Monday,
Armenian Opposition Discussing ‘New Tactic’ For Regime Change
• Narine Ghalechian
Armenia - Opposition parties hold an anti-government rally in Liberty Square,
Yerevan, November 18, 2020.
Opposition parties jointly trying to oust Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian are
discussing ways of reinvigorating their campaign, one of their leaders said on
Monday.
Ishkhan Saghatelian, who coordinates the work of their Homeland Salvation Front
alliance, acknowledged that they failed to attract large crowds during
anti-government demonstrations staged in November and December.
“It is evident that the demand for Nikol Pashinian’s resignation is a popular
demand,” Saghatelian said. “But so far we have not managed to convert that
popular demand into a popular struggle.”
“We certainly need a new tactic and are now actively discussing making our
activities more effective,” he added, answering questions from Facebook users at
the RFE/RL studio in Yerevan.
Saghatelian dismissed suggestions that many disgruntled Armenians did not take
part in the recent protests because they feel that the opposition movement is
led by former Presidents Serzh Sarkisian and Robert Kocharian.
“The movement is not led by individuals and the former presidents in
particular,” he said, adding that Sarkisian’s Republican Party is only one of
the more than a dozen opposition groups making up the alliance.
Armenia -- Oposition leaders Ishkhan Saghatelian (L) and Vazgen Manukian (C)
attend a demonstration outside the prime minister's office in Yerevan, December
24, 2020.
Among those groups are Gagik Tsarukian’s Prosperous Armenia Party and the
Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun). Saghatelian heads
Dashnaktsutyun’s governing body in Armenia.
The alliance blames Pashinian for Armenia’s defeat in the recent war with
Azerbaijan and wants him to resign and hand over power to an interim government.
The prime minister has rejected the opposition demands, dismissing the
anti-government rallies as an “elite revolt” not backed by most Armenians. He
has offered instead to hold fresh parliamentary elections.
Saghatelian reiterated the Homeland Salvation Front’s rejection of the offer. He
claimed that snap polls held by Pashinian would be “the most disgraceful in
Armenia’s history.”
“It is clear to [Pashinian] that when a new government takes over in Armenia he
will stand trial on treason charges. So … he would do everything to rig those
elections,” said Saghatelian.
Armenian Tax Revenue Down In 2020
• Robert Zargarian
Armenia -- The entrance to the State Revenue Committee headquarters in Yerevan,
November 29, 2018.
The Armenian government’s tax revenues fell by 8 percent last year due to an
economic recession caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the State Revenue
Committee (SRC) said on Monday.
A senior SRC official, Karen Tamazian, said the government agency collected
about 1.39 trillion drams ($2.7 billion) in taxes and customs duties, down from
1.5 trillion drams collected in 2019.
The agency comprising the Armenian tax and customs services thus fell well short
of its 2020 revenue target of 1.6 trillion drams, which had been set by the
state budget approved by the parliament in late 2019.
The government anticipated the shortfall in tax revenues already in April as
Armenia’s economy plunged into recession following the onset of the pandemic.
The economic crisis was compounded by the six-week war in Nagorno-Karabakh that
broke out in late September.
Economy Minister Vahan Kerobian said earlier this month that the economy
contracted by an estimated 8.5 percent in 2020.
The government offset the shortfall with fresh loans obtained from the
International Monetary Fund and other international lenders. The country’s
public debt rose by $533 million, to about $7.9 billion, in January-September
2020. The debt is projected to reach $9.2 billion by the end of this year.
SRC data released last week shows that 72 percent of the government’s 2020 tax
revenues were generated by Armenia’s 1,000 leading businesses. One of them, the
Grand Tobacco company, remained the number one taxpayer, paying 50.7 billion
drams ($97.5 million) in various taxes.
The national gas distribution company owned by Russia’s Gazprom giant was the
second most important contributor to the state budget, followed by the country’s
largest mining company, the Zangezur Copper-Molybdenum Combine (ZCMC). The SRC
collected 45.5 billion drams and 41.7 billion drams respectively from these
companies.
Pro-Government Lawmakers Skeptical About COVID-19 Probe
• Marine Khachatrian
Armenia - A parliamentary commission tasked with investigating the Armenian
government's response to the coronavirus pandemic holds its first meeting in
Yerevan, January 25 ,2021.
Pro-government lawmakers questioned on Monday the need for a parliamentary
inquiry into the Armenian government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic
initiated by the opposition.
The two parliamentary opposition parties, Prosperous Armenia (BHK) and Bright
Armenia (LHK), called for such an inquiry in June as they accused the government
of mishandling the coronavirus crisis.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s My Step bloc initially opposed the move. But it
reluctantly agreed afterwards to the creation of an ad hoc parliamentary
commission tasked with assessing the effectiveness of government efforts to
contain the spread of COVID-19.
The 12-member commission was formed earlier this month. Although the commission
is headed by the LHK’s Arkadi Khachatrian, eight of its members are affiliated
with My Step.
Some of those members voiced skepticism about the probe during the first meeting
of the panel held on Monday. They said it will not be possible to objectively
assess the effectiveness of the Armenian authorities’ response to the pandemic
as long as it has not been irreversibly contained by any country in the world.
“We are being drawn into a process the effectiveness of which has not been
evaluated in the world,” said one of them, Artak Manukian. “There is no
[COVID-19] containment model that can be replicated.”
Naira Zohrabian, a commission member representing the opposition BHK, dismissed
these misgivings, saying that there are many unanswered questions regarding the
government’s fight against the deadly disease.
“We don’t know what the money from the [government’s] COVID-19 fund has been
spent on,” said Zohrabian. “We don’t know why ambulances did not react to [calls
for help,] why people were dying in their homes, why the former health minister
drew up a list of privileged medical centers and only those centers received
coronavirus-related government funding.”
Khachatrian reiterated, for his part, that the commission should also look into
the government’s efforts to alleviate the socioeconomic impact of the pandemic
and restrictions on civil liberties imposed during and after last spring’s
nationwide lockdown.
Armenia has been hit hard by the pandemic, with over 166,000 coronavirus cases
officially confirmed in the country of about 3 million so far. The real number
of cases is believed to be much higher.
The Armenian Ministry of Health says that more than 3,000 people have died from
COVID-19. The figure does not include the deaths of 753 other Armenians infected
with the virus. According to the ministry, they were primarily caused by other
diseases.
Opposition politicians and other critics of the government say that many of
these deaths were avoidable.
Pashinian insisted on January 19 that the government has done a good job dealing
with the coronavirus crisis. He described the Ministry of Health as “one of our
most efficient agencies.”
Opposition Slams Pashinian’s Reported Choice For Armenian Envoy To U.S.
• Artak Khulian
• Harry Tamrazian
Armenia -- Lilit Makunts, the parliamentary leader of the ruling My Step bloc,
at a news conference in Yerevan, May 6, 2019.
Opposition leaders denounced on Monday Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s reported
plans to appoint a senior but politically inexperienced lawmaker as Armenia’s
new ambassador to the United States.
Lilit Makunts, who leads the ruling My Step bloc’s group in the Armenian
parliament, did not deny media reports about her impending appointment when she
spoke to RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on Sunday.
“There is such an issue on the agenda but it is still under discussion,” she
said.
Makunts, 37, taught English at Russian-Armenian University in Yerevan and did
not engage in political activities before being appointed as Armenia’s culture
minister in the wake of the “Velvet Revolution” of April-May 2018 that brought
Pashinian to power. She held that post until being elected to the parliament on
My Step’s ticket in December 2018.
The current Armenian ambassador in Washington, Varuzhan Nersesyan, is a career
diplomat who was handpicked for the post by Pashinian. Nersesyan handed his
credentials to then President Donald Trump in January 2019.
It is not clear why Pashinian may have decided to replace Nersesyan. The prime
minister’s office did not comment on Monday on the reports about Makunts’s
appointment.
Pashinian’s apparent choice of the new ambassador was strongly criticized by
senior lawmakers from the two opposition parties represented in the parliament.
“I think he is simply trying to get his people out of the country. I mean his
key loyalists who would definitely be prosecuted [after regime change in
Armenia,]” claimed Naira Zohrabian of the Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK).
Zohrabian dismissed Makunts as “a woman who only speaks good English.” “Let’s
hold a contest for the best English speaker and appoint the winner as ambassador
to the U.S.,” she suggested tartly.
“She is not a diplomat. I don’t know what she will be doing there [in
Washington,]” said Gevorg Gorgisian of the Bright Armenia Party.
“This is a continuation of the bad old traditions,” Gorgisian complained,
referring to politically motivated ambassadorial appointments made by Armenia’s
former leaders.
Pashinian’s reported decision appears to have also prompted criticism from one
of the two main Armenian-American lobby groups.
“With the stakes so high and the need for serious, seasoned professionals so
very clear, we cannot afford on-the-job-training, political sinecures, or
anything other than our very best in high level diplomatic postings,” Aram
Hamparian, the executive director of the Armenian National Committee of America,
wrote on Facebook.
In her interview with RFE/RL’s Armenian Service, Makunts downplayed her lack of
diplomatic experience and argued that “political appointments” of ambassadors is
common practice around the world.
“Experience is certainly very important, but in some cases it does not play a
central role,” she said.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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