(Saturday, September 1)
“Haykakan Zhamanak” contends that the recent presidential election in Nagorno-Karabakh left the territory without any opposition. “Instead of fielding their own [presidential] candidate, NKR opposition forces backed the single candidate who was already backed by pro-government forces,” explains the paper. “Naturally, that candidate became president. And a question arises: what should the opposition do now? If the opposition cooperated with pro-government forces during the presidential elections and that candidate won, what will the opposition be opposed to now?”
In a separate report, “Haykakan Zhamanak” says pro-government deputies of Armenia’s parliament are so intrigued by former Levon Ter-Petrosian’s possible comeback that they are now placing bets on his participation or non-participation in the upcoming presidential vote. The paper says the bets include cash, taking each other to a restaurant or Lake Sevan. “And two of the deputies, as we learned yesterday, are so confident that Levon Ter-Petrosian will not run that they staked their parliament mandates,” it says. “So given all of this, bookmakers can accept serious bets on Levon Ter-Petrosian’s nomination or non-nomination.”
“The possibility of Levon Ter-Petrosian’s political comeback is worth discussing,” political analyst Hmayak Hovannisian tells “Hayots Ashkhar.” “Like Karen Demirchian, Levon Ter-Petrosian had to leave the political arena as a result of an unfavorable public mood. “Like Karen Demirchian, Levon Ter-Petrosian too does not want to end his political career with a defeatist, sad epilogue. Demirchian too was telling everyone that his political path is over and that he will never play any political role anymore. But I was sure that a politician of that caliber, who had been Armenia’s leader for many years, could not be resigned to the thought of quitting defeated and will definitely try to return to big politics and say his final word in new conditions. These prerequisites are so weighty that Levon Ter-Petrosian simply can’t stay in the political underground.”
“168 Zham” attacks the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA), quoting an unnamed commercial banking as describing it as a “state within a state.” “That banker did not want to specify his name because he has already been once punished for something like that by the Central Bank chief,” says the paper. “Having served as Central Bank chairman for 11 years, Tigran Sarkisian has created his own empire. That empire is omnipotent, dangerous, predictable and very unpredictable. Under the constitution, the Central Bank’s function is to ensure price stability. But in recent years the Central Bank’s main objective has been the dram’s stability.”
(Armen Dulian)
“Haykakan Zhamanak” contends that the recent presidential election in Nagorno-Karabakh left the territory without any opposition. “Instead of fielding their own [presidential] candidate, NKR opposition forces backed the single candidate who was already backed by pro-government forces,” explains the paper. “Naturally, that candidate became president. And a question arises: what should the opposition do now? If the opposition cooperated with pro-government forces during the presidential elections and that candidate won, what will the opposition be opposed to now?”
In a separate report, “Haykakan Zhamanak” says pro-government deputies of Armenia’s parliament are so intrigued by former Levon Ter-Petrosian’s possible comeback that they are now placing bets on his participation or non-participation in the upcoming presidential vote. The paper says the bets include cash, taking each other to a restaurant or Lake Sevan. “And two of the deputies, as we learned yesterday, are so confident that Levon Ter-Petrosian will not run that they staked their parliament mandates,” it says. “So given all of this, bookmakers can accept serious bets on Levon Ter-Petrosian’s nomination or non-nomination.”
“The possibility of Levon Ter-Petrosian’s political comeback is worth discussing,” political analyst Hmayak Hovannisian tells “Hayots Ashkhar.” “Like Karen Demirchian, Levon Ter-Petrosian had to leave the political arena as a result of an unfavorable public mood. “Like Karen Demirchian, Levon Ter-Petrosian too does not want to end his political career with a defeatist, sad epilogue. Demirchian too was telling everyone that his political path is over and that he will never play any political role anymore. But I was sure that a politician of that caliber, who had been Armenia’s leader for many years, could not be resigned to the thought of quitting defeated and will definitely try to return to big politics and say his final word in new conditions. These prerequisites are so weighty that Levon Ter-Petrosian simply can’t stay in the political underground.”
“168 Zham” attacks the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA), quoting an unnamed commercial banking as describing it as a “state within a state.” “That banker did not want to specify his name because he has already been once punished for something like that by the Central Bank chief,” says the paper. “Having served as Central Bank chairman for 11 years, Tigran Sarkisian has created his own empire. That empire is omnipotent, dangerous, predictable and very unpredictable. Under the constitution, the Central Bank’s function is to ensure price stability. But in recent years the Central Bank’s main objective has been the dram’s stability.”
(Armen Dulian)