ARMENIA: IS DEMONOPOLIZATION POSSIBLE?

[Yervant1]

ARMENIA: IS DEMONOPOLIZATION POSSIBLE?

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
Jan 24 2014

24 January 2014 - 3:17pm

David Stepanyan, Yerevan. Exclusively for Vestnik Kavkaza

The opening of Yerevan Mall in February would look quite ordinary,
if it wasn't for two substantial circumstances.

First of all, Yerevan Mall is owned by Gagik Khachatryan, head of
the Armenian State Revenue Committee and one of the largest import
monopolists. Secondly, it is this mall where the French network
Carrefour wants to locate their representation in Armenia.

Carrefour representatives have already declared their intention to
place their first 6.600-sq.m. supermarket in Yerevan, on the ground
floor of Yerevan Mall. However, the official owner of the commercial
center, Mr Norayr Khachatryan, decided to lease this territory to some
other tenants than Carrefour. After that, some representatives of the
State Revenue Committee started inviting owners of boutiques and shops
to rent at Yerevan Mall. It should also be mentioned that when this
article was being prepared, a correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza applied
for rent in the mall, and received a refusal "due to the lack of free
territory". The PR Department of the State Income Committee stated
that "the information on Yerevan Mall being owned by Mr Khachatryan,
as well as attempts to fill it artificially is not true".

There can be no other conclusion - Mr Khachatryan is trying not to let
Carrefour to the Armenian market. And he is supported by Republican
Deputy Samvel Alexanyan, the largest import monopolist and owner of
Alex Grig, the largest supermarket network. The latter had already
rented an enormous area in another big Yerevan mall, Dalma City Mall,
for his Gurman supermarket, to prevent Carrefour from using it.

To understand the reasons for such efforts of the two oligarchs,
you must understand what Carrefour is, a company that in September
2012 opened in the neighboring Georgia.

Carrefour SA, world's second largest retailer after the American
Wal-Mart, owns over 15,000 hypermarkets, supermarkets, discounters,
corner shops around the world. The supposed investments only in the
first supermarket in Yerevan would amount to $6-8 million.

According to the latest report of The World Bank, Armenian economy
remains one of the most monopolized in the region. And the high
concentration of property in the possession of 20 families is still
the main barrier for competition and economic growth. It is obvious
that after world's second largest company comes to the Armenian
market, Mr Alexanyan will lose control over the prices for most of
the imported goods (first of all, flour and sugar). And taking into
consideration the fact that Carrefour imports on its own, its coming to
Armenia will inevitably impact the wallets not only of Mr Alexanyan,
but also of other privileged importers. Due to the convergence of
business and government, only a very lazy person, or, of course,
a person who has not been granted such a privilege, couldn't import
essential commodities at favorable conditions, distributing them at
too high monopoly prices.

For the government, the essence of the issue is not limited to
defending Mr Alexanyan's interests, the problem is much deeper, for
the advent of Carrefour, who is used to playing by their own rules,
will mark the decline of the Armenian oligarch clan economy. After
the import is divided not between several oligarchs, but between
the oligarchs and Carrefour, the extortionate prices for goods in
Armenian shops will have to be revised, which will make them lose the
superprofits. This, in turn, will deprive the authorities of the main
financing source at elections of all levels.

A new mechanism of printed units circulation that wouldn't be
controlled by the authorities at the next election will inevitably
bring about political competition, which is absent in today's Armenia.

Taking into consideration that all the major monopolists are
Republicans, the correlation between the Demonopolization of economy
and politics is obvious. And for the authorities, that is apparently no
good news, making them prevent Carrefour from getting to the Armenian
(so far, monopolized) market by any means.

[hagopn]

So this is clearly a story of worse of two devils. Foreign global monopolists or domestic monopolists? I choose the latter, if I must. Sorry.

[Yervant1]

But either way the money leaves Armenia and the people lose!

What did we Armenians do, to deserve this destiny?

[hagopn]

I don't think the money by the domestic monopolists is leaving Armenia, for the most part anyway., although it would be preferable if these idiots were smarter in how they exploited control of their wealth for the benefit and growth of Armenia, which in turn would increase their existing wealth.

 

But, as things go, we have the Zangi Zrangi story repeating itself. http://impoqrik.am/jamanc/heqiat/146-zangi.html

 

As to what we did to deserve this, I have some ideas, but most will not like them.

 

Armenians, if left alone to their devices, are a direct threat to the Global Powers That Be. Think of the situation where the Rumanian kingdom was ready to give their oil concessions to the Mantashev Firm and reject the concession demands of Standard Oil (now Exxon/Mobile, etc.) and Rothschild Oil (now BP and Shell). Then consider who was sent after the Armenian oil magnates in Baku to take care of this problem (although they failed, until the entire Armenian oil control and engineering infrastructure was destroyed, the final blow in 1988/1989 Baku/Sumgait massacres). I refer to the James Bond template, Sidney Reilly, who was sent to Baku specifically to murder Armenian oil men.

 

This is only a drop in the bucket. Think of the low interest loans given to Sweden in the 18th century by Armenians which in essence aided in the avoidance of a revolution in Sweden. One would think that if Sweden had resorted to borrowing, then something of a financial stranglehold by the traditional European controlling banking cartel was afoot against Sweden at the time.

 

This is not even mentioning the amount of power they had in the Silk Road trade routes.

 

It's all about money, trade, control of wealth, and it is an old game.

[Yervant1]

But one thing that always bothered me is why they could not foresee the threat and acted accordingly, since they had power and money! We all know money talks.

[hagopn]

Because we're dealing with an enemy that hits from the top, knows how to exploit weaknesses, one of which is the lowlife in your own group, the Pink Elephant, who will sell his soul and his mother to get the better deal.

 

Andranik Ozanian is known to say that treason is a hereditary trait, and when he would catch one in an act of treason, he would decimate the entire clan and leave one lamed member of the family as a token reminder.

 

The Andraniks are no longer in charge. The Pink Elephant has grown in size.

[Yervant1]

I guess GREED is the source of all evil and treason, which happens to be a human condition which is more so with us than others.

[hagopn]

No. It is not more often with us.