Armenian news - NEWS.am present a daily digest of Armenia related top news as of 24.10.2019:
· The Yerevan City Court of First Instance, presided by Karen Charkhoyan, recently decided to satisfy the SIS investigator's motion and to arrest Arsen Babayan, a former deputy chief of staff, for two months who was detained Monday on suspicion of committing official fraud.
At the same time, the court ruled that Babayan's arrest was unlawful.
In relation to the case, former CC President Gagik Harutyunyan and former Armenian parliament speaker Ara Babloyan were summoned to the SIS for questioning.
· The salaries of some ministers and officials increased, while others decreased, said Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan at the Armenian parliament on Wednesday.
His remarks came in response to comment on the issue of secretly rising salaries on the request of Bright Armenia party leader Edmon Marukyan.
According to Pashinyan, this was done so that the ministers would not be “in a tight position” and would not write out bonuses for themselves.
“If this instruction was sent in a secrecy regime, this does not mean that all this was done in secret from the public,” PM added.
· The World Bank published the new Doing Business annual ranking, in which Armenia takes 47th place among 190 countries of the world, which is six positions worse than last year.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan asked the Minister of Economy Tigran Khachatryan to clarify the situation.
“This year the World Bank also takes into account the number of private listed companies in the securities market that sell shares. That is, the stock market establishment has become a basis for evaluation. That's why we have dropped from 51st to 120th with this indicator. As a result, our relative position has turned from 41 to 47,” he said.
The Minister of Economy noted that if we shifted the current valuation methodology to last year, we would still be 47 as we were last year.
· The Armenian Genocide issue was raised during the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s hearing on the situation over Turkey’s invasion into Syria.
James Jeffrey, special representative for Syria engagement, answered the questions of the committee members.
Speaking about Turkey’s poor human rights record, Congressman Albio Sires said “there’s a history of Turkey doing cleansing - especially of the Armenians.”
“I was struck by the animosity. It reminded me of the hatred they [Turkey] had for the Armenians that led to the Armenian Genocide,” Congressman Chris Smith told colleagues.
Congressman Brad Sherman grilled U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary Matthew Palmer official on the Armenian Genocide.
“We were told [don't recognize the Armenian Genocide, because] Turkey’s a great ally of the United States, don’t put that at risk. How’s that working out for us?” Sherman asked.
· With the mediation of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, a meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers will be held in Bratislava in the near future, during which the parties will discuss the prospects of the Karabakh conflict settlement, OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Slovakia, Miroslav Lajčák told the Voice of America Armenian Service.
He also praised the efforts of the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders to resolve the conflict.
