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Press Review


Parliament deputy Gagik Melikian tells “Hayots Ashkhar” that the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) is ready to discuss any format of dialogue proposed by the opposition Armenian National Congress (HAK). “It doesn’t matter to us with which political force we engage in dialogue, whether it’s in government or in opposition, if the purpose of that dialogue is to improve the country’s socioeconomic situation and cope with external challenges,” he says. “Therefore, one must not portray that dialogue as an exceptional phenomenon, a sensational event that will completely change the logic of political processes.”

“We have always been ready for dialogue but I think that it would be wrong [for the government and the HAK] to form delegations with some ceremonies,” another HHK parliamentarian, Galust Sahakian, tells “Haykakan Zhamanak.” “That dialogue is not a wedding party that requires us to decide its day and time. It’s a continuous process.” As for the agenda of the dialogue, Sahakian says it should include “both internal and external issues and processes.”

“Yerkir” says that the HAK and the government will not be representing all Armenians in their anticipated negotiations. “Neither the HAK, which mainly consists of marginal forces, nor the authorities having legitimacy problems have the right to act on behalf of the people,” editorializes the paper. “What they are now negotiating or cutting deals on concerns only them and not the people.”

For “Chorrord Inknishkhanutyun,” the government’s response to the HAK’s dialogue was “absolutely predictable.” The pro-HAK daily attacks the two other major opposition forces, the Zharangutyun Party and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), for continuing to claim that the bloc led by Levon Ter-Petrosian is not serious about its calls for fresh elections. “Suppose that the Congress prevails and pre-term elections take place in Armenia. This is what is causing Zharangutyun and Dashnaktsutyun to panic,” it says. “This is what they are fighting against.”

Seda Safarian, one of the two opposition members of an unofficial body that investigated the March 2008 events in Yerevan, tells “Aravot” that the Special Investigative Service (SIS) should not have been entrusted with the conduct of a fresh probe of the unrest ordered by President Serzh Sarkisian. “It should have been assigned to another body that has not dealt with that case and is not inhibited by the need to uncover new facts,” says Safarian. She claims that Sarkisian’s order was therefore “doomed to fail right from the beginning.”

(Aghasi Yenokian)
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