Category: News

“The elites of Armenia and Karabakh have kept the people of Karabakh hostage.”

Yesterday, RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan expressed such a view during the NA-government question-and-answer session.

This is reminiscent of the statement of the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, which he made on July 21, 2023, during his speech during the Shushi Global Media Forum, when he noted:

“Currently, the issue of reintegration depends on when the Armenian residents of Karabakh will be able to get rid of the junta that took them hostage and exploited them as slaves.”

Pashinyan does not even try to change the form, but repeats Aliyev’s thoughts with the same tone. Are there still people for whom it is not clear that the current administration of RA began to be managed directly from Azerbaijan?

Edmon Marukyan, leader of “Lusavore Armenia” party

https://verelq.am/hy/node/171329?fbclid=IwY2xjawQ0RIFleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEemBrYiZ2_ULTvvuv0bAWPRWm8SV2YFZ9Ptmi5g-Ylpn1jaItN6zqHxqNZNZM_aem_wsBWg-TpvFxP3oJ_00_uXw

In recent days, two Turkish business jets have visited the capital of Armenia, and they are connected with Turkish special services and state bodies.

Sputnik Armenia, in particular, paid attention to the fact that on March 8, the Gulfstream G-IV(SP) business jet of the Turkish Sierra Aviation company made a flight on the Yerevan-Ankara route. Social media users involved in flight tracking and OSINT (intelligence based on open sources) have linked this plane to Turkish special services.

The geography of the flights also indicates that the plane was hardly used for normal commercial purposes. In particular, the aircraft regularly flies to the countries of the Middle East (Oman, UAE, Saudi Arabia) and Africa (Libya, Egypt, Sudan).

Moreover, it was once used for the flight of Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama.

Considering the interesting history of the flights, we inquired from the Foreign Ministry whether any Turkish delegation visited Yerevan. We were told that there were no guests from the Foreign Ministry.

Sputnik Armenia also sent a request to the RA Foreign Intelligence Service, asking: 1) Was it an intelligence visit by Turkish representatives, 2) if not, was the flight private?

They did not answer our questions clearly from the Armenian National Security Service, instead they referred in detail to the specifics of their activities.

In particular, they noted that “due to the problems faced by the service and the specifics of its activity, the service is guided by the strict observance of the principle of confidentiality defined by the law and has objectively adopted a policy of ensuring the lowest possible level of public discussion about the service’s activities.”

Such an approach, as noted in the special service, is intended to ensure not only the normal work of the National Intelligence Service within the framework of the implementation of foreign intelligence activities, but also to prevent possible security risks for the state and society as a result of the disclosure of information outside the limits of admissibility.

“Taking into account the above, we inform you that it is not considered appropriate to provide information implying a positive or negative answer to both the 1st and 2nd questions by the service,” said the answer.

It should be noted that we had already sent the request to the FSA when the second similar flight was noticed in the sky of Yerevan.
This time the Dassault Falcon 7X plane left Yerevan for Istanbul.

This aircraft belongs to the Zafer Air company, which also connects with “sensitive” flights in the Middle East and Africa.

It is noteworthy that the first aircraft, Gulfstream G-IV(SP), was previously also in the fleet of Zafer Air.

Thus, if we assume that a Turkish delegation arrived in Armenia, then by comparing the data, we can assume that the technical group arrived on the first flight, and the delegation of direct negotiators on the second.

Nevertheless, in the absence of official information, it is not possible to make definite statements about the purpose of the flight and the passengers.

Let’s remind that since March 11, Turkish Airlines has started to operate flights on the Istanbul-Yerevan-Istanbul route.

—

The national debt per capita in Armenia reached 4,700 US dollars compared to 4,200 US dollars last year.

Debt is growing in an economy with an increasingly eroded industrial base and declining demographic dynamics (albeit with immigration touted. I’ll get to that separately).

The main problem is that the debt does not turn into an economic result. There is no qualitative economic change. There is no increase in productivity. There is no development of value-added industries. You don’t have to go far – open the economic statistics of the last years.

And where does that money go?

Mainly, capital expenditures, the results of which are obvious. asphalt crumbling before our eyes every day, rapidly decaying infrastructure, demonstrative and unviable projects.

This is simply a waste of funds with no return.

As a result, the debt becomes not a development resource, but a political tool to close the budget holes, fulfill the social function of the state, and show short-term “results”.

Yes, the debt-to-GDP ratio still does not cross the red line: 47.3%, under the conditions of the 50% target index.

But this is the surface. Deep down lies the real risk: the burden of debt is shifted onto businesses, households and future taxpayers without a corresponding economic return.

The longer this model continues, the more expensive the price of its consequences will be.

Energy security expert Vahe Davtyan

—

It is a lie to claim that if the power is not reproduced, there will be a war only because of that fact.

The war is not determined by the election or non-election of one person. A combination of a number of factors is necessary for the war, such as regional processes (the war between Iran and the USA and its prolongation, the strengthening of the Turkish factor, the continuous decrease of Russia’s influence), the futility of the self-defense organization of the existing government in Armenia, as well as other circumstances.

In fact, too much depends on the US/Israel-Iran war in terms of Azerbaijan’s appetite, which has nothing to do with the reproduction of Armenian power.

There will be no war if there is a strong military, balanced diplomacy and predictable politics, which means that the non-reproduction of power is more favorable in this respect.

As for the war, dozens of factors, a number of preconditions, preparations, active diplomatic activity and a favorable international situation and environment are necessary before starting it.

The non-reproduction of Pashinyan will not have an effect on any of those factors by itself. Therefore, such formulation is just manipulation.

International scholar Suren Sargsyan

—