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Press Review


(Saturday, February 9)

“Zhamanak” says the Armenian authorities may have arrested two men suspected of shooting and wounding presidential candidate Paruyr Hayrikian but they have still not answered the key question: who organized the shooting? The paper notes that President Serzh Sarkisian said nothing about that when he chaired a meeting of top security officials on Friday. “This silence may mean that the authorities are suspending their preliminary theory that it was an organized provocation against state stability,” it says. “For when it is declared that what happened was aimed at destabilizing Armenia it is at least pathetic that two drug addicts are identified and arrested but there is no mastermind behind them.”

“Hayots Ashkhar” is baffled by the National Security Service’s claim that the two arrested suspects resided in Yerevan “with an illegal status.” “Where do the detainees come from?” asks the paper. “Where did they live? Where is the tool of the crime? What weapon was used? These are the questions which we believe will be answered by the investigating body.”

Ararat Zurabian, a former senior member of the Armenian National Congress (HAK), tells “168 Zham” that the opposition bloc’s ongoing transformation into a single political party was inevitable. He says that the diverse grouping of opposition parties with differing ideologies was always going to be short-lived. “[HAK leader] Levon Ter-Petrosian and his voiceless teammates succeeded in dismantling Armenia’s opposition system, rather than the ruling kleptocracy,” alleges Zurabian. “Because of the non-existence of that system, the illegal and illegitimate regime is reproducing itself before our eyes.”

For “Chorrord Inknishkhanutyun,” it is strange that Serzh Sarkisian is now criticizing political groups boycotting the upcoming presidential election. The pro-opposition paper defends the boycott, saying that it is the result of chronic vote rigging, which has taken new, more sophisticated forms under Sarkisian. “To put it simply, Serzh Sarkisian is doing everything to falsify the elections without any obstacles,” it says. “And he is surprised that the main political forces do not want to participate in that dishonest game.”

(Tigran Avetisian)
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