Under Article 9, Part 14 of the Law on Public Service, Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan has appointed Avetik Eloyan as his Adviser.
It should be reminded that Eloyan was appointed chairman of the Urban Development Committee after a velvet revolution and recently was dismissed.
“Walk with me” – Pashinyan kicks off economic revolution towards “free, happy and mighty Armenia”
15:57,
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 14, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia has announced a physical and online economic revolution march.
The PM announced the campaign in parliament in his concluding speech at the debates of the government’s action plan.
“Today, I am beginning my second procession”, he said. “The previous one was a physical and online procession campaign towards the victory of a political revolution”, the PM said, referring to his iconic walking campaign that eventually led to what became known as the Velvet Revolution.
“This one is a procession towards economic victory, and towards economic revolution, and whoever has a step to make, let them make their step, whoever wants to pass this path, let them walk with me, because our path is indivertible, we are headed towards a free, happy and mighty Armenia, where it is only the Armenian flag that is above our heads, and we will reach our destination victoriously. Wherever it is required we will walk behind our people, wherever it is needed we will be the ones to lead, and when needed, we will be the followers. And the people will definitely win, and the people can make an economic revolution, and the government is ready to lead the people towards an economic revolution,” the PM said.
The parliament has approved the government’s action plan.
Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
Angela Merkel welcomes Pashinyan’s visit to Germany in Armenian – Bari galust
15:40, 2 February, 2019
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 2, ARMENPRESS. German Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomed the visit of Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan to Germany in Armenian, using Latin letters.
“Bari galust (welcome-edit.)to Berlin, Prime Minister Pashinyan! Today Chancellor Merkel welcomed the Armenian head of government. There is a spirit of optimism in Armenia. Both countries want to strenghten their relationship and work together more closely in business and science, vocational training, democracy promotion and environmental protection”, ARMENPRESS reports Merkel wrote on her Instagram page on February 1.
Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan
The Yerevan premiere of Mozart’s opera ‘’The Magic Flute” will take place at the Opera and Ballet National Academic Theater after Spendarian on February 25. As the Opera Facebook page reports, in September 2018, the theater successfully introduced the performance on the stages of opera houses in Dubai and Kuwait.
Among the primary roles are Liparit Avetisyan – Tamino, Kim Sargsyan- Papageno, Mary Movsisyan – Pamina, Hasmik Torosyan – Queen of the Night, Zohrab Zohrabyan – Sarastro and Sergey Sargsyan – Speaker of the Temple: Alina Pahlevanyan – Papagena and Hovhannes Andreasyan- Monostatos.
The conductor of the performance is Harutyun Arzumanyan. The opera is directed by Paolo Micciche (Italy).
‘’The-Magic-Flute”/2067674
“Armath” proposes to issue securities which will bring additional benefits to state
09:18,
YEREVAN, JANUARY 31, ARMENPRESS. The Union of Advanced Technology Enterprises (UATE) has initiated and is implementing for already several years the introduction of “Armath” engineering laboratories in the schools of Armenia and Artsakh. As of January, 2016, 252 engineering laboratories-groups, including nearly 6.300 children, are operating across Armenia. The “Armath” laboratories enable the students to master principles with mathematics and exact sciences, engineering, programming and robotics basics, project and manage UAVs.
UATE Executive Director Karen Vardanyan told Armenpress that this program is unprecedented. It launched in 2014 and gained a broad international recognition within a short period of time. “Armath” received awards at WITSA Global Excellence Award as a Sustainable Development program. A number of countries (India, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Namibia, Mongolia and Spain) are negotiating with the UATE to introduce the Armath laboratories in their schools.
“”Armath” has become an Armenian high-technology educational brand which acquires great recognition all over the world. Today there is an international competition not only between the universities, specialists, but also schools. Armenia has acquired major experience in teaching engineering subjects at schools, and this is the main knowledge we are going to export as Armenia’s educational brand”, he said.
Karen Vardanyan noted that the “Armath” laboratories have proved their effectiveness in a short period of time. He presented the results of the analysis by the Grant Thornton according to which the net present cost of one group is 254 million drams.
“The internal rate of the profitability of one group is estimated 88%. In case of introduction in Armenia’s 1200 schools, the net present cost of all groups will comprise 298 million drams. Taking into account the direct effect of the operating groups only, the impact of the economic animator can be 2.3 times more. The research showed that 84% of the “Armath” graduates have been admitted to the university. 39% of them is also working in line with the study, 4% are only working. 45% of those employed are engaged in the programming sector, 12% have set up a startup, 29% are involved in other activities of IT sphere. The rest carry out engineering and technical works. 37% of the students is a potential employee of the IT sector after graduation”, he said.
The UATE, based on the Grant Thornton’s research, has developed a business plan which has calculated what economic impact the introduction of “Armath” in all, 1250 schools will have on the Republic, how much tax entries will be ensure, in how many years the “Armath” will bring the invested money back and etc.
“Summing up all this it becomes clear that the program will bring the money invested for it back within three years. The UATE calculations have also been checked by the Central Bank’s specialists who expressed their satisfaction and stated that there is even less calculation for “Armath’s” impact on the country’s GDP growth”, Karen Vardanyan said.
The UATE has applied to the government with the request to issue 5-6-year-old “Armath” securities worth 15 billion which will bring over 60 billion AMD benefit to the state.
“By this we are showing that education is the most profitable sector, and by this program we not only raise the level of education of the children, but also bring addition benefit to the state by ensuring Armenia’s international competitiveness. We hope that by the introduction of this program we will be able to restore the technological level and reputation Armenia had during the Soviet Union within 5-6 years and view Armenia as one of the most leading countries on the technology map”, Karen Vardanyan said.
Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan
‘Davos Forum is a global springboard for small Armenia’ – Le Figaro
21:00,
YEREVAN, JANUARY 24, ARMENPRESS. The Davos World Economic Forum is a global springboard for small Armenia.
Le Figaro French daily published an article about Armenia. The newspaper interviewed Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Davos on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum.
“This is a chance for me to present to the major foreign investors the opportunities that have been created in our country after the Velvet revolution. It’s important to tell the international business-society that after the democratic revolution we are carrying out an economic revolution”, Pashinyan told the newspaper.
Le Figaro says Pashinyan is committed to the matters on adopting new Tax Code, eliminating monopolies and eradicating corruption in the country. The Armenian PM wants to attract investors in the field of tourism, agriculture and energy’s renewable sources. Pashinyan told the French daily that the World Congress on Information Technologies will be held in Yerevan in October 2019 which will be attended by thousands of peoples from all over the world.
Le Figaro also informs that Pashinyan met with the leaders of eBay, Mitsubishi, Apple, as well as heads of different states, including Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Davos.
Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan
1 – Commentary
Turkey Abuses Interpol
To Extradite Regime Opponents
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
2- Armenian American Museum to Host Telethon On February 17
3 – Bakarian: At 21, aerospace engineering student,
former refugee creates first invention
4 – Lighthouse Management head Aleen Keshishian
to executive produce Netflix series
5- Boyajian Pens Book on Julfa and New Julfa Armenians
By Gary A. Kulhanjian
******************************************
******************************************
1 – Commentary
Turkey Abuses Interpol
To Extradite Regime Opponents
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
Turkey and several other repressive governments are increasingly
abusing their membership in the Interpol to harass and punish their
opponents. Interpol or the International Criminal Police Organization,
composed of 194 countries, focuses on fighting transnational crimes.
Although Interpol’s charter forbids the pursuit of individuals for
political, religious, military or racial reasons, several member
states continue to abuse the power of the Interpol to pursue their
opponents.
The most recent case is the Turkish government’s demand to Interpol to
have Enes Kanter, an NBA basketball player of Turkish origin, arrested
and extradited to Turkey by placing his name on Interpol’s Red Notice
list. Kanter declined to join his team, the New York Knicks, to fly to
London for an NBA game. He said that he was wrongly charged by the
Erdogan government as a ‘terrorist’ and feared that he may be
assassinated by Turkish agents in London.
Abdullah Bozkurt wrote in the Turkish Minute website, on May 19, 2017,
Kanter “barely escaped arrest while in Jakarta, [Indonesia] where he
stopped as part of a global goodwill tour. The Indonesian army and
secret service raided a school where an event was planned in order to
detain him at Turkey’s request, but he managed to leave Indonesia for
Romania. On his return trip to the US, Kanter was detained on May 20
at Henri Coandă International Airport in Bucharest because his
passport was reported to have been cancelled by the Turkish
government. The NBA star was subsequently released after the US
government and NBA officials intervened on his behalf. He remains a
staunch critic of Erdogan for his rights violations.”
In a Washington Post op-ed column, Kanter wrote: “Anyone who speaks
out against him [Erdogan] is a target. I am definitely a target. And
Erdogan wants me back in Turkey where he can silence me.” Kanter told
Newsweek that the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is “the
Hitler of our century.” According to ESPN, the Turkish government
requested Interpol last November to have more than 80 people arrested
in other countries and extradited to Turkey.
Several other Turkish dissidents have barely escaped the Turkish
government’s long reach through the Interpol. Last October, Turkey
requested that the Interpol arrest and extradite Can Dundar, the
former editor of Cumhuriyet newspaper, and Ilhan Tanir, editor of the
Ahval news website. “I have not killed anyone, run a cartel, robbed a
bank or done anything else to warrant a global manhunt,” Tanır wrote.
“The Turkish government is pursuing me for my activities as a
journalist.”
Ragip Zarakoglu, a journalist, author, publisher, and human rights
defender, was placed on Interpol’s Red Notice list to be arrested and
extradited to Turkey. He is currently in Sweden, safe from Erdogan’s
clutches.
Another Turkish journalist was less fortunate. Hamza Yalçin, who had
escaped to Sweden, was arrested at Turkey’s request to Interpol in
2017 during his visit to Spain. He was released after two months
following pressure from the governments of Sweden and Germany.
“We welcome the Spanish government’s decision, which shows respect for
international law,” Reporters Without Borders stated. “Hamza Yalçin’s
release sends the Turkish government a clear message that Interpol
should not be used for the political purpose of pursuing journalists
who have fled abroad.”
Shortly after the failed coup in July 2016, Turkey made more than
60,000 Red Notice requests to Interpol. Red Notices are only for
people accused of serious crimes, and Interpol’s constitution calls on
countries not to use the system for political ends and to act within
the spirit of international human rights standards. Turkey, China,
Russia, and the UAE, are in blatant violation of these regulations,
stated the Foreign Policy magazine.
In an April 2017 resolution, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council
of Europe called on Interpol “to continue improving its Red Notice
procedure in order to prevent and redress abuses even more
effectively.” Johann Bihr, the head of Reporters Without Borders’
Eastern Europe and Central Asia desk, stated that “dozens of Turkish
journalists have had to flee abroad since the coup attempt in Turkey
in July 2016. But like other exile journalists all over the world,
they are now threatened by political manipulation of Interpol. The
reforms begun by Interpol must now be completed as a matter of urgency
so that it is better able to guard against abusive requests from
Turkey and other repressive states.”
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2- Armenian American Museum to Host Telethon On February 17
GLENDALE—The Armenian American Museum will host its inaugural Telethon
on Sunday, February 17, to raise awareness and funds for the historic
project. The event will be broadcasted live from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Pacific Standard Time, and streamed to across the United States and
around the world. The telethon will be aired from ARTN studios in
Glendale. The event will feature interviews with community leaders and
special guests, informative video segments on the cultural and
educational center, and unique performances by musicians and artists.
“The Telethon is going to be the must-see television event of the year
for our community and it will be an excellent opportunity to learn
about the Armenian American Museum,” said Museum Executive Chairman
Berdj Karapetian. Proceeds will benefit the Armenian American Museum
Groundbreaking Campaign. The Museum will need to raise an estimated
$12 million by early 2020 to begin construction for the historic
community project. Museum officials have organized a series of events,
fundraisers, and activities in 2019 to raise the necessary funds. The
Museum will be the first world class cultural and educational center
of its kind in America. The Museum program will feature a Permanent
Armenian Exhibition, Traveling Multicultural Exhibitions, Performing
Arts Theater, Learning Center, and more. The governance of the Museum
is entrusted to ten Armenian American cultural, philanthropic, and
religious non-profit institutions including the Armenian Catholic
Eparchy, Armenian Cultural Foundation, Armenian Evangelical Union of
North America, Armenian General Benevolent Union Western District,
Armenian Missionary Association of America, Armenian Relief Society
Western USA, Nor Or Charitable Foundation, Nor Serount Cultural
Association, Western Diocese of the Armenian Church of North America,
and Western Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church.
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3 – Bakarian: At 21, aerospace engineering student,
former refugee creates first invention
By Les Perreaux
The distance from Aleppo to the lab at Montreal’s Trudeau airport
where a young engineer-in-training is perfecting her first invention
is 8,580 kilometres, but Shoushi Bakarian’s trajectory might better be
measured in light speed.
Three years ago, Bakarian was sitting in Lebanon, part of a family of
four Syrian refugees facing an uncertain future with hope of making a
new start in Canada. Fast-forward those 36 months: Bakarian is in her
third year of aerospace engineering at Montreal’s Concordia
University. She has learned her fourth language, French—in addition to
English, Arabic and Armenian. She’s got two part-time jobs with
promising prospects in her field: one in the parts department at
Bombardier Aerospace and another at Stratos Aviation, a small aviation
and flight simulation firm. There, she’s co-created her first
invention in the lab she’s building. Oh, and she leads a Scout troop
where she hopes to influence her young charges. She’s 21. “I want to
reach girls and tell them they don’t have to limit themselves to
traditional jobs, like teachers. Especially for girls from my
community, they have a very limited idea of what’s out there,”
Bakarian says. “I want to become an example.”
On a recent late fall day, Bakarian tinkers with the tiny generator
fan blades of her latest accomplishment: The Ventus, a 5-volt
accessory charger for Cessna airplanes that runs off the aircraft’s
air vents and as an added bonus cools the air by compressing it. The
simple blue tube prototype seems likely to become a must-have
accessory for pilots who rely on tablets and smartphones for aviation
computation but fly aircraft that were mostly built long before the
smartphone era.
“I like clean energy, solar power, wind power, so we developed it
further to add on the charger idea,” she says. “I spent my summer
designing, drawing and testing until it worked.”
Naor Cohen, the owner of Stratos Aviation, hired Bakarian within days
of meeting her during an outreach program for women in aviation about
a year ago. Bakarian started out as an instructor on the company’s
flight simulators. One day he shared an idea he had to improve cooling
small Cessna cabins by using a Venturi tube to compress and cool the
air. He invited her to set up a lab with computers and 3-D printers
and she ran with it.
“I guess she must sleep very little,” Cohen says. “We’ve never seen
her as an employee, and more as a partner in the team. She’s free to
come whenever stuff needs to be done. Right now, she’s concentrating
mainly on the lab. We want to put that imagination and creativity to
work more.”
Bakarian arrived in Canada on Christmas Eve, 2015, with her father,
Antranik, her mother, Ani, and her now-24-year-old sister, Meghri. The
daughters had high school diplomas earned during the Syrian civil war
with rockets flying overhead and bombs bursting not far from their
Armenian school in Aleppo.
Small details come back to Bakarian as she remembers the time. “Our
school was in the firing line, so we had to study in a kindergarten in
these tiny little chairs,” she recalls. “I always make jokes about it,
but it’s not funny.” By 2015, the battle for Aleppo had settled into a
stalemate and her family was stuck. “In Grade 10, the big bombs
started, by Grade 11, we were without electricity or running water or
internet. Some people started to leave but we didn’t know how to get
out of Aleppo. We didn’t know who was on the road waiting to kidnap
us. … Once the missiles started falling, we didn’t know where they
were coming from or where they’d land.”
A turning point came when her mother needed surgery that had to be
performed in Lebanon. The medical issue combined with mounting
violence forced the family to make a move. They spent a year in
Lebanon while she recovered.
Her parents concluded the family would have limited education and work
opportunities in that country.That’s when Canada opened the doors to
Syrian refugees.
In those early Canadian winter days, the family enrolled in French
classes while all four of them set about finding work. Bakarian got
hired at McDonald’s, a job she kept as she enrolled at Concordia,
which helped her family survive while her parents found work in the
garment industry. It was a step down from her father’s previous job
managing a tools warehouse. Meghri, meanwhile, is specializing in
child studies at Concordia.
Bakarian is grateful for the sacrifices her parents made, but she made
some, too. She was almost crushed by workload as a first-year
university student who was working 30 hours a week at her fast food
job. “I was physically, emotionally and mentally exhausted,” she says.
“But now I’m making up for it. My family is okay now, and it’s
easier.”
Arpi Hamalian, an education professor emerita at Concordia University,
took the younger Bakarian women under her wing when they showed up at
an orientation in early 2016. “They were looking a little lost,” Dr.
Hamalian recalls now, but it didn’t take long for them to get on
track. “Shoushi, well both girls really, know exactly who they are and
where they are going. They are unbelievably talented, focused and
team-oriented. There aren’t many like them.”
This article appeared in The Globe and Mail on January 3, 2019.
***************************************************************************************************
4 – Lighthouse Management head Aleen Keshishian
to executive produce Netflix series
Filmmaker Ryan Murphy has assembled quite the cast for his Nurse
Ratched series at Netflix, and talent manager Aleen Keshishian is
among the show’s Executive Producers, Variety reveals. Nurse Ratched
is a fictional character and the main antagonist of Ken Kesey’s 1962
novel “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” as well as the 1975 film of
the same name.
Murphy announced that Sharon Stone, Finn Wittrock, Jon Jon Briones,
Charlie Carver, Judy Davis, Harriet Harris, Cynthia Nixon, Hunter
Parrish, Amanda Plummer, and Corey Stoll will all star in the series
alongside the previously announced star Sarah Paulson.
Netflix has given the series a two-season, 18 episode commitment to
“Ratched”. It begins in 1947 and will track Ratched as she morphs from
an average nurse into the monstrous authority figure she became in the
Ken Kesey novel “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and subsequent film.
Paulson will star as the infamous nurse, with Murphy attached as
executive producer.
Along with Murphy, Michael Douglas, who produced the film, will also
serve as an executive producer. Keshishian, Margaret Riley and Jacob
Epstein of Lighthouse Management & Media will also executive produce.
Evan Romansky, who created and wrote the project, will co-executive
produce.
*****************************************************************************************************
5- Boyajian Pens Book on Julfa and New Julfa Armenians
By Gary A. Kulhanjian
Michael Boyajian has penned another noteworthy book, continuing a
renaissance of Armenian subjects by illuminating on historiography and
common-sense analysis. Boyajian was born in Queens, New York and
raised in Long Island.
He now lives in the Hudson Valley of New York. The author says he
can’t stop writing and his productivity is the proof. Seventeen books
are to his credit and seven pertain to Armenian history and culture.
Boyajian is a retired attorney and human rights judge.
The book was an outgrowth of Boyajian’s love for history, exuberant
interests in artifacts, antiques, old photos, relics, and of course
books. Like others, he was inspired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art
in New York with the magnificent collection and exhibit about the
Armenian people. Overall, the subject matter enforced and enhanced his
own research.
In the book, he elaborates about the trials and ordeals of the
Armenians against their enemies. Furthermore, he writes about the
strong hegemony of Shah Abbas of Persia forcing the Armenians into his
empire by mass migration to what became New Julfa.
They accepted the exodus fleeing from the Turks. The Shah Abbas
defeated the Ottoman overlords but was unable to withstand the
Sultan’s gigantic army. Thus, the Shah gained respect from the
Armenians, and they proved to be a valuable aggregate of his empire as
successful merchants and tradesmen. The Armenians placated the Shah
with gifts and celebrations. Promulgating their survival, the
Armenians held high status and were at the pinnacle of Persian society
being a Christian minority. For the Armenians, the Shah Abbas built a
“New Julfa” which became extremely prosperous. In sum, these Armenians
supported the Armenian diaspora outside their inhabitance.
The capital of Persia was Isfahan and across from its location was the
city of “New Julfa.” Sea travel accelerated the success of the
Armenians after seventeenth century. The author reiterates the
successes of the Armenians in trade and globalization.
He mentions the success of Armenian diplomats dispersed by the Shah
Abbas. The success of the Virginia Colony of Jamestown was also
because of a silk expert from Persia known to the British as Martin
the Armenian. The Armenian accomplishments were not centralized but in
Boyajian’s own words became “…global networking of interlocking trade
circuits…” which extended from northern Europe to Asia. Silk and other
useful products were dispersed by the Armenians.
The scope of the book covers important themes. An overview of the
compact study explains the destruction and depopulation of Julfa, the
exodus to New Julfa and prosperity, oppression and second exodus,
sanctuary, and those remaining. The author provides a bibliography for
further research.
Boyajian knows he is writing for the general audience of readers. His
purpose is to educate the masses whether they are Armenians or
non-Armenians craving knowledge they have never known about. The style
is part of his modus-operandi in writing books on a variety of
subjects and to accelerate his writing. Another important aspect of
his style is that he relates contemporary events to the past with
other civilizations. The interjections are quite informative and
revealing in parts of his analyses.
The author does not always follow a linear chronology as traditional
historians follow in their writing; he writes creatively to make the
reader cognizant of various viewpoints. The reader is challenged by
events not even foreseen in historical chronology. The reading becomes
more fascinating, stimulating, and unique.
The author includes a section about contemporary Julfans who have
left Persia (Iran). He
touches briefly upon their reasons for emigrating. Concluding with
testimony and responses of three Armenians who live in the United
States, two of them live in California which has the largest
concentration of the diaspora. Their views add another dimension to
the book. In Boyajian’s own words, “… the Armenians continue to endure
and the diaspora grows as does prosperity and now many are going back
home to the motherland …with great exuberance for being home and great
pride in being Armenian.” Many Armenians from different nations
including the United States are also traveling to Armenia with great
interest.
Gary A. Kulhanjian is a social historian and educator. He is a former
member of the New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education serving
three governors. He holds three degrees in history, social science and
humanities. Kulhanjian lives in California with his family.
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California Courier Online provides viewers of the Armenian News News Service
with a few of the articles in this week’s issue of The California
Courier. Letters to the editor are encouraged through our e-mail
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requested to provide their names, addresses, and/or telephone numbers
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, or by phone, (818) 409-0949.
ArmInfo.Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Armenia, Lieutenant-General Artak Davtyan, on January 15 at NATO headquarters in Brussels, participated in the meeting of the NATO Military Committee at the level of Chiefs of the General Staff, held in the format of the states participating in the mission “Strong Support” in Afghanistan.
As reported by the press service of the Armenian Defense Ministry, the meeting was devoted to an exchange of views on the process of the “Strong support” mission from the military and political points of view, on the long-term problems of the coalition forces and the prospects for the development of Afghanistan.
YEREVAN, January 8. /ARKA/. The official Yerevan has received a proposal of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs suggesting that Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and Elmar Mammadyarov have another meeting, a press secretary for the Armenian Foreign Ministry Anna Naghdalyan said.
Mnatsakanyan and Mammadyarov had their latest, third meeting in early December 2018 in Italy’s Milan to have a deeper look into the positions and approaches of the parties concerning the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
“The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs submitted a proposal to hold a meeting of foreign ministers in January,” Naghdalyan said.
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict erupted into armed clashes after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s as the predominantly Armenian-populated enclave of Azerbaijan sought to secede from Azerbaijan and declared its independence backed by a successful referendum.
On May 12, 1994, the Bishkek cease-fire agreement put an end to the military operations. A truce was brokered by Russia in 1994, although no permanent peace agreement has been signed. Since then, Nagorno-Karabakh and several adjacent regions have been under the control of Armenian forces of Karabakh. Nagorno-Karabakh is the longest-running post-Soviet era conflict and has continued to simmer despite the relative peace of the past two decades, with snipers causing tens of deaths a year.
On April 2, 2016, Azerbaijan launched military assaults along the entire perimeter of its contact line with Nagorno-Karabakh. Four days later a cease-fire was reached. -0-
A scene from the ARF World Congress held in Armenia in 2011
BY HAIG KAYSERIAN
We have arrived at the eve of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation–Dashnaksutyun World Congress, when the 128 year old political organisation’s global branches will send delegates to Armenia for a thorough review of the past four years of activity, as well as to pave a path forward for its next four years. And in order to properly gravel this forward road, it is critical that the ARF points the mirror directly at itself during this review.
It is important that the organisation judges how its own decision-making, packaging and messaging has impacted the ARF’s ability to lead the nation of people that created it out of necessity and hope in 1890. This would mean that the ARF resists any and all temptations to convert what is the organisation’s primary opportunity for self-reflection, to instead reflect on the activities of Armenia’s now-Acting Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan.
Pashinyan has understandably dominated Armenia’s political landscape since he led the country to long-awaited regime change – armed by popular support from the people – in what has been labelled the Velvet Revolution. In the ensuing election, the ARF was not able to pass the requisite threshold of 5% to serve in Armenia’s parliament, scoring only 3.9% of the public’s support in an election that was won in a landslide by Pashinyan’s My Step Alliance.
The fallout from this result has been mostly sub-standard political commentary of all the other players – including the ARF – where their decisions, packaging and messaging has been critiqued from only a single angle: Pashinyan.
For example, leaders of parties that oppose Pashinyan have consistently ignored their own shortcomings by shining a light on what Pashinyan did, what Pashinyan did not do, what Pashinyan said, what Pashinyan did not say and what Pashinyan will do and what Pashinyan will not do. “History will judge us to be correct,” they have said while ignoring the reality that election campaigns are competitions for the present; in this case a competition for the hearts and minds of Armenians today.
While valid commentary might be spun into such nothingness with effective use of the media, a political force with a history of service such as the ARF owes its World Congress the respect to stand tall above all of this and honestly reflect on itself.
Yes, this means resisting the temptation to turn this review into a referendum on Pashinyan, and resist focusing on the revolution’s resulting euphoria as the primary reason for any ARF failures, among a myriad of other reasons beyond the party’s immediate control.
This also means acknowledging that the ARF has plenty to discuss. Its activities in over 20 countries around the world will undoubtedly feature, as will its activities in Artsakh and Javakhk, however the focus of any honest review of the period between 2015 and 2018 must be the ARF’s activities in mainland Armenia, which culminated in the public rejecting the opportunity to re-elect the party into its National Assembly.
You see, history proves that the ARF has been dutifully building political capital in the Armenian world for over a century. The blood it spilled to achieve an improbable independence in 1918; the exemplary leadership of the First Armenian Republic under desolate conditions through to 1921; the establishment and maintenance of the Diaspora as the torchbearers for a future Republic during Armenia’s Soviet occupation; the heroism on the battlefields of Karabakh ahead of the Republic of Artsakh’s successful vote for self-determination; the legislative victories recognising the Armenian Genocide across most continents – these are all but examples of the capital that has been naturally built out of sincere obligation over 128 years.
It hasn’t all been doom and gloom during the past four years either. Deposits have been made towards this capital. The ARF’s leadership to achieve the Constitutional Reforms that brought Armenia to a parliamentary system of governance, replacing the old presidential model; the instinctive reaction of the ARF world to respond with frontline volunteers, resources and advocacy during the four-day Artsakh War in April 2016; the vision to achieve a united call for justice for the Armenian Genocide during the Centenary year of 2015; the activities to support the homeland, Artsakh and Syrian-Armenians by outstretching the global tentacles of the ARF – these are among examples of continued capital building.
So how does such political capital get spent, to the extent that an organisation with the aforementioned track record cannot even attract 5% support from its fellow citizens? This is the key question that needs to be honestly, selflessly and courageously pondered by the ARF World Congress when it convenes in January 2019.
Sure, the euphoric environment played a role. Sure, Pashinyan played a role. Sure, foreign interests might be flexing their muscles in Yerevan like they are known to do in countries with the geopolitical realities of an Armenia. Notwithstanding these points, my hope is that the ARF focuses on what it itself is directly able to control, which is none of the aforementioned.
For example, the ARF has been criticised for its delay in joining the revolution. Moreso, the ARF has been criticised for standing with its Coalition partner, the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) and their nominee for Prime Minister – former President Serzh Sargsyan – while protests against Sargsyan’s perceived grab for a third term in power grew on the streets of Yerevan. The ARF has also been criticised for its controversial exit from the unity government formed by Pashinyan, after partnering with the RPA and the Prosperous Armenia Party in a vote that once again forced people to the streets in an encore in October 2018.
The ARF has since been criticised for not properly acknowledging its mistakes, assuming it did make some. Even before all of this, the ARF was criticised for favouring the path of making changes from within (even in Coalition with the RPA) instead of on the streets (in Coalition with the people), as well as for transitioning away from its progressive roots while involved in some of these partnerships.
The World Congress needs to break down these decisions, and hear the justifications from the incumbent leadership. Assuming it accepts their justifications, the World Congress needs to ask why 96.1% of the public did not accept these same justifications at the December 9 polls?
This is where packaging and messaging may need to be scrutinised. Before and after these elections, the ARF brought up some very valid concerns about the elected policy paths of Pashinyan and his team – I too am not comforted by his economic agenda and could be more at ease with his foreign policy standing with less spin-populism and his rhetoric of the potentially chaotic “governance by Republic Square” strategy. However, it is obvious that most people are not listening to the ARF’s concerns. Why not? What can the ARF do better to reverse this worrying trend?
It was U.S. President Harry S. Truman who famously had a sign on his desk with the following inscription: “The buck stops here!” – meaning that responsibility is not passed on beyond this point.
In the ARF world, the burden to determine where the buck-passing stops and to set frameworks for future corrections rests with the World Congress.
An honest self-reflection at this World Congress will ensure the ARF comes out of what is a historically critical meeting with decisions that will lead to a period of the correct policies; better packaged and efficiently delivered. This will ensure the path forward leads the ARF to clawing back some of the political capital it has lost.
There is no doubt that the ARF deserves its place at Armenia’s decision-making table. It has protected everything Armenia and Armenian for 128 years. A pinpoint, self-reflecting mirror at this World Congress is the opportunity to ensure the ARF continues its exemplary service for the next 128 years and beyond.
Haig Kayserian is the Executive Director of the Armenian National Committee of Australia, with a Bachelors in Media & Cultural Studies (Macquarie University) and is currently completing his Masters in Politics & Policy (Deakin University). He is a Director at several technology companies based in the United States and Australia, and is an Advisory Board member at Armenia’s first technology venture capital firm.