Armenian Government Plans To Curb Key Tax Exemption

Risking renewed protests from small businesses, the Armenian government confirmed on Tuesday plans to significantly restrict a legal exemption from valued-added tax (VAT) enjoyed by them.

The government introduced the VAT threshold in August 2007 as part of its efforts to phase out simplified tax which tax authorities said was increasingly abused by larger businesses keen to evade taxes. It ordered all small firms and even market traders to install cash registers in order to be able to calculate their real turnover.  Read more... (467 words)

We Don’t Live By Christian Principles

 Armenians are a nation that adopted Christianity 1700 years ago, but today they don’t have faith. “Churches should have been full of people on Saturdays and Sundays, but people don’t attend the masses,” said Father Kyuregh Talyan in response to the questions by the students of “A1+”.

The students of “” participated in a meeting with the clergyman who answered all questions of social concern and other issues.

The young journalists were interested in the Christian principles of the current political elite and the society. “I would not like to separate the political elite from society. Today, Armenian society is not living by Christian values,” said Father Kyuregh.  Read more... (203 words)

International Conference on “Perspectives to Reach Gender Equality in Armenia: Political and Legal Aspects”

A three-day international conference on “Perspectives to reach gender equality in Armenia: political and legal aspects” opened today in Tsakhkadzor Writers’ Union House. It was jointly organized by the Association of Women with University Education (AWUE), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and Open Society Institute Assistance Foundation-Armenia.

The conference is conducted under the auspices of the RoA National Assembly, the UN Armenia and OSCE Yerevan offices.

The draft of the RoA law “On provision of Equal Rights and Equal Opportunities for Women and Men,” drafts of the RoA Gender Policy Concept and its implementation strategy, as well as reports on the UN strategy and the European institutional policy in the field of gender equality were presented to the participants for further discussion.  Read more... (342 words)

Analysis: Ankara is Lingering, Yerevan is Responding

The Armenian president’s unexpected response to Turkey’s attempts at linking the ratification of the Armenia-Turkey protocols with the Karabakh issue settlement could not have emerged overnight, and is an ‘escape hatch’ in case if the normalization process reaches a deadlock. It is also obvious that the president’s statement is Yerevan’s official message to the international community as a response to Ankara’s uncompromising stand.

“If Turkey keeps delaying the ratification process of the Armenian-Turkish protocols Yerevan will immediately reply by taking measures regulated by the international law,” Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said last week in Yerevan.

What are those measures the president was referring to?  Read more... (560 words)

Will Corruption in Armenia Be Eradicated?

Armenian Young Lawyers Association today marched through Yerevan’s central streets carrying the posters: “No to Corruption!”

The action was aimed at acknowledging people with the struggle against corruption, violated rights and mechanisms of their restoration. The marchers distributed booklets informing citizens about their rights.

“Things will better after each of us gets armed with will to struggle against corruption. We must unite our efforts in the struggle to achieve tangible results,” said Norayr Harutyunyan, a legal advisor of the Association.
Association member Marat Atovmyan thinks corruption hinders reforms in different spheres.

“If we are able to exercise the principle of inevitability and bring an official breaching the law before court, we shall register serious changes in the combat against corruption,” said Marat Atovmyan.  Read more... (130 words)

Spread of (common) Flu Leads to Call for Schools Closure in Armenia

Armenia’s chief infection specialist Ara Asoyan’s appeared on Public Television over the weekend calling for the immediately closure of schools throughout Armenia as a precaution against the spread of seasonal flu.

The doctor’s call raised concern and some alarm among the public, and prompted health officials to meet today (December 7) to discuss the situation. A decision is expected to be reached Monday or Tuesday on whether it is necessary to close public schools.

“Currently the Municipality of Yerevan and the Heath Ministry are cooperating to collect the indexes of attendance at schools, and the decision to be made depends on them,” Shushan Hunanyan, assistant to the Minister of Health of Armenia, told ArmeniaNow. She says that if the decision is positive, “schools and kindergartens will most probably be closed beginning next week.”  Read more... (294 words)

President of Armenia Serzh Sarkisian Again Warns Turkey, Azerbaijan

President Serzh Sarkisian again warned Turkey against delaying the implementation of its agreements with Armenia and vowed a “tough” response to a possible Azerbaijani attempt to win back Nagorno-Karabakh by force as he defended his foreign policy over the weekend.

Critics say Ankara will exploit the formation of a Turkish-Armenian commission of historians, envisaged by one of the two “protocols,” to keep more countries from officially recognizing the 1915-1918 mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide.  Read more... (467 words)

20 Internationally Wanted Criminals Detected in Armenia Last Year

Al in all, 256 Armenians are wanted by Interpol. Information about 12 of them has been posted on an open website, Interpol National Central Bureau Chief Vardan Yeghiazaryan told a press conference today. He spoke about the policy and priorities of the structure.

“Fortunately, we have no world known criminals today. For our organization there is no difference whether the criminal is a famous terrorist Carlson or some Yeghiazaryan. The investigation has the same power and the same capacities,” he said.

The main goal is to help the law-enforcement bodies to find the criminals and missing persons. In 2008 Interpol helped to detect 95 wanted persons. 54 of them were arrested, another 20 were extradited.  Read more... (147 words)

Armenian Ambassador Criticizes Azerbaijan’s Rhetoric at UN Security Council

The United Nations Security Council began its debate on the effective protection of civilians in armed conflict on November 11, which marked the tenth anniversary of its systematic work in this endeavour.

The debate, with the participation of representatives from the UN’s 47 member states including Armenia, lasted well into the evening.

During the debate, Azerbaijan’s Ambassador, Agshin Mehdiyev, spoke about the events of Khojaly, presenting Azerbaijan’s view on the events.

Armenia’s Ambassador, Karen Nazaryan, followed Mehdiyev’s address closely and responded with the following statement, as noted by the UN Security Council and posted on the UN website:  Read more... (245 words)