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    Categories: 2018

RFE/RL Armenian Report – 02/05/2018

                                        Monday, February 5, 2017

Dashnaks Call For Faster Poverty Reduction In Armenia


 . Nane Sahakian


Armenia - Leaders of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation meet in
Yerevan, 1 February 2018.

The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), President
Serzh Sarkisian's junior coalition partner, has said that it remains
dissatisfied with the socioeconomic situation in Armenia despite
"unprecedented" GDP growth achieved last year.

The pan-Armenian party's worldwide Bureau and decision-making body in
Armenia reviewed the government's economic and other policies at a
special joint meeting held in Yerevan late last week. A Dashnaktsutyun
statement released over the weekend said they praised the government
for expediting the country's transition to the parliamentary system,
pursuing a "complementary" foreign policy, embarking on defense
reforms and speeding up economic growth in 2017.

But it also said: "Public distrust in the reforms has not yet been
overcome and the pace of the country's development does not satisfy
us." The government, it said, should, among other things, do more to
reduce poverty, spur job creation, and "ease income polarization,"
take tougher anti-trust measures, and "revise" its social programs.

"The number one problem # is that we did not have inclusive growth,
which is different from [normal] economic growth" Suren Parsian, a
representative of Dashnaktsutyun's economic research office, said on
Monday. He argued that poverty in Armenia did not decline noticeably
in 2017 despite a nearly 7 percent growth rate reported by the
authorities.

"The government must not confine itself to just simplifying and
improving tax and customs administration," Parsian told reporters. "It
needs to implement concrete policies so that new economic entities
emerge in some sectors."

The Dashnaktsutyun representative specifically made a case for
liberalizing the Armenian fuel market that has long been effectively
monopolized by a handful of fuel-importing companies owned by
government-linked individuals.

Parsian made clear at the same time that his party believes Prime
Minister Karen Karapetian's cabinet is on the right track.

Dashnaktsutyun, which is particularly influential in the worldwide
Armenian Diaspora, is represented in the government by three ministers
in line with a power-sharing agreement reached with Sarkisian two
years ago. It won 7 seats in the country's 105-member parliament
elected in April 2017.



U.S. Mission Alarmed By Death Threats Against Armenian Editor


 . Karlen Aslanian


Armenia -- Medialab.am editor Marianna Grigorian speaks in Yerevan,
2Feb2018.

The U.S. Embassy in Yerevan expressed concern on Sunday at death
threats that have been made against the editor of an Armenian media
outlet critical of the government.

"Attacks on the media, such as those advocating harm to the director
of MediaLab recently, are an anathema to a free press that is vital to
democracy," the embassy wrote on its Twitter page.

The editor, Marianna Grigorian, received the threats on Facebook after
her MediaLab.am publication posted on January 28 a cartoon that mocked
Defense Minister Vigen Sargsian in connection with a recent
large-scale purchase of flowers for the Armenian Defense Ministry.

"Don't you think that you've gone over the top?" a Facebook user
commented on Grigorian's page before warning the MediaLab staff to
avoid the fate of the French satirical weekly "Charlie Hebdo" that was
attacked by Islamist gunmen in January 2015. The terrorist attack left
12 people dead and 11 others wounded.

According to Grigorian, the user using the name "Hayk Berman Ohanyan"
continued to threaten her with private messages sent in the following
days. In of those messages, he hinted that her young daughter's safety
is also at risk. Grigorian stopped sending the girl to school as a
result.

The editor was summoned and questioned by the Yerevan police on Friday
after lodging a complaint with Armenia's Office of the
Prosecutor-General. A police spokesman told RFE/RL's Armenian service
(Azatutyun.am) on Monday that law-enforcement authorities are
conducting an investigation but refused to give any details. It was
not clear whether they have identified the person who made the death
threats.

Grigorian insisted, meanwhile, that "Ordyan" is not a fake user and
that the police should be able to track him down. She said she has
managed to find the man's phone number.



Opposition Bloc Holds Another Rally Against Price Hikes


 . Karlen Aslanian


Armenia - The opposition Yelk alliance holds a demonstration in
Yerevan, 5 February 2018.

Hundreds of people rallied in Yerevan on Monday as the opposition Yelk
alliance continued to campaign for major tax cuts which it says are
needed for reversing recent increases in the prices of fuel and some
foodstuffs.

Addressing the protesters, Yelk leaders again blamed the price hikes
on government-drafted legislation that raised excise taxes collected
from fuel, tobacco and alcohol. The fuel prices rose by over 10
percent immediately after it went into force on January 1.

The new Tax Code also raised income taxes for Armenians earning well
above the average wage in the country. Yelk wants to have this
scrapped as well, saying that the authorities should boost their tax
revenue by cracking down on tax evasion and corruption instead.

"We demand that the tax rates be brought back to the pre-January
levels," one of the bloc's leaders, Nikol Pashinian, said through a
megaphone as the crowd marched through downtown Yerevan.

He and other Yelk leaders announced that they have drafted
corresponding amendments to the Tax Code which they hope will be
debated at an emergency session of the Armenian parliament. They said
they will start collecting signatures for that purpose in the National
Assembly on Tuesday.

Yelk, which controls 9 of the 105 parliament seats, needs the backing
of at least 27 lawmakers in order to force such a parliament
debate. It remains to be seen whether it will be backed by the
Tsarukian Bloc, the other opposition group represented in the
parliament.

"We hope that we will collect the necessary 27 signatures and the
extraordinary session will take place next week," Pashinian told the
protesters after the march. He did not say what Yelk will do if it
fails to collect them. Nor did he announce a date for the next
anti-government rally.

Yelk staged its first protest against the price hikes on January 19,
attracting only several hundred protesters. Monday's demonstration was
hardly bigger. Its organizers repeatedly urged more Armenians to join
the campaign.

"The authorities must see that they are in trouble if they are to take
real steps," said Pashinian. "Prices hikes will continue until the
authorities see that Armenia's citizens say no to them in a tangible
and visible way."

Another Yelk leader, Edmon Marukian, downplayed the relatively poor
attendance at the rally, saying that the opposition alliance will also
use the parliament "platform" to keep the government under
pressure. "We are taking multifaceted actions," he told RFE/RL's
Armenian service (Azatutyun.am).

The ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) has a comfortable
majority in the parliament and can easily block any opposition bill.

Prime Minister Karen Karapetian downplayed last month the
socioeconomic impact of the higher prices of fuel and products such as
meat, butter and potatoes, saying that inflation in Armenia remains
low. Karapetian also defended the higher income tax rates, saying that
the government needs more revenue to boost its expenditures.

Other government officials have said that the more progressive tax
will put a heavier financial burden only on high-income
individuals. They argue that 90 percent of working Armenians will not
have any additional sums deducted from their wages.



Press Review



(Saturday, February 3)

"Zhoghovurd" claims that the Armenian Revolutionary Federation
(Dashnaktsutyun) is trying to "blackmail" President Serzh Sarkisian
into giving it more government posts. The paper points to a statement
released after a February 1 meeting in Yerevan of Dashnaktsutyun's
leadership. It says that Dashnaktsutyun will "forget" demands
contained in the statement if it does manage to get more ministerial
or other positions.

Interviewed by "Aravot," Vartan Harutiunian, a human rights activist,
says that Serzh Sarkisian's choice of next Armenian president, Armen
Sarkissian, is "detached from and alien to" the Armenian political
environment because he has lived and worked in Britain for almost 30
years. Besides, he says, the next president "will not really be a
president and nothing will depend on him." He says that Armenia will
have instead a "super prime minister" who will be far more powerful
than any other state official in the country.

Charles Tannock, a British member of the European Parliament, tells
"168 Zham" that the European Union's legislative body and member
states will not take too long to ratify the Comprehensive and Enhanced
Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with Armenia signed in November. "I think
that everything will be done in due course," he is quoted as
saying. Tannock argues that the CEPA was signed in Brussels only four
years after Yerevan effectively killed a planned Association Agreement
with the EU.

"Zhamanak" says that authorities in South Ossetia have declared that
Russia and Georgia cannot open any transport corridors passing through
the breakaway territory without their involvement and consent. The
paper speculates that Moscow is behind that statement which it says
precludes the implementation of a Russian-Georgian transport agreement
strongly supported by Armenia.

(Tatev Danielian)



Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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