The outgoing year gave little chance for optimism, member of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun said.

“The economic slump deepened, resulting in greater poverty and emigration,” Artyusha Shahbazyan told a news conference on December 24.

“The Armenia-Turkey normalization process has become a hostage to Ankara’s whim. Turkey still sets the Karabakh conflict resolution as a precondition for normalization of relations with Armenia. One should be a blind optimism not to notice this,” he said.