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Two dozen companies apply for construction of first solar power plant in Armenia

June 28, 2017 By administrator

armenia solar power20 companies and consortia have submitted pre-qualification applications to take part in the international tender issued for the construction of the first-ever solar power plant in Armenia in order to attract investors.

As Panorama.am was informed from Armenia’s Ministry of Energy Infrastructures and Natural Resources, the companies represent different countries famous in the sphere.

“The companies applying for the pre-qualification stage represent China, the U.S. Germany, Spain, South Korea, Iran and other countries,” Deputy Minister Hayk Harutyunyan informed.

A tariff competition will be announced between the companies, which will overcome the pre-qualification stage. Preference will be given to the applicant, which will propose the lowest and the most competitive tariff. The competition process will be completed at the early 2018 and the construction of the plant will begin.

According to the source, it is expected that already at the end of 2018 Armenia will operate the first 55MW solar power plant.

According to the investment program approved by the Government, 110MW solar power plants are set to be constructed in six locations in Armenia with the first 55MW plant to be constructed in Masrik site of Gegharkunik Province.

 

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Armenia, power, Solar

Commission established to assist program of solar power plant construction in Armenia

April 12, 2017 By administrator

In order to ensure the implementation of the investment program for the construction of the solar power plants approved by the Armenian Government at the end of the last year, an inter-agency commission has been established.

Upon the order of Armenian Minister of Energy Infrastructures and Natural Resources Ashot Manukyan, the staff of the commission has been approved, involving representatives from the Ministries of Energy Infrastructures and Natural Resources, Finance, Economic Development and Investments, Justice, Nature Protection, as well as from the Central Bank of Armenia, the Public Services Regulatory Commission and other state agencies.

As the Information and Public Relations Department of Armenia’s Ministry of Energy Infrastructures and Natural Resources told Panorama.am, the commission is set to present proposals over the steps assisting the construction of the industrial-scale solar power plants.

To note, on the basis of the investment program approved by the Government, 110MW solar power plants are to be constructed in six locations in Armenia with the first 55MW plant to be constructed in Masrik site of Gegharkunik Province.

 

Source Panorama.am

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Armenia, power, Solar

Bulgaria center-right Prime Minister Boyko Borisov set for return to power

March 27, 2017 By administrator

Bulgarians have backed two-time premier Boyko Borisov in a snap election. With newcomer populist groups also claiming seats, Borisov must form a coalition from a fragmented legislature.

Bulgarians backed Boyko Borisov for the third time in an early snap election held on Sunday. Official results put his pro-European Union center-right party in first place, winning almost 33 percent of the vote with 90 percent of the voter counted.

The 57-year-old head of Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) party must now form the country’s fourth government in as many years. Borisov has resigned from the post twice before, once in 2013 after nationwide protests against poverty and corruption, and again after last year’s presidential election. The former firefighter’s most recent resignation and the following failure of Bulgarian parties to form government triggered the country’s third parliamentary elections in just four years.

Sunday’s vote, which was originally due to be held in 2018, tested the divided loyalties of the EU’s poorest country, pitting GERB against the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), which came in second with around 27 percent.

The BSP conceded defeat late on Sunday, with the party’s leader saying it would look at options for forming a government should GERB find it cannot do so.

“We want to congratulate winners GERB,” party leader Kornelia Ninova told reporters after party doubled its popular support from the last parliamentary vote in 2014. “If they fail to form a government and we receive a mandate, we will try to form a Bulgarian government” to ensure stability in the country, which takes over the presidency of the EU on Jan. 1, 2018.

BSP, the successor to the Communist Party, promised to improve Bulgaria’s ties with Russia, but GERB has remained cautious of upsetting the country’s EU partners.

The Russian and Turkish influence

While Bulgaria historically has enjoyed strong economic and cultural ties with Moscow, Borisov is an enthusiastic European. Despite gifting Russian President Vladimir Putin a puppy in 2010, the Prime Minister has supported the bloc’s sanctions imposed on Russia over its role in the Ukraine crisis.

The socialists, on the other hand, vowed to vote against continuing the sanctions. A recent cartoon depicted the party’s leader, Kornelia Ninova, atop a Trojan horse with Putin inside.

The country has also endured wavering relations with Turkey, its southern neighbor. Bulgaria has a sizeable Turkish minority, and ahead of Sunday’s vote, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticized Bulgaria for “putting pressure” on the country’s 700,000 ethnic Turks. His Bulgarian counterpart, the BDS-backed President Rumen Radev retorted that he would not take democracy lessons from Turkey.

After casting his ballot, Borisov said “we will talk a lot about Turkey in the next few days.”

“Compromises must be made as well in order to maintain peace and calm. Such a tone of voice and such actions are fatal for Bulgaria,” he added. “They are a big power and we are on their frontier.”

Almost half of Bulgaria’s Turkish population has settled permanently in Turkey, but still hold Bulgarian passports and are eligible to vote. For two days leading up to the election, Bulgarian nationalists set up blockades at the Turkish border to stop citizens living permanently in Turkey coming in to vote.

‘Make Bulgaria great again’

The group behind the blockade was newly-formed nationalist party, the United Patriots. As well as railing against Turkey, the controversial group has taken issue with migrants, Muslims, Roma, gays and the EU.

The Eurosceptic, anti-Turkish group won almost 9 percent of Sunday’s vote. Newcomers Voyla, the populist creation of businessman Veselin Mareshki, also garnered the 4 percent needed to claim some of the 240 seats.

Mareshki, who is fond of his nickname as the Bulgarian Donald Trump, came fourth in last year’s presidential race after promising to drain the swamp of Bulgarian politics.

The comeback specialist faces fragmented parliament

Official results are expected on Monday. If they confirm the exit polls, Borisov has cemented his status in Bulgarian politics as the comeback king. But whether he can form a stable coalition is a different question.

The former mayor of Sofia previously ruled out an alliance with the Movement for Rights and Freedoms party, which represents Bulgaria’s Turkish population and won almost 8 percent of the vote. Along with Mareshki, the United Patriots could be a potential coalition partner for Borisov.

mcm/jm (AP, Reuters)

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Boyko Borisov, Bulgaria, power

Turkey sets April 16 for vote to expand Erdogan imperial powers

February 10, 2017 By administrator

imperial-erdoganTurkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday rubber-stamped controversial constitutional changes that will boost his own powers, paving the way for a referendum on the legislation in April, AFP reports.

The government says the proposals to create an executive presidency will simplify the government structure, but opponents fear they will lead to one-man rule in Turkey.

“People will have the final say,” Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said in comments carried by the Anadolu news agency, announcing that the referendum would take place on April 16.

Parliament in January approved a new 18-article constitution to create an executive presidency in the NATO member state along the lines of the system in France and the United States.

Brawls erupted between lawmakers during debates over the bill, highlighting the divisive nature of the changes, the most far-reaching constitutional shift since the creation of modern Turkey in 1923.

Erdogan approved the legislation six months after an attempted coup against him by a rogue military faction in July last year.

Under the new constitution, the president will have strengthened executive powers to directly appoint top public officials including ministers.

The post of prime minister, currently held by Erdogan loyalist Binali Yildirim, would be replaced with one or more vice presidents.

Erdogan’s supporters say the changes are necessary for effective government and to avoid fragile and unstable coalitions that were a feature of Turkey’s political scene in the past.

The bill also calls for parliamentary and presidential elections to be held at the same time, with the draft giving November 3, 2019 as the date of the next ballot.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Erdogan, imperial, power, Turkey, Vote

Iran, Armenia to quadruple power exchange volume

December 5, 2016 By administrator

power-exchangeIran’s Energy Minister has announced that the capacity of electricity exchange between the Islamic Republic and Armenia will soon grow from 300 to 1200 MWs, Mehr News Agency reports.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the 14th session of Iran-Armenia Joint Commission also attended by the Armenian Minister of Energy Infrastructure and Natural Resources Ashot Manukyan, Iranian Minister Hamid Chitchian said the joint session tackled implementation of the third power transmission line, North-South Transit Corridor as well as construction of a pipeline from the Persian Gulf to the Black Smea.

He pointed to the upcoming visit of Armenia’s president to Iran’s capital in the near future, asserting that “the arrival in Tehran of Serzh Sargsyan would offer the best opportunity for the development of bilateral cooperation between Iran and Armenia in energy sector and economy.”

The official, while stressing that several platforms exist for expanding and deepening bilateral relations between the two states, also said that the 14th session of Iran-Armenia Joint Commission will pave the path for further bolstering of ties in various fields like rail, aviation, agriculture, livestock, water, electricity, mining, petroleum, petrochemicals and tourism sectors.”

Chitchian also dwelled upon electricity exchange between Iran and Armenia underlining that creation of infrastructures and construction of new transmission lines will raise volume and capacity of power exchanges between the two states.

Referring to commencement of constructing the third electricity transmission pipeline between the two sides, Iran’s energy minister said implementation of the new project will bring a fourfold rise in the capacity of power exchanges between the two countries.

Also, Chitchian voiced Iran’s readiness to step up economic cooperation with Armenia reiterating that the two neighboring countries could boost economic and energy relations more than in the past.

Related links:

Mahr News Agency. Iran, Armenia electricity exchange to quadruple

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Armenia, exchange, Iran, power

Turkey: The GodFather of ISIS Davutoglu in power Struggle with Erdogan Could Resign

May 4, 2016 By administrator

Davutoglu Erdogan Power Struggle.

Davutoglu Erdogan Power Struggle.

Despite efforts to present a unified front, tensions between Turkey’s President Erdogan and Prime Minister Davutoglu could soon reach a boiling point, and result in the latter’s resignation.

Fourteen years ago, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan founded the Justice and Development Party (AKP). Legally, Erdogan can not serve as party head while serving as president, and he personally chose Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to replace him as the party’s chief.

But mounting evidence suggests that Davutoglu is tired of being second-in-command, and Erdogan is none too thrilled about an underling challenging his authority.

The Erdogan administration is currently pushing to abandon the country’s secular constitution, in favor of one that would cement broader powers for the president. Given Erdogan’s imprisonment of academics and journalists, his new sovereignty would likely be used to further Ankara’s clampdown on free speech.

This is one of the issues with which Davutoglu has tried to assert himself. But in his thirst for influence, the prime minister has pursued his own troubling interests. According to Soner Cagaptay of the Washington Institute, Davutoglu is the mastermind behind Turkey’s confused Syria policy.

“This was a foreign policy that was meant to make Turkey a regional star, not only shape the outcome of the Syrian war,” Cagaptay said.

Last week, Erdogan launched his own power grab, when the AKP’s executive committee – a body in which the president still maintains influence – voted to remove the prime minister’s authority to appoint local leaders.

“This decision will weaken Davutoglu’s power over the party,” said one official familiar with the decision, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Davutoglu’s job will not be easy after this.”

On Wednesday evening, both men held an unscheduled meeting behind closed doors. While some experts considered the possibility that Davutoglu would deliver his resignation, no public announcement was made. Other reports suggest that the prime minister may step down at the end of the month.

“While Erdogan and Davutoglu may appear keen to dispel any notions that divisions are emerging between them, the writing on the wall shows that a rift is in fact developing on a number of levels, and it is just a matter of time before this erupts in earnest,” Semih Idiz wrote for Hurriyet Daily News.

If the prime minister does, in fact, resign, he will likely be replaced by an Erdogan loyalist.

“Erdogan is intent on fully controlling both the executive but also the political agenda of the country and he can only do that if he has this degree of control,” said former Turkish diplomat Sinan Ulgen.

Despite these clear signs of trouble, the AKP has done its best to downplay the recent decision to remove Davutoglu’s appointing power.

“This authority has been taken back by the MKYK [AKP’s executive committee] so that issues concerning the party can be discussed intensively and in more detail,” party spokesman Omer Celik told reporters last Friday.

“It is not right to consider this change as a very radical move.”

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Davutoglu, Erdogan, power, struggle, Turkey

VIENNA: World Powers Agree on UN Plan for Syria “9 point plan”

October 30, 2015 By administrator

world power syriaLast updated on: October 30, 2015 1:20 PM

World powers involved in talks on Syria’s political future have agreed to a U.N.-led process that involves talks between the Syrian government and opposition and also to explore a ceasefire that would still allow strikes against terrorist groups.The plans were outlined in a Friday news conference held by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and U.N. Special Envoy Staffan De Mistura.

It followed a seven-hour meeting, on Syria, that included diplomats from the 17 countries, plus the United Nations and European Union. Officials said the group agreed to meet again within two weeks.

Kerry said the diplomatic talks in Vienna complimented stepped up U.S. military efforts in Syria. A senior U.S. official announced Friday that President Barack Obama had authorized a small complement of U.S. forces to deploy to northern Syria.

“We are employing a two-pronged approach,” said Kerry. “We are intensifying our counter-Daesh campaign and we are intensifying our diplomatic efforts in order to end the conflict.”

Kerry said the U.S. believed the two steps were “mutually reinforcing” but said the timing of the Obama administration announcement and the Vienna talks was coincidental.

Lavrov also highlighted progress made by the group but said there was no agreement on President Bashar al-Assad’s destiny.

He said Russia believes it is up to the Syrian people to decide their country’s political future. The U.S. and its allies say Assad cannot be part of any long-term political solution for Syria.

The UN political plan

https://twitter.com/mfa_russia/status/660160146946072576/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Kerry said under the U.N.-led plan, Syrian government representatives and opposition members would work to establish a political process that leads to “credible, inclusive” governance in Syria and then a new constitution and elections.

Under the plan, the elections would be held under U.N.-supervision.

Lavrov, speaking through a translator, said the political group should create the basis for an inclusive administration.

First meeting of its kind

In addition to Russia and Iran, the talks included Iran’s rival Saudi Arabia, a country more aligned with the U.S. position that President Assad must not be part of any long-term political resolution to Syria’s crisis.

Notably absent from Friday’s talks on Syria’s political future were representatives from the Syrian government and the country’s moderate opposition groups.

De Mistura said Syrian government and opposition groups had told him that they would not be able to reach any consensus without support from regional countries and the broader international community. He said the groups believed there would then be enough “critical mass” for them to come and meet.

De Mistura said the Vienna talks, on Friday, were a step in that direction.

Source: By Pamela Dockins VON

Filed Under: News Tagged With: 9 point plan, power, Syria, World

No One more worry about Massoud Barzani loosing power in Kurdistan than Turkey,

August 22, 2015 By administrator

Barzani-Turkish AirforceBarzani turn Iraqi Kurdistan to Turkish province, and diverted all oil pipeline through Turkey now Kurdistan become hostage to turkey.

Ankara is concerned about preserving the current state of Turkish-Iraqi Kurdistan ties, as political uncertainty hangs over Iraq’s Kurdistan region after President Massoud Barzani’s mandate expired without rival factions reaching an agreement to extend his term.
Weeks of rounds of debates between the rival parties failed to produce a consensus before Barzani’s term officially ended at midnight on Wednesday, despite a last-ditch intervention by the US and British diplomats, and Ankara is watching the ongoing stalemate over the presidency warily.
The replacement for Barzani, who has held the post for more than a decade, could have implications on ties with Ankara, which has invested heavily in Iraqi Kurdistan, both in diplomatic and economic terms.
Only a decade ago, relations wavered on the edge of mutual hostility, if not an outright showdown, but they improved rapidly since 2007, due to cordial relations between the Turkish government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) led by Barzani.
While Ankara has been cautious and has refrained from any public statement regarding the presidential debates among Kurdish parties in northern Iraq, diplomatic sources say the Turkish government may want to see the extension of Barzani’s mandate.

 

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Barzani, Kurdistan, power, Turkey

ARMENIA Construction of the 3rd power line between Armenia and Iran should begin this week

August 20, 2015 By administrator

arton115039-344x258The construction of the third power line between Armenia and Iran will resume this week announced the first Minister of Armenia, Hovik Abrahamyan.

The corresponding document was signed a few days ago, he said.

The Iranian Mehr news agency reported that the agreement for the construction of the third high voltage line connecting the energy systems of the two countries was signed Wednesday, August 12th. The contract worth € 107 million considering the construction of the power line with a total length of 275 km in two years. This will allow both parties to triple their energy exchanges.

The Prime Minister said Iran is a reliable and important partner for Armenia, and new economic opportunities and prospects are opened in the bilateral relationship today.

The contractor of the project, Iranian society Sunir should build the power line, supply and install the equipment, launch and operate the electrical connection. About 70% of the funds required for the project will be provided by the Export Development Bank of Iran, with the rest funded under Sunir.

Iran intends to use this project to connect the Russian and Georgian energy systems and expand its electricity supplies to the Transcaucasia.

Thursday, August 20, 2015,
Stéphane © armenews.com

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Armenia, constraction, Iran, power

Armenia: The power of Electric Yerevan

July 6, 2015 By administrator

Karena Avedissian 6 July 2015
armenia sizedStrong-arm tactics and cynical compromises are yet to send Yerevan’s protesters home. Is this the beginning of the end for the politics of old in Armenia?  published on opendemocracy

On 22 June, roughly 2,000 protesters gathered in front of the Opera House at Yerevan’s Freedom Square to protest planned hikes in electricity tariffs. From Freedom Square, they marched towards the presidential residence at 26 Baghramyan Avenue to voice their demands, but were blocked by police. In response, the protesters sat down where they were and remained through the night. The next morning, police forcibly dispersed the protest with water cannons, and detained around 250 people.

The dramatic images of the dispersal and video clips showing plainclothes officers harassing and attacking journalists galvanised the city. Personal anecdotes from protesters on social media describing the use of excessive force were widely circulated. One account in particular was shared widely online and on the street: a girl, around 17 years old, spoke of how she had been attacked by a plainclothes officer. Later, the girl lost consciousness after hitting her head on the asphalt. She ended up in hospital.

The next evening, around twice as many protesters showed up at Baghramyan.

#ElectricYerevan

A few days later, the numbers of protesters peaked at around 20,000. Although the numbers of protesters have abated since then, the barricades on Baghramyan Avenue remain.

The protests have now entered the next stage. Organisers are now trying to implement better management, disseminating protester guidelines (no alcohol, mutual respect, tidiness), and organising a general assembly with broad representation from civic initiatives and thematic working groups open to the public for discussing issues related to the protests.

Although it is predominantly young people that pull all-nighters on Baghramyan Avenue, central Yerevan sees a much broader representation of society at night. This fact, as well as protests in the cities of Gyumri and Vanadzor, further demonstrate Armenian society’s wider support for the movement.

Russian Connection

Little covered by international media, evidence of corruption in and gross mismanagement of Armenia’s energy monopoly, the Electric Networks of Armenia (ENA), owned by Russian Energy Company Inter RAO UES, has been a key grievance of protesters.

ENA has accumulated debt by habitually overpaying suppliers and contractors, as well as renting luxury cars and apartments. Director of the ENA, Yevgeny Bibin, who has publicly admitted his mismanagement of the company, was invited to a meeting by the Armenian Regulatory Commission to explain the proposed tariff hikes and to defend himself against allegations of corruption. The fact that Bibin did not even show up to the meeting only added to people’s feelings of injustice and resentment toward the proposed hikes.

The corruption and mismanagement of ENA reflect wider problems of governance and the political environment in Russia. When Russian state-owned companies (in which theft is not the exception but the norm) take over infrastructure in neighbouring countries, this is, in effect, ‘exporting corruption’.

This process strengthens Russia’s hand in the region, where the local elite see Moscow both as an administrative model to emulate and the power that guarantees their personal political survival (as long as they are malleable to Russian interests).

Although the Electric Yerevan protests are not anti-Russian in nature, against the backdrop of these geopolitical realities, these demonstrations are nevertheless a display of citizens’ dissatisfaction with their leaders’ lack of accountability.

Deals offered to Armenia by Russia in quick succession over the past few days belie Moscow’s stake in the matter. In the course of just a few days, Russia offered to hand over Russian soldier Valery Permyakov (who murdered a family of seven in Gyumri earlier this year), to extradite Armenian truck driver Hrachya Harutyunyan (currently serving out a prison sentence in Russia for a traffic accident), and $200 million in arms. If any appeasement was expected for these overtures, it did not happen.

Furthermore, information and analysis coming from Kremlin-aligned information sources demonstrate that Moscow is incapable of understanding civil society in Armenia. Viewed through a Kremlin lens, the Armenian citizenry cannot attempt to hold its own government accountable for corruption and abuses without a hidden hand or greater conspiracy being involved.

Russian state media has largely framed of Electric Yerevan as stemming from ‘outside influence’. This response has only further insulted Armenians, denying them their agency and discounting the legitimacy of their grievances.

Anatomy of protest

Electric Yerevan is the latest manifestation of a tradition of dissent and contention against government abuses, which include successful protests against mining projects in Armenia’s north and planned transport fare hikes for Yerevan.

The informal activist networks, established through face-to-face interaction and routines that resulted in solidarity building during those contentious actions, set the stage for Electric Yerevan.

Taking into account this history of contention, as well as the non-democratic nature of the Armenian context, it becomes clear why Electric Yerevan is structured in such a loose, informal way. In non-democratic states such as Armenia, NGOs and social movement organisations seldom constitute the most salient component of civil society when it mobilises. Rather, loose and horizontally structured networks of people forming a more informally organised movement emerge as more significant.

In Armenia, where a ‘power vertical’ similar to Russia’s exists, there is no straightforward process for movements to make open coalitions with institutions or establish structured channels of interaction with political elites. As the Armenian state is incapable of responding to or channeling dissent in institutionalised ways, repression or cooptation from the state emerge as the main danger to movements.

The loose, horizontal structure of the Electric Yerevan thus presents a significant obstacle to the Armenian state’s capability to attack or dismantle it. This structure is both a strength of the movement and a logical adaptation to the realities of the Armenian political arena.

Challenges, advantages

The demands of the protesters are specific: to repeal the electricity tariff hike, to review the current fare, to hold the police accountable for the excessive use of force on 23 June. Chances for the movement to succeed in its demands depend on several factors.

Two major obstacles to the movement exist. First, there are no major elite conflicts within the halls of power that might prompt officials to look for support outside, potentially allowing challengers such as Electric Yerevan a way into the official political arena.

Second, there are no influential elite allies inside the state apparatus that could offer material and symbolic resources to the movement or pressure for movement goals. The local soap opera celebrities and MPs who attempted to form a ‘human shield’ at the barricades have yet to offer any substantive benefits to the movement beyond a show of moral support. President Serzh Sargsyan’s power vertical, where formal mechanisms of policy making are limited to those in or allied with the ruling Republican Party, has assured the exclusion of outsiders to administrative support. The few oppositional MPs who support the movement are themselves largely marginalised and excluded from power.

On the positive side, Armenia’s relative media freedom is as an important resource for the movement. Although a large part of Armenian media remains under the control of official and semi-official Yerevan, alternative media sources, such as Civilnet and smaller independent publications such as Hetq and Epress, speak to movement participants directly, allowing them to represent themselves.

These channels have provided a powerful counter narrative against mainstream media representations of the movement, which remain predominantly negative.

Social media, and Facebook in particular, has also become an important site for disseminating ideas, coordinating action, and drawing in participants. Rather than threatening to replace bodies-in-the-street action, it augments it, offering an important alternative space where participants can circumvent state-controlled media constraints, disseminate information and counter any misinformation.

Online memes poking fun at the Russian media’s extremely politicised ‘colour revolution’ style coverage and humorous clips of Armenia’s thuggish police chief Vova Gasparyan shouting overlaid on well-known movie scenes have enlivened and confronted serious topics. These practices can transcend activist boundaries, creating common ground with wider audiences.

A second advantage of social media has been the way it has attracted international attention and coverage of the protests. In part due to the post-Soviet sphere’s history of ‘Colour Revolutions’, any confrontation in this part of the world automatically attracts the world’s scrutiny as the ‘next revolution’.

Although much of this attention has encouraged faulty depictions and comparisons of Electric Yerevan to revolutions in Ukraine and elsewhere, it is clear that the international media attention has constrained the ability or willingness of the authorities to crack down.

What next?

While the protest’s stated goals are limited to a narrow set of aims, the movement is about much more. It involves a much wider range of claim making around social and political issues, all falling under the umbrella of transparency and accountability.

It is not a given that the tariffs will be repealed or reviewed, or that the police will be held accountable. But if judged within a broader framework of bringing cultural and social change, then the movement can be a success. The sustained social interaction and the expressing of values and grievances through these protests have reinforced peoples’ identities around values and norms related to contention. This can take the movement through lulls in mobilisation and increase participants’ likelihood of future mobilisation when the time comes.

Electric Yerevan’s protests have provided a chance to tie individual identities to collective ones through contention – a crucial resource of citizen empowerment in a non-democratic state such as Armenia.

Chants of ‘no to plunder’ and ‘we own this country’ heard on Baghramyan speak of common cause: the rejection of exploitative opaque governance and the conscious desire of protesters to reassert their identities as Armenian citizens – with the rights and responsibilities which that entails.

Standfirst image: Electric Yerevan protesters on Baghramyan Avenue. 

All photographs courtesy of the author.

Filed Under: Events, News Tagged With: Armenian, electric yerevan, power

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