«Դասեր» հաղորդաշարի the guest Mamiko Aslanyan, the elected mayor of Vanadzor, is a member of the pre-election list of the “Strong Armenia” party.

The main theses of the interview are below.

• Unfortunately, each subsequent election of Nikol Pashinyan becomes more unprecedented with its disgrace, and the society is ready for it and will not give in to blasphemous hysterics, intimidation, and pressure of administrative resources. I assure Nikol Pashinyan that surprises await him on the night of June 7-8. People will not vote for those who intimidate them. There is much to do, no matter what the challenge.

• Vanadzor was beheaded by Nikol Pashinyan, Vanadzor has not been governed in the last 5 years, Nikol Pashinyan treated Vanadzor like a stepchild, and Vanadzor will not vote for him under any circumstances. Very few Vanadzor residents participated in his rally. Vanadzortsi was not allowed to have not only an elected mayor, but they also did not allow the council to work. Whatever they have done in Vanadzor that they show in their shows, it is either what I built or what I started and finished. For 5 years, the vote of Vanadzortsi was stolen, they were forced to come to terms with the realities that exist, for example, in North Korea:

• The residents of Vanadzor and Lori know that the programs launched by them serve only their hidden propaganda purposes.

• Whatever Nikol Pashinyan wants to say, he cannot harm Samvel Karapetyan’s activities in any way. He can make homeless those whom he has enriched, given houses and property to. All these talks are for the masses who imagine that Nikol Pashinyan can do everything. Apart from that, that speech, slang is not suitable for the prime minister.

• Nikol Pashinyan is using all the disgusting election frauds and intimidation from the 90s, which have found a place among us, according to the rumors hanging in the air. If Samvel Karapetyan had distributed a bribe, it would have been talked about in cities and villages, not only in the recordings of the Anti-Corruption Committee, while the actions of the CP are being talked about everywhere.

• There is no family in Armenia that is not affected by any provision of our program. Our program is about people. Samvel Karapetyan’s life is about human well-being, creation, and he will not back down from any promise he made. If Samvel Karapetyan is prime minister, the life of any RA citizen, be it a singer, businessman or employee in other fields, will improve.

• The next government of RA, in the person of Samvel Karapetyan, will spare no effort to remove all illegalities without launching a repressive machine. Samvel Karapetyan’s government will not hunt witches and throw the country into turmoil on a daily basis like Nikol Pashinyan. A team of professionals will be assembled, which will reveal all the corrupt schemes and looting of this government. No misdemeanor or crime should be overlooked:

• The support of the leader of any geopolitical center should not be decisive for the RA citizen, no matter where they come from, be it from the North or the West. The citizen of Armenia should make a choice based on his interest, he should choose the Armenian, the one identified with Armenianness.

• During the 8 years of this government, there has been no serious foreign investment, and Samvel Karapetyan will give guarantees that our compatriots from the Diaspora will also invest here.

• Liberalization of visas for literate, educated, accomplished people is about nothing, but what will a talentless, uneducated, uneducated person in Europe do that they are excited? What will change in their lives?

• Even before Nikol Pashinyan came to power in Armenia, in 2017, the CEPA agreement was signed, which would bring positive changes and visa liberalization.

• Europe is first of all a value system. if you talk to your opponents from morning to night with the vocabulary of Kuchi patsan, if you talk from morning to night about arresting people, if you call people robbers and thieves without a court ruling, if you fire the president of the Central Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan with a text message, if the principle of separation of powers does not work, what kind of European value system are we talking about? There are people who do not have money for food and medicine, what for them, will visas be liberalized or not?:

• As always, Nikol Pashinyan builds his campaign on populism, and unfortunately, a part of society believes in it. We all eat perashki and kartoshka, but we do not make eating a cult. In government dachas, their cooks definitely don’t make perashki every day… Let them think that the streets of the Republic are flooded with strawberries because people can’t export their products.:

By the way, 621 million 341 thousand drams are allocated from the state budget from the pockets of ordinary citizens for the government residence of Nikol Pashinyan, who eats carrots in front of the cameras, and his family – more than 1 million 687 thousand dollars. In other words, more than 1,600,000 drams are spent daily from the state budget, from the taxpayers’ pockets, for the maintenance and feeding of their family. Who are they fooling by eating perashki and playing common man…

• The Republic of Armenia is not about perashku, barbecue, corn and kebab, but about Komitas, Mashtots, Andranik, Kerkorian and Samvel Karapetyan. Therefore, our people will find children from their bosom, who will bring the society out of this darkness and bring prosperity. Armenianness is not about culinary sophistication, but about struggle and quality, church and hymns, millennia.

• The June 7 elections are about the existence of Armenians, not even about the future, but about history, not about parties, but about the watershed that we face every 100-200 years. This is not another political election. It is necessary to compare who is who, who has created what in his life, and make a choice based on that:

• No one can say that health insurance or free health care is a bad thing, but as a result of misorganizing these, the workload of doctors has increased enormously, there is no logistical support. Tara registered the citizens to ensure the pre-election show, from the 2-3rd day the problems of the citizens started… Health insurance was launched in the logic of the pre-election campaign. 

• Everything should have an economic calculation and purpose. If you build a 2-3 million dollar school in a village with a population of 50-60, it is not the most efficient way of spending.

• If there is talk among Azerbaijanis of coming to Armenia, and the RA leadership does not categorically deny it from high podiums, does not respond to Aliyev, and only after receiving a great response and receiving a dabro, they begin to deny it, it is not convincing. If there is no such thing, why did you get into the controversy? From morning to night, they talk about bringing 300,000 Azerbaijanis to Azerbaijan, the so-called “Western Azerbaijan”, hold conferences… it is part of the state policy in Azerbaijan. And when we start talking about it, some nervous things arise, they become hysterical… You would have talked about it 2-3 years ago, denied it, instead of accusing us of being Azerbaijani narratives. distribution. No one wants another war, but peace needs time, societies need to integrate, scars need to heal, and this is not done in a day.:

• I think that Pashinyan has no intention to remove “Strong Armenia” from the election campaign and cannot do it. more wants to discredit. Therefore, there will not be a Moldovan scenario here, but a “Strong Armenia” scenario.

Details in the video.

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The credit policy implemented in Armenia has led to the fact that the population is widely burdened with loans. It may be normal to take a loan, but it is not normal that the growth of the credit burden is ahead of the income.

It turned out that Armenia has found itself in a situation where the population’s credit burden has grown disproportionately faster than income in recent years. This has created risks for both households and other participants in the financial system.

The disproportionate increase in the credit burden of households has started to concern the Central Bank.

Households’ burden of both debt and debt service has increased.

“Our concern is that loans are growing faster than incomes are growing. Therefore, we expect our commercial bank partners to be very careful and sensitive in providing new loans.

In particular, in the lending process, the borrower’s debt burden and the proper assessment of its serviceability are considered important, which will include not only the assessment of the current macro environment, but also the assessment of the risks arising from the assumed pessimistic scenario,” stated the Central Bank President the other day, presenting the Central Bank’s report on financial stability.

The Central Bank was especially concerned about the growth of consumer loans. It is believed that these concerns have increased, especially due to the slowing down of the economic growth rate.

Let’s remind that in the first quarter of this year, the economic growth in Armenia was only 4 percent, which is the lowest in the last 5 years or 2021. then it is the lowest index recorded for the given period.

The Central Bank is concerned that this will lead to a slowdown in the growth of the population’s income.

A significant weakening of the growth rate of the average salary is already noticeable. In the first quarter, the average salary increased by only 2.9 percent, which is significantly lower than the recorded inflation.

“In that case, if the loans continue to grow at the same pace, we will have higher figures of the gap. Therefore, our partners in commercial banks should be vigilant,” warns the president of the Central Bank.

In recent years, there has been an unprecedented increase in the credit burden of the population in Armenia. But not only the government and commercial banks, but also the Central Bank have their share of guilt in this. The control of the financial market and the provision of financial stability in general is placed on the Central Bank. The Central Bank is obliged to take timely measures to prevent the credit market from heating up.

Although certain steps have been taken in that regard, the concerns voiced by the Central Bank prove that they were not enough, that adequate measures were not taken to curb the banks’ appetite. Although, in the conditions of widespread and often unjustified lending, experts have repeatedly raised concerns about the accumulated credit risks.

The increase in the population’s credit burden took place through the increase of both mortgage and consumer loans. Especially consumer loans have increased sharply in recent years.

In just 3 years, the portfolio of consumer loans of banks has more than doubled. If in 2023 in March it was only 928 billion drams, in March of this year it reached 1 trillion 909 billion drams.

Only from this sector, the credit burden of citizens increased by 981 billion drams in 3 years. If we convert it into foreign currency, it will be more than 2.6 billion dollars.

That burden has increased without the cheapening of loans. Although there was a gradual reduction of the policy interest rate during that time, the banks almost did not reduce the interest rates on consumer loans. Instead, they eased lending conditions in a number of directions, thus stimulating demand and ensuring high interest incomes.

During three years, citizens have accumulated an additional credit burden of 2.6 billion dollars only in terms of consumer loans. Naturally, it did not happen in 1 day, 1 month, or even 1 year, and the Central Bank was obliged to take timely measures to prevent this credit fever. Or did they not know at that time that the credit burden of citizens is growing disproportionately faster than their incomes? Even if they did not know, they should have realized that that time will also come. And it is still a question of how far it will be possible to get out from under this without shocks in case of further escalations.

It should be noted that last year there was an increase in the weight of consumer loans classified as non-performing and monitored. Such was 6 percent of consumer loans, which, judging by the existing risks, will continue to grow in the near future.

Today, citizens’ credit burden exceeds 5.1 billion dollars only in terms of consumer loans. But the problem is that the credit burden of citizens is not limited only to consumer loans. No less big burden has been accumulated in the mortgage line.

Citizens’ mortgage loans reach 1.7 trillion drams, which is equivalent to 4.9 billion dollars.

In recent years, the burden of citizens’ mortgage loans has also increased at a high rate. Only during the previous 3 years, they increased by 806 trillion drams or by more than 87 percent. It is true that at the moment the Central Bank’s concerns are mainly related to consumer loans, but in the near future the same concerns may also arise in the case of mortgage loans.

The credit burden of citizens, which comes from consumer and mortgage loans, has reached 10 billion dollars. This is a huge burden on the population, however disproportionately it is distributed across groups of citizens. Concerns related to consumer loans are even greater, because they very often have a purely social meaning and in the conditions of the deterioration of the economic situation in the country, they increase the risks related to insolvency.

HAKOB KOCHARYAN

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Davit Ananyan, member of the management board of the “Unity Wings” party, representative of the pre-election list, general director of the company “DS-EY Consulting Group”, former head of the RA State Revenue Committee (SRC), candidate of economic sciences. writes:

“CAUTION!

Another falsehood and political provocation is being circulated in the information field using artificial intelligence. The corrupt and morally bankrupt forces are spreading false “news” that Arman Tatoyan, the prime ministerial candidate of the “Wings of Unity” party, has expressed his willingness to cooperate with the “Civil Agreement” party if he passes the National Assembly.

This is an absolute lie, conscious manipulation and political fraud.

The reality has long been known to the public. we have repeatedly, clearly, publicly and unequivocally stated that the reproduction of Nikol Pashinyan’s rule is excluded. Any option of preserving the power of the “Civil Agreement” party is also excluded.

Our political force was created not to adapt to this government, but to remove this system that leads to the destruction of the state. And we will do everything possible and impossible to remove this evil from the state and political life of Armenia.

It is not by chance that lies, provocations and informational diversions became active before the elections. They understand very well that “Wings of Unity” has become a real political and public factor, and that is why they are trying to distort our positions, sow doubts in the public and weaken our public support.

Dear compatriots,

Do not give in to these cheap provocations. Be alert and distinguish the real political struggle from fake and informational garbage. The real purpose of these attempts to weaken us is to take your votes away from us so that the reproduction of the current government becomes easier and more controllable.

But that will not happen.

The future of Armenia will not be determined by fakes and technological manipulations, but by the conscious, dignified and decisive choice of the people.”

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In 1916, the famous Russian poet Sergey Gorodetsky was on the Caucasian front of the First World War. That period was of great importance for the writer, especially regarding his pro-Armenian position.

Already after the October Revolution, he published his collection of poems “The Angel of Armenia”. It is in that book that he talks about the Armenian Genocide. In 1919, Gorodetsky’s article “Karabakh” was published in “Кавказское слово” periodical.

In the article, Gorodetsky mentions the main thesis that Artsakh is one of the main pillars of the historical existence, national identity and cultural continuity of the Armenian people. He emphasizes that Artsakh is the eastern wing of Armenia and the main guarantor of security, not only geographically, but also in a military-political sense, without which it is impossible to protect Armenia. At the same time, the article defends the point of view that the loss of Artsakh will mean not only a territorial loss, but also a violation of the idea of ​​self-determination of nations, while its preservation can become the main point of the cultural and national revival of Armenia.

About 100 years ago, Gorodetsky points to points that, decades later, now show that the points he pointed to were true. Below we present Sergey Gorodetsky’s article “Karabakh” in its entirety.

Sergey Gorodetsky, “Karabakh”, 1919.

“Every country, every nation has its traditional fortress. When the history of the people has a successful course, it becomes the center of cultural and political life. And when fate persecutes a nation, it becomes a pillar of national life, an island of hopes, a guarantee of rebirth. For the Armenian people, the last mentioned role was played and played by the mountainous region of Karabakh. Nature itself has given it immense importance.

There, in the impregnable heights of Karabakh, which are the continuation of the Kars and Sevan plateaus, the Armenian people endured the attacks of nomadic tribes for more than two thousand years, preserving their culture, preserving their national face. Being united ethnographically, economically and linguistically, Karabakh has become the citadel of Armenia, its eastern wing. That’s how he was in the past, that’s how he is now, and that’s how he will be forever, because without being the owner of Karabakh, it is impossible to protect the heart of Armenia, the Ararat valley.

Many times in the course of history, the waves of attack hit and shattered the fortress of Karabakh, penetrating only the river valleys, but they did not stay there for long. The rulers of Syunik (that’s how Karabakh was called) in ancient times drove the enemy from the local lands many times by their own forces. History repeats itself, and last time it happened in front of our eyes. Nature and history in Karabakh were created in a vividly expressed type.

It is easy to recognize Karabakh people scattered all over the world. A wide momentum of activity, selfless courage, willingness to risk life, self-confidence, original persistence, patriarchal lifestyle – these are the endearing characteristics of the Karabakh people, which seem to be the concentration of the old Armenian virtues, virtues that have faded from the brutalities of history and have been preserved in Karabakh in a pure form.

A tall, sturdy people, ascending the mountains to save their lives, were strengthened by the influence of the mountain air, and kept free from the infections which befall the inhabitants of the valleys. The national memory of Armenia must preserve the memory of many famous people from Karabakh. There is no field in which they have not demonstrated their entrepreneurship and talent.

Politics, literature, social activities, trade – all these served as a field of work for them… By giving many notable figures, Karabakh created or, more precisely, preserved in its pure form the type of the ancient Armenian woman, in whose psychology and lifestyle much has been preserved from the patriarchy.

Karabakh forged by its culture and lifestyle has not cast a shadow on its ancient glory in our days. As in Tamerlan’s time, gathering their troops, the Meliks defended the independence of Karabakh.

The Shushi incident did not change the overall picture of Nur Pasha’s defeat, and the line of defense remained essentially intact, as during the previous attacks. Such is the significance of Karabakh for Armenia. If Armenia loses Karabakh, then the idea of ​​self-determination of nations should be severely crushed.

And on the contrary, Armenia, being the owner of Karabakh, will receive a strong flow of cultural power, which, flooding the destroyed spaces of Armenia, will impregnate them with culture and thereby complete the centuries-old history of Karabakh. Each nation is now looking for its own. The whole future of the reborn nations depends on whether they will find in themselves a sufficient, so to speak, level of national culture.

In such conditions, all centers where cultural life has been concentrated for one reason or another acquire exceptional importance. Such is the significance of Karabakh for Armenia.

It is true that history has drawn Armenia to the south, to the warm sea, and perhaps from there forces will pour in that will make Karabakh the northern edge of the new Armenia, but even then it does not lose its importance as an untouched and centuries-old cultural fund.” (“Reborn Armenia”, 1989, N1).

Z. I hesitated

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A difficult situation may arise in Armenia related to gas, and Russia does not want that to happen. This was announced by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk in an interview with Pavel Zarubin.

“They [Armenia] just have to look at the map and see which pipelines are still operational. And they will immediately see where they will get Russian gas, taking into account the 30% export duty, because that will be the market price. Because middlemen will also want to get their share of the profits. Therefore, the situation in Armenia will become very complicated. We don’t want that,” said the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia.

The journalist also asked Russian Energy Minister Sergey Tsivilev whether Armenia can get rich without cheap Russian gas. “Well, let them try, it’s their choice. But so far, the structure of their economy shows that they are experiencing significant GDP growth, thanks in part to cheap Russian energy resources. Let them try to replace it with European ones, and we will see what will happen,” Tsivilev told Zarubin.

At the EAEU summit held in Astana on May 29, the leaders of the member states issued a joint statement, in which, among other things, they called for a referendum in Armenia as soon as possible on joining the EU or remaining in the EAEU.

Earlier, after the EAEU summit held in Astana, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Armenia could lose 14% of its GDP if it leaves the EAEU.

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