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Press Review


“Hayastani Hanrapetutyun” carries statements by the president, the parliament speaker and the prime minister of Armenia on the occasion of Constitution Day that was officially marked on Tuesday. The paper also quotes Justice Minister David Harutiunian as paying tribute to Armenia’s former leaders who enacted the current constitution. “With that basic law Armenia managed to join the Council of Europe and also avoided serious upheavals for ten years,” says Harutiunian.

“Aravot” considers Haritunian’s praise of former President Levon Ter-Petrosian and his close associates to be “extraordinary.” The paper writes that for Ter-Petrosian’s allies July 5 is an “occasion to indulge in nostalgic recollections.” But it was definitely not a holiday for ordinary people. The paper says an official ceremony held at the Constitutional Court, a “discredited body,” hardly added to public awareness of the occasion.

“Aravot” goes on to attack Constitutional Court chairman Gagik Harutiunian over his complaints about a lack of “constitutional culture” in Armenia. “What culture is he talking about when that state body has endorsed illegitimate elections for at least five times, when it is ready to certify anybody’s Armenian citizenship out of political expediency?” The paper claims that the Constitutional Court will not hesitate to allow Robert Kocharian to seek a third term in office if it is asked to.

“Chorrord Ishkhanutyun” reports that opposition leader Stepan Demirchian has held a secret meeting with Kocharian. The paper suggests that the two men may have discussed the issue of constitutional reform. “Kocharian’s and Demirchian’s views on regime change by constitutional means are not particularly different,” it says. “They both are of the opinion that the issue must be solved in 2008.”

“Hayots Ashkhar” says the brief resolution on Nagorno-Karabakh adopted last week by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe was a “serious improvement” over a similar document approved by the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) in January. The paper says that unlike the PACE’s “pro-Azerbaijani resolution,” the OSCE assembly has adopted a more pragmatic stance on the Karabakh dispute.

(Hrach Melkumian)
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