Pashinyan, His Economic Miracle, And Poverty In Armenia

 

The “False Prophet” from Ijevan systematically promotes the narrative that his wise economic policies managed to create an unprecedented prosperity in Armenia since 2018, the year “The Velvet Revolution” toppled “The Old Corrupt Guard” and Nikol Pashinoglu walked triumphantly to The Office of The Prime Minister of Armenia.

Of course Armenia today is not the “Land of Honey and Milk”, and the green mighty dollar does not grow on trees lining up the main streets of Yerevan. Prosperity is limited strictly to the ruling elite, or the “New Guard” i.e. the long list of oligarchs who plundered the economy under the watchful eyes of PM Pashinoglu, who scratched their backs and in return the oligarchs diverted millions of dollars to the multiple charities controlled by Anna Hakobyan, and with some creative accounting the illicit fortune of Pashinyan/Hakobyan ended up in offshore accounts, and not much can be traced back to the “First Family of Armenia”. 

Today (Nov. 27, 2023), very gloomy figures were released about the widespread poverty in Armenia. A close scrutiny of the numbers sends chills down your spine once you realize the dire circumstances affecting 1 out of 4 Armenians living in Armenia. The “official” poverty rate in Armenia is 24.8% (2022), based on figures released by Armenia’s National Statistical Committee, an institution that relied on World Bank methodology to tabulate the final figures.

Of course not all international institutions studying poverty on the globe agree with the creative accounting used by Armenia’s National Statistical Committee. World Food Programme (WFP) believes that the poverty rate is 28%, and others claim that almost one third of Armenia’s population has been victimized by poverty.

Unfortunately, poverty is not the only scourge affecting the Armenian society under Pashinoglu’s rule. According to figures released by UNICEF and WHO hunger, malnutrition, and stunted growth are thriving in Armenia under the leadership of a Prime Minister born with the soul of a Turk. 

Six percent of the Armenian population were undernourished in 2015. After Pashinoglu’s Velvet Revolution undernourishment victimized 11% of the population.

16 percent of Armenians were food insecure, i.e. absence of access to nutritious food, in other words they do not have enough money to buy food with high nutritional value, they have to survive on empty calories, and thus develop deficiencies in crucial minerals and vitamins required for brain development and normal functioning of vital organs.

Nearly one in five children (20%) under age five were stunted/malnourished/undernourished in 2016. Under Pashinoglu’s watchful eyes today the number is 23%.

The number of overweight children in Armenia, children growing in households controlled by oligarchs and the “Nouveau Riche” was 17 percent 2014. Thanks to a new generation of oligarchs who happen to be close cronies of Pashinoglu, the number today is 19.8%.

Pashinoglu offered his buddy Alen Simonyan a BMW with a price tag of $187,000 for the invaluable services provided by The National Assembly Speaker (AS) to The Republic of Armenia, at a time when hundreds of Armenian villages, three decades after independence, have no clean running water, no adequate food intake for children, no paved roads, or adequate heating systems to cope with the harsh winter conditions in the mountainous regions of Armenia.

Pashinoglu purchased also in 2022 several high end SUVs for his wife and her entourage at the cost of $100,000 USD per vehicle. Yet we painfully remember the tragedy that claimed the lives of fifteen Armenian soldiers who perished in a fire that engulfed their barracks in January 2023. The tragedy could have been easily avoided had Pashinoglu made an effort to set aside a few hundred dollars to supply proper heating equipment and a fire extinguisher to Armenian conscripts guarding our sovereign land under subzero harsh winter conditions. 

Miraculously, the shortage of money that destroyed the lives of hundreds of Armenians suffering from malnutrition and poverty, did not affect Pashioglu’s desire to distribute bonuses to his staff. The Prime Minister’s Office admitted that “479 officials received bonuses equivalent to their monthly salary. The payout cost taxpayers 97.5 million drams ($203,000 USD) in total.”

After the release of the cost shouldered by Armenian taxpayers for the “Christmas Holiday Bonus” plan, several Ministers admitted that, with the unreserved consent of Nikol, they generously rewarded subordinates for their dedication to the collective well being of Armenia, but refused to release the figures attached to the largess of the Pashinyan Government vis-à-vis key senior officials running a variety of Ministries.

For malnourished children and households living in dire poverty Pashinoglu doesn’t have money. It is his unique way of destroying the future generations of a country. He is preparing an army of poor laborers that can be easily exploited by Turkish and Azerbaijani investors-work 12 hours a day for a loaf of bread.

The tragedy of the “Economic Miracle” claimed by “The False Prophet” does not end with the grim picture of poverty and malnutrition in Armenia. Armenia’s “National Debt” swelled from $5 billion USD in 2018 to 11 billion 322 million dollars in 2023, according to The Finance Ministry of Armenia.

Where did the borrowed money go? Pashinoglu made sure that every unemployed roughneck from Ijevan joins the multiple policing institutions created to safeguard his power. Lucrative road paving contracts were directed to his cronies. All his close associates became very rich, in particular the Speaker of The National Assembly of Armenia, Mr. Alen Simonyan.

Alen Simonyan, started his journey as a “Civil Servant” with an annual salary of 560.000 drams in 2018 and by May 2023, Mr. Simonyan declared an annual income of 70 million 100,000 drams, and a stash of 24,065,000 drams in cash.

It seems that Mr. Simonyan forgot to mention in his declaration of May 2023 that he owns a 25% stake in a “Luxury” construction project valued at an estimated $40-50 million USD. If we take the conservative estimate of $40 million USD, Mr. Simonyan’s share will be $10 million USD. 

But how did the Speaker of The NA conceal his identity? Mr. Simonyan used a very common widespread technique, known in legal/prosecutorial terminology as “𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐰 𝐌𝐚𝐧”. The following is the definition of “Straw Man” in legal terms:

“𝐀 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐞𝐫. 𝐈𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐞, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐰 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬.”

And who is the “Straw Man” (SM) concealing the identity of Mr. Simonyan, and what are the facts surrounding his involvement in the luxury construction project known as “The Pallada Tsaghkadzor complex”?

SM’s name is Edgar Avagian. SM’s only legitimate income is a salary he gets from 𝐚 𝐓𝐕 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐥 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐮𝐧 𝐛𝐲 𝐒𝐢𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐲𝐚𝐧’𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐟𝐞. Back in 2017, Mr. Avagian filed for bankruptcy to avoid paying a loan of $44.000 USD to two commercial banks operating in Armenia. 𝐌𝐫. 𝐀𝐯𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐚𝐧, 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟕 𝐭𝐨 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 $𝟒𝟒.𝟎𝟎𝟎.

Yet, through “Divine Intervention” and miraculous events, Mr. Avagian who failed to cover a debt of $44.000 USD, managed to find in his bank account close to $10 million USD, and invested it in “The Pallada Tsaghkadzor complex”.

When was the last time your “Heavenly Father” rewarded you so generously that from bankruptcy in 2017 you found yourself in the possession of $10 million USD, and you invested it in a construction project worth $40-$50 million USD?

The revolutionaries of 2018, Pashinoglu and his cronies, who condemned the corrupt practices of “The Old Guard”, have turned corruption into an art, and 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐫𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐚 leaving behind a trail of thousands of sick children and seniors who perish annually simply because they cannot afford the basic necessities of life-food and medicine to ward off diseases that can be easily treated if an effort is made to provide the life saving drugs.

 

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