line of contact" around
Karabakh and did not suffer any casualties there overnight.

The authorities in Stepanakert alleged the attempted Azerbaijani
attack hours before a small team of officials from the Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe monitored the ceasefire regime
at another section of the frontline lying just north of Karabakh. No
truce violations were reported from that area.

The longtime head of the OSCE monitoring mission, Andrzej Kasprzyk,
also took part in the regular monitoring. Kasprzyk met with Karabakh
Armenian leaders in Stepanakert earlier this week.

The Karabakh army had previously reported attempted Azerbaijani
incursions in June and February last year. At least five Azerbaijani
soldiers were shot dead in front of a Karabakh Armenian position in
the Martuni district in February 2017. They were detected by
night-vision surveillance devices before crossing the frontline.

Tensions on the frontlines eased considerably in the second half of
2017 amid the resumption of high-level Armenian-Azerbaijani peace
negotiations. Foreign Ministers Edward Nalbandian and Elmar
Mammadyarov of Azerbaijan held fresh talks in Poland as recently as on
January 18. Mammadyarov described them as "positive."

One of Nalbandian's deputies, Shavarsh Kocharian, suggested on
Thursday that the overnight incident reported by Stepanakert may be
connected with the talks. He said Baku is still reluctant to agree to
the expansion of Kasprzyk's team which is strongly advocated by
international mediators and Yerevan.



Russian Official Upbeat On Key Transport Deal With Georgia


Switzerland -- Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin speaks
to journalists in Geneva, 08Jun2010.

A high-ranking Russian diplomat has sounded optimistic about the
opening in the near future of new transport corridors between Georgia
and Russia that would facilitate cargo shipments to and from Armenia.

Most of Russian-Armenian trade is currently carried out through the
sole Russian-Georgian border crossing at Upper Lars. Traffic along
that mountainous road is frequently blocked by blizzards in winter
months.

The two other roads connecting Georgia and Russia pass through the
breakaway Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. They were
closed even before the 2008 Russian-Georgian war and Moscow's ensuing
recognition of both regions as independent states.

In 2011, Moscow and Tbilisi agreed to hire a Swiss company to operate
special customs checkpoints to be set up on the administrative
boundaries of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Despite their lingering
political disagreements, the two sides seem to have slowly but
steadily made progress towards the implementation of that
agreement. The Georgian government signed a relevant contract with the
Swiss company, SGS, on December 19.

In an interview with the Moscow daily "Kommersant" published on
Thursday, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said Moscow
will likely follow suit "in the coming months." "After that the
agreement will work," Karasin said. It will give "powerful impetus" to
regional trade, he said.

Karasin, who is Russia's top negotiator in regular contacts with
Georgian officials, confirmed that Armenia is keenly interested in
such an arrangement and has asked the Russians to work it out with
Georgia. "But in this case, we are talking about a purely bilateral
agreement between Russia and Georgia concluded with Swiss mediation,"
added the diplomat.

Armenian leaders have repeatedly expressed hope that the 2011
Russian-Georgian deal will be implemented. President Serzh Sarkisian
most probably discussed the matter with Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi
Kvirikashvili when he visited Tbilisi late last month.

Kvirikashvili said earlier in December that his government is ready to
allow Armenia as well as Turkey and other countries to use, in case of
a "force majeure situation," the road passing through South Ossetia.



European Court Reports Sharp Drop In Appeals From Armenia


FRANCE -- The building of the European Court of Human Rights n
Strasbourg, France, 

The number of appeals filed by Armenians in the European Court of
Human Rights (ECHR) fell by more than half last year, the
Strasbourg-based tribunal said on Thursday.

"For Armenia, 356 new applications were received by the Court, less
than 50 percent as compared to 753 new applications in 2016," the ECHR
said in an annual report presented by its president, Guido Raimondi,
at a news conference.

The sharp drop contrasts with a 19 percent rise in applications
received by the ECHR from citizens of all Council of Europe member
states. They totaled 63,350 in 2017.

Armenia fell under the European court's jurisdiction when it joined
the Council of Europe in 2001. Its government lost the first case in
Strasbourg in 2007.

The ECHR has ruled against various Armenian government, judicial and
law-enforcement bodies on 79 occasions since then, costing them about
1 million euros ($1.2 million) in damages. "The highest number of
violations related to the right to a fair trial, and right to liberty
and security," says its report.

The ECHR handed down 11 rulings against the Armenian state in
2017. "For Armenia, there are 1,819 applications pending # Armenia is
thus within the top-ten states by the number of pending applications,"
it said.

The large number of lawsuits reflects a lack of judicial independence
and widespread corruption among law-enforcement officers and judges in
Armenia. Armenian courts are still mistrusted by many citizens despite
having undergone frequent structural changes in the last two
decades. They rarely acquit criminal suspects and usually allow their
pre-trial arrests sought by prosecutors.

Armenia's former Prosecutor-General Gevorg Kostanian warned last year
that law-enforcement authorities' long-running practice of routinely
keeping suspects in custody may put them at odds with the
ECHR. Kostanian, who now represents Armenia in the ECHR, said that the
Strasbourg-based court has adopted stricter requirements for pre-trial
arrests.



Press Review



Commenting to President Serzh Sarkisian's latest trip to Strasbourg,
"Aravot" says the Council of Europe is not the best place for publicly
discussing the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. "The Council of Europe is
not a platform for resolving conflicts," writes the paper. "The
mission of that organization is to ensure consolidation and
cooperation around European values. That is not quite working out
right now, including due to the organization's internal problems # But
the main reason is that many countries, including Armenia and
Azerbaijan, start settling scores during sessions of its Parliamentary
Assembly (PACE). Of course, that is usually initiated by the
Azerbaijani delegation, which is what happened yesterday."

"Zhamanak" comments on Sarkisian's speech delivered at the PACE. "On
one hand, Sarkisian aimed covert accusations at the PACE, reminding it
of the disgrace of [Azerbaijani] caviar diplomacy and some rulings
handed by the European Courts of Human Rights having to do with the
Karabakh conflict," says the paper. At the same time, it says,
Sarkisian told the PACE that he managed to bring Armenia closer to the
European Union even after Yerevan joined the Russian-led Eurasian
Economic Union (EEU).

"Hraparak" says that Sarkisian's visit to France coincided with Prime
Minister Karen Karapetian's participation in the World Economic Forum
in Davos, Switzerland. Both men have held many meetings in the last
few days. "It's hard to tell what exactly Armenia will gain from those
meetings," comments the paper. "But at any rate, it is nice to see
that we are not a country pushed into a Caucasus impasse and burdened
by the intractable Karabakh conflict and that our leaders meet and
speak to world leaders on equal terms."

"Zhoghovurd" reports that Russia has delivered a fresh batch of
military equipment to Azerbaijan. The paper speculates that
Russian-Azerbaijani military cooperation "gained new momentum" after
Armenia signed the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement
(CEPA) with the EU in November. It calls the latest shipment of
Russian weapons to Baku "yet another indirect reaction to
Armenian-European cooperation" from Moscow.

(Tigran Avetisian)


Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2018 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
www.rferl.org

                                        Thursday, January 11, 2017

Tsarukian Bloc To Stay Away From Opposition Protest


 . Sisak Gabrielian


Armenia - Businessman Gagik Tsarukian campaigns in Masis, 24Mar2017.

Businessman Gagik Tsarukian's political alliance made clear on
Thursday that it will not join a demonstration against the latest
consumer price hikes in Armenia which is planned by another opposition
group.

The Yelk bloc said earlier this week that it will rally supporters in
Yerevan on January 19 to protest against the increased prices of fuel
and some foodstuffs. It blamed the Armenian government for rising
inflation.

"We respect decisions taken by partner political forces and their
methods of struggle," Mikael Melkumian, a leading member of the
Tsarukian Bloc, said of the planned protest. "It's up to them to do
that. But we have our own style of work."

"We believe that a lot can be done in the parliament," he told
RFE/RL's Armenian service (Azatutyun.am).

Melkumian, who is also a deputy speaker of the parliament, said the
Tsarukian Bloc will be seeking to counter the price hikes with
legislative initiatives. In particular, he said, it will press the
pro-government majority in the parliament next week to agree to
sweeping tax cuts that have long been championed by Tsarukian.

The tycoon's political force controls 31 seats in the 105-member
National Assembly, making it the second largest parliamentary
force. By comparison, Yelk has only 9 parliament deputies.

One of those deputies, Lena Nazarian, said on Thursday that the
upcoming Yelk rally may mark the beginning of sustained street
protests. "After all, the street is a political environment and people
protesting on the street can influence policy and decisions made by
the National Assembly," she said.


Armenia - President Serzh Sarkisian visits a new leisure center built
by businessman Gagik Tsarukian (R) in Tsaghkadzor, 20Dec2017.

Although the Tsarukian Bloc claims to be in opposition to President
Serzh Sarkisian, political analysts continue to question its
opposition credentials.

Tsarukian, who is one of the country's richest men, was forced to
leave the political arena nearly three years ago after challenging
Sarkisian's hold on power. He returned to active politics ahead of the
April 2017 parliamentary elections. The tycoon and his allies
criticized government policies but avoided personal attacks on the
president during the election campaign.

Sarkisian has regularly attended the inaugurations of new businesses
set up by Tsarukian in the last two years.



World Bank Again Upgrades Armenian Growth Forecasts


 . Artur Khachatrian


Armenia - Workers at a textile factory in Yerevan, 5Oct2017.

The World Bank has again improved its short-term outlook for Armenia,
saying that the Armenian economy will grow by around 4 percent
annually in the coming years.

In its latest global economic report released this week, the bank said
economic growth in the country was on course to accelerate to 3.7
percent in 2017. It will reach 3.8 percent this year and 4 percent in
2019 and 2020, according to the report.

A similar World Bank report issued in May forecast growth rates of 2.7
percent, 3.1 percent and 3.4 percent for2017, 2018 and 2019
respectively. It cited "the sustained expansion of the tradable
sectors and a modest recovery in domestic consumption."

Faster growth anticipated by the Washington-based institution would
still fall short of targets set by the Armenian government. According
to the latest government projections, Armenia's Gross Domestic Product
will increase, in real terms, by at least 4.5 percent this year and
over 5 percent in 2019.

President Serzh Sarkisian and other senior officials in Yerevan said
late last month that the Armenian economy is on track to expand by
more than 6 percent in 2017.

Commenting on the differing forecasts, Deputy Finance Minister Armen
Hayrapetian said on Thursday that the Armenian government believes in
a more optimistic macroeconomic scenario because of ongoing "reforms"
implemented by it. Hayrapetian also argued that the international
rating agency Fitch upgraded Armenia's economic outlook from "stable"
to "positive" last month.

The World Bank's May 2017 report also predicted that faster growth
will slightly reduce poverty in Armenia. "The poverty rate [measured
by the World Bank] is projected to fall from 23.8 percent in 2017 to
22.2 percent in 2019," it said.

However, Artak Manukian, a Yerevan-based economist, insisted on
Thursday that living standards in the country will actually worsen
this year due to the latest increases in the prices of some essential
products. Manukian singled out the increased cost of fuel, tobacco and
alcohol resulting from higher excise takes that took effect on January
1.



Former Oppositionist Wins Lawsuit Against Armenian State


 . Sargis Harutyunyan


Armenia - Opposition lawmaker Alexander Arzumanian speaks at a
parliament session in Yerevan, 26Oct2016.

Alexander Arzumanian, a former opposition politician currently serving
as Armenia's ambassador to Denmark, won on Thursday a court case
against the Armenian authorities that stems from his controversial
arrest in 2007.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ordered the authorities to
pay Arzumanian 2,500 euros ($3,000) in damages. It ruled that his
four-month detention violated articles of a European convention
relating to criminal suspects' right to get a trial within a
"reasonable" time and be released from custody pending trial.

Arzumanian, who served as Armenia's foreign minister from 1996-1998,
declined to comment on the ruling.

Aruzmanian, 58, was arrested in May 2007 on charges of being illegally
financed from abroad. He consistently denied the accusations as
politically motivated before being set free four months later. The
high-profile case was linked by many observers with an anti-government
movement which Arzumanian and several other politicians opposed to
then President Robert Kocharian set up in 2006.

Arzumanian went on to play a major role in former President Levon
Ter-Petrosian's failed bid to return to power through a disputed
presidential election held in February 2008. He was among prominent
opposition figures arrested in the wake of the vote. Arzumanian spent
more than a year in prison.

The prominent oppositionist subsequently fell out with Ter-Petrosian
and teamed up with other opposition groups challenging President Serzh
Sarkisian. He held a seat in the Armenian parliament from 2012-2017.

Arzumanian was most recently affiliated with the Armenian Pan-National
Movement, a small opposition party. He quit the party in February
2017. Sarkisian appointed him as ambassador to Denmark five months
later.



Karabakh Reports Renewed Rise In Tourism


Nagorno-Karbaakh - The medieval Dadivank monastery, May 19, 2015.

The number of non-Armenian foreign tourists visiting Nagorno-Karabakh
jumped by 41 percent in 2017 after decreasing following the April 2016
war with Azerbaijan, a senior official in Stepanakert said on
Thursday.

Speaking to the Armenpress news agency, Artak Grigorian, the head of
Karabakh's tourism department, put their total number at more than
23,000. He said it is up by 30 percent from the 2015 total.

"We compare this figure with 2015 because we had a decline in tourism
in 2016," explained Grigorian. He said the number of tourists again
began rising last year thanks to an "active PR campaign" conducted by
the Karabakh leadership.

The official figures do not include residents of Armenia, who also
travel to Karabakh in larger numbers these days.

Grigorian said Russian nationals continue to account for the majority
of foreign tourists in Karabakh, followed by citizens of the United
States, France and Iran. All those countries have sizable ethnic
Armenian communities.

"We anticipate a further rise in visits from Russia this year because
we have targeted that market," added the Karabakh official. "We are
also working in the European direction."

Karabakh's main tourist attractions are mountainous scenery, medieval
Armenian monasteries as well as a cave complex thought to be the site
of one of the most ancient proto-human habitations in Eurasia. They
are located several dozen kilometers away from the heavily militarized
"line of contact" separating the Karabakh Armenian and Azerbaijani
armies.

The Azerbaijani authorities regard private or business trips to
Karabakh not authorized by them as a breach of Baku's sovereignty over
the territory. At least 600 foreign dignitaries and ordinary visitors
have been declared personae no grata in Azerbaijan for ignoring these
warnings.



Press Review


Armenia -- Newspapers for press review illustration, Yerevan,
12Jul2016

"Haykakan Zhamanak" describes as "weird" President Serzh Sarkisian's
emergency meeting with senior officials held on Wednesday in
connection with the latest increases in key consumer prices in
Armenia. The paper argues that as recently as one month Sarkisian
insisted that consumer price inflation in Armenia is low and no cause
for concern. It says he is worried about the opposition Yelk
alliance's decision to hold a demonstration in Yerevan on January 19
against the price hikes.

The rally, "Haykakan Zhamanak" goes on, will mark the "start of a
whole new political process" in Armenia. "And it is impossible to
predict what that process may lead to and how it will end," it says.

"Zhamanak" says Sarkisian's statements on the need to mitigate the
impact of higher prices on the low-income population were "largely
declarative." "And his hints about state support for eliminating
consequences [of higher prices] for socially vulnerable people are
rather anti-economic than economic," comments the paper. "The thing is
that no matter how important subsidies and other social allocations
are for the poor they are more likely to lead to waste rather than
development. Especially in resource-poor economies like Armenia."

In an interview with "Hayots Ashkhar," Tevan Poghosian, a political
analyst and a former parliamentarian, comments on the most recent
truce violations in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone. "The more we
provide our army with new equipment the more the enemy thinks of ways
of countering it," he says. "We strengthened the [Karabakh] border and
[Azerbaijani] incursions stopped. But we are now again engaged in a
war of snipers. It means that we need to think of new mechanisms and
new steps # We have no right to stop. We must work hard every day to
expand our military capabilities."

(Tigran Avetisian)



Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2018 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
www.rferl.org