Armenia
For the past two years, Armenia has continued to struggle with a daunting set of challenges, ranging from serious deficiencies in democratization to significant shortcomings in economic reform. After yet another flawed election in February 2008 (seeing the emergence of street protests, violent clashes and the death of at least 10 opposition supporters) Armenia remains unable to overcome an internal political crisis, as lingering discontent among a much less apathetic population and the government's lack of legitimacy has only fostered a deeper crisis of confidence. But the political crisis of the last two years is only a symptom of a much deeper and more troubling impediment to democratic reform in Armenia, which only magnifies the country's already pronounced deficit of democracy, but demonstrates the need for a greater role for Armenian civil society organizations (CSOs).
EPD projects in Armenia:
Two primary areas of focus were identified for Armenia: strengthening capacities of carefully identified Armenian CSOs and opening the space for communication with the Armenian government. The two projects, one on "Accountability via Implementation of Freedom of Information Law" and another aiming at creating "Advocacy Resource Centres for Civic advancement" were started in April 2009 and were finalized on June 30, 2010.
CAPACITY BUILDING OF ARMENIAN ADVOCACY (NGO CENTER)
Armenia Reports:
Since September 2009 EPD has been producing and distributing a short monthly report summarizing the most important political developments in Armenia (which usually also includes a chapter on Turkish-Armenian relationships). This report is distributed each month via e-mail to important stakeholders in Brussels (EU institutions, think-tanks, NGOs etc.) and aims at raising awareness about the political developments in Yerevan and the regions. The reports can be found here.
EPD has also produced a Research paper "Armenia on the threshold of change. The Lingering Impact of an Unresolved Political Crisis". The paper's electronic version is accessible here.
Other articles about Armenia on the EPD website