Մատչելիության հղումներ

Press Review


“Yerkir” hopes that in one or two years from now Armenians will be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel in which they have been for the past ten years. In a yearend editorial, the newspaper of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) wishes its readers to be “happy, proud and strong.”

“Yerkir” also carries a New Year address to the nation by Dashnaktsutyun’s organization in Armenia. Its leadership believes that Armenia has had “noticeable achievements especially on the external front” during the “busy” year 2001. But despite that the main problems facing ordinary people linger on because effects of what the nationalist party considers an improving economic situation are not yet felt by the population. What remains visible is “social injustice and illegalities.” Still, Dashnaktsutyun is optimistic about the country’s future.

“The year 2001 was the time for the emergence of several political bubbles, while the year 2002 will see their explosion and a clarification of the political landscape,” comments “Yerkir.” According to the paper’s forecast, political tensions will escalate in the course of next year, something which will not be to the benefit of a struggling country like Armenia. The paper also predicts that the alliance of the HZhK, Hanrapetutyun and National Unity, the three leading opposition parties, and the coalition of six opposition parties campaigning for a new constitution will collapse as a result. This will in turn dash the former ruling HHSh’s hopes of returning to power.

“Aravot,” meanwhile, argues that the division line drawn between the country’s former and present rulers is an artificial one. The fact is that most of the serving top government officials used to hold high-ranking posts in the administration of Levon Ter-Petrossian. Those include President Robert Kocharian, Defense Minister Serzh Sarkisian, Interior Minister Hayk Harutiunian, Minister for State Revenues Yervand Zakharian, Yerevan Mayor Robert Nazarian and several provincial governors.

“Azg” claims that the Armenian parliament’s attempts to hold the executive in check are seriously hampered by unspecified senior bureaucrats. They are the reason why all of the ad hoc commissions formed by the National Assembly have not fulfilled their missions. The paper believes that the work of the remaining special parliamentary commissions is doomed to failure.

(Vache Sarkisian)
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