“Yerkir” is skeptical about President Serzh Sarkisian’s Wednesday remark that political competition and cooperation should go hand in hand in Armenia. “It is the authorities that are responsible for putting that formula into practice,” explains the paper. “And yet until now they have created more dividing lines than common paths.” It says the authorities must be the first to define and respect legitimate rules of the game.
“In his speeches, Serzh Sarkisian does not say what he has done in the last three and a half years,” writes “Chorrord Inknishkhanutyun.” “Instead, he talks about what a nice Armenia should look like. It is understandable why Serzh Sarkisian doesn’t speak of his accomplishments: there is nothing worth mentioning.”
Armen Rustamian, a leader of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), assures “168 Zham” that the opposition party is committed to “regime change” in Armenia even if it stops short of explicitly demanding Sarkisian’s resignation. “Regime change is a substantive issue, a concrete political process,” says Rustamian. “Resignation is the easiest way because I, for example, can consider my task accomplished by stating that I demand the resignation and that there is nothing else I can do. But our entire post-Soviet history has demonstrated that [government leaders] resign only when they see a worse scenario for themselves … That is why we are saying that we need to create a situation that would make the resignation inevitable.”
Speaking to “Zhamanak,” Stepan Demirchian, a senior member of the opposition Armenian National Congress (HAK), says that the HAK will lose many supporters if it “gets stuck in an endless and fruitless dialogue” with the authorities. “I have said and will say again that both the dialogue and the formation of a new political culture and systemic changes … must start from the holding of democratic elections,” Demirchian says. “What we need is not words, what we need is just fair elections.”
“Aravot” reports that Nairi Hunanian, a former journalist who led the October 1999 deadly attack on the Armenian parliament, has asked a Yerevan court to reconsider his life imprisonment. The paper says the request has already been turned down.
(Aghasi Yenokian)
“In his speeches, Serzh Sarkisian does not say what he has done in the last three and a half years,” writes “Chorrord Inknishkhanutyun.” “Instead, he talks about what a nice Armenia should look like. It is understandable why Serzh Sarkisian doesn’t speak of his accomplishments: there is nothing worth mentioning.”
Armen Rustamian, a leader of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), assures “168 Zham” that the opposition party is committed to “regime change” in Armenia even if it stops short of explicitly demanding Sarkisian’s resignation. “Regime change is a substantive issue, a concrete political process,” says Rustamian. “Resignation is the easiest way because I, for example, can consider my task accomplished by stating that I demand the resignation and that there is nothing else I can do. But our entire post-Soviet history has demonstrated that [government leaders] resign only when they see a worse scenario for themselves … That is why we are saying that we need to create a situation that would make the resignation inevitable.”
Speaking to “Zhamanak,” Stepan Demirchian, a senior member of the opposition Armenian National Congress (HAK), says that the HAK will lose many supporters if it “gets stuck in an endless and fruitless dialogue” with the authorities. “I have said and will say again that both the dialogue and the formation of a new political culture and systemic changes … must start from the holding of democratic elections,” Demirchian says. “What we need is not words, what we need is just fair elections.”
“Aravot” reports that Nairi Hunanian, a former journalist who led the October 1999 deadly attack on the Armenian parliament, has asked a Yerevan court to reconsider his life imprisonment. The paper says the request has already been turned down.
(Aghasi Yenokian)