JAN. 17 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenia’s government ratified a deal to sell its 20% stake in Armenian gas supplier ArmRusGazprom. The deal gives Russian gas monopoly Gazprom 100% ownership of ArmRusGazprom and, therefore, control over Armenia’s gas supply. Last year, Armenia surprised the EU by deciding to join the Russia-led Customs Union.
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(News report from Issue No. 168, published on Jan. 22 2014)
JAN. 18 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — An estimated 4,000 people protested in central Yerevan against planned changes to the pension system. The protest dispersed quietly. The change in the pension law means that people aged 40 or under will have to pay 5% of their salary into a pension. Like other states in the former Soviet Union, Armenia needs to reform a pension scheme now considered overly generous.
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(News report from Issue No. 168, published on Jan. 22 2014)
DEC. 28 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — ArmTab, the computer tablets produced in Armenia by an Armenian-US joint-venture, will go on sale in Yerevan priced $185, media reported. According to Armenia’s economy minister, Vahram Avanesian, 30,000 ArmTabs will be produced in the first year. The project is a major boost for Armenia’s technology industry.
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(News report from Issue No. 166, published on Jan. 8 2014)
DEC. 12 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu visited Yerevan, the first high-level trip to Armenia by an official from Turkey for nearly five years. Mr Davutoglu’s trip has sparked hope that relations between the two neighbours will improve. Turkey is the main ally of Azerbaijan, Armenia’s biggest enemy.
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(News report from Issue No. 165, published on Dec. 18 2013)
DEC. 8 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — An Armenian and a Turkish actor broke the world record for the longest handshake in a stunt aimed at improving ties between the two neighbours. Oganes Ajinyan, an Armenian, and Denis Barish, a Turk, shook hands for 43 hours in Tbilisi. Relations between Armenia and Turkey are strained over genocide accusations from World War I.
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(News report from Issue No. 164, published on Dec. 11 2013)
DEC. 2 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The world’s attention has focused on the massive street demonstrations against the Customs Union in Kiev but in Armenia another, far smaller, crowd has also been demonstrating against the Russia-led group. And this crowd of roughly 500 were within earshot of the visiting Russian president, Vladimir Putin.
The core of the debate is similar to the issues facing Ukraine. Faced with the option of moving closer to the EU or shifting towards Russia, Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan earlier this year chose the Kremlin. This surprised EU officials but unlike in Ukraine, the decision was generally welcomed in Armenia. Russia is seen as something of a security blanket for Armenia. It controls Armenia’s gas supplies and maintains a large military base in the country. It has also vowed to intervene if Azerbaijan threatens it.
Tigran Abrahamyan, a political scientist in Yerevan said the military aspect of the Customs Union was critical for Armenia. “Armenia will buy military equipment from Russia at a lower price and import it without paying customs fees,” he said.
Most Armenians are not anti-EU but they also understand the importance of military equipment and that is something that Russia’s army, and not the EU, can offer them.
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(News report from Issue No. 163, published on Dec. 4 2013)
NOV. 25 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan will re-commission its 10 Su-24 bombers, withdrawn from service in 2008, media reported quoting unnamed military sources. The news is more evidence that Azerbaijan is spending heavily on its armed forces. It is still officially at war with Armenia over the disputed region of Nagorno- Karabakh.
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(News report from Issue No. 162, published on Nov. 27 2013)
NOV. 11 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Hundreds of people in Armenia protested outside the PM’s office in Yerevan against a proposal for them to pay 5% to 10% of their salary into pension funds. Countries across the former Soviet Union are grappling with changing generous legacy pension systems.
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(News report from Issue No. 162, published on Nov. 27 2013)
NOV. 26 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — A third of the population of Armenia live in poverty, a survey by the Armenian national statistics office said. Most alarming for policy makers was data that showed poverty levels in Armenia were the same in 2012 as in 2008. Armenia’s economy has been slow to recover from the 2008/9 global financial crisis.
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(News report from Issue No. 162, published on Nov. 27 2013)
NOV. 19 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan met in Vienna for the first time in nearly two year to discuss the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The two leaders last met to specifically discuss Nagorno-Karabakh in June 2011. No details of their discussion were released.
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(News report from Issue No. 161, published on Nov. 20 2013)
