Category: 2018

To Russia (hopefully) with love: Winemakers exchange could unlock market

Meline Chalian
Central Western Daily
Friday
To Russia (hopefully) with love: Winemakers exchange could unlock market
 
by  Alex Crowe
 
 
Orange wine and winemakers could be off to Armenia under a new partnership which aims to form close ties between the regions.
 
Similar climatic conditions and shared goals for development would form the basis of a sister city-style relationship, according to Orange Region Vignerons Association president Debbie Lauritz.
 
Mrs Lauritz said talks are under way between Armenian wine traders and educators and Orange winemakers to establish a relationship which would see winemakers participate in a work exchange.
 
"We'd host one of their upcoming people and they'd host one of ours," she said.
 
Mrs Lauritz said the "sharing of ideas and knowledge" would be mutually beneficial to establish what each region could do better for their high-altitude crops to flourish during warm summers and cold winters.
 
She said the Armenian wine region, one of the oldest producing regions in the world, was of interest to Orange winemakers for its indigenous grape varietals and their potential to be imported here.
 
Mrs Lauritz had the opportunity to try five different examples of Armenian reds during a meeting with Dr Simon Appleby, who visited Orange recently in an effort to foster trade agreements between the wine regions.
 
The industry representative spoke to Orange City Council and Orange 360 about the tourism potential of close ties with Armenia, as well as meeting with several vignerons from Philip Shaw, See Saw Wines, Printhie Wines, Cumulus Wines and Colmar Estate.
 
Dr Appleby said he sees potential for Orange wine to enter the Russian market and the key to break into the market is through Armenian expats who run a significant portion of the grocery and liquor trade.
 
"Last year Russia imported $1 billion (US) of wine from abroad. Only $8.3 million of that was from Australia," he said.
 
Colmar Estate's Bill Shrapnel said while they're still an emerging vineyard exporting to Russia would be "very positive" for larger players.

Sixty day church service keeps hope alive for asylum family at Christmas

George Mamian
The Guardian(London), UK
Friday 5:00 AM GMT
Sixty day church service keeps hope alive for asylum family at Christmas
Family facing deportation to Armenia are protected by medieval Dutch law as long as church service continues
 
by  Daniel Boffey in The Hague
 
 
The pastors and volunteers at Bethel church, a small Protestant chapel tucked away on a quiet street in a residential district of The Hague, are preparing for what looks likely to be an unusually busy and anxious Christmas.
 
They worry that they will need to turn away some of the faithful at the door, and there are even tentative plans to live-stream the services on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, such is the expected level of interest.
 
The main concern, though, is to keep a flicker of hope alive among the Tamrazyan family – Sasun, his wife Anousche and their children Hayarpi, 21, Warduhi, 19, and Seyran, 15 – who have been holed up in the church for nearly two months, protected by a medieval law that says immigration authorities cannot enter while a religious service is ongoing.
 
The Tamrazyan family have been fighting to stay in the Netherlands since arriving from Armenia in 2009. They turned to the church in late October when their asylum application reached the end of the line and deportation appeared imminent.
 
The claim that their lives would be at risk in Armenia due to Sasun Tamrazyan's political activism has fallen on deaf ears, as has an application for a kinderpardon, a dispensation available to families with children who have lived in the Netherlands for more than five years.
 
With nowhere to go, the Tamrazyans put their fate in the hands of the Bethel church community in The Hague's Segbroek district. It was quick to respond. By Christmas Eve, a service in the chapel will have run continuously for 60 days and nights, or for more than 1,400 hours. It is thought to be the longest "asylum service" in Dutch history.
 
Through day and night, pastors hold services for six or seven hours at a time, always with a congregation of at least three people so they can justifiably describe their efforts as a religious service.
 
A list of phone numbers of neighbours ready to join the congregation at a moment's notice has been compiled should there be a danger of the chapel emptying, but it has never been needed.
 
The case has become something of a cause célèbre but visitors have generally been kept away from the family members, who have struggled to deal with the attention and uncertainty over their future.
 
In her first interview with a British newspaper, Sasun's eldest daughter, Hayarpi, a student of econometrics at Tilburg University, said it was only hope that was sustaining them. "If we don't have that then I don't know. I need hope to keep going," she said.
 
"We can't go outside here because there is a risk of being arrested and we don't want to take risks", she added. "There may be police and in one minute we could be arrested. It is dreadful we can't be free and do what you want – study, attend lectures, do the things you normally do.
 
"We don't know what is going to happen and that is very difficult. We are trying to do the things that we always did, online lectures, my brother is doing homework, and we get support from his school and people here. That strengthens us."
 
Since the first service started at 1.30pm on 26 October, more than 650 pastors from the Netherlands, Germany, France and Belgium have done their bit, offering meditation, preaching, readings or even "cleaning services", where hoovering is combined with song.
 
The pastors say they are doing it not only for the Tamrazyans but for all the children of asylum seekers, who the Dutch Protestant church says are being poorly served by the government. For some, the case has come to symbolise a falling away of the traditional tolerance in Dutch society – and the church's resistance to it.
 
"I received a call on 24 October from a colleague who had a phone call from someone close to the family," said Derk Stegeman, a pastor at the church, recalling the moment he was made aware of the case. "They asked whether they [the family] could get asylum in our church.
 
"Of course there were doubts. We had a thorough discussion about it and got lots of information to be sure that the story was a good one that symbolised their fate and that of the families of the 400 children or or so who should be given amnesty."
 
"What was special for this family was that it was the state that appealed against the family," Stegeman said. "Two times the courts decided they could stay, and the state appealed two times. They applied for a kinderpardon, which was denied, and they had to wait almost two years for this decision."
 
"The first reason for the service is the child amnesty regulation, because we think they have been here for nine years and if they are not applicable for the kinderpardon, who would be?"
 
Stegeman said the church would keep on going as long as there was hope that the state would reconsider.
 
"I think we can go on very long time but we don't want this to be a game or a fight," he said. "It is not about who is the strongest, it is about hope for the family. We started this by saying we respect our government and the courts … If there is no hope for us and the family to see, I think it would be difficult to go on".
 
"Our idea at first was that this would be a burden", Stegeman added, "but it in effect it has become our campfire."
 

In Yerevan, a Hackathon Embraces Technology to Combat Gender-Based Violence

Hovik Karapetian
World Bank
Friday
In Yerevan, a Hackathon Embraces Technology to Combat Gender-Based Violence
 
 
The cafeteria at Engineering City in Yerevan was buzzing with innovative and unconventional ideas during the weekend of 15-16 December for the launch of the Geeks Against Gender-Based Violence Hackathon.
 
Comprising 14 teams in total, the hackathon brought together about 50 young IT specialists, developers, start-up owners, and gender experts to design mobile applications to help combat Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in Armenia, and beyond.
 
The hackathon welcomed a very diverse and creative group of people, thanks to the efforts of its co-hosts Enterprise Incubator Foundation (winners of the World Bank's 2018 Development Marketplace Award) and Innovative Solutions Technology Center. In addition to application developers and technology experts, the event involved students and young people from across Armenia.
 
"I never really imagined that I would be interested in the issue of GBV, until I came across the hackathon announcement," says Shahane Arushanyan, a participant. "In the last 10 days, I've started reading, trying to slowly get into this very gloomy subject, and I am now excited, if not passionate, to deliver an idea that could eventually end up as an app."
 
In the months leading up to the hackathon, the organizing team held several information-sharing sessions with experts on Gender-Based Violence to learn more about this global problem and to brainstorm about how a digital application could help combat GBV.
 
"It's quite natural that 'hacking' solutions to some of the world's biggest challenges are becoming popular," says Jina Sargizova, a GBV expert and member of the hackathon jury. "An opportunity to empower people through technology particularly those who suffer has never been more important. But, it's really about the people and not only about technology."
 
The GBV experts suggested that the hackathon participants keep five specific issues in focus: violence against women, sexual violence against children, virtual sexual abuse, GBV analysis, and sex education. The participants brainstormed in groups and also in pairs, sharing all kinds of technological ideas.
 
"We did our homework well," says Robert Adamyan, on the first day of the hackathon. "Three of us searched and read whatever was available. Today we have come with a clear mind the idea will be developed throughout the next 24-hours. We're looking forward to the next meeting because we have a lot of questions, what comes first, what comes next, what's the reason behind the lack of a logistical chain between many GBV organizations, etc."
 
On the second day, the teams held their last group discussions, perfected their ideas, and prepared their presentations. The afternoon concluded with 14 team presentations and a QandA session. Following that, the members of the hackathon jury retreated for deliberations.
 
"The presentations were incredible, and the pride that each team had in their solution was inspiring," says Zara Hovhannisyan, Member of the Coalition to Stop Violence Against Women, and a jury member. "To me, as an expert, it was mind-boggling to see how much they have learned in such a short period of time, and the opportunities that technology provides."
 
The winning ideas, selected by the jury, ranged from a digital platform on sex education for young people to an app that captures photos of aggressors and automatically contacts the police.
 
What comes next?
 
"We will continue to work with the winners to further develop the ideas they generated," says Bagrat Yengibaryan, Director of the EIF, and a member of the jury. "In January 2019, we will announce the next phase, which will bring in tech companies, and we will try to match these ideas with technological solutions to create the next 'must have' apps by professional companies."
 
New professional relationships and partnerships were also formed, with digital technology providing the common ground. During the two days of the hackathon, Gender-Based Violence an issue not just in Armenia but around the world motivated people to collaborate across generations and beyond conventional thinking, and potentially help protect people in the future.

AP: Trump call with Turkish leader led to US pullout from Syria

Vicken Chmshkian
Associated Press
Dec 21 2018


Trump call with Turkish leader led to US pullout from Syria

By MATTHEW LEE and SUSANNAH GEORGE
 

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw American troops from Syria was made hastily, without consulting his national security team or allies, and over strong objections from virtually everyone involved in the fight against the Islamic State group, according to U.S. and Turkish officials.

Trump stunned his Cabinet, lawmakers and much of the world with the move by rejecting the advice of his top aides and agreeing to a withdrawal in a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last week, two U.S. officials and a Turkish official briefed on the matter told The Associated Press.

The Dec. 14 call, described by officials who were not authorized to discuss the decision-making process publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, provides insight into a consequential Trump decision that prompted the resignation of widely respected Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. It also set off a frantic, four-day scramble to convince the president either to reverse or delay the decision.

The White House rejected the description of the call from the officials but was not specific.

“In no uncertain terms, reporting throughout this story is not true,” National Security Council spokesman Garrett Marquis said. “It is clear from the context that this false version of events is from sources who lack authority on the subject, possibly from unnamed sources in Turkey.”

The State Department and Pentagon declined to comment on the account of the decision to withdraw the troops, which have been in Syria to fight the Islamic State since 2015.

Despite losing the physical caliphate, thousands of IS fighters remain in Iraq and Syria, and the group continues to carry out insurgent attacks and could easily move back into territory it once held if American forces withdraw.

The Dec. 14 call came a day after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu agreed to have the two presidents discuss Erdogan’s threats to launch a military operation against U.S.-backed Kurdish rebels in northeast Syria, where American forces are based. The NSC then set up the call.

Pompeo, Mattis and other members of the national security team prepared a list of talking points for Trump to tell Erdogan to back off, the officials said.

But the officials said Trump, who had previously accepted such advice and convinced the Turkish leader not to attack the Kurds and put U.S. troops at risk, ignored the script. Instead, the president sided with Erdogan.

In the following days, Trump remained unmoved by those scrambling to convince him to reverse or at least delay the decision to give the military and Kurdish forces time to prepare for an orderly withdrawal.

“The talking points were very firm,” said one of the officials, explaining that Trump was advised to clearly oppose a Turkish incursion into northern Syria and suggest the U.S. and Turkey work together to address security concerns. “Everybody said push back and try to offer (Turkey) something that’s a small win, possibly holding territory on the border, something like that.”

Erdogan, though, quickly put Trump on the defensive, reminding him that he had repeatedly said the only reason for U.S. troops to be in Syria was to defeat the Islamic State and that the group had been 99 percent defeated. “Why are you still there?” the second official said Erdogan asked Trump, telling him that the Turks could deal with the remaining IS militants.

With Erdogan on the line, Trump asked national security adviser John Bolton, who was listening in, why American troops remained in Syria if what the Turkish president was saying was true, according to the officials. Erdogan’s point, Bolton was forced to admit, had been backed up by Mattis, Pompeo, U.S. special envoy for Syria Jim Jeffrey and special envoy for the anti-ISIS coalition Brett McGurk, who have said that IS retains only 1 percent of its territory, the officials said.

Bolton stressed, however, that the entire national security team agreed that victory over IS had to be enduring, which means more than taking away its territory.

Trump was not dissuaded, according to the officials, who said the president quickly capitulated by pledging to withdraw, shocking both Bolton and Erdogan.

Caught off guard, Erdogan cautioned Trump against a hasty withdrawal, according to one official. While Turkey has made incursions into Syria in the past, it does not have the necessary forces mobilized on the border to move in and hold the large swaths of northeastern Syria where U.S. troops are positioned, the official said.

The call ended with Trump repeating to Erdogan that the U.S. would pull out, but offering no specifics on how it would be done, the officials said.

Over the weekend, the national security team raced to come up with a plan that would reverse, delay or somehow limit effects of the withdrawal, the officials said.

On Monday, Bolton, Mattis and Pompeo met at the White House to try to plot a middle course. But they were told by outgoing chief of staff John Kelly and his soon-to-be successor Mick Mulvaney that Trump was determined to pull out and was not to be delayed or denied, according to the officials. The trio met again on Tuesday morning to try to salvage things, but were again rebuffed, the officials said.

The White House had wanted to announce the decision on Tuesday — and press secretary Sarah Sanders scheduled a rare briefing specifically to announce it. But the Pentagon convinced Trump to hold off because the withdrawal plans weren’t complete and allies and Congress had not yet been notified, according to the officials. The first country aside from Turkey to be told of the impending pull-out was Israel, the officials said.

Word of the imminent withdrawal began to seep out early Wednesday after U.S. Central Command chief Gen. Joseph Votel started to inform his commanders on the ground and the Kurds of the decision.

Following the official announcement the White House emphasized that the U.S. will continue to support the fight against IS and remains ready to “re-engage” when needed. But in a tweet, the president said U.S. troops would no longer be fighting IS on behalf of others.

“Time to focus on our Country & bring our youth back home where they belong!”

____

Associated Press writer Suzan Fraser contributed from Ankara, Turkey.

Azerbaijani Press: Karabakh Azeris seek ‘constructive’ dialogue with Armenians

Edgar Tavakalian
Turan news agency, Azerbaijani Opposition Press
Dec 21 2018
Karabakh Azeris seek 'constructive' dialogue with Armenians

[Armenian News note: the below is translated from the Russian edition of Turan]

Azeris from Azerbaijan's breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh have said that they are ready for "constructive dialogue" with Armenians toward the resolution of the territorial conflict between Baku and Yerevan.

It was citing a statement that it said the NGO called the Azeri community of the Nagorno-Karabakh region released upon completion of its congress in Baku on 20 December. The statement said that the Azeri and Armenian communities of Nagorno-Karabakh were "capable of living together in the region within the framework of the generally acknowledged borders, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan."

The statement said that the 80,000-strong Azeri community of the region was displaced from their homes for 30 years as a result of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the latter's Armenian-populated breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The statement said that the world community and international organisations recognised Azerbaijan's territorial integrity and that OSCE documents said that Azerbaijan and Armenia were parties to the conflict and the Azeri and Armenian communities of Karabakh were interested parties. Living in the region together, the two communities can achieve fair peace, durable regional stability and security, the statement said. It added that dialogue between the two communities should be encouraged as an important step to this end, and that the Azeri one was ready for constructive dialogue.

Canberra: Hon Michael Sukkar MP speech on Federation Chamber – Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide: 70th Anniversary

Bedik Zaminian
Canberra: Parliament of Australia
Thursday
Hon Michael Sukkar MP speech on Federation Chamber – PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS – Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide: 70th Anniversary
 
 
Mr SUKKAR (Deakin) (18:51):
Firstly, I thank the member for Goldstein for moving this motion. I thank all of the speakers and also the Armenian National Committee for their work. This should not be an exceptional series of statements here today. As my colleague has just said, it is irrefutable that genocide occurred and was perpetrated on the Armenian people. It shouldn't be exceptional that we talk about that and it shouldn't be exceptional that we recognise that as a country. Indeed, on the 70th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, it's absolutely certain that Australia will soon recognise this genocide. I'm very proud that we're one of the first to have become a signatory to this convention, but we've got to remind ourselves why we signed it. Why on earth did we sign up to that convention 70 years ago? It's because we cannot, as a parliament and as Australians, be complicit to an act of genocide. By allowing the denial of genocide, sadly, you become complicit to some extent.
 
The genocide in some respects is still taking place. It takes the form of eradicating the last remnants of a people, their history and their memory. The Armenian Genocide Museum of America reports that, in 1915 across the Ottoman empire, the Armenian community maintained some 2,500 churches, 400 monasteries and 2,000 schools. As of 2015, only 34 churches and 18 schools remained in Turkey, nearly all of them in Istanbul. This effectively indicates the total eradication of the Armenian civilisation in its historic homelands. But it doesn't end there. Turkey's sister state, Azerbaijan, has taken up this very grim task of removing the last traces of the Armenian people from the region. From 1989 to 1994, the Armenian population of Azerbaijan's capital fell from 180,000 to under 100 people—from 10 per cent to about 0.1 per cent. In the early 2000s, the Azerbaijan government destroyed several thousand Armenian cross stones considered by UNESCO to be intangible pieces of cultural heritage. So let's not kid ourselves. This is continuing and it is still being perpetrated on the Armenian people.
 
Our failure to recognise and appropriately condemn these acts of genocide in a sense creates issues for us today. Many speakers have noted the genocide that occurred against Christian and Yazidi minorities in the Middle East. How on earth are we to have credibility in standing up and fighting against an evil ideology, as described by Daesh, if we're unable to recognise the most horrific genocide that occurred against the Armenian people?
 
I've long thought that, as there are in many countries laws that don't allow the denial of the Holocaust, similar laws should apply in those jurisdictions with respect to the Armenian genocide. It's no different. Denying that genocide—which some speakers have described as the 'grim' genocide—should be a breach of law, because any decent person and any decent society should not allow it. The member for Melbourne Ports remarked—and he stole my thunder to some extent here—that the denial of the Armenian genocide was remarked upon by one of the most evil people in living history, Adolf Hitler, who asked, when trying to justify and argue for the Holocaust: 'Who, after all, remembers the Armenians?' when he was trying to convince people of his genocidal policies. That should be enough for every civilised society. That should be enough for us as a parliament. That should be enough for us as a country. No amount of economic consequences and no amount of diplomacy should ever stop us from doing the decent thing as Australians and calling out the genocide for what it is. If the consequences with governments and countries like Turkey or Azerbaijan mean that economic consequences flow, I say so be it—and I know the Australian people will back this parliament all the way when taking that approach.
 
Debate adjourned.

Tusk and Juncker congratulated Pashinyan and his team on winning the parliamentary elections

Kajoyan Gevork
Arminfo, Armenia
Dec 21 2018

ArmInfo. President of the  European Council Donald Tusk and President of the European Commission  Jean-Claude Juncker have addressed jointly congratulated Acting Prime  Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan on the victory of the "My Step"  bloc headed by him in the parliamentary elections.

The message, in particular, reads: "The elections were held in  compliance with the fundamental rights and freedoms and enjoyed the  confidence of the public. You have received a strong mandate from the  people to implement large-scale reforms. And the EU is ready to  render all possible assistance to Armenia on this road.

The Agreement on Enlarged and Comprehensive Cooperation between  Armenia and the EU ensures strong ties of cooperation, the  implementation of ambitious programs aimed at establishing a  sustainable socio- economic system. In this regard, we look forward  to close cooperation in the implementation of the Agreement. We also  hope that Armenia will continue to work within the framework of the  EU Eastern Partnership program. We also hope that with the new  enthusiasm, work will be continued to establish peace and stability  in the region".

Eduard Aghajanyan: Employees of disbanded ministries and departments will be warned about dismissal 3 months beforehand

Emil Lazarian
Arminfo, Armenia
Dec 21 2018
Ani Mshetsyan

ArmInfo. Employees of the  disbanded ministries and departments, will be warned on their  dismissal about 3 months beforehand. This was stated by Head of the  Prime Minister's staff, Edward Aghajanyan.

He also noted that another 3 months, employees of these structures  will receive a salary. "Thus, they will have 6 months to find a new  job," Aghajanyan concluded.

To note, employees of the disbanded ministries of Culture and the  Diaspora today held a protest rally demanding that the government not  disband these departments. Meanwhile, the Armenian government plans  to disband the Ministry of Culture, and one part of its departments  to merge with the Ministry of Education and Science, the other – with  the City Planning Committee. It is not knwon yet which agency wil  perform Diaspora Ministry's functions, but as the other day acting  Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan noted, in the functions of almost all  Armenian ministries there is a component of working with the  Diaspora. Let us note that months earlier one of Pashinyan's advisers  declared the government's intention is to reduce about 110 thousand  public sector employees, against the background that in general about  160 thousand employees work in the state field. To recall, as a  result of reforming the structure of the Government in Armenia,  instead of 17 ministries, it is planned to leave 12.

Spokesman for CSTO Secretariat: Document on the appointment of a new CSTO SG should be signed by all the heads of member countries

Vanyan Gary
Arminfo, Armenia
Dec 21 2018
Ani Mshetsyan

ArmInfo. The deadlines for signing the decision of the CSTO Collective Security Council on the appointment of the new Secretary General are not defined; all heads  of the organization's member states must sign this document,  Spokesman for the CSTO secretariat Vladimir Zainetdinov told RIA  Novosti.

On Friday, the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, held a  working meeting with the Head of State Security Council of the  country Stanislav Zas and signed a draft decision of the Collective  Security Council of the CSTO on his appointment as Secretary General  of the organization. Earlier, Zas had already visited Kyrgyzstan,  Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Russia to coordinate his appointment. At  the same time, the press secretary of acting Prime Minister of  Armenia Arman Yeghoyan stated that holding a meeting between the  Acting Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and the candidate for  the post of CSTO Secretary General Stanislav Zas is not scheduled.

"This decision must be signed by six heads of state. The secretary  general is appointed by consensus, six heads of state," Zaynetdinov  told RIA Novosti. According to him, the CSTO secretariat does not yet  have information on whether any of the heads of state signed a  decision other than Lukashenko, as well as "no deadlines" have been  set for this.

"I have no information about this," he explained.

Zas said on Friday that he was ready to hold meetings in Armenia and  hoped for a consensus on his appointment. At the same time, according  to him, the CSTO Charter provides for a procedure for making  decisions in a limited format, when not every country agrees with a  particular issue. At the same time, Zas hopes for a compromise on  this issue.

The representative of Armenia, Yuri Khachaturov, who previously held  the post of the CSTO Secretary General, was dismissed from office,  his deputy Valery Semerikov became acting Secretary General.   Armenian investigators charged Khachaturov with overthrowing the  constitutional order in a criminal case on dispersing protest actions  on March 1, 2008. The court released Khachaturov on bail. After that,  Armenia offered the CSTO countries to begin the process of replacing  the organization's secretary general, insisting that the  representative of Armenia should remain the secretary general. 

Newspaper: Armenia will get no loans from abroad if acting PM carries out his promise

Hovik Karapetian
News.am, Armenia
Dec 21 2018
Newspaper: Armenia will get no loans from abroad if acting PM carries out his promise Newspaper: Armenia will get no loans from abroad if acting PM carries out his promise

10:40, 21.12.2018
                  

YEREVAN. – The World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) took very hard Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s remarks regarding project implementation units (PIUs) and foundations, as he called these institutions the biggest hubs of corruption in Armenia, Hraparak (Square) newspaper reported.

“In the meantime, these organizations [the WB and the IMF] not only implement major projects with these PIUs, but also oversee the spending of the financial means provided to them. And if Pashinyan carries out his promise and closes all PIUs, SNCOs and foundations [in Armenia], not only a large number of people—including foreigners—will be deprived of their jobs, but, also, after the negative [respective] assessment by these international financial organizations [the WB and the IMF], they may not give us [Armenia] loans from outside [anymore], more harshly demand the amount of the provided loans, and in general, cooperation with us from outside will be stopped, since the WB and IMF view on these matters often becomes decisive,” Hraparak wrote.