Author: Badalian Vardan

ANOTHER FAILED ‘REVOLUTION’ IN ARMENIA

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
Nov 14 2013

14 November 2013 – 10:20am

By David Stepanyan, Yerevan. Exclusively for Vestnik Kavkaza

On November 5, Shant Arutyunyan, leader of the Tsekhakron Party of
nationalists, and a group of his supporters marked Guy Fawkes Day,
whose mask is considered the symbol of protests in Europe and the US,
by gathering in Yerevan. Demonstrators, waving long poles, marched
towards the presidential residence on the Bagramyan Avenue.

During the march at the Opera and Ballet Theater, Aturyunyan announced
a revolution. His revolution continued for a few minutes and was
suppressed by police officers, who outnumbered his supporters. The
protesters’ path towards the bright future was blocked by police
officers with riot shields, batons, masks and bulletproof vests. In
response, followers of the Gunpowder Plot made blasts of Molotov
cocktails or some other cocktails. The police did not fear the
explosions and suppressed all revolutionary slogans with batons. Then,
the rebels lay down on the road and refused to disperse. 8 passers-by
and officers were injured by the explosions, poles and batons. As a
result, the police had to carry the ‘revolutionaries’ to detention
centers. A total of 38 people were brought to police stations, 20
of whom, including Shant Arutyunyan himself, were detained. 14 were
charged with violence against the law enforcers, punishable with 5-10
years in prison. They were put under arrest. The police checked their
apartments and await chemical tests.

This could have been the end of the story, if some MPs, public
officials, authoritative and young people did not express support
for Arutyunyan. On the next day after Arutyunyan’s detention, MP
Nikol Pashinyan said that the man was beaten and humiliated by Police
Chief Vladimir Gasparyan and his deputy Inan Pogosyan. The MP said it
after visiting Arutyunyan in his cell. The police denied the report,
although they would not allow Pashinyan to visit the Nubarashen penal
center again.

Ashot Manucharyan, Chief Advisor for National Security of the first
Armenian president and ex-Interior Minister, characterized actions of
the demonstrators as “an attempt to leave the swamp the authorities are
drowning the country in.” The politicians insists that Arutyunyan’s
followers, mainly young people, were trying to find a solution to
the situation because they were tired of ‘old’ politicians unable
to change anything. “Arutyunyan is a man with fantastic ideas and
honesty. Considering his ‘revolution’ in the context of a political
order would be wrong,” said Manucharyan.

This was followed by appearance of an initiative group called ‘Freedom
to Shantu Arutyunyan and other arrested’ on Facebook. The group
organized protests and massive marches along the streets of Yerevan.

The protesters demanded the release of Arutyunyan and his supporters
and the prosecution of police officers. The demands quickly transformed
into demands for the resignation of President Serzh Sargsyan and
“freedom and independence of Armenia.” At the end of the demonstration,
residents were asked about their attitude towards joining the Customs
Union. Organizers of the opinion polls promised to announce the
results at the Presidential Palace.

Analyzing the events, it appears that searching for logic in the
actions of Arutyunyan and his supporters would be an unrewarding idea.

But this logic can be seen in the actions of supporters and opponents
of the Tsekhakron leader. The chain (starting from demonstrations
of videos of the ‘revolution’, made by a police camera in the news
block of the First Public TV Channel, and ending with unintelligible
tolerance of the police towards people calling for a coup) speaks
of direct interest of the government in the tragic comedy. With
the transformation of the notion ‘oppositionist’ into a synonym of
‘henchman of the government’, the authorities debate any expression
of love for freedom and civil activeness.

ARMENIA: INSURERS’ TOTAL ASSETS DROP 7.5%

Business Insurance
Nov 14 2013

November 14, 2013 – 6:00am

The total assets of the seven insurers operating in Armenia stood at
46.2 billion Armenian drams ($113.7 million) as of the end of September
2013, a 7.5% decline from the prior quarter, Forinsurer reported.

The top insurer in terms of assets was CJSC Rosgosstrakh Armenia with
AMD 11.5 billion, up 28%. It was followed by CJSC Ingo Armenia, which
had assets worth AMD 10.9 billion, up 14%, and CJSC Reso Insurance,
which had assets worth AMD 8.7 billion, up 72%.

ARMENIA’S YOUNG EARNERS FEAR PENSION REFORM

Institute for War and Peace Reporting, UK
IWPR Caucasus Reporting #710
Nov 14 2013

Parliament to hold emergency debate on a law that will require
under-40s to pay hefty contributions.

By Lilit Arakelyan – Caucasus

The authorities in Armenia are facing mounting demands to shelve a
pension reform bill that critics say will place an unfair burden on
young wage-earners already struggling to make ends meet.

Letters to parliamentarians complaining about the proposed changes
have forced an emergency debate in the National Assembly on November
15. The 44 legislators from the opposition Dashnaktsutyun, Heritage,
Armenian National Congress and Prosperous Armenia parties who called
for the debate will table a motion to delay the measures for one years.

The same day, young professionals will hold a demonstration outside
parliament to press their point.

On November 14, Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan insisted that the
pension system would definitely be introduced on January 1. Pointing
out that ten years of work had gone into the reform, he called for
outreach work to be done to explain the news system to the public
and how it would affect them.

The protest movement began among the 10,000 employees of Armenia’s IT
industry, most of them young people on at least 500,000 drams (1,250
US dollars) a month – a good wage in this country. Most companies in
this sector operate transparently; in other words they do not pay their
staff in cash or under-report wage payments to the fiscal authorities..

The pension bill would introduce a system of compulsory pension
contributions, calculated at five per cent of monthly earnings under
500,000 drams, or ten per cent of wages exceeding that amount.

However, the compulsory scheme would only apply to people born after
1974, and the under-40s affected feel they are being unfairly targeted.

“These extra pension payments will be added to the 26 per cent [income]
tax take, and the total amount will come to 33 or 34 per cent, which
we’ll have to pay out of our own salaries,” Artur Baghdasaryan,
an engineer with the Synopsys company told IWPR.

The government currently contributes 25,000 drams a month to
everyone’s state pension, but since this is a fixed amount rather than
a percentage, its value is likely to be whittled away by inflation
as both wages and compulsory contributions rise.

Young wage-earners involved in the campaign say they are already
hard-pressed by other commitments.

“The problem is that people in this age-group, on whose shoulders
the compulsory pension system will rest, have already taken on a
whole series of other credit obligations,” said Marine Tandilyan,
an accountant at Synopsys. “I myself am already paying a third of my
salary to the banks, and I support two children and my parents.”

As well as a delay to the reform measure, campaigners are calling for
the new system to be voluntary rather than compulsory for most. If
it is to be introduced, it should be mandatory only for new earners
now reaching the age of 18, and it should take 2.5 rather than five
or ten per cent of monthly salary.

Vardan Aramyan, deputy head of Presidential Serzh Sargsyan’s
administration, has ruled out a lower level of contributions, as this
would render the new system worthless.

“People need to build up savings in such a way that there’s a
significant pot of money,” he told IWPR. “If someone is used to high
earnings and there’s a big discrepancy between their pay and their
pension, there will be an uprising. Employees are saving this money
so that they can use it later. They will get more later than they
are now putting in now.”

The head of the pension reform programme, Artak Ghazaryan, said
a compulsory system was unavoidable, because Armenia had an aging
population that was going to need financial support. He expressed
confidence that people would get used to the system over time.

“The new pension system will have a significant impact on the
investment climate in Armenia. Compulsory pension contributions
will secure economic growth, they will lead to more people saving,
and they will reduce the interest rate on loans,” Ghazaryan told
IWPR. “A proportion of wages will certainly go towards building up
these savings, but this is of course an asset belonging to savers,
not part of their tax obligations.”

Another change envisaged by the law is that funds currently held in
personal pension plans will pass to the control of the state pension
fund. Ghazaryan said the government would provide a “100 per cent
guarantee” on all pension savings.

Despite such assurances, future contributors warn that the legislation
does not specify whether, or how, money held in the pension fund
should be indexed to inflation.

“Our faith and confidence in the government is falling, because it’s
taking this money out of our salaries without giving any guarantees
whether it will still be money after it’s held for 30 years in Armenian
drams,” Isabella Sargsyan, head of the Youth for Democracy group,
told IWPR. “This additional burden carries no guarantees. It’s simply
going to lead to the emigration of young professionals and the growth
of the shadow economy, and it will become yet another cause for anger.”

One risk is that Armenia’s best and brightest vote with their feet,
joining the exodus of workers heading for Russia and other employment
markets. The state migration agency has calculated that 180,000
people emigrated permanently in the five years to the end of 2012 -a
significant number for a country with under three million inhabitants.

(See Armenia’s Shrinking Workforce for more on net emigration.)

Levon Harutiunyan, manager of the Mentor Graphics company, might be
among them. He told IWPR, “If the law comes into force on January
1, then I will leave the country myself and even apply for a [US]
Green Card.”

Lilit Arakelyan is a correspondent for in Armenia.

NEWS ANALYSIS: AS AZERBAIJAN INFLUENCE GROWS, TURKEY SUPPORTS KEY REGIONAL PARTNER

Xinhua General News Service, China
November 13, 2013 Wednesday 5:10 AM EST

ANKARA Nov. 13

In his first overseas trip since his third-term election victory,
Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev is in Turkey to boost the already
close ties between the two nations which share culture and language
to a great extent.

Aliyev was received by Turkish President Abdullah Gul on his two-day
official visit to the country and was awarded with the State Medal of
Honor, the highest state decoration in Turkey. In response, Gul was
also given the highest Azeri medal of honor, the Haydar Aliyev Award.

Aliyev is scheduled to hold an intergovernmental conference, dubbed
as Turkey-Azerbaijan High Level Strategic Cooperation Council, on
Wednesday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“I am sure this meeting will establish a strong base for developing
Turkish-Azeri ties,” Hayati Yazici, Turkey’s minister of customs and
trade, said.

Trade between the two countries was 2.9 billion U.S. dollars in 2012,
an increase of 21 percent compared with a year earlier. In the first
nine months of 2013, the volume reached 2.5 billion U.S. dollars,
an increase of 19 percent compared with the same period last year.

Turkey and Azerbaijan have maintained close economic and political
ties. Turkey is a major client of Azeri gas and oil, importing the
resources through two major pipelines.

“For us, Turkey is our closest nation and ally. This alliance has
come to a new phase in recent years. Political, financial and energy
relations are strengthening our ties,” the Azeri president said.

Gul also lauded the joint projects, saying: “We want to add new
success stories to our relations by completing the Baku-Tbilisi-
Kars railway project and the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline.”

Hasan Kanbolat, the head of the Ankara-based Center for Middle
Eastern Strategic Studies, said: “These days, cooperation between
Ankara and Baku is (focused on) the areas of defense industry, energy
and transportation,” adding that in the past cooperation was defined
mainly by the “literature of brotherhood.”

Kanbolat said that the intergovernmental meeting will focus on defense
and security issues, with Ankara supporting security and stability
for Baku.

“Ankara is not isolating Baku when it comes to issues surrounding
the region of Nagorno-Karabakh,” he added, signaling that Turkey may
open its borders with Armenia in exchange for Armenia’s departure
from the two regions it has occupied in Azerbaijan.

Aliyev said in Ankara that Turkey is on the side of Azerbaijan and
justice when it comes to Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Turkish media reported on Tuesday that Turkey has requested
Switzerland’s support to help overcome conflicts between Armenia and
Azerbaijan to open the way for Ankara to repair ties with Armenia.

According to a report published by mass-daily Zaman, Foreign Minister
Ahmet Davutoglu told Swiss officials during a visit to Switzerland
in mid-October that Turkey is ready to normalize its relations with
Armenia.

Davutoglu was clear, however, that Armenia should end the occupation
of the Azerbaijani territories.

Turkey closed its borders with Armenia after Armenian-backed armed
forces occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous, predominantly
Armenian-populated enclave within the Azerbaijani borders, in 1993.

In 2009, Turkey and Armenia signed a protocol to normalize ties but
the process was halted due to failure of these documents in their
national parliaments.

The Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe has been trying to solve the Nagorno- Karabakh conflict for
21 years, with little success.

“Without a resolution to territorial dispute between Azerbaijan and
Armenia, I do not think Turkey will mend the fences with Armenia,”
Mesut Cevikalp, a foreign policy expert, told Xinhua.

“Azerbaijan will soon be the number one energy investor in Turkey
and there is favorable trade going on for Turkey concerning bilateral
business. Ankara cannot risk this by antagonizing Azerbaijan,” he said.

“It is obvious that Azerbaijan, a country that develops day by day and
that maintains an effective role in energy politics, is following an
impressive way to promote itself in the world,” Mahmet Fatih Ozarsu,
expert on Caucasian politics, said.

Ozarsu called the new tactic by Azerbaijan leadership to promote
Azeri interest as its “new style politics.”

RUBEN MEHRABIAN. “RUSSIA ITSELF HAS PROVOKED THE NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT.”

November 14 2013

On November 22, the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan made an
official visit to Russia. There are analyses that much depends on this
visit, and, especially, there are predictions that as Turkey had asked
the Swiss authorities to facilitate in the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict, it will also remind the Russian authorities about their
own good ‘requirements’ regarding Nagorno-Karabakh issue. And, Turkey
has a lot to expect from Russia on this issue. Aravot.am asked Ruben
Mehrabyan, the expert of “Center for Political and International
Studies”, what to expect from Russia. He answered, “In any case,
whoever offers Russia, Russia interests proceeds from the perception
of their neighborhood and from the image on their role in RF.

Consequently, I do not think that something is changed here. RF has
provoked the Karabakh conflict to be able to maintain its influence in
the region. RF will go for the settlement of the conflict only when
the settlement will lead to further enhancement of RF’s impact and
role. Otherwise, it will not go for settlement.” To the question in
what case Russia’s role will further increase, Mr. Mehrabyan responded
as follows, “I imagine as follows that the international peacekeepers
in Nagorno-Karabakh will be Russians, and also, Azerbaijan will be
in the orbit of Russian, although the impact of Russia on Azerbaijan
is already much, however, it does not decide the policy of Azerbaijan.

But, in this regional strategy, Armenia has become a tool and a
support for Russia.” To the question whether the reason is more in
shortcomings available in the foreign policy of Armenia, or such
disposition of state-of-affairs, Mehrabyan answered as follows,
“Foreign policy is the continuation of the internal one, and, in
general, result of political immaturity of authorities, lack of sense
of statehood, greediness, and avidity.” Rumors are circulated that
Turkey, on the other hand, has a far-reaching desires to regulate
Armenian-Turkish relations by 2015, but only if Armenia “gets out of
the occupied territories.” We asked whether rapid development and
outcome of events is possible, Mr. Mehrabyan said, “I do not think
that it is easily soluble matter and will lead to rapid change. As
for Turkey’s role, it is practicing quite non-constructive policy in
the region, and somewhere even under its own inertia, which has been
formed back in 1990s. Turkey has closed not only the Armenian-Turkish,
but also Armenian-NATO border in exchange for the Russian base. I do
not think that it is in the interests of Turkey.”

Tatev HARUTYUNYAN

Read more at:

UNEMPLOYMENT, EMIGRATION, POVERTY, HIGH-LEVEL CORRUPTION MAJOR CHALLENGES TO ARMENIA’S GOVERNMENT – PREMIER

22:09 ~U 14.11.13

Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan delivered a concluding speech
at the parliamentary debate on the 2014 draft budget on Thursday.

Unemployment, emigration, poverty and high-level corruption remain
major challenges to Armenia’s government.

However, Armenia’s premier advised the parliamentary opposition to hold
discussions in a more constructive vein as criticism is of no benefit.

“These are most serious challenges that impede our country’s progress.

We admit the problems thereby creating difficulties for our opponents.

They are trying to find other grave problems – often without any
grounds – which cannot facilitate a dialogue with the authorities,”
the premier said.

“In any case the debates enable the government to identify the strong
and weak points of its program and form a clearer idea of the problems
highlighted by our parliament members,” the premier said.

The government is ready to participate in parliamentary debates.

“Eloquent statements will not bring any benefit, which has been the
case for the past 23 years. The opponents applying this tactics will
fail. It is easy to criticize the government because the problems
do exist in the country. We agree with the criticism because we are
pointing out the same problems as well. But we have different ideas
of the ways of resolving the problems,” Armenia’s premier concluded.

He thanked the Armenian parliament and Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan
personally.

Armenian News – Tert.am

ARMEN MARTIROSYAN: AZERBAIJAN WILL RESUME BATTLE ACTIONS ONLY IF IT IS FULLY READY TO THEM

by Marianna Lazarian

ARMINFO
Thursday, November 14, 21:23

Azerbaijan will resume battle actions only if it is fully ready to
them, deputy chairman of the Heritage party, Armen Martirosyan, said
at today’s press-conference. In this context, he touched on the bill
on recognition of Nagornyy Karabakh initiated by the Heritage party
yesterday and discussed in the parliament. He regrets for the fact
that the bill was boycotted once again. “I think it is inadmissible
that certain forces draw a parallel between Nagornyy Karabakh and the
Turkish Cyprus. First of all, Karabakh was autonomous for many years
and Armenians were living at its territory from the very beginning.

Moreover, official Artsakh (Karabakh) declared independence in line
with all the international norms”, – he said.

Yesterday the National Assembly of Armenia rejected the bill On
Recognition of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic by the Republic of Armenia
with 10 votes “for” and 1 “abstention,” Wednesday. Zaruhi Postanjyan,
an opposition MP representing Heritage Party, had submitted the
bill. Parliamentarians from the Republican and Orinats Yerkir parties
of the ruling coalition did not participate in the voting along with
the Armenian National Congress, Prosperous Armenia Party and some
other parliamentarians.

Touching on the forthcoming meeting of the presidents of Armenia
and Azerbaijan, Martirosyan said one should not wait for historical
consequences from this meeting. “I think it will be a regular meeting
just to observe formalities”, – he concluded.

LARISA ALAVERDYAN CONDEMNS MINSK GROUP TO PUT SIGN OF EQUALITY BETWEEN ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN

16:53, 14 November, 2013

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 14, ARMENPRESS: Social-political figure Larisa
Alaverdyan has no expectations from the forthcoming meeting of the
Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan to be held in November. OSCE Minsk
group just does its work and makes efforts for the continuation of the
negotiating process, the meeting of the Presidents. Larisa Alaverdyan
in a conversation with the journalists on November 14 expressed a
viewpoint that the neutral position of Minsk group is incomprehensible
and does not contribute to the negotiating process. “Especially after
such political challenges as extradition of murderer Ramil Safarov
the previous year, it is strange, to say the least, not to get any
explanations from Azerbaijan and express any positions. They put a
sign of equality between the two countries and call for restraint in
condition when one of the countries constantly expresses itself in
blasphemy, while the other keeps silent or requires apology. By this
position OSCE proves that it is ready to keep silent for one jag of
oil” Larisa Alaverdyan stated.

PEOPLE MUST ‘START ACTING’ – ASHOT MANUCHARYAN – VIDEOS

21:34 ~U 14.11.13

Former member of the Karabakh committee Ashot Manucharyan took part
in a rally of freedom-fighters (participants in the Nagorno-Karabakh
war) on Thursday.

“We have to mobilize people and start acting,” he said.

With respect to Armenia’s share in geopolitical problems, he said: “How
many times have we spoken of Russia’s shortcomings? But they appoint
a Rule of Law party member rector of the Collective Security Treaty
Organization (CSTO) academy. Why are they making these mistakes?”

He spoke of “two greatest curses on the Armenian people.”

The first is that the country’s wealth is being plundered. The second
is the people’s debts to banks.

“We must be able to make people rise up in a couple of months and
elect the individuals to speak with the people. We have no way back.

So let us all move forward to the battlefield,” Manucharyan said.

CHANGE OF TIR CARNETS MAY AFFECT ARMENIA

On 4 July 2013 the Russian Federal Customs Service circulated a
letter on changes for TIR Carnets within Russia. On 14 October 2013
the Supreme Arbitrage Court ruled the letter void. Afterwards the
head of the FCS revised his ruling but he actually sent a letter with
the same content but different date. The new rules put in place a
sophisticated and costly customs procedure involving a huge package
of documents, including customs accompanying, bank deposit, a pledge
of property etc. By 1 December 2013 the Association of International
Road Transport Carriers will be liquidated, which means that Russia
unilaterally leaves the Customs Convention on International Transport
of Goods, economist Ashot Yeghiazaryan states.

What will the Russian policy cost? It is difficult to tell now because
the fees of new formalities are not known yet. By some estimates it
may amount to 1000-1600 euro which will cause transportation costs
and retail prices of goods to increase. Transit via Russia will also
go more expensive, the economist alarms.

The new ruling by the Russian Customs Service is a violation of the
principle of the Customs Convention. The other countries who have
joined the convention may also demand additional mutual safeguards. In
case Georgia and Iran which are Armenia’s only way of communication
with the world require guarantees from the Customs Union member states,
Armenian import and export will grow expensive on top of transport
costs that are already quite high. It will equally affect Armenian
export and import to and from the countries of the Customs Union
because Armenia does not have a shared border with the Customs Union.

Experts think this innovation will cause queues on the border and
revision of contracts on supply of goods. Late in October about
300 trailers stood in line at the Russian-Ukrainian border because
some shipment companies were not ready to apply the new rules, Ashot
Yeghiazaryan states, adding that the deadline of transition to the
new procedure is 1 December 2013 while the international reaction
was negative, and the UN EEC and the EU Commissioner for Taxation
have urged the relevant bodies of Russia.

17:44 14/11/2013 Story from Lragir.am News: