Category: 2017

                                        Friday, 
Armenia-Kurdistan Flights Continue For Now
 . Ruzanna Stepanian
Iraq -- Vehicles drive out of the Irbil International Airport,
November 23, 2015
Weekly flights from Armenia to Iraq's Kurdistan region continued on
Friday despite the Iraqi authorities' decision to close the region's
airspace to foreign airlines in retaliation for its vote for
independence.
A plane belonging to a private Armenian airline flew from Yerevan to
Kurdistan's capital Erbil just hours before the ban imposed by Baghdad
was due to come into effect.
The ban followed the Kurdistan Regional Government's refusal to hand
over control over the airports in Erbil and another regional city,
Sulaimaniya. The Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority sent a notice to
foreign airlines telling them that international flights to both
cities will be suspended at 1500 GMT on Friday and only domestic
flights will be allowed.
The Yerevan-Erbil flights operated by an Iraqi company were carried on
Saturdays. According to the Armenia Airline carrier, the latest flight
was brought forward by one day at the request of its Iraqi partner.
The airline's deputy director, Gevorg Khachatrian, said the company
has no plans yet to suspend the service. "We have received no
notifications, and as of now there are no changes in our flight
schedule," he told RFE/RL's Armenian service (Azatutyun.am).
Armenia's Directorate General on Civil Aviation did not clarify
whether it will order the company to suspend the flights. "If the
airspace is closed, we will obviously decide whether or not to
continue the flights," said a spokeswoman for the government agency.
Neighboring Iran and Turkey have already said that the will comply
with Baghdad's ban on flights to and from Kurdistan. Reuters reported
that as of Friday morning two European carriers, Lufthansa and
Austrian Airlines, kept at least one flight still scheduled after the
deadline.
Iraq's Kurds overwhelmingly voted for their autonomous region's
independence on Monday in a referendum strongly condemned by the Iraqi
central government as well as Iran and Turkey.
Armenia reacted cautiously to the referendum. Foreign Minister Edward
Nalbandian expressed hope on Wednesday that Kurdistan and Baghdad
"will avoid tension and find ways of solving existing issues."
Yerevan has maintained cordial relations with both sides. It formally
decided to open an Armenian consulate general in Erbil in March
shortly after Nalbandian held fresh talks with Massoud Barzani, the
Iraqi Kurdish president, in Germany.
Armenia's trade with the Kurdish region and other parts of Iraq has
grown considerably in recent years. Armenian exports to the Middle
Eastern nation account for the bulk of bilateral trade which stood at
$138 million last year.
Turkish Intellectuals Risk Arrest After Trip To Karabakh
Armenia - Turkish intellectuals (left to right) Erol Katircioglu, Sait
Cetinoglu, Ali Bayramoglu and Ufuk Uras at a news conference in
Yerevan, 21Sep2017.
Authorities in Azerbaijan have issued an international arrest warrant
for four prominent Turkish intellectuals who visited Nagorno-Karabakh
last week.
Former Turkish parliamentarian Ufuk Uras, writer and political
commentator Ali Bayramoglu and two scholars, Sait Cetinoglu and Erol
Katircioglu, travelled to Karabakh via Armenia on a trip organized by
a Yerevan-based group called the National Congress of Western
Armenians.
They met with Karen Mirzoyan, the Karabakh foreign minister until this
week, in Stepanakert on September 22. Mirzoyan's press office said he
briefed them on "the history and origins" of the Armenian-Azerbaijani
conflict and the Karabakh Armenian leadership's efforts to resolve it.
Azerbaijan's Office of the Prosecutor-General said late on Thursday
that the Turks illegally crossed Azerbaijan's internationally
recognized border and will be prosecuted under a corresponding article
of the Azerbaijani Criminal Code. It said it has asked Turkish
law-enforcement authorities to arrest and extradite them to Baku.
The Turkish ambassador to Azerbaijan, Erkan Ozoral, strongly condemned
the trip on Friday. But he did not explicitly say whether Uras,
Bayramoglu, Cetinoglu and Katircioglu will be arrested in Turkey. "We
respect the legal system," Ozoral told the Azerbaijani APA news
agency.
Successive Turkish governments have strongly and unconditionally
backed Azerbaijan in the Karabakh conflict. Turkish Defense Minister
Nurettin Canikli reaffirmed that stance and called for "the liberation
of Karabakh" on Thursday when he visited Azerbaijan to attend joint
exercises held by the air forces of the two Turkic states.
Baku similarly issued international arrest warrants for three
pro-Armenian members of the European Parliament who travelled to
Karabakh and monitored a constitutional referendum held there in
February. None of them has since been arrested.
The three lawmakers -- Frank Engel of Luxembourg, Eleni Theocharous of
Cyprus and the Czech Republic's Jaromir Stetina -- had already been
declared personae non grata in Azerbaijan because of their previous
trips to the Armenian-populated territory. The Azerbaijani government
has also blacklisted more than 600 other non-Armenian foreigners for
the same reason.
Earlier in February, Belarus controversially handed over to Azerbaijan
Alexander Lapshin, a Russian-Israeli blogger detained in Minsk in
December. An Azerbaijani court sentenced Lapshin three years in prison
in July. He was pardoned by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and set
free on September 14. The blogger called for continued Armenian
control over Karabakh the following day.
First Major Solar Plant Built In Armenia
Armenia - A newly built solar power plant in Tsaghkadzor, 29Sep2017.
Armenia's first-ever major solar power plant went on stream on Friday,
with a senior government official predicting the country's growing
reliance on renewable sources of energy.
The 0.5-megawatt plant has been built by a private company, Energo
Invest Holding, in Tsaghkadzor, a resort town 60 kilometers north of
Yerevan.
"Today is a historic day for Armenia as the first solar power plant
has been connected to Armenia's electricity networks," the Armenpress
news agency quoted Deputy Minister of Energy Infrastructures Hayk
Harutiunian as saying at the inauguration ceremony.
Harutiunian said 11 more such facilities with a combined capacity of
10 megawatts will be constructed in the country by 2019. "Besides, we
are holding a tender for the construction of a big solar plant with a
55-megawatt capacity," he added, according to the ARKA news agency.
Solar and wind power currently make up only a tiny share of
electricity produced in Armenia. The Armenian government has declared
the spread of these renewable sources of energy a priority.
In July, Prime Minister Karen Karapetian attended the official opening
of Armenia's first factory manufacturing solar panels used for power
generation. The government exempted equipment and raw materials
imported by its private owner from customs duties earlier this year.
The Tsaghkadzor plant is equipped with German-made solar
panels. Energo Invest Holding claims to have invested about $500,000
in its construction.
"This is a pilot project," a senior Energo Invest executive, Liana
Lobasian, told reporters. She said her company plans to build larger
solar plants that will absorb "large-scale investments."
Energo Invest is part of the Tashir Group of Samvel Karapetian, a
Russian-Armenian billionaire businessman. The Russian-headquartered
business conglomerate owns Armenia's national electric utility and
largest thermal power plant. It is also expected to start managing
soon country's state-owned power transmission network.
Karapetian was the driving force behind the recent creation by three
dozen Russian businesspeople of Armenian descent of a
multimillion-dollar investment fund that pledged to finance various
business projects in Armenia. The fund is said to be particularly
interested in hydropower and solar energy.
Press Review
"Zhoghovurd" says that the head of the European Union Delegation in
Yerevan, Piotr Switalski, may again find himself at loggerheads with
the Armenian authorities following his latest statements on changes
which they need to make in order to make Armenians eligible for
visa-travel to the EU. The paper claims that Switalski referred not so
much to visa-related changes as broader reforms needed in Armenia.
"Haykakan Zhamanak" reports and comments on a government forecast that
economic growth in Armenia will reach 4.5 percent next year. The
government expects economic recovery in Russia and higher
international prices of copper will contribute to that growth. "That
our economy and the population's living standards are painfully
dependent on the copper price and remittances from our compatriots
working abroad is not a revelation," the paper says. "All we have to
clarify is what depends on our government."
"Chorrord Ishkhanutyun" reports that a new government bill on freedom
of information has provoked strong criticism from Armenian journalists
and non-governmental organizations. The paper says that the Justice
Ministry, which drafted the bill, appears to be postponing its
submission to the government and the National Assembly for
approval. It says ministry officials have so far been unable to make
it more acceptable to the critics in line with an instruction issued
by Justice Minister Davit Harutiunian.
"Hraparak" says that President Serzh Sarkisian's decision to pardon
Vazgen Khachikian, the former head of Armenia's state pension fund who
was jailed for corruption in 2012, has not gone down well with many
people. "The extent of criticism and resentment is so high that even
sensible people did not dare to counter that at least this plunderer
spent five years in jail," the paper says. "There are so many
plunderers that remain at large, occupy posts, wreak havoc on the
state budget and get away with that."
(Tigran Avetisian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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