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Press Review


“Azg” says that most ordinary Armenians are deeply bewildered and puzzled by recent developments in Turkish-Armenian negotiations and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. “The majority of the people does not properly understand what is going on and on what should it should focus its attention in order to have no regrets later on,” writes the paper. The economic crisis is only adding to Armenians’ sense of confusion, according to “Azg.”

“Golos Armenii” looks at the specificities of the unfolding mayoral race in Yerevan. “The first one is that the struggle is going solely on the partisan basis,” notes the paper. “And for the country’s leading forces, these elections are a great opportunity to test the mood of their electorate.” It says the Armenian Revolutionary Federation’s withdrawal from the governing coalition added another interesting twist to the race.

“Dashnaktsutyun’s move suggests that Serzh Sarkisian’s downfall is imminent,” Vartan Malkhasian, a former Dashnaktsutyun member now affiliated with Levon Ter-Petrosian’s Armenian National Congress (HAK), tells “168 Zham.” “Had they not been convinced that Sarkisian is heading for ruin, they would not have left the [government] trough.” Malkhasian claims that the decision had nothing to do with Dashnaktsutyun’s traditional hard line on Turkey. “Already ten years ago I got convinced that for the Dashnaktsutyun elite the party program is a means for achieving their goal of enriching themselves,” he says. “They are more dangerous than enemies. Together with Serzh Sarkisian they have wrecked the decades-long process of genocide recognition.”

“Haykakan Zhamanak” seeks to explain why high-profile murders, attacks on journalists and other government critics and electoral crimes are rarely solved in Armenia. “To put it bluntly, the reason is the absence of a separation of government branches,” says the paper. “The murders are committed by those who investigate those incidents. The investigation into the March 1 [2008] slaughter is a vivid proof of this. The same is true for attacks on journalists and all other crimes of this sort.” The opposition daily goes on to claim that it is extremely difficult to tell a police officer from a criminal. “Even the police chief can’t tell them apart,” it says.

“One year ago Serzh Sarkisian thought that the first year [of his presidency] will be the most difficult one,” comments “Hraparak.” “Political scientists, politicians were of the same opinion. They thought that if the authorities could retain their positions for one year they would get stronger in the process and the danger of a loss of power will be gone. But we can observe today that although Serzh Sarkisian’s administration has successfully rolled the first year, it is impossible to see an alleviation of the situation, a stabilization of its positions, and an overcoming of the danger of power loss.”

(Aghasi Yenokian)
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