MAY 1 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – For the first time in 2011 annualised inflation in Armenia dropped below 10% and may reflect a slowdown in price rises across the region. Armenia’s annualised inflation in April was 8.6% down from 11.5% in March, its national statistics office said. Some analysts had warned that rising inflation could stir instability.
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(News report from Issue No. 38, published on May 2 2011)
MAY 2 2011 – The symbolism is striking. In 2008 and 2009 so-called soccer diplomacy helped to build a reproach between Armenia and Turkey after generations of distrust and animosity. Now, a statue commemorating Armenian-Turkish friendship is being pulled down.
Armenia and Turkey had barely spoken since Armenia supported rebels fighting Azerbaijan, Turkey’s long-time ally, in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh after the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union.
The border between Turkey and Armenia was officially closed. But by 2009 with the help of the soccer diplomacy, when the presidents of each country visited the other’s capital to watch soccer matches, they were on the brink of repairing relations. Then the process stalled.
The dispute stretches back further to the Ottoman Turks. Most Armenians say a genocide by the Ottoman Turks killed 1.5m Armenians in eastern Turkey during World War I. The Turks refute this and say hundreds of thousands died on both sides in civil fighting.
On April 26, workmen moved in to pull down a statue in eastern Turkey symbolising Turkish-Armenian friendship. The statue is about the height of a 10-storey building and was started in 2006 but had still not been completed. It depicts two people emerging out of one stone block.
On a visit earlier this year, Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan described the statue as a monstrosity and local officials have said they have always planned to tear down the statue.
Built to symbolise friendship, the statue may now be a more fitting symbol for the stalled reconciliation process.
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(News report from Issue No. 38, published on May 2 2011)
APRIL 30 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia accused Azerbaijan of shooting dead three soldiers within 48 hours in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan denied the charge but the row further escalated tension.
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(News report from Issue No. 38, published on May 2 2011)
APRIL 26 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Perhaps befitting of the stalled reconciliation process, AFP reported that Turkish workers started to dismantle a 2006 statue symbolising Turkey-Armenia friendship that the Turkish PM described as an eyesore.
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(News report from Issue No. 38, published on May 2 2011)
APRIL 21 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s parliament scrapped a five-year agreement signed in 2006 that allowed the Russian military to cross its territory to resupply a base in Armenia. Since the 2008 Russia-Georgia war, Russia has used other routes to re-supply its base in Armenia.
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(News report from Issue No. 37, published on April 25 2011)
APRIL 15 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia plans to make two hours of chess a week compulsory for children at primary school, AFP reported quoting an official from the education ministry. Chess stars are revered in Armenia, which has produced a number of Grandmasters.
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(News report from Issue No. 36, published on April 18 2011)
APRIL 8 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Protests in Armenia calling for the resignation of President Serzh Sargsyan and fresh elections continue to grow. AP reported that roughly 12,000 people demonstrated in the centre of Yerevan and more demonstrations have been promised. So far the protests have been peaceful.
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(News report from Issue No. 35, published on April 11 2011)
MARCH 27 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Underlining Armenia’s strengthening ties with Iran, President Serzh Sargsyan joined Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran to celebrate the Persian new year. Iran and Armenia are building a rail link and an oil pipeline. Leaders from Afghanistan, Iraq, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan also joined the celebrations.
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(News report from Issue No. 33, published on March 28 2011)
MARCH 17 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a gesture of good will over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia and Azerbaijan exchanged one prisoner each in a deal arranged last year. A ceasefire since 1994 has maintained a shaky peace over Nagorno-Karabakh but sporadic shootouts between Armenian and Azerbaijani soldiers over the last few years have intensified.
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(News report from Issue No. 32, published on March 21 2011)
MARCH 17 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a sign of escalating tension in Armenia, around 10,000 anti-government protesters defied riot police to temporarily occupy the centre of Yerevan’s main square. Police had barracked off Freedom Square but withdrew when the crowd approached. Protesters have called for snap elections.
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(News report from Issue No. 32, published on March 21 2011)