Category: 2020

                                        Monday, 
Armenia Extends Coronavirus State Of Emergency
        • Naira Nalbandian
        • Astghik Bedevian
Armenia -- Workers disinfect an ambulance outside Surp Girgor Lusavorich 
hospital in Yerevan, April 8, 2020.
Armenia’s government on Monday extended by one month a state of emergency which 
it declared on March 16 following the first cases of coronavirus recorded in the 
country.
The government said that serious restrictions on people’s movements and a ban on 
many types of economic activity imposed by it later in March are still essential 
for slowing the spread of the virus which has killed 14 people so far.
During the extended emergency rule the government will also be empowered to 
requisition hotels or other private properties for accommodating people placed 
under quarantine.
At the same time, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s cabinet lifted virtually all 
restrictions on coronavirus-related news reporting. They were already softened 
significantly on March 26 following strong criticism from journalists and media 
watchdogs.
“If further monitoring detects a rapid spread of so-called fake news we could 
revert to those restrictions,” Justice Minister Rustam Badasian warned during a 
cabinet meeting.
The Armenian Ministry of Health said in the morning that the total number of 
coronavirus cases rose by 26 to 1,039 in the past day. The ministry reported 
comparable daily numbers of new infections in the course of last week. The virus 
spread more rapidly in Armenia earlier in April and in late March.
Citing the government data, Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinian, who is 
responsible for enforcing the state of emergency, said the lockdown is working 
and should further stem the spread of the disease in the coming weeks. The 
authorities will also step up the controversial use of mobile phone data to 
track potential carriers of the virus and continue to expand COVID-19 testing, 
he told the Armenian parliament later in the day.
Armenia -- A police vehicle parked outside the Armenian government headquarters 
at Yerevan's deserted Republic Square, March 25, 2020.
“If we manage to keep the downward trend in the spread of infections, the 
restrictions will be revised,” Avinian said during a parliament debate on 
emergency rule. Conversely, he added, the government will not hesitate to 
toughen the restrictions if the infection rate goes up.
Pashinian admitted that the government’s decision on Sunday to reopen some 
sectors of Armenia’s economy, notably open-air construction and cigarette 
manufacturing, will increase the risk of an upsurge in coronavirus cases. But he 
said the affected companies and their workers can minimize that risk by 
following social distancing rules and taking other precautions.
Armenian farmers, food retailers, public utilities and services, banks as well 
as food-processing, mining and cargo firms have been allowed to work throughout 
the lockdown.
As well as expanding the circle of such businesses, the government decided to 
maintain its nationwide ban on public transport for the time being.
During the parliament debate, lawmakers representing the opposition Bright 
Armenia Party (LHK) called for the lifting of the ban. They said the government 
should also allow more companies -- and small businesses in particular -- to 
resume their operations. The pro-government majority in the National Assembly 
rejected the LHK proposals.
Government Approves More Aid To Struggling Families
        • Naira Nalbandian
Armenia -- Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian holds a cabinet meeting in Yerevan, 
April 2, 2020.
The Armenian government announced on Monday additional financial assistance to 
low-income families hit hard by the economic fallout from the coronavirus 
epidemic.
The government said it will pay half of all electricity and natural gas bills 
for February that did not exceed a combined 15,000 drams ($30) per household.
Garegin Baghramian, the chairman of the Public Services Regulatory Commission 
(PSRC), estimated that some 220,000 households will be eligible for the subsidy.
Armenia’s national utility companies already agreed, at the government’s urging, 
late last month not to cut off for now electricity, natural gas and water 
supplies to people failing to pay their bills because of coronavirus-related 
economic disruptions.
“Those who have utility debts [for February] will have them reduced in a 
corresponding way, while those who don’t will receive advance payments that will 
cover their next payments,” Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigorian said during a 
cabinet meeting held on Monday.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said the government will pay only half of those 
utility bills because it does not want to undermine what he described as a 
“strong culture of paying utility fees” existing in Armenia.
“The nominal amount of this assistance may seem modest, but the same citizens 
[eligible for it] will still be able to benefit from other schemes,” added 
Pashinian.
He referred to one-off cash handouts of between 68,000 drams and 136,000 drams 
to various categories of the country’s population approved by his cabinet in 
recent weeks. Those include registered workers who have lost their jobs or been 
placed on unpaid during the epidemic, microbusiness owners and some pregnant 
women.
Under its broader stimulus package approved late last month, the government is 
also subsidizing commercial banks to provide cheap credit to small and 
medium-sized businesses (SMEs) and farmers.
Artur Javadian, the governor of the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA), announced on 
Monday that 741 SMEs, agribusiness firms and farmers have already qualified for 
low-interest or interest-free loans worth a total of 10.5 billion drams ($21 
million).
“There were pessimistic claims that nobody is going to apply for such loans 
because they don’t need such aid and that a different kind of aid is needed,” 
Pashinian said in this regard. “But these figures show that there is a fairly 
good decree of [borrowing] activity and I’m sure that we will have even better 
indicators … in the coming days.”
Armenia Denies Asking For Turkish Coronavirus Aid
Turkey -- Workers in protective suits spray disinfectant at Grand Bazaar to 
prevent the spread of coronavirus in Istanbul, Turkey, March 25, 2020.
The Armenian government flatly denied on Monday a senior Turkish official’s 
claim that it has asked Ankara to send medical supplies needed for tackling the 
spread of coronavirus in Armenia.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s top adviser and spokesman, Ibrahim 
Kalin, claimed over the weekend that Yerevan requested medication. “Our 
president has approved this request and our Health Ministry is running the 
process,” he told the CNNTurk TV channel.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry insisted, however, that its officials “interacted” 
with relevant Turkish authorities with the sole aim of evacuating Armenian 
citizens from Turkey.
“The cooperation with the Turkish side occurred exclusively within this 
framework, and Armenia did not ask for any other assistance beyond this 
framework,” the spokeswoman for the ministry, Anna Naghdalian, said in written 
comments.
Naghdalian said that buses carrying 73 Armenians who lived and worked in 
Istanbul arrived in Armenia via Georgia on Friday. She stressed that Armenia has 
also been trying to repatriate its citizens from other “countries severely hit 
by the COVID19 pandemic.”
Armenia -- Armenian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anna Naghdalian speaks at a 
news briefing in Yerevan, 13 November 2018.
Erdogan reportedly expressed readiness to assist in the repatriation of Armenian 
nationals when he spoke to the spiritual leader of Turkey’s ethnic Armenian 
community, Patriarch Sahak Mashalian, by phone on April 8. According to the 
Armenian Patriarchate of Istanbul, Erdogan also said that Ankara is ready to 
provide Yerevan with medicines used for treating coronavirus.
Commenting on that report, Naghdalian said on April 9 that such an issue “is not 
on our agenda.”
The Turkish authorities have reported almost 57,000 coronavirus cases and 1,198 
deaths resulting from them as of Sunday, compared with just over 1,000 cases and 
14 deaths recorded in Armenia. Armenian government data shows that the rate of 
new infections in the South Caucasus state fell significantly last week.
Armenia and Turkey do not have diplomatic relations. Successive Turkish 
governments have also kept the border between the two neighboring states closed 
because of the unresolved conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.
Naghdalian said on Monday that any potential Turkish-Armenian cooperation is 
“significantly limited” the Turkish blockade. “Unfortunately, some statements 
made by the Turkish side in the context of fighting against COVID-19 do not 
contribute to creating a depoliticized and humanitarian environment for 
cooperation,” added the Armenian official.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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