2018 – Page 223 – Armenian Directory & News

Verelq: Talk in numbers, we are not at a rally. How did the debate between Pashinyan and Vardanyan end?

September 10, 2018March 12, 2026 Kalashian Nyrie

09.09.2018

Armenia:

150

After meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on September 9, an interesting debate took place between RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and co-founder of the “Initiatives for the Development of Armenia” (IDeA) Foundation, Ruben Vardanyan, during a discussion with Armenian businessmen. The latter urged Pashinyan to speak in numbers at the business meeting, not with appeals and slogans.

“Since we have a business meeting, not a rally, if possible, let’s talk with numbers, not with calls and slogans. We have already heard them a lot,” said Vardanya and asked the Prime Minister of Armenia several questions. “I have three questions: first. We can talk a lot about the need for investment, but business loves stability and predictability. As the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, what steps are you taking to create a predictable environment and establish cooperation between different circles?” asked Vardanyan and reminded that Pashinyan is now in a country where a civil war started 100 years ago, as a result of which many people died and the country’s economy was destroyed. “God forbid, a period of instability begins in Armenia. The political risks in the country are primary from the point of view of business,” said Vrdanyan.

Vardanyan’s second brought the issue to taxes. He noted that in terms of taxes, Armenia is uncompetitive, even if we compare it with Georgia and Belarus. “You can say invest, there is no corruption, but besides corruption there is another important issue that I have addressed Tigran Sargsyan, Hovik Abrahamyan, Karen Karapetyan, now I want to ask a question to the RA Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan, because you are not an economist. What is the most profitable company in Armenia, what is the most profitable sector, how much does it earn? I urge your team to speak in the language of numbers when communicating with businessmen, because it is easier and more understandable,” Vardanyan said, reports Today.

According to him, it is necessary to explain how much investment needs to be made, how much the taxes and revenues will be. There are 18 tax types in Armenia, 6 in Georgia. “What are you planning to do so that there will be 6 types of taxes in Armenia, or are you not planning? You are the Prime Minister of Armenia, we are ready to support our country, but it would be good if the dialogue was in this format, and not in the format of “let’s go, everything will be fine”. Believe me, Karen Karapetyan also said: come, guys, everything will be fine, there will be no problem. Hovik Abrahamyan and Tigran Sargsyan said the same, each of them in his own way. in style. But it is important that these words become deeds. The disrespect towards investors and donors in Armenia is fantastic reaches size. The problem is that I shouldn’t come and say I have problems, when I invest money in another country, they come and tell me what can we do to make you invest more. What are the problems that might occur? Believe me, you don’t need to open lavish tables, you need to develop a dialogue format between the state and business: not what you need, but what we can help you with in the format.

Third. You are now in Russia, where 2 million Armenians live. I don’t have an RA passport, I live my life, of course, worrying about the motherland. What can RA give to the Armenian community of Russia? We are used to hearing that everyone “must give” to RA, but what will RA give to the Diaspora? Here, too, there are disrespectful relations. “Give us money, we’ll treat you well, host the format” is unviable. What will you do to improve relations with the diaspora?” said the Prime Minister.

Answering Ruben Vardanyan’s question: Nikol Pashinyan talked about changing the tax code. He presented the income tax reduction project, said that they are discussing the option of exempting small businesses from certain taxes, and that the goal is to simplify the tax code.

“The largest branch of the economy in Armenia is agriculture, but neither the government nor the peasants know the price of potatoes. …We haven’t had such a formula in 25 years. …They could say who will enter where and how much, but the cost calculation was not done. …in RA, the process of lowering credit interest rates has started, we will provide some young people with an unprecedentedly low 5.5% mortgage loan,” said Pashinyan and expressed his surprise about the businessman’s question of establishing stability in the country. “I don’t understand why the topic of stability comes up from time to time. A revolution took place in RA, during which stability was not disturbed for a single minute. Now different people, journalists, are constantly writing about instability in the press, talking about civil war. What is this about, can someone explain to me? Today, the power in RA belongs to the people and will always belong to the people. What kind of instability do you predict? Do you want me? Let me declare that there will be stability in Armenia, and whoever decides that he will be in power will be in power. If there are forces in Armenia that want to bring instability, they will get an unequivocal answer. Then, of course, they will say that we are political prisoners, but we don’t care about their cries, I guarantee you. By instability I mean lawlessness. Everyone is free to carry out political activities according to the law…” Pashinyan said.

“We will not allow corruption to shed crocodile tears, or to say that we are friends of Russia, don’t say anything to us, if you say something to us, you are saying something to Russia. Russia’s friend is RA and the Armenian people, let no one consider himself and his clan to be Russia’s exclusive friend in RA,” he said.

N. Pashinyan noted that the Armenian community is not divided into its own and foreigners. Everyone is their friend and this, according to Pashinyan, is the biggest support.

“If the RA government doesn’t say what is the most profitable business in RA, you can help in that matter, you tell me what is that profitable business in RA. After all, that calculation must be based on public figures. I am surprised that you had so much nerve to ask the same question to 5-6 Prime Ministers over and over, recording that they have no answer. You have a very good team, and tell your team to hold the government and me personally accountable. I will keep that paper in my pocket, the next time they ask me, I will proudly say, “income” is like this, thank you Mr. Vardanyan for helping me find the answer to that question,” said N. Pashinyan.

In response, Ruben Vardanyan stated: “We would gladly do so, but since you have decided to stop the operation of such a structure… we received a note last week and assumed that you decided to do it yourself.”

“Are we talking about the Center for Strategic Initiatives?” asked the Prime Minister and continued. “That center has been operating for two years, until now the answer to that question has not been received. If it was one of the most important questions, then what did that center do?”

“Ask that question to the former prime minister,” he said Ruben Vardanyan:

“I became the prime minister and I saw that parallel to the ministries in RA there are alternative state systems: PIGs, SNOCs and they perform the functions that the ministries should perform. And these people receive higher salaries than the prime minister and the president, but when they call us, we ask what have you done, it turns out nothing. Our state system has an elite and a non-elite part, and the two have one thing in common: both do nothing. It’s just that some get high wages for doing nothing, and some get low. I say we stop this,” said Pashinyan.

Sports: Ghazaryan: I think Mkhitaryan shouldn’t play against Qarabag

September 9, 2018March 12, 2026 Ani Tigranian

Daily Cannon

Sept 9 2018

By Dan Critchlow

–

Sep 8, 2018

After last week’s group stage draw, reports started to surface that Azerbaijan wouldn’t allow Mkhitaryan into the country for the Qarabag match, due to tensions between the country and the Arsenal man’s homeland of Armenia.

Speaking to Vivaro News about his Armenian teammate, Ghazaryan put his view forward. He admitted he believes it would be best for the player to sit out the trip, saying: “I think Henrikh shouldn’t play that match.”

The 29-year-old previously faced this problem with Borussia Dortmund, for a match against Gabala. Although officials would reportedly have allowed him into the country, the Bundesliga club decided against it over safety concerns.

A spokesperson from Arsenal told the media they’ll always prioritise their players’ safety, and plan to look into the situation, but didn’t give any further details on their plans.

Meanwhile Hikmet Hajiyev, spokesperson for the Azerbaijani foreign ministry, gave a statement on the issue as well. Essentially all he said was that they’d deal with it if and when it becomes a problem.

If fellow players think it’s best for Mkhitaryan not to take part, and club officials and foreign ministry representatives don’t seem sure whether Arsenal should bring him along, it’s probably going to end with the 29-year-old staying home. Hopefully Unai Emery’s team can get the job done without him.

CoE: Armenia : Workshop on consultation mechanisms between local and national authorities

September 9, 2018March 12, 2026 Khoyetsian Rose

Council of Europe

Sept 7 2018

Armenia : Workshop on consultation mechanisms between local and national authorities

Cooperation Yerevan, Armenia 7 September 2018

In the framework of its co-operation activities in Armenia, the Council of Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities is organising a Workshop on consultation mechanisms between local and national authorities, on 12 September 2018, in Yerevan. The workshop aims to launch a dialogue on different consultation mechanisms which can be adapted to the Armenian context, with a longer term objective of establishing a framework for regular consultations and institutionalising a functional consultation mechanism in this country.

The discussions will be organised in three sessions: on the legal framework for consultation – in particular in the light of the European Charter of Local Self-Government; on the institutional mechanisms for political consultations through case studies in Poland, Iceland, Latvia, Serbia and Georgia; and on the existing practice and future prospects in Armenia.

The workshop will be opened by Congress Secretary General Andreas KIEFER, First Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration and Development Vatche TERTERYAN, Deputy Head of the Council of Europe Office in Yerevan Loreta VIOIU, President of the Communities Association of Armenia and Head of the Armenian Delegation to the Congress Emin YERITSYAN, and National Program Officer of the Swiss Cooperation Office South Caucasus Sergey HOVHANNISYAN.

This meeting will bring together representatives of the Armenian Government and the National Assembly, local authorities and their associations, as well as national associations of local authorities in other European countries.

The workshop is organised in the framework of the “Institutional Support for Communities Association of Armenia” project implemented by the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe with the financial support of the Government of Switzerland.

Congress cooperation activities in Armenia

Contact:
Dmitri MARCHENKOV
Tel: +33 6 50 39 29 01
[email protected]

‘Missing’ Armenian children found after Dutch deportation drama

September 9, 2018March 12, 2026 Emil Lazarian

Agence France Presse
September 8, 2018 Saturday 5:47 PM GMT
'Missing' Armenian children found after Dutch deportation drama
The Hague, Sept 8 2018
Two Armenian children who disappeared to avoid deportation have been
found, police in the Netherlands said Saturday, shortly after the
justice ministry announced they would be allowed to stay, the latest
twist in a drama that has gripped the country.
Howick, 13 and his sister Lili, 12, who had gone into hiding several
times before to avoid the authorities, were due to be deported to join
their mother in Armenia, after a last-ditch legal bid failed to stop
their expulsion.
They were found "in good health", police in the southeastern city of
Wijchen said in a statement, a day after they were last seen at their
grandparents' home there.
News that they had been found came shortly after the justice ministry
said in a statement to AFP that Migration Minister Mark Harbers "after
careful consideration decided that the children can remain in the
country".
The saga has been headline news in the Netherlands, with Prime
Minister Mark Rutte and Dutch royal Princess Laurentien weighing in,
while the youngsters have appeared on national television to plead
their case.
Howick and Lili last went missing a week ago, after the Hague-based
Council of State, the country's highest administrative court, ruled
there was no reason why the two teens should not be sent back to
Armenia.
The children have been living with foster parents since their mother,
Armina Hambartsjumian, was sent back to Yerevan last year after her
asylum request was finally denied.
Just before leaving the country the 37-year-old briefly hid the
children, refusing to tell immigration officials where they were.
Hambartsjumian was deported without them and has since told Dutch
supporters she is unable to look after her children in Armenia. By the
time Howick and Lili eventually emerged that time, their case was
before the courts.
On Friday, the children's lawyer had launched a last bid at the
Amsterdam court to halt their expulsion, arguing that their mother was
not able to look after them.
But the judge ruled that there was no viable reason to stop the deportation.

Netherlands says ‘missing’ Armenian teens facing deportation can stay

September 9, 2018March 12, 2026 Elizabeth Jabejian

Agence France Presse
September 8, 2018 Saturday 3:22 PM GMT
Netherlands says 'missing' Armenian teens facing deportation can stay
The Hague, Sept 8 2018
The Dutch justice ministry said two Armenian teenagers who disappeared
to avoid their deportation on Saturday could live in the Netherlands,
in the latest twist to a high-profile drama that has gripped the
country.
Howick, 13 and his sister Lili, 12, who have gone into hiding several
times before to avoid the authorities, were due to be deported to join
their mother in Armenia, after a last-ditch legal bid failed to stop
their expulsion.
Migration Minister Mark Harbers has "after careful consideration
decided that the children can remain in the country," the justice
ministry said in a statement sent to AFP.
"The concerned authorities are now trying to establish if the children
are safe and where they are currently," it said.
They were last seen on Friday night at their grandparents' home in the
southeastern city of Wijchen, police said in a statement.
The saga has gripped the country, with Prime Minister Mark Rutte and
Dutch royal Princess Laurentien weighing in, while the youngsters have
appeared on national television to plead their case.
Howick and Lili last went missing a week ago, after the Hague-based
Council of State, the country's highest administrative court, ruled
there was no reason why the two teens should not be sent back to
Armenia.
The children have been living with foster parents since their mother,
Armina Hambartsjumian, was sent back to Yerevan last year after her
asylum request was finally denied.
Just before leaving the country the 37-year-old briefly hid the
children, refusing to tell immigration officials where they were.
Hambartsjumian was deported without them and has since told Dutch
supporters she is unable to look after her children in Armenia. By the
time Howick and Lili eventually emerged that time, their case was
before the courts.
On Friday, the children's lawyer had launched a last bid at the
Amsterdam court to halt their expulsion, arguing that their mother was
not able to look after them.
But the judge ruled that there was no viable reason to stop the deportation.

Putin concludes secret military bloc deal with Azerbaijan

September 9, 2018March 12, 2026 Dabaghian Diana

Pravda, Russia

Sept 7 2018

Putin concludes secret military bloc deal with Azerbaijan

Aidyn Mekhtiyev
Pravda.Ru

It transpired that Azerbaijan, a former Soviet republic in the South Caucasus, intends to join the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO – a military bloc of former Soviet republics). It was also said that Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Azeri counterpart Ilkham Aliyev supposedly concluded a secret deal on the subject.

Under the terms of the secret deal, Azerbaijani joins the CSTO as an observer, and Moscow uses its influence on Armenia to help Azerbaijan regain control over five out of seven areas adjacent to Nagorno-Karabakh. Currently those regions are occupied by Armenian troops.

There is a very important detail to the story: representatives of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan did not refute media reports about an opportunity for Baku to join the CSTO. Khikmet Gajiyev, an official spokesman for the department, merely refused to comment on the information. As is known, the phrase “no comment” in the diplomatic language most often means that the information is likely to be true to fact, but officials opt not to comment on the subject.

“At the moment, we have no additional comments on this matter,” Gajiyev said at a briefing in Baku, Azerbaijan. Further, the official said that Armenia would not be able to veto Azerbaijan`s membership in the organisation. “Armenia is not the only member of the CSTO, there are other members in this organisation,” the Azerbaijani diplomat stated.

Meanwhile, Armenia does not hide concerns over Azerbaijan`s possible entry into the CSTO. Acting spokesperson for Armenia`s Foreign Ministry, Anna Naghdalyan, said: “The possibility for Azerbaijan to join the CSTO is being discussed at the level of the expert community, but the official position of the Foreign Ministry is as follows: Armenia will use its veto right.”

The meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Azeri leader Ilham Aliyev, which was held last Saturday, September 1, in Sochi, added more fuel to the fire. Those were face-to-face talks, so no one know what the two presidents were talking about behind closed doors.

However, it became clear from the statement that Ilham Aliyev made right after the meeting that one of the main topics of the meeting was the problem of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The president of Azerbaijan reiterated that Armenian troops should leave from seven areas adjacent to Nagorno-Karabakh.

It is not clear yet whether Vladimir Putin agreed to assist Azerbaijan in regaining control over those areas. It can be possible, however, that Putin and Aliyev concluded the CSTO-in-exchange-for-territories deal.

We may soon witness a historical moment in the near future, when Azerbaijan joins the CSTO as an observer, and Armenia puts up no obstacles under the pressure of Moscow to return five of seven occupied territories.

The problem, however, is that the Collective Security Treaty Organisation does not envisage such an entity as “observer country in the organisation,” although it is not hard to set up such a mechanism.

Azerbaijan, being a member of the international Non-Aligned Movement, like Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, positions itself as a country that adheres to a neutral status. In other words, the country refuses to enter military blocs, including NATO, and excludes the deployment of foreign military bases, including Russian ones, on its territory.

The CSTO is a purely military organisation. If Azerbaijan joins the organisation, even as an observer, it would mean that the country will violate policy of neutrality in foreign policy.

Azerbaijan has also applied to join another regional association – the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). Baku has already received the status of a “partner country for dialogue” in this initiative. Although the SCO, unlike the CSTO, is not a military organisation, membership in it comes contrary to the concept of a neutral foreign policy of the country. In light of the current aggravation of relations with Washington, the SCO is becoming a counterweight structure to the offensive foreign policy of the United States.

In a nutshell, Moscow`s message to Armenia is simple: If Yerevan continues its policy of rapprochement with NATO, the Kremlin will toughen its stance on Armenia and, quite possibly, revisit the issue to return some of the territories adjacent to Nagorno Karabakh to Azerbaijan.

Putin suggests comparing notes on current and midterm issues at meeting with Armenia’s PM

September 9, 2018March 12, 2026 Karagyozian Lena

ITAR-TASS, Russia
 Saturday 10:15 PM GMT
Putin suggests comparing notes on current and midterm issues at
meeting with Armenia’s PM
MOSCOW September 9
Russian President Vladimir Putin made a proposal to compare notes on
current and midterm matters at a meeting with Prime Minister of
Armenia Nikol Pashinyan.
MOSCOW, September 9. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin made a
proposal to compare notes on current and midterm matters at a meeting
with Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan.
"I am very glad to see for comparing notes in respect of our
interaction at present and in the midterm perspective," the Russian
leader said at the start of talks.
Russia steadily keeps the first place among economic partners of
Armenia and is the largest investor into the economy of the republic,
Putin said. The Russian President noted diversified nature of trade
and economic ties between two countries. "These are energy, including
hydrocarbons energy, gas supplies at the lowest prices for global gas
deliveries by Gazprom - $150 per thousand cubic meters, nuclear energy
and thermal generation," Putin said. Relations are also developing in
the metals sector and in machine-building, he added.
Growth of trade turnover between Russia and Armenia by almost 30% is
encouraging, Putin said. Growth over the first half of this year was
also above 22%, the Russian leader said. "If it goes on in the same
manner, we will be above last-year figures," Putin added.

Category: 2018