Yerevan Seeks New Economic Accord With EU
Azatutyun, November 11, 2014, https://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/26685900.html
Armenia hopes to deepen economic ties with the European Union through a new agreement despite joining a Russian-led trade alliance of ex-Soviet states, Economy Minister Karen Chshmaritian said on Tuesday.
“We hope that after working out a certain format we can sign an agreement on developing further economic cooperation,” Chshmaritian told reporters, commenting on his visit to Brussels last week.
Chshmaritian and members of an Armenian government delegation headed by him visited the EU headquarters to meet with senior EU officials. They discussed possible alternatives to a far-reaching Association Agreement which Yerevan was due to sign with the EU until President Serzh Sarkisian unexpectedly decided last year to make his country part of the Eurasian Economic Union.
The Brussels talks coincided with an announcement that the EU will allocate up to 170 million euros ($212 million) over the next years to support the Armenian private sector and assist in judicial reforms promised by the authorities in Yerevan. The EU’s new European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn portrayed the promised aid as further proof of the EU’s commitment to “very close cooperation” with Armenia.
Armenia-EU Relations
Armenian FM, EU Ambassadors discuss EU-Armenia relations
ArmRadio, November 11, 2014, https://www.armradio.am/en/2014/11/11/armenian-fm-eu-ambassadors-discuss-eu-armenia-relations/
On November 11 Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian had a working lunch with the Ambassadors of the EU member states and the Head of the European Union’s delegation to Armenia.
During the meeting the interlocutors exchanged views on Armenia – EU relations.
A number of urgent regional and international issues were on the agenda of the meeting.
In the light of the October 27th Paris Summit of the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan, held at the initiative of the French President, Minister Nalbandian briefed the EU Ambassadors joint efforts of Armenia and OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair states aimed at peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue.
Traian Hristea: Armenia-EU cooperation is effective
Aysor.am, November 11, 2014, https://www.aysor.am/en/news/2014/11/11/hristea/
“The European Union assumed an obligation to continue assistance with reforms in Armenia. Our cooperation is effective, despite some problems concerning the Association Agreement,” the Head of the EU Delegation to Armenia, Ambassador Traian Hristea said at the sitting of the Advisory Council of the EU Advisory Group.
According to him, it is important for the EU to see what path Armenia follows and what reforms are being carried out, including reforms under the agreements reached in Vilnius.
The Armenian parliamentary vice speaker Edward Sharmazanov said for his part that close cooperation has been established between Armenia and the EU, and Yerevan will host a meeting of the Euronest.
Armenia looks toward further deepening friendship with France
News.am, November 11, 2014, https://news.am/eng/news/238647.html
France’s new Ambassador to Armenia, Jean-François Charpentier, on Tuesday presented his credentials to President Serzh Sargsyan.
The President congratulated Ambassador Charpentier on his appointment, and expressed the hope that the French diplomat will carry out the ambassador’s mission to the best of his abilities, and for the benefit of the two friendly countries and nations. Sargsyan also noted that Armenian-French relations are deepening further, and Armenia looks toward further deepening this friendship and the warm relations.
Ambassador Charpentier, for his part, assured that he will do his utmost during his tenure, to continue the previous ambassador’s work and contribute to making Armenian-French relations more dynamic. The new French ambassador considered it a great pride and honor for him to hold office in a country which has ancient history, rich spiritual and cultural heritage, and age-old friendly ties with France.
General News on Armenia
Armenia Set For First Eurasian Union Aid
Azatutyun, November 11, 2014, https://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/26686299.html
The Armenian government will receive $84 million in assistance from the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) to bring domestic customs legislation and procedures into conformity with EEU standards, Finance Minister Gagik Khachatrian revealed on Tuesday.
Khachatrian said the money will be spent on drafting and enacting amendments to relevant Armenian laws and helping the national customs service quickly adapt to the EEU’s requirements. It will also be channeled into the Armenian state budget, he said.
“Right now we are working on 240 customs regulations. This is a quite complex and difficult process,” Khachatrian told reporters.
He also said that the EEU also plans to deploy its representatives at the customs posts on Armenia’s borders with Georgia and Iran.
PM intends discussing 12 points of non-government forces more thoroughly
Armenpress, November 12, 2014, https://armenpress.am/eng/news/783529/pm-intends-discussing-12-points-of-non-government-forces-more-thoroughly.html
In the end of the week the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Hovik Abrahamyan is going to suggest the political forces to start discussing the first point of the 12-point document presented by the non-government parties with a new format. The Press Secretary of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Gohar Poghosyan informed about it, answering the question of Armenpress – what steps will the Government make after the statement of the President of the Republic of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan made on November 10 on revising the document once more.
“The President of the Republic of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan suggested the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Hovik Abrahamyan to propose the political forces to start discussing the first point of the 12-point document presented by the non-government parties, but this time more thoroughly. We will provide the mass media with additional information properly and timely”, - said Gohar Poghosyan.
Trio to convene meeting today
Panorama, November 12, 2014, https://www.panorama.am/en/politics/2014/11/12/trio/
The three non-government parties – Prosperous Armenia, Armenian National Congress and Heritage – will hold their next meeting today, in the Heritage faction.
Panorama.am talked to Prosperous Armenia member Stepan Margaryan about today’s meeting. Asked whether the trio is going to discuss the latest interview of President Serzh Sargsyan and the government’s proposal to begin a dialogue with the opposition, Margaryan said that the agenda of trio’s meetings is determined on the spot.
Trio’s last meeting took place on November 10 in Prosperous Armenia faction, after a two-week interval. Speaking to reporters following the meeting, Stepan Margaryan said that the trio will not split and will continue its activities.
Iran makes privileged suggestion to Armenian businessmen on expanding business
Armenpress, November 12, 2014, https://armenpress.am/eng/news/783613/iran-makes-privileged-suggestion-to-armenian-businessmen-on-expanding-business.html
The Islamic Republic of Iran offers profitable conditions to the Armenian businessmen in case of starting business and exporting in their country. Joulfa is the inviting city, which was declared a free trade zone by the decision of the Iranian Government yet in 2003.
A group of Armenian journalists paid a visit to Joulfa to get acquainted with the opportunities the free trade zone-city provides. At the course of the journey, the representative of the city’s industry department Hossein Sahdari stated that currently there are 37 industrial factories in the city and 8 others are ready for exploitation. Among other things, the official noted that a very significant law has recently been ratified, which grants opportunity to foreign investors to establish a production and become a 100% owners.
Also, each investor will have a tax privilege for 20 years and they will be free from all kinds of taxes and visa regimes have been facilitated for entering the city.
Armenian President expresses his condolences on car accident
Mediamax, November 12, 2014, https://www.mediamax.am/en/news/society/12220/
President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan presented his condolences on the tragic car accident that occurred on Gyumri-Yerevan highway on November 10.
“I learned with great pain about the car accident on Gyumri-Yerevan highway which took the lives of innocent civilians. At this difficult moment I share the infinite sorrow and pain of the relatives of those who died in the car accident and express my sincere condolences to them. I wish everyone patience and courage and quick recovery to those who got wounded.
I believe that law enforcement agencies will carry out a thorough investigation of the facts of the case, will identify the causes of this tragedy and those guilty will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law”, the statement of the President reads.
Seven people were killed in the car accident, and seven got wounds of varying severity.
News from International Sources
Azerbaijan downs Armenian helicopter
BBC, November 12, 2014, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30025296
Azerbaijan's defence ministry says its forces have shot down an Armenian military helicopter violating its airspace.
Three crew members were killed in the incident, according to local reports.
The helicopter was flying in the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh, an enclave in western Azerbaijan controlled by ethnic Armenians.
A regional conflict dating from the Soviet era ended in a ceasefire in 1994 but tensions have risen again recently.
Azerbaijan's defence ministry said the Mi-24 helicopter was downed close to the frontline between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops.
Separatist officials in Nagorno Karabakh confirmed the attack, saying it happened during a "training flight as part of military drills".
Jabhat al-Nusra blows up Armenian church in Deir el-Zour: A savage blow that echoes through Armenian history
The Independent, November 10, 2014, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/jabhat-alnusra-blows-up-armenian-church-in-deir-elzour-a-savage-blow-that-echoes-through-armenian-history-9852372.html
In the most savage act of vandalism against Syria’s Christians, Islamists have blown up the great Armenian church in Deir el-Zour, built in dedication to the one and a half million Armenians slaughtered by the Turks during the 1915 genocide. All of the church archives, dating back to 1841 and containing thousands of documents on the Armenian holocaust, were burned to ashes, while the bones of hundreds of genocide victims, packed into the church’s crypt in memory of the mass killings 99 years ago, were thrown into the street beside the ruins.
This act of sacrilege will cause huge pain among the Armenians scattered across the world – as well as in the rump state of Armenia which emerged after the 1914-1918 war, not least because many hundreds of thousands of victims died in death camps around the very same city of Deir el-Zour. Jabhat al-Nusra rebels appear to have been the culprits this time, but since many Syrians believe that the group has received arms from Turkey, the destruction will be regarded by many Armenians as a further stage in their historical annihilation by the descendants of those who perpetrated the genocide 99 years ago.
Turkey, of course, miserably claims there was no genocide – the equivalent of modern day Germany denying the Jewish Holocaust – but hundreds of historians, including one prominent Turkish academic, have proved beyond any doubt that the Armenians were deliberately massacred on the orders of the Ottoman Turkish government across all of modern-day Turkey and inside the desert of what is now northern Syria – the very region where Isis and its kindred ideological armed groups now hold. Even Israelis refer to the Armenian genocide with the same Hebrew word they use for their own destruction by Nazi Germany: “Shoah”, which means “holocaust”.
‘No More Business As Usual’ for Azerbaijan
Civic Solidarity, November 10, 2014, https://www.civicsolidarity.org/article/1041/no-more-business-usual-azerbaijan
Azerbaijan’s six-month chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, Europe’s top human rights body, comes to an end this week. During this period Azerbaijan unleashed an unprecedented crackdown against civil society—including the imprisonment of human rights defenders and political activists who criticized the government.
The Civic Solidarity Platform, a coalition of 65 human rights organisations from the OSCE region, calls to the Council of Europe to put real pressure on Azerbaijan to reverse its actions and release all those who have been imprisoned on unfounded charges.
“The chairmanship turned into a demonstration of strength for the Azerbaijani government. It showed that evil can be stronger than values. The government used the chairmanship in an organization which is based on human rights to prove to its citizens, and to the world, that money and power trump values.” It is time to save these values, the commitments and the soul of the Council of Europe. Now,” said Azeri investigative journalist, Khadija Ismayilova.
The Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjørn Jagland, and its democratic member states must confront Azerbaijan and consider punitive measures in response to this crackdown. To date the Council of Europe has responded with nothing more than statements of condemnation. Azerbaijan actions are an attack to European institutions and values, and this must not go unnoticed.
Watch the video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2sjdYGGbAk
Republican Congressional majority casts dark shadow on Armenian interests
The California Courier, November 12, 2014, https://nebula.wsimg.com/a083e181610ec3187c7019119e09c909?AccessKeyId=CAEA6237ACF321EDB6BB&disposition=0&alloworigin=1
Nearly all congressional candidates nationwide who supported Armenian -American issues were victorious during the November 4 elections. The outcome was similarly positive for other candidates running in state and local races. Consequently, the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) announced that over 95% of its endorsed candidates had been successful.
Although both Republicans and Democrats have traditionally supported Armenian-American issues, there are some dark clouds looming over Armenian lobbying efforts in Washington due to major changes in the new Congress, which take effect in January 2015, during the critical Centennial Year of the Armenian Genocide.
Several key pro-Armenian Democratic Senators will lose their leadership positions as a result of the new Republican majority. For example, Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), rated A+ on Armenian issues by ANCA, will no longer Chair the Foreign Relations Committee. He will be replaced by Sen. Robert Corker (R-TN), rated D+ by ANCA, one of five Republican Senators who voted against the Armenian Genocide Resolution in the Foreign Relations Committee last April. In addition, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), rated A by ANCA, will become Minority Leader. He will be replaced by Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), rated C+ and endorsed for reelection by ANCA. Sen. McConnell has voted positively on some Armenian issues.
Armenia's c.bank keeps refinancing rate unchanged at 6.75 pct
Reuters, November 11, 2014, https://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/11/armenia-rates-idUSL6N0T02RB20141111
Armenia's central bank kept its key refinancing rate unchanged, at 6.75 percent, on Tuesday after data showed annual inflation was within the government's 2014 target.
Annual inflation was 2.2 percent in October, the central bank said, up from 1.5 percent recorded in September.
Monthly inflation in October was 1.0 percent, compared to inflation of 0.4 percent in September.
The central bank kept its refinancing rate unchanged at 6.75 percent in September after cutting it from 7.00 percent in August.
News on Turkey
Turkish Green Party recognizes the Armenian Genocide
Nouvelles d’Armenie, November 11, 2014, https://www.armenews.com/article.php3?id_article=105189
The Turkish Green Party recognizes the Armenian Genocide, Nouvelles d’Armenie reports.
During a plenary session that brought together the European components of the Green Party in Istanbul from 7 to 9 November 2014, the spokesperson of the Turkish Greens Party said, “We recognize unequivocally the Armenian genocide.”
Time for daring steps: The legal bases for bringing the Armenian Genocide issue to the International Court
ArmRadio, November 11, 2014, https://www.armradio.am/en/2014/11/11/time-for-daring-steps-the-legal-bases-for-bringing-the-armenian-genocide-issue-to-the-international-court/
Ahead of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide historian Armen Marukyan presents his new book titled “The bases and opportunities for applying to the International Court on Armenian Genocide issue.” According to the author, the times of keeping silent and waiting are gone. Now it’s time for daring steps, as it is our decades-long hesitancy that has made our neighbor unbridled.
“This work shows that we have serious legal bases to apply to the International Court,” said Ashot Melkonyan, Director of the History Institute of the Armenian National Academy of Sciences.
Lawyer Vladimir Vardanyan noted that “although the book cannot give a final solution to the Armenian Cause, it will serve a serious basis for the future steps.”
Prosecutor asks Zaman editor to be sentenced to 17 years
Today’s Zaman, November 11, 2014, https://www.todayszaman.com/national_prosecutor-asks-zaman-editor-to-be-sentenced-to-17-years_364140.html
The lawsuit alleged that by covering the opposition leader's remarks in which he disclosed the contents of an alleged telephone conversation between then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his son, the newspaper violated the confidentiality and privacy of the communication. Çümen was also charged with being a member of an illegal group, though the name of the group was not specified.
The Bakırköy Chief Public Prosecutor's Office on Monday informed Çümen that a lawsuit was launched against him over the newspaper's reporting of Kılıçdaroğlu's parliament speech during which he played the voice recordings that allegedly revealed that Erdoğan had instructed his son to hide large sums of money that were stashed in the family residence in İstanbul after a corruption investigation was made public on Dec. 17, 2013.
EU backs US position on Turkey’s inclusion to TTIP
Hurriyet Daily News, November 12, 2014, https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/eu-backs-us-position-on-turkeys-inclusion-to-ttip.aspx?PageID=238&NID=74185&NewsCatID=429
A statement issued by Turkey’s EU Minister Volkan Bozkır last week that said Turkey might freeze its Customs Union deal with the European Union if the planned Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) does not include Turkey was quite important, showing the government’s determination toward this end.
Bozkır’s urging is a continuation of several other Turkish leaders’ strongly worded criticisms against the EU over the implementation of the Customs Union. The debate between Ankara and Brussels resulted in a report issued by the World Bank in April, recommending the expansion of the deal to agriculture, services, etc. The parties have yet to explore ways to respond to the suggestions made in this report.
As Turkey left local, and most importantly presidential, elections behind with the formation of a new government under the leadership of Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, these issues, having been shelved for a time, were brought back to the agenda. But it seems Bozkır’s threatening that Turkey could freeze the Customs Union deal received little reaction in Brussels.
“Turkey sees it as political, but it should be aware that it needs to adopt certain economic reforms before asking to join the TTIP. It should also be recalled that this point was also made by the U.S. Secretary of Trade,” a senior European diplomat said recently.
News from Azerbaijani Sources
Azerbaijani president, Hungarian PM hold expanded meeting
Trend.az, November 11, 2014, https://en.trend.az/azerbaijan/politics/2331831.html
President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban have held an expanded meeting.
Hungarian prime minister welcomed Azerbaijani president in front of the parliament building. Then an official photo was taken.
Members of Hungarian government were introduced to President Ilham Aliyev, and members of Azerbaijani delegation were introduced to Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
Speaking at the expanded meeting, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban hailed the importance of President Ilham Aliyev’s visit. He said Azerbaijan is of great interest both to the parliament and entire political elite of Hungary.
“Each of us is following your country’s progress with great admiration, particularly in economy and non-oil sector,” said Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
Mehman Huseynov: I am held hostage in my own country
Contact.az (oppositional), November 11, 2014, https://www.contact.az/docs/2014/Interview/111100096202en.htm#.VGM_SfmUets
At Baku airport a border-guard told me that something wrong was with my passport, and it is invalid. My data did not appeared after the passport number was entered. I said that there is not such a man. Visa in the passport and the fact that I have not left the country, there were stamps of the same frontier, did not have any impression on him. I was kept for two hours in the Border Service, and then for a few hours at the airport police. After that, I was handcuffed and taken to the police of Baku, " said in an interview with Turan a blogger Mehman Huseynov, sharing his impressions on his detention on Monday when departing for an OSCE conference in Tbilisi. After questioning and interrogation lasting for nine hours, the blogger was sent to the prosecutor's office, and was released in half an hour. In 2012, a lawsuit was filed against Huseynov on charges of hooliganism. Since then he can leave the country only with the consent of the investigator.