The import of Turkish and Azerbaijani goods to Armenia is gaining momentum. If until recently the official statistics recorded only trade with Turkey, now Azerbaijan has also increased. But Armenia’s trade relations with both Turkey and Azerbaijan are one-sided. Those relations are based exclusively on imports of Turkish and Azerbaijani products.

While the Armenian authorities are enthusiastic about Armenian-Turkish and Armenian-Azerbaijani contacts and aspirations to trade, there were no exports from Armenia to those countries, and there are still no exports to those countries.

Exports from Armenia to Turkey are almost at zero level.

According to official data, in the first 5 months of this year, only 330 thousand dollars worth of goods went to that country. It is difficult to even consider this as an export, despite the fact that exports even doubled compared to the same period last year.

In the first 5 months of last year, almost 160 thousand dollars worth of goods were exported, this year 330 thousand dollars worth of goods were exported. Exports doubled, but remained at the same zero level.

In the conditions of such volumes, it is not even important what products went to Turkey.

There was no export to Azerbaijan at all. Instead, Azerbaijan is gradually increasing its presence in Armenia’s imports. That process started at the end of last year. In December of last year, a small amount of oil products, about 1 million dollars, was exported from Azerbaijan to Armenia. At that time, it caused serious complaints among consumers. Many refused to consume Azerbaijani oil products. However, over time, that noise died down and now exports and imports from Azerbaijan to Armenia have become a common phenomenon.

Until now, imports from Azerbaijan have been limited mainly to oil products, but Azerbaijani oil products are gradually expanding their positions in Armenia. Already in the first 5 months of this year, imports from Azerbaijan to Armenia reached 12.2 million dollars. Azerbaijani goods worth 2.675 million were imported in January, 3.669 million in March, 4.127 million in April, and 1.742 million in May. There were no imports in February.

The import from Azerbaijan to Armenia continued even after May, but the official data on it has not been published yet.

Unlike Azerbaijani imports, Armenian products do not reach the Azerbaijani market, despite the statements of the Armenian authorities that they have exchanged product lists and such opportunities are being considered. Months later, no Armenian goods have entered Azerbaijan.

The actual Armenian-Azerbaijani trade, which inspired the Armenian leadership so much, is of an eminently one-sided nature. The entry of Armenian products to the Azerbaijani market remains closed, and the import of Azerbaijani products, particularly oil products, to Armenia is gaining momentum.

The same happens with Turkish products. Although, unlike Azerbaijan, Turkey has always had a large presence in Armenia’s imports in recent years, Turkish goods worth 300-350 million dollars come to Armenia annually.

This year, the flow of Turkish goods has grown at a much higher rate, although the border with Turkey remains closed and nothing has changed in that regard.

Recently, of course, before the parliamentary elections, the Turkish authorities, in support of their Armenian partners, took a symbolic step in trade relations and “generously” included Armenia among the countries that import goods of Turkish origin. If before that Turkish goods were coming to Armenia under the name of third countries, particularly Georgia, Armenia will be mentioned as the receiving country.

Of course, this will not give anything to the economy of Armenia, and the export of Armenian goods to the Turkish market will not gain anything from it. In the event that, under the conditions of a closed border, a record export from Turkey to Armenia was recorded this year: more than 185 million dollars in 5 months. In the same period of last year, it was much less, it was around 128 million dollars.

This year, the export of Turkish goods to Armenia increased by 57 million or 44 percent. In case of going at the same pace, it can reach up to 500 million dollars by the end of the year.

It is not difficult to imagine what will happen when the border opens. It is not surprising that at the moment, the Turkish side estimates the potential of Armenian-Turkish trade at 1 billion dollars per year. It is clear that this potential will fall mainly on Turkish imports. After the opening of the border, the simplification of logistics problems and the reduction of transportation costs, the flow of salivary goods will increase even more. Turkish businessmen have a great appetite for the Armenian market. The competitiveness of domestic products will increase further after the opening of the borders, creating problems for those engaged in the production of various local products, especially agricultural products.

Even today, Turkey attacks Armenia’s consumer markets with various products: clothing, food, metals, household appliances, construction materials, chemical products, etc. And Armenia continues to have no presence in the Turkish market. Not much will change even after the opening of the border.

HAKOB KOCHARYAN

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Artak Zakaryan, member of the General Assembly of the RPA, former MP, writes:

“During the five-month war with Iran, the US military has significantly depleted its stockpile of long-range precision-guided missiles. Sources familiar with the situation told Reuters about it. It raised concerns about the readiness of the US military to respond to future conflicts.

First of all, we are talking about “surface-to-surface” tactical missiles – Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) and Precision Strike Missile (PrSM). According to Reuters sources, the US has used “almost the entire” available stock of these weapons. This long-range ammunition is considered one of the most important components of the American arsenal, as it enables high-precision strikes from a safe distance.

It should be noted that the ATACMS missiles provided to Ukraine by the USA played an important role in the war, allowing the Ukrainian forces to hit targets on the territory of Russia. And PrSM is a new generation missile with greater range and modern capabilities, which should gradually replace ATACMS.

Analysts estimate that these missiles, worth more than a million dollars, will be important in the event of a possible large-scale conflict. However, they expressed concern that as the war drags on, dwindling missile stocks could limit the US’s ability to deter potential adversaries.

In response to a Reuters inquiry, the White House issued a statement from President Donald Trump, saying, “The United States has far more ammunition than any other country in the world. And much more than we need.”

Lockheed Martin, maker of the ATACMS, PrSM and THAAD anti-missile systems, did not respond to a Reuters inquiry about stockpiling of ammunition. The Raytheon company, which produces Tomahawk cruise missiles and the Patriot anti-missile system, did not react in the same way.

At the same time, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell told Reuters that the US military is the most powerful in the world and has everything needed to carry out tasks at any time and any place at the president’s decision.

According to the agency, during the last week, the data on the existing stockpiles of ammunition was actively discussed in the US federal government. There have been active discussions in President Trump’s administration about how long Washington will be able to continue striking Iran without replenishing its stockpile of ammunition.

According to two Reuters sources, the military leadership has repeatedly warned in recent weeks about the dwindling stockpile of defensive weapons, including the Patriot missile system, which is used mainly to destroy ballistic missiles.

Last week, a number of media reported that Donald Trump refused a new large-scale military operation against Iran also because military advisers warned him about the depletion of ammunition stocks. However, the US ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz, categorically denied these reports, stating that the United States has enough weapons to continue operations against Iran.

A few days ago, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) published a report, according to which in 2026 in the period between February and July, the USA used up about 65% of the stock of Patriot system missiles. In addition, compared to the start of the war, the number of THAAD anti-missiles has decreased by about 38%.

Reuters has not been able to access the official data, however, the agency notes that two of its sources have confirmed the above estimates of CSIS.

In addition, according to one of the sources, since the beginning of the war, the United States has used almost half of the world stockpile of Tomahawk cruise missiles.

It should be noted that the Tomahawk is the main long-range strike weapon of the US Navy. These missiles are launched from destroyers, cruisers, submarines and for many years have been able to hit well-protected targets without endangering the lives of the pilots.

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The reference of the newly elected President of the RA National Assembly, Ruben Rubinyan, to the Turkish kebab has received a great response in the city of Adana, which is located in the eastern part of Turkey. Ughur Aydin, a chef from Adana, responding to the statement of the Armenian politician, invited Rubinyan and the entire Armenian people to Adana. This is reported by Ermenihaber.am.

“If everyone sits down and eats kebabs, peace will be established and all issues will be resolved. We love our neighbors and are ready to treat them properly. Let them come, and we will put an end to the tension here with a kebab,” said the Turkish chef.

One of the local residents also touched on the topic and noted that Rubinyan tasted kebab in Istanbul, but to feel the real taste and Turkish hospitality, you have to visit Adana. The latter invited the President of the RA National Assembly and the people of Armenia to Adana.

Let’s remind that earlier during the session of the RA National Assembly, during the debate with Shiraz Manukyan, deputy of the “Strong Armenia” faction, Ruben Rubinyan, referring to his time in Turkey as part of the research work, mentioned that he liked the local cuisine and visited Armenian churches.

The latter specifically said: “I used to eat kebab Adana Kebab here, it’s very tasty, Iskander, tasty things. I often went to the patriarchate there because I was interested. I liked to go and study the Armenian churches in Istanbul. I used to communicate with the representatives of the Armenian community with love when we met and so on.”

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For years, the NATO leadership has deceived both Georgia and Ukraine by promising to accept them into the alliance without any real intention to do so. announced the general secretary of the ruling “Georgian Dream” party and the mayor of Tbilisi Kakha Kaladze.

“During all these years, countries like Georgia and Ukraine have been lied to that NATO’s doors are open, but we all realize the reality. They themselves are no longer ashamed to openly say that it is actually impossible and excluded,” Kaladze noted.

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The Ministry of Internal Affairs made the purchase from “Art Lunch”, legal name: “Ready-Steady” LLC, under its regular non-tender, urgent one-person procedure. We learn from the electronic shopping platform that the contract for “food delivery” services was signed between the parties at the end of July. The price of the contract was 72 million 204 thousand drams – about 196 thousand 178 dollars. Within the scope of this amount, LLC has committed to provide services for police officers from July to December.

More than once 168.amwrote how the affairs of “Artlanch” “progressed” under these authorities. this LLC was entrusted with the food supply of several prisons and military units of the Ministry of Defense.

By the way, a few months ago, we wrote that the Ministry of Internal Affairs again bought 160 million drams worth of canteen management services from “Ready-Steady” on March 18. The delivery period is from March 7 to December 29 inclusive.

“Ready-Steady” LLC, “Art Lunch”, has been registered since 2002, and appeared in state procurement since 2017, and since 2018, it has started hyperactivity in state procurement: hundreds of contracts worth 100 million drams with various state departments, including non-competitive procurement.

100 percent share of this company belongs to Bakur Melkonyan’s wife, Gayane Margaryan.

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The government plans to attract new loans of 150 million dollars and 80 million euros. We learn about this from the relevant projects included in the agenda of the government’s August 6 session.

With the first of them, it is planned to receive a budget loan of 150 million dollars from the Asian Development Bank. It will be issued for 15 years, with a floating interest rate of 4.58. The first component of this credit agreement is intended to support the strengthening of fiscal management, public debt and financial risk management policies, as well as strengthening the stability of infrastructure investments. The second component implies the improvement of the state securities market, the third, the expansion of the range of financial instruments and investors, as well as the transparency of companies.

The second loan agreement was signed with the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the amount of the loan is 170 million dollars. These credit funds are planned to be directed to investment, trade liberalization and competition promotion, and ensuring greener and more resilient growth. The term of this loan is 28 years, the annual interest rate is 3.9 percent.

As of the end of March of this year, only the external debt of the Armenian government exceeded 6.7 billion dollars. In general, the internal and external debt of the government together exceeds 14.1 billion dollars, and the Central Bank has a debt of 500 million dollars.

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Avetik Chalabyan, the coordinator of “Hayakve” national civil union, sent a message from the detention center.

“Surrender to Turkish mercy or fight to the end? choose the fight.

Dear friends,

the inaugural session of the newly elected National Assembly forced me to break my silence and address the key point of the debate that took place there. That provision (and only on the second day of discussions) was formulated by CP MP Arman Yeghoyan, who stated that the main contradiction in this parliament concerns whether we want to see a sovereign and independent Armenia, or a state dependent on Russia and guided by it.

This is, of course, a beneficial formulation from the CP’s point of view, because it tries to present itself as the bearer of the first approach. However, it is fundamentally false and distorts reality. And the reality is, do we want to see ourselves integrated into the Turkish world, an anti-national semi-state unit, or do we want to build a national state, relying on the support of the Russian Federation and other natural allies?

The basis of this contradiction is the thesis persistently circulated by the Communist Party that anti-Turkishness was sown within Armenia by the Russian Empire in order to make Armenia a tool of its own expansionist policy. This is also a false thesis. The study of the entire history of Turkish-Armenian relations shows that the contradictions between us were born and deepened even before the advance of the Russian Empire in our region and are due to several simple facts:

a) The Turks (Ottomans) had conquered the entire Middle East militarily and considered themselves the rulers of the peoples living there. They considered the Christian nations and, in particular, the Armenians, simply as slaves, and treated them like slaves.

(b) The Ottoman Empire had a powerful army, but its administrative system was shamefully backward and corrupt. As a result, Armenians lived under double taxation, were completely disenfranchised, and were regularly forced to rebel against the injustices taking place in different parts of the empire.

c) Later, the Turks, having lost all their European territories, turned their eyes to the East, to Turan, and saw the Armenians as the biggest obstacle to be overcome on the way to uniting Turkey and Turan.

During the last 150 years, be it 1894-1896. Hamid massacres, 1915 Genocide, 1918 and 1920. The genocidal invasions of Eastern Armenia, 2023. The depopulation of Artsakh or the silent depopulation of Nakhichevan during the Soviet years, all these actions had one goal: to eliminate the Armenian barrier between Turkey and Turan, and unfortunately, they mostly succeeded despite the stubborn resistance of our people.

Today, the new KP strategists have come to the scene and, in fact, through the lips of their leader, they claim that the only way to save us is to become a bridge between Turkey and Turan, because the barrier is no longer working and will collapse sooner or later. When making this claim, you should ask the gentleman a simple question: Turkey today has about 85 million inhabitants, the 5 Turkish states of Turan have about the same number, while Armenia has about 3 million inhabitants. If we become a bridge in the Turkish territory with a population of 170 million, will we not sooner or later dissolve into it and become Turks ourselves, and or try to remain Armenian and Christian, return to the slave status of 200 years ago, when 170 million (and in the future more) Muslim Turks will again treat Armenians as a disenfranchised caste, and at the opportune moment, deport them or massacre them, as they did. have been many times in the past, including 3 years ago.

This is the main question of our controversy, and each of us must answer this question.
I have answered this question for myself, and yes, I realize that the answer I gave implies a greater dependence on Iran, also on India, China and all those who are ready to face the Turkish expansion into Central Asia, and who consider us, the Armenians, as a natural ally.

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The mayor of Tbilisi, Kakha Kaladze, stated that “representatives of foreign states cannot carry out political activities in Georgia.” He said this while commenting on the creation of a new political party by Victor Kipiani, head of the “Geocase” analytical center.

According to Kaladze, Kipiani is an example of an “agent network” whose representatives receive assignments from outside. He also stated that the Georgian government will continue to pursue a policy that, according to him, will protect only the interests of the state and the Georgian people.

“Gone are the days when representatives of other countries made decisions instead of Georgia. The elections are held fairly and all political forces can carry out their pre-election campaign. However, foreign representatives can no longer engage in politics in our country. You have to get used to this,” Kaladze said.

It should be noted that Victor Kipiani announced a few days ago about the creation of a new party that will participate in the political processes of Georgia.

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Public speaker, media expert Gor Madoyan writes: “So? “trace”Armen is called to 25-day gatherings. A person goes to serve, comes and shares notes. That we had weapons, there was no oil, we would service the weapons and the combat situation would be safe.

There were bullets, but no weapons, no grenade launcher, but there were warheads, there was a drone squad, but on paper. Yes, we didn’t even have an ax to at least break grass, burn it, and warm it up.

Armen is an ordinary citizen, one of us, a journalist who wrote this out of compassion for solving problems, realizing that silence does not advance the problem.

Now the Ministry of Defense has responded, threatening that if you write such things again (military secret or what), there will be consequences. He doesn’t threaten the head of the General Security Service, one more thing, he took a whole staff of the General Security Service and took them to positions, made them take pictures with guns and bullets, put the camera in front of him and promised that I am here now and everything is fine.

A good army is a system, with chains, officials of various circles who receive millions of salaries, social insurance, pay, assistant, bonuses, pass certification. Well, there is no specialist in frontline supply and other chains in the huge chain of the army. The chief of the General Staff should go and check the ammunition. Well, you understand that by showing this, you are proving that you are either terribly idle, or there is no one in place, and Armen’s writing is still not enough.”

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The main department of the investigation of economic crimes and smuggling of the RA Investigative Committee is examining the criminal proceedings initiated by G.T. and other persons in connection with the cases of fraudulent theft and money laundering of properties and funds worth 8 billion 126 million 946 thousand 460 AMD equivalent to 21 million 72 thousand 827 USD.

On the basis of the obtained sufficient evidence, a public criminal prosecution was initiated against the former general manager of the concern, the chairman of the board of directors, S.A., and the director of the company, A.D., under Article 46-255, Part 3, Clause 3 of the Criminal Code (especially assisting in large-scale fraud) and Article 46-296, Part 3, Clause 3 (especially large amounts of money). assisting with washing).

On August 5, 2026, on the basis of decisions made by the body implementing the proceedings, SA and AD were arrested for the purpose of being brought to court.

The investigation is ongoing.

Notice: the person accused of a crime is considered innocent until his guilt is proven in accordance with the procedure established by the Code of Criminal Procedure, by a legally binding verdict of the court.

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