RFE/RL Armenian Report – 04/03/2018

                                        Tuesday, 
Leaders Deepen Rift In Armenian Opposition Bloc
        • Karine Simonian
Armenia - Edmon Marukian (L) and Nikol Pashinian, leaders of the opposition 
Yelk alliance, address supporters rallying in Yerevan, 19Jan2018.
Disagreements within the opposition Yelk alliance seemed to deepen on Tuesday 
as two of its top leaders publicly traded verbal barbs over how to fight 
against President Serzh Sarkisian.
The bitter exchange came as one of them, Nikol Pashinian, continued to prepare 
for a series of demonstrations in Yerevan aimed at forcing Sarkisian not to 
extend his decade-long rule. Pashinian and a group of activists of his Civil 
Contract party began touring Armenia’s northern and central regions on foot for 
that purpose on Saturday.
The two other parties making up Yelk, Bright Armenia and Republic, have refused 
to join this campaign, saying that anti-Sarkisian protests will not attract 
large crowds. The Bright Armenia leader, Edmon Marukian, criticized Pashinian’s 
tactics in an op-ed article posted on Aravot.am.
In particular, Marukian said his opposition ally is seeking “short-term glory” 
and following a “path trodden by defunct political forces” which failed to 
achieve regime change in the country. “It is reckless to do the same thing 
every time and to expect to achieve a different result every time,” he wrote.
Armenia - Opposition leader Nikol Pashinian and his supporters pose for a 
photograph in Lori province, 2 April 2018.
Pashinian hit back at Marukian as he and his associates walked through the 
northern Lori province in heavy rain. “The path drawn in Mr. Marukian’s article 
has been repeatedly trodden, including by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation 
and the Orinats Yerkir party,” he said, referring to parties that have closely 
collaborated with Sarkisian during his rule.
“I am convinced that my actions reflect the will of the overwhelming majority 
of Yelk’s voters,” insisted Pashinian. He argued that the Yelk leadership has 
unanimously spoken out against Sarkisian’s “third term in office” before.
The Civil Contract leader is due to finish his 200-kilometer-long walking tour 
in time for his first anti-government rally in Yerevan slated for April 13. His 
party is planning to rally supporters in the city’s Liberty Square for at least 
four consecutive days.
The Armenian parliament dominated by Sarkisian’s supporters is scheduled to 
elect a new prime minister on April 17. The outgoing president, whose second 
term expires on April 9, is widely expected to take up what will now be the 
country’s top executive post.
Yelk finished third in last year’s parliamentary elections, winning 9 seats in 
the 105-member National Assembly.
Tax Breaks Fuel IT Startup Growth In Armenia
        • Emil Danielyan
Armenia - Young people at the annual DigiTec Expo tech exhibition in Yerevan, 
30 September 2017.
The Armenian government reported on Tuesday a sharp rise in the number of new 
information technology (IT) firms that have qualified for tax breaks introduced 
three years ago to boost Armenia’s rapidly growing IT sector.
Under a government bill passed by the Armenian parliament in late 2014, such 
firms employing up to 30 people can be fully exempt from profit tax. They are 
also eligible for a preferential income tax rate for their employees, 
equivalent to 10 percent of their gross wages.
Nearly 430 IT startups have been granted the tax breaks, valid for five years, 
by a special government commission since then. According to the Armenian 
Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology, 281 of them 
received such exemptions last year, up from around 100 in 2016.
The ministry touted the privileged tax regime on Tuesday in a statement and a 
video report attached to it. The footage featured interviews with the founders 
of three Armenian tech firms set up in the last few years.
One of them, Himnark, specializes in accounting software development. “We 
provided services to one foreign company and our resulting profit wasn’t 
taxed,” said its young owner, Ruben Osipian. “We invested it in developing new 
software. Had it not been for the tax exemption, we would have obviously 
invested less.”
“Our income tax is lower and that allows us to pay higher [real] wages,” said 
Vahram Bleyan, one of the two founders of another startup, Mamble. The company 
claims to mainly sell software to a large corporate client in the United States.
Armenia - Prime Minister Karen Karapetian visits an IT company in Yerevan, 30 
March 2018.
IT is the fastest-growing sector of the Armenian economy, having expanded by 
over 20 percent annually in the past decade. The sector employing more than 
15,000 people grew by almost 30 percent last year, according to government data.
Deputy Transport Minister Amalya Yeghoyan predicted last week that this rapid 
growth will continue unabated this year. “I am sure that the number of jobs 
will increase,” she said, according to the Armenpress news agency.
The government-funded Enterprise Incubator Foundation (EIF) estimates that the 
combined turnover of at least 650 IT firms currently operating in Armenia 
reached $765 million in 2017. The figure, which includes Internet service 
provision, was equivalent to over 6.5 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic 
Product.
The sector’s largest companies include the Armenian branches of U.S. tech 
giants like as Synopsys, National Instruments, Mentor Graphics and VMware. Its 
steady expansion is also increasingly driven by homegrown Armenian companies.
“Local firms are now in better shape than they were five years ago,” the EIF 
said in a recent report. “They have more employees, attract venture investment, 
and demonstrate an improvement in technical expertise and knowledge of the 
market. In addition, they are implementing more complex and value-added 
projects.”
A lack of skilled personnel is widely seen as the main challenge facing the 
sector. Local IT executives have long complained about the inadequate 
professional level of many graduates of IT departments of Armenia universities. 
The latter often need to undergo on-the-job training after graduation.
“This is a problem,” said Yeghoyan. In her words, there are now at least 2,000 
job vacancies in the sector.
German Embassy Suspends Visa Service Outsourcing
        • Anush Muradian
Armenia - German Ambassador to Armenia Matthias Kiesler gives a press 
conference in Yerevan, 22 November 2016.
The German Embassy in Armenia has effectively suspended its decision to 
outsource consular services to a Turkish-based company which is being 
investigated by the Armenian authorities, it emerged on Tuesday.
The embassy has long processed visa applications from Armenian nationals 
planning to travel to Germany and five other European Union member states. It 
announced last week that starting from April 3 this will be done by Vizametric, 
a Turkish-Russian private firm registered in Turkey.
The announcement raised fears in Armenia that the Turkish government will gain 
access to sensitive personal data of many Armenians. The latter are required to 
disclose their incomes, bank details and other personal information in their 
applications for so-called Schengen visas valid in virtually all EU member 
states.
The Armenian government’s Agency for Personal Data Protectionsaid on Friday 
that it has ordered the Vizametric office in Yerevan avoid accepting visa 
applications pending its investigation aimed at “preventing possible 
violations” of Armenian law.
The German ambassador to Armenia, Matthias Kiesler, told RFE/RL’s Armenian 
service (Azatutyun.am) that his mission will therefore continue to provide 
consular services for the time being. “We have to wait and see how the process 
goes,” he said.
“I want to reassure that the agreement between the German Foreign Ministry and 
Vizametric stipulates that the protection of personal data must be at the 
highest level and that it cannot be passed on to a third party,” stressed 
Kiesler.
Meanwhile, the head of the Armenian government agency, Gevorg Hayrapetian, said 
it is scrutinizing the visa service provider to see whether the latter would 
comply with Armenia’s law on personal data protection. Vizametric must prove 
that there would be no “illegal” access to information collected by it, he said.
Hayrapetian denied that the Turkish origin of the company was not the reason 
for the launch of the inquiry. He noted, though, that Turkey is known for 
adequate protection of personal data.
Turkey refuses to establish diplomatic relations with Armenia and fully 
supports Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Ruling Party Figures Defend ‘Real Opposition’
        • Astghik Bedevian
Armenia - Eduard Sharmazanov, spokesman for the ruling Republican Party, at a 
news conference in Yerevan, 14May2017.
Senior representatives of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) praised 
on Tuesday an opposition leader who has criticized other opponents of President 
Serzh Sarkisian for planning rallies against his continued rule.
Edmon Marukian and his Bright Armenia party have refused to join the campaign 
launched by the Civil Contract party of Nikol Pashinian, a fellow member of the 
opposition Yelk alliance. In a newspaper article, Marukian said voters 
essentially allowed Sarkisian to become prime minister during last year’s 
parliamentary elections. Nothing can therefore stop the outgoing president from 
remaining in power, he wrote.
Pashinian insisted on the opposite. He said Armenians should take to the 
streets and thwart Sarkisian’s “third term.”
Gagik Melikian, a senior HHK parliamentarian, said Marukian “told the truth.” 
“I highly appreciate Edmon Marukian’s political and legal knowledge,” he told 
RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am). “What Edmon Marukian is saying is 
written in our constitution, electoral code and the National Assembly statutes.”
Another senior HHK figure, Eduard Sharmazanov, was careful not to openly take 
sides in the deepening dispute within the Yelk leadership. Still, he said: “To 
my knowledge, Bright Armenia has never spoken of fighting against concrete 
persons or disputing the April 2 [2017] election results in the streets. That 
is why I’m not surprised [by Marukian’s stance.] Pashinian’s behavior is more 
unexpected.”
“In democratic countries around the world, the real opposition is not those who 
cry loudly but those who consistently follow their ideological path,” added 
Sharmazanov.
Sarkisian stated in 2014 that he will “not aspire” to the post of prime 
minister if Armenia becomes a parliamentary republic immediately after his 
second and final presidential term ends on April 2, 2018. He is now widely 
expected to be named premier by the HHK later this month.
HHK representatives deny that the outgoing president is about to break his 
pledge. They claim that he never explicitly promised to leave office in April 
2018.
Press Review
“Zhamanak” comments on opposition leader Nikol Pashinian’s and his supporters’ 
200-kilometer-long walking tour of Armenia aimed at drumming up popular support 
for their upcoming anti-government rallies in Yerevan. The paper says this is 
not the first opposition attempt to “take Yerevan politics to the regions” and 
it is likely to fail just as the previous ones have.
“The small group of young oppositionists has decided to pass through at least 
half of the country on foot and to inform people who live in towns and village 
and are cynical and indifferent towards everything about the rallies that will 
start on April 13,” “Hraparak” writes on the same subject. “The public has 
split in two parts. The larger part -- namely those who prefer a problem-free 
life and are ready to run risks only in case of having a 100 percent guarantee 
of success -- is extremely pessimistic. They consider Nikol Pashinian to be 
crazy or adventurist. The other, smaller section thinks that one has to fight 
even if the likelihood of victory is very small.”
“Zhoghovurd” laments the fact that none of the high-ranking state officials 
laid flowers on Monday at the graves of Armenian soldiers who were killed in 
the four-day war in Nagorno-Karabakh which broke out exactly two years ago. The 
paper says that only some officials from the Armenian Defense Ministry visited 
the Yerablur military cemetery in Yerevan for that purpose. It wonders whether 
President Serzh Sarkisian and key members of his entourage forgot the war 
anniversary or just did not want to look the soldiers’ relatives in the eyes.
“The commander-in-chief of Armenia’s armed forces, Serzh Sarkisian, did not 
visit Yerablur,” writes “Haykakan Zhamanak.” “Nor does the presidential website 
contain any message on the second anniversary of the April war.” Instead, the 
paper says, Sarkisian on Monday congratulated Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah 
el-Sisi on winning another term in office.
(Tigran Avetisian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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