NOV. 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenia and Georgia unveiled a new border crossing at Bagratashen and renewed vows to boost bilateral cooperation. At the inauguration ceremony, Georgian PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili met Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and stressed the importance of improved regional cooperation.
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(News report from Issue No. 304, published on Nov. 11 2016)
NOV. 1 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The newly-established Armenia carrier said it is ready to compete with the low-cost Russian company Pobeda, which started flights linking Armenia to Moscow and Rostov-on-Don. Armenia’s CEO, Robert Hovhannisyan, said that his company will fly from the more central Yerevan airport, which will give the local carrier a competitive advantage on Pobeda, which flies to and from Gyumri, Armenia’s second city. Pobeda is a low-cost subsidiary of Russia’s Aeroflot.
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(News report from Issue No. 303, published on Nov. 4 2016)
NOV. 1 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armen Gevorgyan, chief of the presidential staff in Armenia, said that, despite the country’s prospective transition from a presidential to a parliamentary democracy, President Serzh Sargsyan will continue to rule until his term, his second and final one, ends in 2018. Last December, a referendum approved the switch in the country’s form of government. Next year, Armenians will vote in parliamentary elections with a new electoral law. In the Central Asia/South Caucasus region, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan have switched to parliamentary systems of government.
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(News report from Issue No. 303, published on Nov. 4 2016)
NOV. 1 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenia needs to attract high-value added investment to sustain its growth, Arsen Nazaryan an officer at the World Bank’s IFC local office said in an interview. Of crucial importance, foreign investment that can upgrade the domestic economy and increase high-skilled jobs can only be obtained if the country undergoes more reforms, Mr Nazaryan told the banks.am website. A section of its economy that Armena has developed is tech.
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(News report from Issue No. 303, published on Nov. 4 2016)
OCT. 25 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — A fifth round of negotiations took place between the EU and Armenia over a new framework agreement. A framework agreement would pull Armenia, which is part of the Kremlin-lead Eurasian Economic Union, closer to the EU. Armenia needs to develop its allies. Russia, though, which has cool ties with the EU, is one of its biggest backers.
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(News report from Issue No. 302, published on Oct. 28 2016)
OCT. 24 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Gazprom Armenia, a subsidiary of Russia’s gas giant Gazprom, appointed former deputy director Hrant Tadevosyan as its new CEO. Gazprom’s CEO Alexei Miller formally introduced Mr Tadevosyan during a visit to Yerevan. His predecessor, Vardan Harutyunyan, was appointed to head the state revenues committee earlier in October.
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(News report from Issue No. 302, published on Oct. 28 2016)
OCT. 28 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — When Armenian gunmen calling themselves the Daredevils of Sassoun after a group of lionised 8th century freedom fighters seized a police compound in Yerevan in July, the world’s attention was focused on another story unfolding next door – an attempted coup in Turkey.
Yet what took place in Armenia was an unprecedented strike against the state. Veterans from a war in the 1990s between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, the so-called Daredevils held police officers and medics hostage for two weeks before surrendering to the authorities without a fight.
But, by then, thousands of Armenians had come out onto the streets to express their solidarity with the gunmen.
In the eyes of the authorities the gunmen were criminals, official media described them as terrorists. Three policemen died during the siege, afterall. But on the day of their surrender, supporters gathered outside the Opera House in central Yerevan chanting their names and calling them heroes.
One long-term South-Caucasus observer told me that what happened in July was the emergence of a new and radical form of anti-government protest, likely to be repeated in other post-Soviet oligarchies.
There was no single reason for the gunmen’s actions, instead they were driven by an aggregate of problems facing Armenian society.
Poverty, corruption, inequality, and the authorities’ inability to resolve the ongoing conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh Their actions prompted mixed feelings among Armenians. Some were outraged that the gunmen were using violence to achieve their goals. Others saw this aggressive action as necessary but poorly executed.
But many were inspired. Since their arrest, Daredevil supporters have been mythologising them, writing songs about their sacrifice for a noble cause – a more prosperous and free Armenia.
Since the siege and the protests, President Serzh Sargsyan has promised reforms, and a new PM and government has been ushered in. Few, though, believe deeply rooted social and economic problems can be solved so easily.
And the story of the Daredevils is not over. Once a trial date is set, their support base will become active again, demanding their release. That raises the prospect of another spell of street protests in Armenia.
By Rahyan Demytrie, a BBC correspondent in the South Caucasus
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(News report from Issue No. 302, published on Oct. 28 2016)
OCT. 26 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Pobeda, a low-cost subsidiary of Russia’s flagship carrier Aeroflot, confirmed it will start flights to Armenia in the next few weeks. From November, it will fly from Moscow Vnukovo to Gyumri, Armenia’s second airport seven times a week. Earlier this month, Pobeda obtained permission to start Rostov- on-Don to Yerevan flights. Pobeda already flies to Almaty, Baku and Tbilisi.
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(News report from Issue No. 302, published on Oct. 28 2016)
OCT. 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia’s parliament approved a missile defence deal with Russia that will mean it relies increasingly heavily on the Kremlin for its defences, media reported. Russia already maintains a large military base in Armenia, seen as essential for keeping its various enemies (mainly Azerbaijan and Turkey) at arms length. Importantly, officials also said that the missile defence deal with Russia did not cover the region of Nagorno-Karabakh which Armenia disputes with Azerbaijan.
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(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)
OCT. 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – At a meeting in Yerevan, leaders of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) agreed to set up a new crisis response centre. The thinking behind the centre is to improve the exchange of information between CSTO members on terrorism. The CSTO includes Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan.
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(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)
