Category: 2019

Iran Still Ready to Help Resolve Nagorno-Karabakh Dispute

Antonian Lara
IFP [Iran Front Page] News
March 3 2019


By IFP Editorial Staff
 

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman says Tehran’s policy towards the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute has not changed, and the country is still prepared to help Armenia and Azerbaijan Republic settle the dispute peacefully.

Bahram Qassemi made the comment in response to a question by the Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA) regarding the recent trip to Tehran by the Armenian prime minister.

“As I have repeated time and again, the Islamic Republic of Iran has a clear, transparent and clear-cut stance towards all its neighbours,” said the spokesman.

“The top priority of Iran’s foreign policy is its neighbours. We are keen on having strong ties with our neighbours based on mutual respect and non-interference in [each other’s] domestic affairs and at the same time seeking to further expand our relations,” Qassemi noted.

“In our estimation, Iran’s relations with any of the neighbouring countries will, undoubtedly, not be against the interests of a third country, be it one of the neighbours or another country in the world,” he added.

He then touched upon relations between the former Soviet Union’s breakaway republics with Iran.

“Following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the independence of republics in Central Asia and the Caucasus, balanced relations have been in place between Iran and Armenia in compliance with all principles governing relations between neighbours and [in compliance with] neighbourhood rights,” Qassemi said.

He said the Armenian premier’s trip to Iran is also evaluated within the framework of these relations and the Islamic Republic of Iran’s foreign policy vis-à-vis all its northern neighbouring countries.

“Relations between Iran and the Azerbaijan Republic, as two neighbouring countries with common traditions, customs, culture and religion, have always been growing after the independence period, with a look to further development and deepening of ties on all fronts as stressed by officials of both countries ,” he said.

“Taking a look at the number of delegations exchanged between the two sides at different levels, especially in recent years, and particularly meetings between the foreign ministers and presidents and the agreements reached bears testimony to this reality and shows the depth of relations between Iran and Azerbaijan,” said the spokesman.

“Iran believes the stability, security and economic development of the Azerbaijan Republic, Armenia and other neighbouring countries amount to the all-out development of this sensitive region in the world. Indubitably, we want all tensions, indignation, insecurity and instability in relations between our neighbours to be removed,” said Qassemi.

He then referred to Tehran’s policy vis-à-vis the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran’s policy towards the Karabakh dispute remains a clear and transparent one, and has not changed. We believe this issue, which can be a cause for concern for countries around us, should be settled based on international regulations and through dialogue,” said the spokesman.

“It is important for the Islamic Republic of Iran that its relations with Armenia and the Azerbaijan Republic are not affected by the Karabakh dispute; so, Iran will continue to pursue its fundamental and logical policy on this issue, and we strongly hope that this conflict is peacefully settled as soon as possible on the back of peaceful efforts by authorities of these two countries using dialogue and negotiations and all diplomatic tools and channels,” he said.

Qassemi once again announced Tehran’s preparedness to help resolve the conflict.

“As it has tried in the past to settle this lingering issue between the two countries, the Islamic Republic of Iran stands ready to make every effort in that regard,” he noted.

“We take pride in that followers of all divine faiths, including the Armenian community, have, over the past centuries, lived side by side in Iran as a country which has an ancient culture and civilization, and have enjoyed the necessary facilities and opportunities to practice their own religious rites and rituals.”

“Today, thanks to the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, representatives from the Armenian, Zoroastrian and Jewish communities are present at the Iranian parliament,” he said.

“The presence of the Armenian prime minister at the Ararat sports club in Tehran and his meeting with members of the Armenian community does not seem an illogical action per se, but, undoubtedly, hanging a few banners bearing statements in the Armenian language about the Karabakh dispute at the location of the Ararat cultural and sports complex is an arbitrary and unacceptable move and is not approved of by the Islamic Republic of Iran,” he said.

‘Karabakh conflict should not affect Iran’s ties with Armenia, Azerbaijan’

Emil Lazarian
Tehran Times, Iran
March 3 2019

March 3, 2019

TEHRAN – Tehran says it does not want its relations with Armenia and Azerbaijan to be affected by the Karabakh conflict, IRNA reported.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi said on Sunday the conflict should be resolved based on international regulations and through dialogue.

“Iran continues to follow its principled and rational policies with this regard,” he added.

Pointing to Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s visit to Tehran, Qassemi said, “As I’ve repeatedly said the stance of the Islamic Republic of Iran toward its neighbors is clear and transparent.”

“[Our] neighbors are the top priority of Iran’s foreign policy,” he added.

MH/PA

Armenian Prime Minister, Azerbaijani President agree to meet

Kalashian Nyrie
JAM news
March 3 2019
JamNews
Tatia nikoladze
March 3, 2019

The date of the meeting has not yet been announced. What do experts have to say?

The OSCE Minsk Group, which mediates the negotiation process in the Karabakh conflict, has reported that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev have agreed to meet.

They also assessed the decrease in the number of casualties on the line of contact in recent months positively.

• How to achieve peace in Karabakh? Recipes from Baku and Yerevan

• A reflection of the Karabakh conflict in literature and film

The announcement follows a recent statement made by the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and Elmar Mammadyarov in January in which both sides confirmed their readiness to ‘prepare both nations for peace’.

Pundits in both countries reacted with reservation, and urged the public not to expect immediate results.

Political observer Hakob Badalyan told JAMnews:

“…it would be naive to believe that this problem has a compromise solution. Both countries perceive the problem as a question of statehood. The statement about the need to prepare the nations for peace should be taken as a signal that the problem will not be solved in the near future. It can be interpreted as an intention to adapt the people to the situation that has developed so that there are no illusions in that a compromise solution can be reached.”

JAMnews political commentator in Baku, Shahin Rzayev,  said:

“Each side hopes that the other will take the first step – but it seems to me that there will be no hurry. The Azerbaijani side places certain hopes on the new government of Pashinyan, if only because there is no such aversion at the personal level, which was the case with the former negotiators from the Armenian side, and there is a certain hope for hypothetical assistance from Russia.

“The Armenian side, of course, is interested in reducing the revanchist rhetoric from Azerbaijan. But, all this can work only if the parties have a plan and make a concerted effort to take action, and this is hard to believe.

“Either the parties must act simultaneously and in stages, or nothing will happen. Whoever takes the first step unilaterally will lose much in the ratings, including power.”

How Diaspora Communities Influence Terrorist Groups

Emil Lazarian
Lawfare
March 3 2019
By James A. Piazza

Sunday, March 3, 2019, 10:00 AM

Photo Credit: Associated Press via New York Times

Editor’s Note: Terrorist groups often draw on ethnic or religious brethren in other countries. These communities raise money, provide arms, offer volunteers, lobby host governments and otherwise try to advance the terrorist cause. James Piazza of The Pennsylvania State University goes deep on diasporas. He identifies the ways in which they make a terrorism problem worse and why fighting terrorism requires countering the influence of militant diasporas.

Daniel Byman

***

Ties between terrorist groups and diaspora communities are not a recent phenomenon. In the late 19th century, anti-tsarist anarchist terrorist movements nurtured connections with networks of supporters among Russian and Eastern European immigrant communities in the United States. Throughout most of the 20th century, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) enjoyed close links with the Irish-American community. The EOKA (National Organization of Cypriot Struggle) terrorist movement, which sought the independence of Cyprus from British administration, forged close links with the international Greek diaspora. In the 1970s, Armenian communities in multiple countries were closely tied with groups like the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA) and the Justice Commandos of the Armenian Genocide. More recently, organizations such as Hamas, Hezbollah, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) have been sustained by Palestinian, Lebanese Shiite, Tamil, and Kurdish diasporas in multiple countries. In the aftermath of two deadly terrorist attacks in Spain in August 2017 perpetrated by a cell of Moroccan-born immigrants inspired by the Islamic State, authorities and commentators noted the importance of North African diaspora communities in Spain and elsewhere in Europe for terrorist movements both in Europe and abroad.

Scholars have noted that terrorist groups frequently draw on diaspora communities for various types of support. Gabriel Sheffer, an expert on diaspora politics, notes that out of the 50 most active terrorist organizations after 1945, 27 were closely associated with global diaspora communities. In a separate study of 87 insurgent groups engaged in terrorism from 2008 to 2013, international security expert (and Foreign Policy Essay editor) Daniel Byman estimated that 38 (approximately 44 percent) relied on support from transnational diaspora communities for their operations.

Despite the importance of diasporas to terrorist groups, the role they play is often neglected or misunderstood. These external communities can be an important form of support, but, as I demonstrated in a recent study, the type of support can make a large difference in the benefit the terrorist group receives. Additionally, this support can also influence the terrorist group and condition its political policies.

 

The Appeal of Diasporas to Terrorist Groups

The term “diaspora” can be defined in different ways, but most experts regard diasporas as ethnic or sectarian communities that permanently reside outside of their homeland in another country. Though living abroad, diasporas maintain connections with their homeland and continue to identify with it. Diaspora communities often remain engaged in the current affairs of their homelands and often exert considerable influence over their politics, public policy and economy. Diasporas are frequently distinguished from “migrant communities” by their permanence and the enduring importance of “the homeland” to their identities as communities.

Because of this influence, terrorist movements often forge close links with diaspora communities. Diasporas can provide a host of material and other benefits to terrorist organizations. For example, terrorist actors frequently look to diaspora communities as pools of potential volunteers and recruits. Historical terrorist organizations, such as the Irgun and Lehi, recruited extensively from Jewish diaspora communities in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union while engaged in terrorist campaigns against British authorities during the Palestinian mandate in the 1940s. This is a pattern that extends to terrorist organizations today. Many Islamist terrorist organizations, including the Islamic State and al-Qaeda, have similarly recruited members from among communities of Muslims living in Western Europe and North America.

Many diaspora communities have become financially successful in their adopted countries. This makes them well positioned to provide material help to terrorist groups. Nearly all diaspora-linked terrorist movements rely on diaspora communities to raise money and acquire weapons. Perhaps the most familiar example to Americans would be the fundraising efforts of Irish-American communities on behalf of the IRA throughout the 20th century. Often, diaspora financial support makes up the lion’s share of a terrorist movement’s operating revenue. For example, though Hamas received support from Saddam Hussein’s Iraq during the 1990s, currently receives state support from Iran and levies taxes on citizens of Gaza, a substantial source of revenue is believed to be from Palestinians living abroad.

Diaspora communities are also frequently active in politics in their countries of residence. This political capital is crucial to terrorist movements. Diasporas can lobby governments for policies that are favorable to certain terrorist groups, and can engage in public relations campaigns that help affiliated terrorist groups get their message to a broader public. This sort of grassroots communication is particularly useful for terrorist movements operating in countries with media censorship. Terrorism expert Peter Chalk provides a detailed study of how the influential Tamil diaspora in Canada and the United Kingdom extensively propagandized on behalf of the LTTE throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. In addition to producing sophisticated pro-LTTE propaganda, Tamil community members helped the LTTE overcome government censorship on the ground in Sri Lanka and worked to highlight human rights abuses committed by the Sri Lankan government in its campaign against the LTTE.

Finally, in a more general sense, diasporas can help terrorist movements internationalize their struggles. This provides terrorists with more flexibility and critical strategic advantages. The 2017 Islamist terrorist attack in Spain helps to illustrate this. In the aftermath of al-Qaeda-inspired suicide bombings in Casablanca in 2003, the Moroccan government cracked down severely on violent Islamist extremism. This made Morocco a more difficult environment for Islamist terrorist organizations, which subsequently shifted their attacks to Western Europe and were aided by the cover and support provided by extremist, fringe elements of the Moroccan diaspora community in Spain and elsewhere.

 

How Diasporas Affect Terrorist Groups

Many terrorist groups clearly benefit from, and even rely on, diaspora communities. But with that support can come influence that affects whether a terrorist group will continue to function and even how it behaves. In a recently published study, I examined the effects diasporas have on the terrorist groups with which they are linked. Based on data on the diaspora relationships of 586 terrorist movements identified by the RAND Corporation for the period 1970 to 2007, I found that specific types of support correspond to longer lifespans for terrorist groups and may affect their actions.

Terrorist movements linked with diaspora communities have higher survival rates. Specifically, I found that diaspora-linked terrorist movements were more than 40 percent less likely to terminate as organizations than unaffiliated terrorists in any given year, holding all other factors constant. Diaspora connections appear to help terrorist groups resist government efforts to crush them militarily and to police them out of existence. I also found diaspora-linked terrorists to be about 40 percent less likely to terminate due to military or police force than terrorist groups without diaspora connections. While diaspora ties seemed to protect organizations from external threats, they do not appear to enhance the internal resilience of terrorist movements. Both diaspora-linked and unaffiliated terrorist organizations seem to end by splintering or fracturing internally at the same rate.

Additionally, diasporas seem to impede terrorist organizations from transforming into nonviolent political parties. Diaspora-linked terrorists were 34 percent less likely to terminate by agreeing to give up armed struggle and become an unarmed political party or organization. This finding is consistent with the contention that diasporas are often “peace-wreckers” when it comes to civil conflicts in their homelands. Scholars have argued that because they are usually sheltered from the direct physical consequences of conflict in their homelands, diaspora community members are more likely than counterparts in their homelands to adopt purist and maximalist positions in civil conflicts. This may explain why diaspora links prompt terrorist movements not to seek nonviolent offramps.

Finally, the benefits of some types of support from diaspora communities seem greater than others for the longevity of terrorist groups. Material support, which includes the provision of weapons and funding, correlated with better survival rates for terrorist groups. Other forms of political support, including lobbying and public relations campaigns, did not have a discernible effect on terrorist organizations’ lifespans.

These findings have implications for counterterrorism policy. They suggest that depriving terrorists of the material support that diasporas can provide should make them easier to defeat militarily or police out of existence. In addition, separating terrorist movements from their supporters in the diaspora might increase the chance that movements will opt to end armed struggle in favor of engaging in nonviolent politics. Counterterrorism may begin at home, but incorporating it into a broader foreign policy is often vital.

Topics: 
  • Foreign Policy Essay

Iran wants relations with Armenia, Azerbaijan unaffected by Karabakh conflict

Karagyozian Lena
Mehr News Agency, Iran
March 3 2019

TEHRAN, Mar. 03 (MNA) – Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Bahram Ghasemi announced that Iran does not want its relations with Armenia and Azerbaijan be influenced by Nagorno- Karabakh conflict.

The Iranian official made the remarks in a reaction to the sidelines of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s meeting with his Iranian religious fellows during his last week’s visit to Tehran, where some flags were hoisted in Armenian about Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Ghasemi underscored that Iran condemns the act.

“As I have announced repetitively, Iran’s stance toward its neighbors is vivid and our neighbors are our priorities in foreign policy,” the spokesman admitted.

“Iran seeks expansion of firm ties with its neighbors based on mutual respect and no interference in each other’s interior affairs,” he added.

On February 27, Tehran and Yerevan signed two economic cooperation agreements during a visit by Nikol Pashinyan to the Iranian capital.

HJ/IRN83229456

If You Want Art and Architecture Try Beirut’s 383-Armenia Street

Boris Nahapetian
Al-Bawaba, Middle East
March 3 2019
If You Want Art and Architecture Try Beirut’s 383-Armenia Street

2.5 5

Published March 3rd, 2019

Vincent Bassil’s exhibition “383-Armenia Street,” now up at ARTLAB, has been a decade in the making.

Mixing art and architecture, the show’s 30 untitled pieces attempt to visualize the changes he’s witnessed in the capital, especially on his home street in Mar Mikhael, since moving to Beirut in 2008.

“From then until 2018, I was studying architecture and I started this project, inspired by Beirut and the life I’ve lived here,” Bassil told The Daily Star. “My studio was in Mar Mikhael and around me were all these buildings being fixed up.

“Since 2008 a lot has changed in Mar Mikhael and in 2008, after the economic crisis in Dubai, everyone in Dubai came to buy in Mar Mikhael and it changed into something else,” he added. “Between this and my studies, I was inspired to think of how to abstract the city and see it in a new way.”

The acrylic paintings show bold blocks of color, designed in what could be an aerial view of a city, or an abstract map, with illegible writing in the background or woven between streets.

“These [words] are me trying to put the city I created in my own words, with my personal stories, how I’ve interacted with the city and it has become inside my world,” Bassil said. “In future works I might make it readable but these things are really personal, like a diary.”

Installations are also on show, some showing 3D models of the city in the same style as the paintings, others presenting put-together bits and bobs upcycled wooden planks painted brightly or bits of brick and metal found in the area.

“I tried to take the 2D and make it 3D. Even in the paintings I wanted it to feel like it was jumping out at you, just like the city,” Bassil explained. “It could be read as the facade of the buildings and the urban planning as one thing, one layer. I wanted to see what light and shadows I could create.”

Bassil spends much of his time taking photos of buildings and people to mull over later, a hobby that has aided his study of the area’s decade of change.

“It became more cultural. Buildings have been built, renovated or knocked down,” he said.

“Before, it used to be quiet by 6. Now people start coming at 6. It’s the opposite and yet has become more isolated and less connected.

“People visit Mar Mikhael and leave. It’s like this across the city, in Hamra, Badaro etc.”

This isolation has become more and more evident in his paintings over time. The oldest painting in the exhibition, from 2010, has been brought in specially despite already being sold. “I insisted on having it here because this one started everything. It was the first one where I felt like there’s something interesting happening,” Bassil said of the blue-red-black-and-gold piece.

“You’ll notice there is less isolation in it and its more linked to the surroundings – Mar Mikhael and myself were less isolated – whereas the newer pieces are very isolated [in their design] are have no links with their surroundings or the past.

“It was Armenia Street and it was full of Armenians and old people or longtime renters living there,” Bassil added. “Now there is no one. I have no neighbors. All the people I knew left or moved house or it became an office, a garage, restaurants and art galleries.

“It’s not wrong. I like both ways,” he mused, “but it was a drastic change in the city between 2008 and 2018 and it’s now a totally different street.”

“383-Armenia Street” is up at ARTLAB, Gemmayzeh, through March 9.

This article has been adapted from its original source. 

Mixing art and architecture, the show’s 30 untitled pieces attempt to visualize the changes he’s witnessed in the capital, especially on his home street in Mar Mikhael, since moving to Beirut in 2008.

“From then until 2018, I was studying architecture and I started this project, inspired by Beirut and the life I’ve lived here,” Bassil told The Daily Star. “My studio was in Mar Mikhael and around me were all these buildings being fixed up.

“Since 2008 a lot has changed in Mar Mikhael and in 2008, after the economic crisis in Dubai, everyone in Dubai came to buy in Mar Mikhael and it changed into something else,” he added. “Between this and my studies, I was inspired to think of how to abstract the city and see it in a new way.”

The acrylic paintings show bold blocks of color, designed in what could be an aerial view of a city, or an abstract map, with illegible writing in the background or woven between streets.

“These [words] are me trying to put the city I created in my own words, with my personal stories, how I’ve interacted with the city and it has become inside my world,” Bassil said. “In future works I might make it readable but these things are really personal, like a diary.”

Installations are also on show, some showing 3D models of the city in the same style as the paintings, others presenting put-together bits and bobs upcycled wooden planks painted brightly or bits of brick and metal found in the area.

“I tried to take the 2D and make it 3D. Even in the paintings I wanted it to feel like it was jumping out at you, just like the city,” Bassil explained. “It could be read as the facade of the buildings and the urban planning as one thing, one layer. I wanted to see what light and shadows I could create.”

Bassil spends much of his time taking photos of buildings and people to mull over later, a hobby that has aided his study of the area’s decade of change.


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Vincent Bassil’s exhibition “383-Armenia Street,” now up at ARTLAB, has been a decade in the making.

Mixing art and architecture, the show’s 30 untitled pieces attempt to visualize the changes he’s witnessed in the capital, especially on his home street in Mar Mikhael, since moving to Beirut in 2008.

“From then until 2018, I was studying architecture and I started this project, inspired by Beirut and the life I’ve lived here,” Bassil told The Daily Star. “My studio was in Mar Mikhael and around me were all these buildings being fixed up.

“Since 2008 a lot has changed in Mar Mikhael and in 2008, after the economic crisis in Dubai, everyone in Dubai came to buy in Mar Mikhael and it changed into something else,” he added. “Between this and my studies, I was inspired to think of how to abstract the city and see it in a new way.”

The acrylic paintings show bold blocks of color, designed in what could be an aerial view of a city, or an abstract map, with illegible writing in the background or woven between streets.

“These [words] are me trying to put the city I created in my own words, with my personal stories, how I’ve interacted with the city and it has become inside my world,” Bassil said. “In future works I might make it readable but these things are really personal, like a diary.”

Installations are also on show, some showing 3D models of the city in the same style as the paintings, others presenting put-together bits and bobs upcycled wooden planks painted brightly or bits of brick and metal found in the area.

“I tried to take the 2D and make it 3D. Even in the paintings I wanted it to feel like it was jumping out at you, just like the city,” Bassil explained. “It could be read as the facade of the buildings and the urban planning as one thing, one layer. I wanted to see what light and shadows I could create.”

Bassil spends much of his time taking photos of buildings and people to mull over later, a hobby that has aided his study of the area’s decade of change.

“It became more cultural. Buildings have been built, renovated or knocked down,” he said.

“Before, it used to be quiet by 6. Now people start coming at 6. It’s the opposite and yet has become more isolated and less connected.

“People visit Mar Mikhael and leave. It’s like this across the city, in Hamra, Badaro etc.”

This isolation has become more and more evident in his paintings over time. The oldest painting in the exhibition, from 2010, has been brought in specially despite already being sold. “I insisted on having it here because this one started everything. It was the first one where I felt like there’s something interesting happening,” Bassil said of the blue-red-black-and-gold piece.

“You’ll notice there is less isolation in it and its more linked to the surroundings – Mar Mikhael and myself were less isolated – whereas the newer pieces are very isolated [in their design] are have no links with their surroundings or the past.

“It was Armenia Street and it was full of Armenians and old people or longtime renters living there,” Bassil added. “Now there is no one. I have no neighbors. All the people I knew left or moved house or it became an office, a garage, restaurants and art galleries.

“It’s not wrong. I like both ways,” he mused, “but it was a drastic change in the city between 2008 and 2018 and it’s now a totally different street.”

“383-Armenia Street” is up at ARTLAB, Gemmayzeh, through March 9.

This article has been adapted from its original source. 

Armenian PM Condemns March 1 2008 Deadly Crackdown of Peaceful Protest

Emil Lazarian
Georgia Today
March 3 2019


On March 1, people took the streets of Yerevan to hold their traditional march to the site of the tragic events of March 2008 when the government opened fire on a peaceful demonstration. People walked with pictures of the victims of that tragedy as well as posters demanding punishment for the former President of Armenia, Robert Kocharyan, who is currently under arrest on charges of overthrowing the constitutional order and violating the constitution involving the Army in a protest crackdown.

Since 2009, every year people in Armenia march to the location of the tragedy and lay flowers in memory of the victims. But where previously this procession was organized by the opposition and is generally ognored by the government, this year the march and commemoration were actually organized by the government itself.

PM Pashinyan, who was one of the key figures of the opposition movement of 2008 and was arrested for this protests and imprisoned, addressed the nation on the day, condemning the deadly crackdown on the peaceful protest. The Head of State also made a special apology in the name of the state for using state institutions in a deadly crackdown on the peaceful demonstration 11 years ago. He also led the march to the location of the tragedy.

The protest movement in 2008 came as a result of unprecedented falsifications of the presidential elections on February 19, 2008. The main opposition candidate, the First President of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan (1991-1998) refused to recognize the election results and the victory of PM Serzh Sargsyan and applied to the constitutional court demanding an annulment of the results of the elections and for there to be new presidential elections. The first president of the state raised a huge public movement in support of his demands and organized a 10-day sit-in and non-stop demonstrations in Freedom Square in Yerevan city center. The demonstrations soon brought results as more and more key officials from the government and parliament started to join the opposition movement and the government was paralyzed. 

On the 10th consecutive day of the non-stop demonstrations, on the eve of the Constitutional court’s discussion of the application of the opposition candidate, police forces attacked the peaceful gathering in Freedom Square in the middle of the night. They arrested most of the members of the opposition movement and put Levon Ter-Petrosyan under house arrest which was an anti-constitutional step. Nikol Pashinyan, who was one of the key figures of Ter-Petrosyan’s team, escaped the morning arrest of opposition leaders and hours later, when people gathered for a new demonstration, Pashinyan appeared in the location and lead the protest demanding to release Ter-Petrosyan and let him join the protest. 

Kocharyan refused to meet the demands of the demonstrators and kept Ter-Petrosyan under house arrest. Hours later late in the evening, Kocharyan, in violation of the law, announced an emergency situation and  the police and army forces attacked the Myasnikyan Square, where the demonstration was being held, and opened deadly fire on the demonstration, killing 10 and resulting in over 250 injured. In the days following the event, Kocharyan’s regime arrested most of the opposition leaders of Armenia and silenced the media bringing state censorship as one of the conditions of the situation of the state of emergency. 

Pashinyan became a target for political prosecutions and was forced to spend almost 1.5 years in the “underground.” In 2009, he willingly presented to the judiciary and in 2010 was sentenced to 7 years imprisonment, making him the most famous political prisoner in Armenia. However after 23 months imprisonment, in May 2011, as a result of dialogue between the political opposition movement lead by Ter-Petrosian and the authorities of Armenia, Pashinyan was released.

During the presidency of Serzh Sargsyan, it was believed that the case would never be investigated, all the steps of Sargsyan in this direction were called “fiction” and “imitation” by the opposition parties. On April 22, 2018, Sargsyan, a day before his resignation, threated to “repeat the lessons of the 1st of March” to the opposition leader but faced more resistance from the people who thought this was the red line for the government. 

The 1st of March was one of the tragic days of modern Armenia, which traumatized the people and demoralized the authorities. This is why after the Velvet Revolution the new authorities reopened the investigation and charged the former President of Armenia Rober Kocharyan and the key officials of the army for overthrowing the constitutional order. Kocharyan’s arrest brought open critic of the Russian President Putin and Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov, as he is the first president arrested in the post-soviet space, however the new Armenian government is willing to go to the end and fully investigate the tragedy and bringing to responsibility of all the former officials who had relations to this tragedy.

By Karen Tovmasyan

Rep. Chu Statement on Anniversary of Sumgait Pogroms

Antonian Lara
Impact News Service
March 2, 2019 Saturday
Rep. Chu Statement on Anniversary of Sumgait Pogroms
 
Washington: Office of the MP Judy Chu has issued the following news release:
 
On February 28, 1988, the Armenian population of Artsakh became the target of a violent pogrom which culminated in the violent expulsion of 390,000 Armenians. Rep. Judy Chu (CA-27) issued the following statement on the anniversary of that tragic violence:
 
“As the lines of the Soviet Union were fading, the people of Nagorno-Karabakh were united in a call for a say in their own futures and greater independence from Azerbaijan. This peaceful movement for self-determination and freedom was followed by premeditated and government-sponsored attacks.
 
“Over the next two years, the Armenian population in the territory of Artsakh was repeatedly victim to brutal and racially motivated pogroms, darkly reminiscent of the days of the Armenian Genocide. Hundreds were murdered, thousands were displaced, and the Armenian community – both in Artsakh and in exile – continues to bear the scars from the brutal attacks in Sumgait, Kirovabad, and Baku.
 
“When the people of Nagorno-Karabakh officially declared independence on December 10, 1991, they were met with full-scale war lasting until 1994. Even today, the people of Nagorno-Karabakh are still forced to live under constant ceasefire violations by Azerbaijan.
 
“As we commemorate the somber anniversary marking the struggle of the Nagorno-Karabakh people, we wish for the peaceful resolution of this conflict and hope that its citizens will be free to determine their own future.”

Armenia’s new plan: an economic revolution or empty promises?

Boshkezenian Garik
OC Media
March 2 2019

2 March 2019 by Mania Israyelyan

On 8 February, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan intro­duced the government’s ‘rev­o­lu­tion­ary economic programme’. The programme promised to create ‘radical economic growth’, but critics say it lacks substance, putting too much emphasis on the actions of the public.

On 14 February, the ‘rev­o­lu­tion­ary’ programme extolled by Pashinyan was adopted by Par­lia­ment in an 88-40 vote.

In his speech to Par­lia­ment, Pashinyan empha­sised the main points of the programme, with a focus on national unity and civil sol­i­dar­i­ty in addition to a public rejection of cor­rup­tion.

He also discussed the sep­a­ra­tion of politics from business, and the creation of favourable busi­ness­es con­di­tions, which would be achieved by steps such as elim­i­nat­ing arti­fi­cial monop­o­lies.

The five-year programme consists of seven pro­vi­sions, from improving the armed forces to strength­en­ing foreign policy, each with their own subpoints. Pro­vi­sions 4 and 5 provide the framework for the proposed economic rev­o­lu­tion.

Provision 4 addresses the government’s plan to eliminate cor­rup­tion. According to the text, ‘fighting cor­rup­tion is one of the key pri­or­i­ties of the gov­ern­ment. In that fight, the gov­ern­ment will be unyield­ing and intol­er­ant’.

The provision goes on to state that a pre­req­ui­site to ending cor­rup­tion is the estab­lish­ment of an inde­pen­dent judiciary that would exclude cor­rup­tion among judges. This system would not only be able to monitor cor­rup­tion in the state, but also examine cases related to cor­rup­tion.

Provision 5 elab­o­rates that the state and government’s role is to make the lives of the people better and create more favourable con­di­tions for their happiness. To this end, it says people should be more engaged in public life, via the economy, and be certain that they have a realistic oppor­tu­ni­ty to make changes.

A sub-point of this provision expands on this topic, stating that there is no leg­isla­tive obstacle in Armenia to solving inequal­i­ty. It is up to the government’s assertive­ness and political will to come up with a solution to this problem.

Since being unveiled, the programme has come under fire for its lack of concrete numbers and timelines, and for passing the buck to regular people.

Derenik Malkhasyan, a political com­men­ta­tor at Politica.am, told OC Media that Armenians expect the programme to improve their socio-economic situation. He said people want the gov­ern­ment programme to explain what positive changes will take place ‘in their lives, pockets, and refrig­er­a­tors’ — and when. In this respect, he said the programme cannot be called ‘rev­o­lu­tion­ary’, because as of yet, nothing has actually changed in people’s lives.

With the expec­ta­tion being that the gov­ern­ment would take charge, Malkhasyan said that many people ‘were taken aback’ by the idea that it would be up to them to create an economic rev­o­lu­tion by actively engaging in public life.

Nikol Pashinyan, who led the peaceful rev­o­lu­tion that toppled the gov­ern­ment of the Repub­li­can Party of Armenia, is now proposing an ‘economic rev­o­lu­tion’ in the country (Mari Nikuradze/OC Media)

According to him, a better precedent is the Georgian model, where former President Mikheil Saakashvili attracted invest­ments by effec­tive­ly managing tax priv­i­leges, elim­i­nat­ing business related red-tape, and by devel­op­ing infra­struc­ture.

Pashinyan’s gov­ern­ment, on the other hand, has argued that the Armenian public will bring about economic rev­o­lu­tion through the same unity that made a political rev­o­lu­tion a reality. As he said in his statement to Par­lia­ment on 14 February, ‘indi­vid­ual trans­for­ma­tion is a crucial factor for public trans­for­ma­tion’.

Hayk Konjoryan, an MP from Pashinya’s My Step bloc, denied claims that the gov­ern­ment was holding citizens primarily respon­si­ble for an economic rev­o­lu­tion. He cited Pashinyan as saying ‘the gov­ern­ment is respon­si­ble for taking steps one, two, three, four, and all the way to 100’ to reach the fore­cast­ed end — an economic rev­o­lu­tion in this case. Citizens would only be respon­si­ble for what comes after, he insisted.

According to Konjoryan, in the past, people were forced to believe they could not do anything and that their vote would not change anything. Now, it is the other way around, he said. The Prime Minister said that ‘the country and its power belong to its people and they should have a say’, Konjoryan explained.

The oppo­si­tion, the Bright Armenia and Pros­per­ous Armenia parties, hold a different view. They have vig­or­ous­ly crit­i­cised the programme for having no structure, for not meeting the chal­lenges the country faces, be they economic or social, and for not outlining mech­a­nisms and timelines to achieve any targets.

Bright Armenia MP Gevorg Gorgisyan said in a debate that they had not seen any targeted steps towards the objec­tives so far. According to him, the programme does not outline any steps, such as a framework for citizens to start busi­ness­es.

‘Abstract concepts do not make an economic rev­o­lu­tion’, Gorgisyan said during the debate. According to him, citizens expect ‘concrete actions’, which require political will, resis­tance, and knowledge.

Provision 5.1 of the government’s programme states that one of the key factors hindering Armenia’s devel­op­ment has been an absence of fairness, man­i­fest­ed in the existence and impunity of a priv­i­leged class. To fix this issue, the gov­ern­ment expressed a will to ensure a fair and trans­par­ent business envi­ron­ment.

Pashinyan’s proposals include easing the ‘unbear­able loan loads’ on agri­cul­tur­al workers and requiring shops to print cash receipts. However, these policies do not affect everyone equally.

Smbat (not his real name) has run a small shop in downtown Yerevan for close to 15 years. He knows all of his main customers by face, and therefore, has rarely printed cash receipts.

‘If I expose all my turnover, I will even­tu­al­ly end up with nothing,’ he told OC Media.

Smbat ques­tioned why the gov­ern­ment did not start enacting this policy for big busi­ness­es. According to him, once he sees measures being taken towards forcing ‘the sharks’ to follow the law, he will be ‘first’ to expose his actual turnover and pay all his taxes accord­ing­ly.

Until then, Smbat says that if the gov­ern­ment is ‘dishonest’ they should ‘not expect us to be honest,’ adding that ‘selective equality is not a good thing’.

Smbat has also ques­tioned how small busi­ness­es are expected to expand when interest rates for loans have ‘hit the ceiling’ and are now unrea­son­ably high. According to him, if any small busi­ness­es want to grow — he himself wants to be a super­mar­ket owner one day — they need a large amount of capital that can only be granted through loans.

He said favourable business con­di­tions are only becoming more favourable for those who had already had an advantage in the first place, once again, big busi­ness­es.

‘How can they expect someone like me to pay all the crazy taxes, pay employees, repay loans, and still benefit? When they say favourable con­di­tions for someone like me, I auto­mat­i­cal­ly think they will ease the interest rates at least. Instead, it’s going the other way around,’ he told OC Media.

Like Smbat, Khachik, a father of three, hoped to start a business following Pashinyan’s appeals. A Nagorno-Karabakh war veteran, who, as a result of a grenade explosion, was clas­si­fied as having a dis­abil­i­ty. Khachik told OC Media that from the very first day, he supported the rev­o­lu­tion and Pashinyan’s gov­ern­ment.

Thousands came to the streets in April 2018 in support of Pashinyan’s ‘Velvet Rev­o­lu­tion’. (Mania Israyelyan / OC Media)

Jubilant crowds cel­e­brat­ed in Yerevan’s Republic Square after Pashinyan’s appoint­ment as PM on 8 May, ending two decades of Repub­li­can Party (Armine Avetisyan /OC Media)

Following Pashinyan’s appeal ‘to come into the forefront and become a taxpayer’, Khachik decided to become an entre­pre­neur and turned down his social welfare pension, around ֏36,000 ($75) per month. ‘I want to work legally, I want to pay taxes and con­tribute to the country’s pros­per­i­ty’, he toldOC Media.

Khachik’s first idea was to import tan­ger­ines from Georgia and sell them in the market. However, to his deep dis­ap­point­ment, he found that at the border, fruit smugglers have ‘crooked deals’ that allow them to bypass customs. Therefore, while tan­ger­ines will cost him ֏250 ($0.50) per kilo, the above-mentioned dealers can sell them for ֏150 ($0.30). After learning of this, he gave up the idea and began looking at how to start an agribusi­ness.

In order to start this small-scale project, Khachik needed a loan from the bank. Though he ‘knocked on the doors of all the banks’, he was rejected every­where because he was not a reg­is­tered employee with a stable income that would guarantee he could repay the loan.

‘Indeed, there is no monopoly now, but neither is there a fair and equal envi­ron­ment’, he said, adding that the prime minister has repeat­ed­ly encour­aged regular people to start busi­ness­es and make invest­ments.

Khachik has frozen his business plans for now and is waiting until the law comes ‘to apply to everyone’. He still believes in the new gov­ern­ment, however, and ‘expects changes soon’.

Andranik Tevanyan, director of the Polite­con­o­my Research Institute, a local think-tank, told OC Media that he did not believe the gov­ern­ment programme would bring ‘rev­o­lu­tion­ary GDP growth’.

Political scientist and economist Andranik Tevanyan said the gov­ern­ment wasn’t clear on it’s GDP growth targets. (Andranik Tevanyan / Facebook)

He said that while bank interest rates were the respon­si­bil­i­ty of the Central Bank, not the gov­ern­ment, there were actions the gov­ern­ment could take to help small busi­ness­es.

Though the gov­ern­ment envisaged a tax exemption for small social enter­pris­es with an annual turnover of less than ֏24 million ($50,000), Tevanyan said this was not enough for most small busi­ness­es. According to him, the gov­ern­ment could create a better envi­ron­ment for business by increas­ing the turnover threshold to ֏150–֏200 million ($300,000–$400,000).

As for what it means to create a ‘favorable envi­ron­ment’, Tevanyan said the phrasing was very vague, and that those who wrote it do not them­selves under­stand what it means.

He added that there are no details or tools and mech­a­nisms as to how they are going to create such an envi­ron­ment. Overall, Tevanyan said the programme was just another wish, with nothing to back it up.