Armenian capital calm after protests end — but at what cost?

May 4, 2018 By administrator

by Yuras Karmanau and David Keyton | AP

YEREVAN, Armenia — After weeks of raucous protests, the streets of the Armenian capital suddenly calmed Thursday and the ruling party confirmed it would back an opposition leader to become prime minister next week.

The opposition lawmaker who led the protests in Yerevan, Nikol Pashinian, called for them to stop Thursday following the concession by the ruling party.

But the deal leaves the ruling Republican Party with a solid majority in parliament, suggesting that real change in the landlocked former Soviet republic that is a key Russian ally could still be far away.

Many protesters were still skeptical.

“We just let off steam and didn’t achieve anything yet — the Republicans stay in power and the old system won’t change,” said Bagram Oganian, a university instructor who a day earlier was among those blocking the capital’s airport.

In a move to calm the turmoil that has gripped Armenia for weeks, the Republican Party said it would support any candidate for premier nominated by one-third of the lawmakers in parliament — support that Pashinian claims to have.

Pashinian then called on demonstrators to cease their protests.

In an interview Thursday with The Associated Press, party deputy head Armen Ashotyan reaffirmed the deal for the vote that is to be held Tuesday in parliament.

“We had two criteria to assist any candidate. The first is a necessary threshold of signatures … The second is to calm down the situation on the streets, not blocking interstate roads, airports, etc.,” he said. “So the man who could cope with these criteria is considered to be Nikol Pashinian.”

Ashotyan said if the streets stay calm “as agreed, we will assist his election.”

Yet once Pashinian takes the post, Armenia’s political dynamics will become complicated. Ashotyan said the Republican party would “consider itself the opposition” despite retaining a majority of lawmakers in parliament.

“In my personal opinion, there is no way of any cooperation with new political forces,” he said. “We will not be part of this government.”

A stalemate could quickly rekindle demonstrators, whose actions over the past three weeks bolstered their confidence.

“We paralyzed the whole country. We showed the authorities our strength and we should finish the revolution,” said 46-year-old businessman Tigran Ovsesian.

The Yerevan protests began April 13 and spread to other parts of the country. Frustration with widespread poverty and corruption burst into anger over what demonstrators saw as longtime President Serzh Sargsyan’s power grab.

Sargsyan, who was president for a decade, stepped down because of term limits but on April 17 was named prime minister. Under a shift in government structure, the premiership had become more powerful than the presidency.

But as the protests against him attracted tens of thousands nightly in Yerevan’s central square, Sargsyan unexpectedly resigned just six days after being appointed prime minister.

Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/armenias-ruling-party-will-back-opposition-leader/2018/05/03/685ce776-4ed6-11e8-85c1-9326c4511033_story.html?utm_term=.5bd47c18552e

How Armenia’s Cultural Capital Should be Exploited

October 19, 2016 By administrator

armenian-cultural-capital

Author: Gohar HAKOBYAN

Culture is the greatest capital in Armenia and cultural festivals are a great way to pave the country’s way to the worldwide audience.

“Yerevan Perspectives” International Music Festival is an independent cultural brand that has been hosted for the 17th time. The festival engages exceptional classical musicians. Despite the festival’s success, Sona Hovhannisyan, the Managing Director of “Yerevan Perspectives” believes that what the festival needs is sustainability to be able to deliver greater programmes. She says, “We can equally work with world famous festivals, as it is due to our professionalism, network and commitment that we can succeed in our work in Armenia. There are festivals whose directors are invited from abroad. In our case, we do our country credit, as the same workstyle would not reap any fruits in another country. We do need a board of trustees to maintain our sustainability, and to manage our funds, so that we do not have to think of ways retaining the project. The festival has been hosted for the seventeenth time and this time we should not think of retaining the festival but of coming up with ways of attracting about one million tourists to our country. We can definitely do this. “Yerevan Perspectives” can be one of the triggers for developing cultural tourism. We require additional resources and support for that. And the moment we have our board of trustees and make our festival a sustainable one, the picture will considerably change.” It is worth mentioning that “Yerevan Perspectives” could bring such musicians and orchestras to Armenia that have not even been to the region before.

“For instance, in 2004 we invited the Kronos quartet, a legendary American string quartet that had never been either to the Caucasian region or the Baltic countries before. The idea of the quartet coming to Yerevan was so incredible that the then US Ambassador to Armenia said that the Embassy would cover half of the quartet’s fees. After the quartet’s arrival in Armenia, the embassy did pay half of the fees, though throughout our negotiations, the amount to be paid had decreased a lot. The people who had previously worked with Kronos could not believe their eyes when they saw the advertising poster. We had a similar experience with Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra or Amsterdam Royal Concertgebouw. We managed to bring such outstanding conductors as Lorin Maazel, Daniel Barenboim to Armenia, when our Estonian colleagues would not succeed in having them give concerts in their country. It was due to our festival that Evgeni Kissin came to the region for the first time after the collapse of the Soviet Union. He hadn’t visited Russia for several years back then and only next year is he planning to have a concert there.” says the Managing Director of “Yerevan Perspectives”. It is with great pride that she cites the words of European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sports Tibor Navracsics, who called the festival unique. It’s the credit of “Yerevan Perspectives” that the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, one of the best orchestras in the world, will soon visit Armenia with its concerts. “They told us they knew our festival quite well. It’s our past success that secures the agreement of these orchestras to give concerts in Yerevan. Obviously, it’s not relevant for this kind of orchestra who gave concerts in the country before them. Sona Hovhannisyan believes that Martha Argerich, an Argentine pianist, is the next musician to visit Armenia. Armenia’s Dramatic Profile and the Indifference of Yerevan Municipality

“Highfest” International Theatre Festival has been hosted for already the fourteenth time. It is considered to be the main festival in former Soviet Union countries (with the exception of Moscow). Artur Ghukasyan, the President of International Performing Arts Festival, states that since 2007 the state support to the festival has decreased. Thus, in 2008, the festival budget made 35 million drams, whereas this year it makes 30 million drams. The Ministry of Culture has also cut “Highfest” budget this year. “The Ministry says it is not their own decision, but that of the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Finance in their turn claim that it is the Government’s decision.” Artur Ghukasyan emphasizes the fact that “Highfest” festival develops the field of performing arts. The festival hosts such performances, which are no included into the repertoires of Armenian theatres. Artur Ghukasyan believes that the original performances hosted within the framework of the festival can shape taste, develop new outlooks and be a real eye-opener, as they tend to push talented people to stage new and interesting things. Festivals make countries more open, they can even make an impact on those countries, which are among the most open ones. Festivals can develop the economy, attract tourists, and pave new ways for businesses. Earlier businesses would not even think of generating income through arts. Now we encourage businesses to act. Another important thing is that festivals shape the cultural reputation of the country. I have attended Edinburgh Art Festival, Scotland’s largest annual celebration of visual arts. At other times, Edinburgh leaves an impression of a grey, grim city which is glorious but at the same time closed to people. It is neither inviting, nor unwelcoming. However, on festival days, Edinburgh has a completely different picture to offer. About 2500 performances are played there daily and all the people smile. This is what festivals can do.”

Foreign capital fleeing Turkey FAST hits 2.5-year high on Fed, jet crisis

December 8, 2015 By administrator

Jolted by strong signals from the US Federal Reserve (Fed) for a hike in interest rates in its Dec. 16 meeting and escalated diplomatic tension between Russia and Turkey, foreign investors in the Turkish stock exchange, Borsa İstanbul (BİST), sold off $1.14 billion worth of stocks in November, the highest amount since June 2013.

Having recorded a short-lived rally immediately after the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) regained its parliamentary majority after a five-month hiatus on Nov. 1, assets at BİST dropped 5 percent in value for the whole month, during which the Fed deemed a rate hike more likely than before, attracting investors to assets in the US. Also, Turkey’s downing a Russian jet on Nov. 24 over a border breach at its Syrian border also unnerved investors, with BİST dropping more than 4 percent on the same day.

Foreign nationals made a net purchase of $2.58 billion in 2014, during which they bought $392 million worth of government bonds. This group of investors has sold $5.9 billion worth of government bond this year so far, of which $405 million were sold in November alone.

Quoted by the Hürriyet daily on Tuesday, Murat Barışık, a senior executive at the Ata Yatırım consulting firm, said November saw the greatest exodus from Turkey since the Fed’s announcement in June 2013, which triggered a capital exit from emerging markets.

International negotiations on Syrian crisis open in Austrian capital

October 30, 2015 By administrator

A fresh round of international talks aimed at resolving the ongoing crisis in Syria has started in the Austrian capital city of Vienna, with representatives from the Islamic Republic of Iran attending the conference.

Apart from the Islamic Republic, the United States, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, representatives from at least 12 other countries are also attending the talks. Those states are France, Germany, Egypt, Russia, Jordan, the UK, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Iraq, Lebanon, China and Oman.

Envoys from the United Nations (UN) and the European Union (EU) are also present at the talks.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif heads Iran’s delegation during the one-day talks.

Past failure without Iran

Previous talks on Syria, mediated by the UN and dubbed Geneva I and II, failed to find a solution to end the conflict in the Arab country. Iran had not been invited to any of the talks.

The two conferences ended in failure after the foreign-sponsored opposition figures in the talks refused to discuss widespread terrorism in the country and persisted in demanding the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as a precondition.

The foreign-sponsored conflict in Syria, which flared in March 2011, has claimed the lives of more than 250,000 people and left over one million injured, according to UN.

The world body says 12.2 million people, including more than 5.6 million children, remain in need of humanitarian assistance.

The foreign-sponsored militancy has displaced 7.6 million people.

Not too hopeful about the Syria talks

In an exclusive interview with Press TV’s Website on Friday, journalist and blogger Richard Silverstein described the Vienna talks on the Syrian crisis a “hopeful sign,” especially in the wake of the ongoing foreign-sponsored militancy in Syria and the influx of Syrian refugees into Europe.

He, however, cast doubt on the possible outcome of the negotiations due to the miscellany of the interests of the parties involved, and their conflicting nature in some cases.

Silverstein pointed to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) reached between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program as well as regional issues, noting that the agreement has paved the way for possible cooperation between Tehran and Washington on a number of issues to do with Middle East, and Iran’s stronger role as a regional player.

US shifting stance on Assad?

Separately, Kentucky-based political commentator John Miranda told Press TV’s Website that he expects that, at the end of the Vienna talks, US officials would drop their demand that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad must leave power.

He also said that the Damascus government would seek broader assistance from Iran in the fight against militant groups wreaking havoc on Syrian soil.

Zarif and his US and Russian counterparts, John Kerry and Sergei Lavrov, met in Vienna on Thursday evening ahead of the negotiations.

The Iranian foreign minister also met EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini. Their talks focused both on the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) reached between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program as well as regional issues.