In an interview with “Hayots Ashkhar”, political analyst Alexander Iskandarian questions Levon Ter-Petrosian’s desire to make a comeback to big politics: “He is quite a serious politician who made a notable contribution to the establishment of Armenian statehood and, no doubt, he is not a fool, he is realistic and understands well the logic of political processes. He is unlikely to give in to people who are trying to use his name to achieve their political goals.”
The analyst of “Haykakan Zhamanak” writes on the same subject: “It is obvious that there is a growing interest towards Levon Ter-Petrosian at present. One thing appears to be clear – Ter-Petrosian, indeed, is giving a serious thought to whether return to politics or not, and dozens of factors would influence his decision. By the way, there is an opinion in the political and public circles that Ter-Petrosian will not return to politics unless he is sure he will win in the upcoming presidential election and the authorities appear to be doing everything to dispel his assuredness.”
The same paper tries to predict Robert Kocharian’s career after his presidential term is over: “There is information that all Russian companies operating in Armenia will soon merge into one consortium and Robert Kocharian will be the head of this consortium.” To give its readers the idea of how huge this structure may be, the paper names its possible member companies – the Electricity Networks of Armenia, the Sevan-Hrazdan Cascade, the Hrazdan Thermal Power Plant, its fifth unit, ArmRosGazprom, ArmenTel, possibly the Armenian Railways if the Russians get it in the near future.
“This is only one of the possible jobs for Kocharian in the future. He more prefers the status of Armenia’s prime minister, but one should not forget that some observers still do not exclude the variant of Kocharian’s nomination for the 2008 president election.”
“Hayk” writes that before going on vacation Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian managed to surround himself with new aides -- Mikael Minasian and Levon Martirosian. Minasian is Sarkisian’s son-in-law. “It is not excluded that Sarkisian began to love Minasian like his son and always wants to see him by his side. It is not ruled out either that Minasian gives good pieces of advice to his father-in-law,” the paper writes, adding: “Minasian is facing a serious dilemma – should he call his father-in-law Mr. Prime Minister or simply Papa?”
“As for Levon Martirosian, he is the leader of the MIAK party that was set up ahead of last May’s parliamentary elections and brother of comedian Garik Martirosian,” “Hayk” explains, reminding its readers that on August 5 Martirosian accompanied Serzh Sarkisian on his visit to the village of Koti where he [Martirosian] was “taking notes” of everything the prime minister was saying with utter admiration. “After that, many expected Sarkisian to pay attention to Martirosian and use his and his MIAK’s services.”
In its editorial “Aravot” raises concerns over the state of Armenia’s tourism sector: “Tens of thousands of people in Armenia and the Diaspora are ready to spend a few thousand dollars for a summer holiday in our country. But hotel prices in Armenia are known to be comparable to those in Europe and are even higher than in Turkey and Egypt, but the quality of service at Armenian hotels is much lower.”
“I myself, for example, would not spend $100-$150 a day in a place where I would be treated with rudeness, where hot water can be disconnected any moment and towels and bed linen are not changed at all. It’d better find another thousand dollars to buy an air ticket,” the paper’s editor writes.
(Atom Markarian)
The analyst of “Haykakan Zhamanak” writes on the same subject: “It is obvious that there is a growing interest towards Levon Ter-Petrosian at present. One thing appears to be clear – Ter-Petrosian, indeed, is giving a serious thought to whether return to politics or not, and dozens of factors would influence his decision. By the way, there is an opinion in the political and public circles that Ter-Petrosian will not return to politics unless he is sure he will win in the upcoming presidential election and the authorities appear to be doing everything to dispel his assuredness.”
The same paper tries to predict Robert Kocharian’s career after his presidential term is over: “There is information that all Russian companies operating in Armenia will soon merge into one consortium and Robert Kocharian will be the head of this consortium.” To give its readers the idea of how huge this structure may be, the paper names its possible member companies – the Electricity Networks of Armenia, the Sevan-Hrazdan Cascade, the Hrazdan Thermal Power Plant, its fifth unit, ArmRosGazprom, ArmenTel, possibly the Armenian Railways if the Russians get it in the near future.
“This is only one of the possible jobs for Kocharian in the future. He more prefers the status of Armenia’s prime minister, but one should not forget that some observers still do not exclude the variant of Kocharian’s nomination for the 2008 president election.”
“Hayk” writes that before going on vacation Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian managed to surround himself with new aides -- Mikael Minasian and Levon Martirosian. Minasian is Sarkisian’s son-in-law. “It is not excluded that Sarkisian began to love Minasian like his son and always wants to see him by his side. It is not ruled out either that Minasian gives good pieces of advice to his father-in-law,” the paper writes, adding: “Minasian is facing a serious dilemma – should he call his father-in-law Mr. Prime Minister or simply Papa?”
“As for Levon Martirosian, he is the leader of the MIAK party that was set up ahead of last May’s parliamentary elections and brother of comedian Garik Martirosian,” “Hayk” explains, reminding its readers that on August 5 Martirosian accompanied Serzh Sarkisian on his visit to the village of Koti where he [Martirosian] was “taking notes” of everything the prime minister was saying with utter admiration. “After that, many expected Sarkisian to pay attention to Martirosian and use his and his MIAK’s services.”
In its editorial “Aravot” raises concerns over the state of Armenia’s tourism sector: “Tens of thousands of people in Armenia and the Diaspora are ready to spend a few thousand dollars for a summer holiday in our country. But hotel prices in Armenia are known to be comparable to those in Europe and are even higher than in Turkey and Egypt, but the quality of service at Armenian hotels is much lower.”
“I myself, for example, would not spend $100-$150 a day in a place where I would be treated with rudeness, where hot water can be disconnected any moment and towels and bed linen are not changed at all. It’d better find another thousand dollars to buy an air ticket,” the paper’s editor writes.
(Atom Markarian)