"A COLLECTION OF TOASTS" FROM THE ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT

The new government of Armenia turned out to be the familiar old one. The cabinet has not changed except for the ministers of transport and communications, and health. Previously, these ministerial portfolios like the post of minister of youth and sports were in the hands of the Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP). This time, they refused to enter into a coalition with the ruling Republican Party. Many in Armenia link this PAP decision to its unfulfilled hopes to install its leader Gagik Tsarukyan as prime minister. Following the elections, the PAP formed the second largest parliamentary faction and could well claim the post of prime minister. However, this did not happen, and the PAP probably did not want to share responsibility for the distressed situation of the country because they do not participate in decision-making.

At the same time, there is also a different version under which the oligarch Tsarukyan was "not blessed" for a coalition with the authorities by his patron, the former president of Armenia, Robert Kocharyan.

Anyway, the new-old head of the Armenian Cabinet of Ministers remains Tigran Sarkisyan, who has already had the government's five-year programme approved by the National Assembly (parliament). Acknowledging that Armenia is threatened by emigration, poverty and unemployment, the prime minister failed to provide anything specific but promises in the programme of his cabinet. "We were unable to completely eradicate corruption, create equal competitive conditions for businessmen, and there is no public confidence in the judicial system. The government needs to work in this direction," he said without noting how the Armenian authorities are going to resolve these problems.

By the way, in neighbouring Azerbaijan, each government programme is accompanied by a matrix, which describes in detail all proposed actions, timelines, expected outcomes, the necessary investment, funding, etc.

And although the programme of the Armenian government was passed in the parliament on orders from above, opposition MPs called it "a list of good intentions", "a collection of toasts", etc. "Should be, should be carried out, will be allocated free of charge, will be expanded, will be provided, triple and grow ..." Such suggestions and toasts are made at christening parties and other feasts," a member of the opposition Heritage faction, Aleksandr Arzumanyan, said.

Another demonstration of the fact that the Armenian authorities have no specific plans and effective mechanisms to get the country out of misery was the speech by Armenian leader Serzh Sargsyan at an extraordinary meeting of the newly-formed government. Instead of a keynote speech with a clear indication of the challenges facing the cabinet, we are witnessing a usual disciplinary meeting in the best traditions of Soviet zheks (housing maintenance offices). "I hate sloppiness", "I want to draw your attention to another important fact - labour discipline. The start of work should be mandatory. If we start to work from 9 o'clock, then we should be at work at 9 o'clock", "I am asking you all to take the results of your work seriously", "another problem I would like to draw your attention to is the zeal in each of us". That is all that is required from the new Armenian government in order to get the country out of the dismal socioeconomic situation.

And as Sargsyan rightly noted, "criticism or any bad word should not give any freedom to the hands or the tongue. You have to answer criticism, but the answer should be balanced, not on the principle of 'an eye for an eye'".

But in this case, the words of the Armenian leader did not quite coincide with his actions. Calling on ministers not to give vent to their hands, Sargsyan also appointed Gagik Beglaryan minister of transport and communication. Beglaryan is the ex-mayor of Yerevan who beat up a presidential protocol officer, Aram Kandayan, about two years ago. The incident occurred because the protocol officer asked Beglaryan's wife to vacate the seat next to the president during Placido Domingo's concert in Yerevan.

In any case, according to Armenian analysts, there was no point in expecting anything different from the criminal Armenian authorities. Western think tanks echo their view: What socioeconomic programmes can the government implement if the economy is totally in the wrong hands?

In a report released in June, the British think tank Chatham House says that Armenia has already been surrendered to Russia economically. "Robert Kocharyan, president of Armenia in 1998-2008, actually sold Armenia to the united energy system of Russia, Anatoly Chubays, and other Russian commercial and political interests," the report says. An analyst at Chatham House said that Serzh Sargsyan, who succeeded Kocharyan, seems to be less pro-Russian, but before he was elected president in 2008, most of the country had already been sold, the Armenian service of Radio Liberty reports.

In such circumstances, the only task of Tigran Sarkisyan's government, as before, is to attract the maximum amount of outside help to prevent social unrest and, if possible, to stay in power as long as possible. It is no secret that it is due to injections from outside that most of Armenia's population is barely making ends meet today. Why else, for example, did the Russian United Grain Company begin shipping humanitarian food aid to Armenia in the amount of 96,000 tonnes of agricultural produce?

According to Interfax, the supplies are carried out under a contract with the UN World Food Programme. Products are meant to provide schoolchildren in some regions of Armenia with food.

According to the National Statistical Service of Armenia, 647 people committed suicide in 2011. Men aged 30-65, i.e. real breadwinners in the family, commit suicide more often. Most of them are unemployed.

The level of poverty is almost not declining. If under the previous government's programme, this rate in Armenia was to be reduced to 13 per cent, according to official figures alone, it is now 35 per cent. The ratio of external debt to GDP has reached 45 per cent - the critical threshold (60 per cent) is just around the corner.

Because of the low income level, gas consumption in Armenia has declined as well. "Despite the fact that in gas prices Armenia takes 28th place among 32 European countries, using it is expensive for the average consumer in the country," the head of the Sociometre Centre, Agaron Adibekyan, said.

According to the sociologist, inhabitants of many villages in Armenia are switching to wood and dung.

But representatives of the ruling Karabakh clan do not deny themselves anything, and their defiantly vulgar and criminal behaviour continues to annoy Armenian society. "Serzh Sargsyan's brother Sashik should explain with what money his son has given his fianc?e flowers that cost $30,000," Nikol Pashinyan, editor of Haykakan Zhamanak (Armenian Time), said during the election campaign. He promised that after checks by the government of the Armenian National Congress, which is opposition now, Sashik Sargsyan will be forced to return to his work as the driver of a Bogdan bus to provide for his family".

According to the Armenian media, a bunch of flowers with a height of 2 metres and a length of 4 metres was installed on North Avenue for just one day - 22 April on the occasion of the birthday of Sashik Sargsyan's future daughter-in-law. The flowers were guarded by the police as many residents of Yerevan considered it to be a campaign on the occasion of 24 April - the day of the "Armenian genocide" and believed that they could take these flowers to the Tsitsernakaberd memorial complex.

Against the background of what is happening in Armenia, it is not surprising that on 20 June, the Azerbaijani State Telegraph Agency (AzarTAc) received a letter from a 14-year-old Armenian boy David Davityan who wants to get an education, but is unable to overcome the impediments standing in his way, and is forced to seek refuge outside Armenia. Being one of the children whose rights are grossly violated in Armenia, David seeks help from international organizations and individual states, including Azerbaijan.

On 22 June, the Azerbaijani news agency received a similar letter from David's mother - Felmira Davityan. The Armenian woman asks to save her from the so-called "Armenian state", where lies, slander and betrayal are part of national policy.

"Save us from this state in which my talented son, the author of seven books, has been denied the right to receive education. He will be left without education, if we are not allowed to leave the country. The child is afraid of Armenianism and does not go to an Armenian school. Armenians say that Turks burned Armenian books. Things have reached such a point that the son of a philologist, who taught the Armenian nation for 30 years, burned his books and does not want to go to an Armenian school. The child desires to attend school in any country, but not in Armenia. I am not going to work and live in this state. I cannot forgive! We are kept in an atmosphere of fear and blackmail. Save us from this state!" the Armenian citizen says.

Statistics show that Davityan is not the only citizen of Armenia, who wants to escape from her country. In search of salvation, about 400 people leave the country every day, which is equivalent to one small village. Experts are sounding the alarm: emigration in Armenia has reached alarming proportions, and at this pace, Armenia may be left without Armenians!

The only way out is to give up territorial claims and the aggressive policy against neighbours and as a consequence, to involve Armenia in regional economic processes. Otherwise, the government of this country will not be able to offer its citizens anything sensible even in theory. And it does not matter what time Serzh Sargsyan and his ministers come to work...

STATISTICS SAY

- According to the National Statistical Service of Armenia, 647 people committed suicide in 2011. Men aged 30-65 commit suicide more often. Most of them are unemployed.

- According to official figures, the poverty rate in Armenia is 35 per cent;

- Armenia's ratio of external debt to GDP has reached 45 per cent - the critical threshold (60 per cent) is just around the corner;

- Gas consumption in Armenia has declined as well. "Despite the fact that in gas prices Armenia takes 28th place among 32 European countries, using it is expensive for the average consumer in the country," the head of the Sociometre Centre, Agaron Adibekyan, said. According to the sociologist, inhabitants of many villages in Armenia are switching to wood and dung;

- Emigration from Armenia has reached alarming proportions: about 400 people leave the country every day.