6 minutes of Armenia coverage by Transcaucasian Telegraph’s Sep/26/2024 report.
Armenia’s Constitutional Court rules that the recent AM-AZ border delimitation Regulation agreement complies with the Constitution
The first major barrier has been cleared. The Regulation advances to the Parliament where the ruling party is expected to ratify it. A similar ratification process is necessary in Azerbaijan.
Context: Armenia and Azerbaijan recently agreed on a Regulation that’s, according to experts, is based on the OSCE handbook for delimiting borders without causing problems for border residents.
Context of context: Armenia and Azerbaijan recently withdrew from each other’s territories in a small section of the Tavush-Gazakh border. Both parties continue to control chunks of territories belonging to the other side, a move meant to avoid logistics issues.
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Red Kurdistan at 15:05,
UN General Secretary welcomes the steps taken by Armenia to establish peace with Azerbaijan
Pashinyan and Guterres met during the UN session to discuss a range of issues, including the Crossroads of Peace logistics project, the AM-AZ peace efforts, border delimitation, etc.
foreign ministers of the United States, Armenia, and Azerbaijan met in New York
Blinken invited Mirzoyan and Bayramov for a meeting.
The Parties agreed to put additional efforts towards the conclusion of the Agreement on Peace and Establishment of Interstate Relations in the shortest possible period.
The Armenian and Azerbaijani sides expressed their gratitude to Blinken for organizing the meeting.
YEREVAN & BAKU: Thank you big daddy Blinken for so graciously taking time off from overseeing the slaughter of 42,000 Arabs to take care of our issues. We hope you won’t get us slaughtered, too. We shall sacrifice a goat in your honor.
U.S. government announces $20.6 million to support Armenia’s security amid democratic reforms
Secretary of State Blinken and USAID Administrator Power spotlight democratic progress in Armenia and announce $20,600,000 from the United States to bolster progress.
New commitments announced at the UN General Assembly will support government reform efforts and facilitate improvements to public services as part of USAID’s Democracy Delivers Initiative.
• cyber security
• border security
• energy security
• resilience against complex threats
• technological capacities for independent media & information literacy
… feminist Nikol Pashinyan’s statement during the "Democracy Delivers" forum
USAID Administrator Samantha Power noted that on April 5 she had the opportunity to go to Brussels to discuss the concrete steps that can be taken to support Armenia’s democratic and peaceful future.
PASHINYAN: Democracy gives opportunity for free economic activity to all people. Before the revolution, we had monopolies and restrictions on certain economic activities in Armenia. Now this issue is also resolved.
One of the most important results of democracy is that society now has the opportunity to raise questions, revise stereotypes, and discuss the past, present, and future. I think this is a very important circumstance, because the fact that the Government has adopted the peace agenda is also a result of democracy, and it is very important for this agenda to be successful.
The next result may be about revising traditional views again. It is about the role of women in society. Definitely currently women are more active and engaged in our country, and our people and society perceive that it is an important component of the social, economic and political development of our country. And I am very happy that we are encouraging women to be more active. Their reaction is not as active as we would like, but the process has started and there is no doubt that we will have real changes. It will be a real result of democracy for our women, also for men, for our society in general. //
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Germany will contribute an additional €2.9 million to support refugee children from Nagorno-Karabakh
The UNICEF-run program will assist over 25,000 conflict-affected people in Armenia with direct service delivery of humanitarian cash, mental health and psychological services. Additionally, 100,000 people will receive mental health services through online platforms.
still frozen: Armenia’s foreign minister skips another Russian-led CSTO meeting
FM Mirzoyan did not attend the CSTO meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session in New York.
New York City mayor Eric Adams is charged with campaign corruption involving a Turkish construction company
Mayor Adams was allegedly given gifts from Turkey in exchange for fast-tracking the opening of the “Turkish House” in Manhattan.
“Because of Adams’ pressure on the FDNY, the FDNY official responsible for the FDNY’s assessment of the skyscraper’s fire safety was told he would lose his job if he failed to acquiesce, and after Adams intervened, the skyscraper was opened as requested.”
The U.S. authorities examined free flights and flight upgrades the mayor received from Turkish Airlines. A lawyer for Turkish Airlines, which is owned in part by the Turkish government, said in a statement that it had been in contact with prosecutors about the investigation for some time.
The mayor’s Azerbaijani staffer Rana Abbasova reportedly flipped on him after scrutiny over his dealings with Turkish Airlines.
Yerevan mayor Avinyan had a chat with power grid operator ՀԷՑ about the planned modernization of the network
The company presented the modernization plan for the substation location on 31st Street which serves 145,000 residents. They will use dual source technologies to make it fail-safe.
The initiative involves systemic reform of the existing system, including the installation of new distribution networks and substations.
For safety reasons, 23 transformer substations located in condo basements will be moved out into dedicated buildings.
A further 31 substations will be modernized and adapted to modern requirements.
… when and how much?
ՀԷՑ will spend ֏6.7B to implement the reforms over the next 3 years.
… other power infrastructure upgrades in Armenia
Vorotan Cascade owner Contour Global will invest over $14 million in 2024-2026 to modernize the Vorotan hydropower plant with new power transformers, valves, remote control systems, environmental protection, etc.
Armenian Government approves the 2025 draft budget. What’s in it?
Projected economic growth: +5.6%
Projected GDP: ֏11.050T
Projected inflation: 3.5%
Projected revenues: ֏2.873T
Projected expenses: ֏3.482T
The deficit will grow by 5.5% in 2025 and decrease to 3% in the medium term. Debt-to-GDP ratio: 53.5%.
MINISTER: We’ll have historically high levels of capital expenditures to strengthen Armenia’s economy and defense. The spending policy will be aimed at strengthening the country’s defense system in order to increase the country’s resilience to possible risks. //
The share of capital expenditures in GDP will reach 6.6%. Also more resources for education, healthcare, reservoirs, etc.
The government expects that the reforms aimed at improving administration will increase the Tax-to-GDP ratio by 0.7% and reach the target of 25%.
Armenia’s defense budget will increase by 20% in 2025
The Government’s draft budget plans to allocate ֏665B or $1.7 billion for defense, or 6% of projected GDP. That’s up from this year’s ֏554B ($1.44 billon).
• ֏1.72B for [presumably] cadets to study abroad
• ֏1.4B for military hospitals and medical centers
• ֏0.9B for activities of Armenia’s military attachés abroad
• ֏0.3B to study minefields and mapping
… Armenia’s annual military expenditure in million $ (by TradingEconomics)
2012: 381
2013: 445
2014: 458
2015: 448
2016: 431
2017: 444
2018: 513
2019: 652
2020: 634
2021: 619
2022: 795
2023: 1333
2024: 1444
2025: 1700
EXPERT LEONID NERSISYAN: It is unprecedented in the history of Armenia. Every year there is a new record number. In 2024, it was the highest number in history. //
… the difference between the military budgets of Armenia and Azerbaijan
NERSISIAN: In 2013 our military budget was 5-6 times smaller. Last year it was 2.5 times smaller. Next year it will be 2 times smaller. Azerbaijan is still ahead, but as you can see, there is a positive dynamic for Armenia. //
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Government extends the subsidy program for border residents
$2.7 million will be spent in 2025 to support the residents of 82 communities.
It covers 50% of their bills for gas, electricity, and irrigation water, and also property taxes.
update: "pro-Kocharyan" deputy justice minister resigns weeks after being nominated by Justice Minister Minasyan, who is also looking at a possible termination
Context in Wednesday report.. A group of ruling party MPs launched a petition to urge PM Pashinyan to fire Justice Minister Grigor Minasyan (ex-HHK member) due to his "poor performance", "problematic appointments"and "not being a member of Pashinyan’s team who shares the party’s core values."
The recently-appointed "pro-Kocharyan" deputy justice minister Sirvard Gevorgyan voluntarily resigned today after a weeklong criticism by civil society members and anti-former regime circles. She and the minister criticized the "campaign" targeting them.
DEPARTING DEPUTY MINISTER: I am sorry that I was attacked by angry people in both political poles who manipulated everything possible and impossible for their own political interests or personal intrigues. //
MINISTER MINASYAN: It is a pity that our ministry and state system lost a really valuable specialist and administrator due to the extremely unfair and petty attacks of individual individuals. The best manifestation of parliamentarianism would be political accountability for such shenanigans. //
Informed Citizens NGO chief Ioannesian believes Minister Minasyan should also be fired. Ioannesian says that the previous justice minister Rustam Badassian, who currently leads the IRS, accomplished more progress towards Constitutional reforms in 7 months than the last two justice ministers combined in over 2.5 years. Ioannesian is also dissatisfied with Minister Minasyan’s handling of other reforms.
… several ranking members of the ruling party are reportedly behind the petition to fire Justice Minister Minasyan
DefCom Andranik Kocharyan, Legalese Vladimir Vardanyan, ex-Health Arsen Torosyan, several pro-West MPs, Narek Zeynalyan, etc.
Andranik Kocharyan says his complaints toward Minister Minasyan’s personnel choices date back to earlier this year when he appointed another Kocharyan-era figure to lead the penitentiary service.
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Why does Armenia import wheat instead of growing it? It’s not profitable for farmers.
Cost per hectare: ֏420,000
Revenue per hectare: ֏400,000
Transcaucasian Telegraph delivered on Sep/26/2024
byu/ar_david_hh inarmenia
Posted by ar_david_hh
2 Comments
just wanted to make a quick reminder that my man Davit has been making these posts voluntarily for more than 6 years already. Literally and i mean it the only reason it hurts to uninstall this app are his daily updates.
man even if you stopped today your legacy (at this point it is) will be always respected and missed.
I learned and experienced entire chapters of armenian history in real time thanks to your work.
Muchas gracias
Imagine telling someone living in Armenia in 2012 that the annual military expenditure was going to increase 4x over the next decade+, for better and for worse.