NOV. 25 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan will re-commission its 10 Su-24 bombers, withdrawn from service in 2008, media reported quoting unnamed military sources.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)
NOV. 12 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — So-called roadmaps for Kyrgyzstan and Armenia to join the Russia-led Customs Union will be ready at the start of 2014, media quoted an adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin as saying. Currently only Belarus and Kazakhstan are members of the trade bloc. Analysts have said that Russia is using the Customs Union to expand its sphere of influence.
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(News report from Issue No. 160, published on Nov. 13 2013)
NOV. 6 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — It’s taken 2-1/2 years but it finally appears that Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan will meet again to discuss their differences over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The announcement was made late on Nov. 5 by representatives from the United States, France and Russia who have been pushing for negotiations. The media reported the announcement the following day.
This is major news on an issue that has been threatening to damage peace in the region. Azerbaijan and Armenia are still officially at war over Nagorno-Karabakh. Only a shaky 1994 ceasefire keeps the two sides apart. There are sporadic fire-fights along the border of Nagorno-Karabakh, now controlled by Armenian-backed rebels, though.
Mr Aliyev and Mr Sargsyan last met to discuss Nagorno-Karabakh in June 2011 in the Russian city of Kazan. Those negotiations flopped over disagreements about a proposed referendum in the region. The Armenian side wanted only the current residents of the region, almost entirely pro-Armenia, to get a vote, while Azerbaijan wanted the population of Nagorno-Karabakh in the early 1990s to all have a vote.
There are plenty of hurdles ahead but even the prospect of Mr Aliyev and Mr Sargsyan’s meeting is progress.
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(News report from Issue No. 160, published on Nov. 13 2013)
NOV. 12 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenia’s Central Bank lowered its interest rate to 8% from 8.5% after data showed that inflation had dropped. Annualised inflation dropped to 7.1% in October from 8.2% in September, still well above the Central Bank’s target range between 2.5% and 5.5%.
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(News report from Issue No. 160, published on Nov. 13 2013)
NOV. 6 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — After a 2-1/2 year hiatus, the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia agreed to meet to discuss the thorny issue of Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan and Armenia are still, officially, at war over the region although a 1994 cease-fire keeps the two side apart.
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(News report from Issue No. 160, published on Nov. 13 2013)
NOV. 6 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — If proof was needed that a cease-fire between Azerbaijan and Armenia around the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh was increasingly fragile, Russia may have given it.
Colonel Andrei Ruzinsky, commander of the Russian forces based in Armenia, said that Russia’s military would back Armenia if Azerbaijan ever tried to take back control of the province.
His intervention was interesting and, perhaps, well timed. Over the past few weeks there have been a number of small fire-fights between the two sides, more, it appears, than normal.
A shaky 1994 cease-fire keeps Armenia and Azerbaijan apart around Nagorno-Karabakh. The region is controlled by Armenian-backed rebels but Azerbaijan has said it wants to reclaim the region.
And it has built up the military firepower to do this.
Armenia’s military is far smaller than Azerbaijan’s but it has the backing of Russia.
While Azerbaijan has steered towards Europe and the West, Armenia has looked to Russia for support. It is a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation and pledged to enter the Customs Union. Russia is the main driver and backer of both groups.
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(News report from Issue No. 159, published on Nov. 6 2013)
NOV. 5 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Police clashed with anti-government protesters armed with sticks in central Yerevan, media reported, raising the spectre of instability in Armenia. Reports said police arrested 20 people after the small-scale scuffles petered out. Protesters were complaining that a presidential election in February was unfair.
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(News report from Issue No. 159, published on Nov. 6 2013)