The Region in Brief

Armenia

The International Monetary Fund has approved a new three-year lending program to Armenia. The IMF agreed to loan $171 million, following the expiration of the previous Stand-By Arrangement worth $415 million. The global financial agency said the loan will “serve as insurance in case shocks generate balance of payments needs.” Armenia’s economy is projected to grow 11-percent this year, as Russian exports to Armenia have doubled this year in response to Western economic sanctions against Moscow. The IMF praised the Central Bank of Armenia for maintaining a strict monetary policy to curb rising inflation rates. The Central Bank once again raised interest rates to 10.75-percent, by .25-percentage points this week, in anticipation of rising global inflation.

The European Union has announced that it will not extend its border monitoring mission in Armenia. The EU decided to send a civilian mission to Armenia for two months following Azerbaijan’s border attacks in mid-September. The mission has monitored the border to “report on military posture and ceasefire related developments,” according to the EU’s European External Action Service. French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said last week that the 40 border monitors should stay in Armenia “as long as is needed” as they have “really limited the risk of escalation.” However, EU foreign affairs head Josep Borrell announced this week that the mission would end on December 19 as planned.

Azerbaijan

Azerbaijani activist and former political prisoner Bakhtiyar Hajiyev has been arrested once again. Hajiyev has been sentenced to 50 days of pre-trial detention on charges of hooliganism and contempt of court that he says are politically motivated. A vocal critic of the government of Azerbaijan, Hajiyev was previously imprisoned for one year in 2011 on charges of evading military service. Hajiyev and TV anchor Ulviyya Alovlu pressed charges of slander against each other in 2021, and Alovlu accused Hajiyev of hooliganism after an argument in the courtroom escalated to a physical fight. Amnesty International has called for Hajiyev’s immediate release and demanded that he be given a fair trial. The European Union also called on Azerbaijan to ensure a “transparent and impartial investigation of his case.”

Turkey

Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu has been sentenced to more than two years in prison and subjected to a political ban. The member of the opposition Republican People’s Party faces charges of insulting public officials, for a speech he made two years ago calling members of Turkey’s supreme elections council “fools.” His sentence, which awaits approval by an appeals court, is the latest in the crackdown on opposition politicians ahead of the elections in June. Imamoglu has been presented as a potential challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Bio
Twitter
Latest Posts

Lillian Avedian

Lillian Avedian is the assistant editor of the Armenian Weekly. She reports on international women's rights, South Caucasus politics, and diasporic identity. Her writing has also been published in the Los Angeles Review of Books, Democracy in Exile, and Girls on Key Press. She holds master's degrees in journalism and Near Eastern studies from New York University.