Friday,
Pan-Armenian Charity Raises More Money For Karabakh
US- The Hayastan All-Armenian Fund holds an annual telethon in Los Angeles,
November 23, 2017.
In an annual telethon broadcast from Los Angeles, a pan-Armenian charity has
raised more than $11 million that will mostly be spent on its ongoing
infrastructure projects in Nagorno-Karabakh.
The Hayastan All-Armenian Fund received $12.5 million and $15.5 million in
donations during similar fundraisers helds in 2017 and 2016 respectively.
As always, the Thanksgiving Day telethon featured prominent members of the
Armenian community in the United States and Karabakh Armenian leaders. It was
broadcast by Armenian and U.S.-Armenian TV channels.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian made a live televised appeal to Armenians around
the world when he visited Hayastan’s headquarters in Yerevan early on Friday.
He urged them to donate more funds to the charity, stressing the importance of
its projects implemented in Armenia and Karabakh.
In a statement issued shortly afterwards, Hayastan said the sum collected by it
this time includes $2.5 million donated by a “benefactor” who did not want to
be identified. Two other wealthy donors, Armenian-American businessmen Antranig
Baghdassarian and Albert Boyajian, contributed $1 million each.
Most of the latest donations will be channeled into two projects in Karabakh
launched by Hayastan last year. One of them is aimed at expanding local
irrigation networks while the other seeks to support greater use of solar
energy by Karabakh households.
Nagorno-Karabakh - Cars on a newly constructed highway connecting Karabakh to
Armenia.
Hayastan has implemented over $350 million worth of projects in Karabakh and
Armenia since being set up in 1992. The fund’s current Board of Trustees is
headed by Armenia’s President Armen Sarkissian and comprises Pashinian, other
senior Armenian state officials, Catholicos Garegin II as well as prominent
members of Armenian communities around the world.
In recent years the fund has partly financed, among other things, the
construction of a second highway connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia. The
116-kilometer-long road was inaugurated last year.
Hayastan’s activities were overshadowed in July by the arrest and ensuing
resignation of its then executive director, Ara Vartanian. Although Vartanian
admitted using Hayastan’s money for online gambling and other “personal
purposes” he avoided prosecution after reportedly compensating the charity.
Pashinian’s government has since pledged to help ensure greater transparency in
the fund’s activities.
Armenian Minister Sees Slower Growth In 2018
• Sargis Harutyunyan
Armenia - Workers at a tech company based in the Engineering City in Yerevan,
August 22, 2018.
The Armenian economy is on course to grow by 5 to 6 percent this year, Economy
Minister Tigran Khachatrian said on Friday.
Economic growth in Armenia accelerated to 7.5 percent in 2017, according to
official statistics. It hit 9.7 percent in the first quarter of this year,
before the start of weeks of mass protests that led to the resignation of the
country’s longtime leader, Serzh Sarkisian, and his government.
Data from the Armenian Statistical Committee shows that growth has slowed down
since then. The government agency has also reported a sharp drop in foreign
investment.
Political opponents of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, the protest leader who
came to power in May, have seized upon these figures to criticize his economic
record. They claim that his government’s policies are scaring away local and
foreign investors.
Khachatrian insisted that the dramatic regime change, commonly referred to as a
“velvet revolution,” will benefit the domestic economy in the longer term. He
argued that the new government has already broken up economic monopolies linked
to the former regime and is taking other measures to improve Armenia’s business
environment.
“The revolution has led to a greater degree of economic freedom, easier access
to the markets and more equal competition,” said Khachatrian. “These are
factors that could and should create a more favorable environment for
investment-related decisions. But they can’t produce solutions and results at
once.”
The minister predicted that the upcoming parliamentary elections, which
Pashinian’s bloc is widely expected to win, will also contribute to faster
growth. The resulting “stabilization of the situation” in the country will only
encourage businesspeople to launch new projects, he said.
Pashinian cited economic considerations when he started pushing for the holding
of the snap elections in early October. He said political uncertainty resulting
from his team’s modest presence in the current Armenian parliament is hampering
economic activity.
Pashinian Denies Electoral Foul Play
• Anush Muradian
Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian addresses a rally in Aparan, November
21, 2018.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian dismissed on Friday opposition claims that he
abused his powers by holding rallies during work hours and before the official
start of campaigning for Armenia’s upcoming general elections.
Pashinian held the rallies when he visited two Armenian provinces earlier this
week. He also discussed the conduct of the December 9 elections with local
government officials.
Former President Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party (HHK) denounced those
gatherings, accusing Pashinian of using his government levers for electoral
purposes. Two other groups running for parliament also criticized them.
A top representative of Armenia’s leading anti-corruption watchdog voiced
similar concerns on Thursday, saying that by “international standards”
Pashinian’s actions constituted “abuse of administrative resources.”
“Show me those international standards. Publish them on your websites,”
Pashinian told journalists when he was asked to comment on the controversy.
“I am calling on all citizens of Armenia to vote for the [ruling] My Step
alliance in the forthcoming parliamentary elections. Am I abusing my
administrative resources?” he said.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the HHK cited election-related guidelines
of the Council of Europe and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe which it said were violated by the premier.
Pashinian insisted that he toured towns in the Gegharkunik and Aragatsotn
provinces as part of his prime-ministerial duties. In any case, he said, the
rallies held there did not breach the Armenian Electoral Code.
The Central Election Commission (CEC) likewise said on Friday that the code
does not ban election contenders from holding rallies before the start of the
election campaign set for November 26.
Pashinian was equally unrepentant about his decision to march through Yerevan
with his supporters on Saturday.
Asked why he did not want to wait until Monday, he said: “When we held a rally
on August 17 did we break the law? Or did I break the law when I went to the
Syunik, Vayots Dzor and Tavush provinces?”
The HHK was accused by opposition leaders, including Pashinian, and media of
abusing its administrative resources in various elections throughout its leader
Serzh Sarkisian’s decade-long rule. Many public and even private sector
employees were reportedly pressured to attend its campaign rallies and vote for
HHK candidates.
Press Review
“Zhamanak” looks at the former ruling HHK’s election campaign motto: “If you
are concerned, vote for Republicans.” “Apparently the HHK forgot to add what
those concerns are about,” the paper comments scathingly. It says many
supporters of the former ruling party must be “concerned” that they can no
longer break laws, take bribes or rig elections.
“Especially in the last 20 years Armenia’s water resources have been used, or
rather wasted, in the most savage way,” alleges “Zhoghovurd.” “And that has
been done for the enrichment of the former rulers.” The paper reports in this
context that prosecutors have now launched criminal proceedings against the
owners of 150 hydroelectric plants suspected of serious environmental
violations.
Lragir.am reports that Armenia’s Russian-managed railway network has decided to
suspend a rail ferry service between Georgian and Russian Black Sea ports
operated by it together with other firms. The online publication says the
decision comes ahead of the entry into force of a Georgian government ban on
the transit of trucks laden with wheat through Georgia’s territory. It fears
that the move will disrupt imports of wheat to Armenia. “The situation
resembles the early 1990s when Armenia was subjected to a gas blockade,” it
says.
“Past” says Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s decision to stage a “big march” in
Yerevan on Saturday is clearly related to the December 9 parliamentary
elections. “Pashinian and some other forces have already unofficially started
their election campaigns, turning [the official start of campaigning on]
November 26 into a symbolic date,” writes the paper.It says Pashinian’s rally
is aimed at “mobilizing his core political base through one of the main
techniques of regime change.”
(Lilit Harutiunian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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