“Hayk” is stating reasons that it suggests explain why no festive mood is observed in Armenia on its First Republic Day marked today, May 28, even though the day is a public holiday in the country.
“Today’s oligarchs with their thuggish bodyguards, privileged officials and crime figures holding sway over whole neighborhoods, the regime with its failed policies and pseudo-oppositionists cause the people to feel discouraged and seek ways to leave the country. No wonder that people who do not connect any hopes with Armenia do not rejoice on its holidays,” the paper claims.
“Hayots Ashkhar” writes that Armenia is marking the anniversary of the heroic battles of May 1918 amid a "difficult situation" created around Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, a situation that it says presents numerous “visible and invisible challenges.”
“No doubt, much has changed since 1918, but history is a science that enables one to see patterns in the past that could be repeated also in modern conditions,” the paper suggests. “The degree of every small nation’s immunity consists of the external and internal fronts. The steps and statements of the country’s leadership on the external front reveal its resolve to oppose the new international situation characterized by mounting pressures on Armenia, but at the same time it is necessary to bear in mind that the degree of any country’s immunity is first of all decided by internal unity and consolidation.”
In an interview with “Aravot” Ruben Mehrabian, an analyst with the Armenian Center for National and International Studies, evaluates the statements made by President Serzh Sarkisian during his visit to Brussels this week. According to Mehrabian, certain expressions made by Sarkisian revealed that he had expected some NATO role in the event of renewed hostilities in Karabakh, even though NATO’s secretary general had clearly stated that NATO had no intentions of interfering and also made it clear that the OSCE Minsk Group remained the most effective format for mediating a settlement in the Karabakh conflict.
The expert says in this regard: “I wouldn’t say that he [Sarkisian] had gone there to ask for NATO support. After all, such support cannot be enlisted by simply going and asking it. But I also understand the aspiration of Armenia’s current leadership to get some counterbalance for Russia’s extreme activity and confidence in the region, especially that Russia today creates a threat for Armenia by developing closer ties with Turkey and Azerbaijan, as a result of which our republic could again become small change in this bargaining. To prevent such developments, [Armenia’s] current authorities are taking some steps. I find it difficult to say how successful they will be, but I see some rationale in these steps.”
“Chorrord Inknishkhanutyun” suspects foul play in Armenia’s currency market where, it says, the continuing appreciation of Armenia’s national currency, the dram, “has nothing to do with the international market.”
“In the rest of the world the dollar is on the rise, the euro is declining, and here we have both the dollar and the euro losing their values. And all this has no effect on the prices of imported goods, which means that the profits of lucrative importing businesses are increasing. The main goal of all this is supposedly to secure super-profits for importers and this is, by the way, a mutually beneficial deal for the government-oligarchy tandem.”
(Tigran Avetisian)
“Today’s oligarchs with their thuggish bodyguards, privileged officials and crime figures holding sway over whole neighborhoods, the regime with its failed policies and pseudo-oppositionists cause the people to feel discouraged and seek ways to leave the country. No wonder that people who do not connect any hopes with Armenia do not rejoice on its holidays,” the paper claims.
“Hayots Ashkhar” writes that Armenia is marking the anniversary of the heroic battles of May 1918 amid a "difficult situation" created around Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, a situation that it says presents numerous “visible and invisible challenges.”
“No doubt, much has changed since 1918, but history is a science that enables one to see patterns in the past that could be repeated also in modern conditions,” the paper suggests. “The degree of every small nation’s immunity consists of the external and internal fronts. The steps and statements of the country’s leadership on the external front reveal its resolve to oppose the new international situation characterized by mounting pressures on Armenia, but at the same time it is necessary to bear in mind that the degree of any country’s immunity is first of all decided by internal unity and consolidation.”
In an interview with “Aravot” Ruben Mehrabian, an analyst with the Armenian Center for National and International Studies, evaluates the statements made by President Serzh Sarkisian during his visit to Brussels this week. According to Mehrabian, certain expressions made by Sarkisian revealed that he had expected some NATO role in the event of renewed hostilities in Karabakh, even though NATO’s secretary general had clearly stated that NATO had no intentions of interfering and also made it clear that the OSCE Minsk Group remained the most effective format for mediating a settlement in the Karabakh conflict.
The expert says in this regard: “I wouldn’t say that he [Sarkisian] had gone there to ask for NATO support. After all, such support cannot be enlisted by simply going and asking it. But I also understand the aspiration of Armenia’s current leadership to get some counterbalance for Russia’s extreme activity and confidence in the region, especially that Russia today creates a threat for Armenia by developing closer ties with Turkey and Azerbaijan, as a result of which our republic could again become small change in this bargaining. To prevent such developments, [Armenia’s] current authorities are taking some steps. I find it difficult to say how successful they will be, but I see some rationale in these steps.”
“Chorrord Inknishkhanutyun” suspects foul play in Armenia’s currency market where, it says, the continuing appreciation of Armenia’s national currency, the dram, “has nothing to do with the international market.”
“In the rest of the world the dollar is on the rise, the euro is declining, and here we have both the dollar and the euro losing their values. And all this has no effect on the prices of imported goods, which means that the profits of lucrative importing businesses are increasing. The main goal of all this is supposedly to secure super-profits for importers and this is, by the way, a mutually beneficial deal for the government-oligarchy tandem.”
(Tigran Avetisian)