In an interview with “Zhoghovurd,” Zori Balayan, a prominent pro-establishment intellectual, comments on the controversial arrest and prosecution in Russia of Nagorno-Karabakh-born businessman and philanthropist Levon Hayrapetian. “We must keep demanding that they change his location and take him to an appropriate clinic,” says Balayan. “His life is at risk. I know all of his diagnoses. The situation is very dangerous. We should work only in that direction [hospitalization] for now.”
Another pundit, Levon Melik-Shahnazarian, tells “Hayots Ashkhar” that Azerbaijan has been heightening tension on the border with Armenia and the Karabakh “line of contact” lately in order to thwart the Karabakh Armenians’ direct involvement in peace talks. Shahnazarian says that there are growing indications that international mediators support such involvement. “I am deeply convinced that Azerbaijan is very concerned about this,” he claims. “Besides, exercises of the right to self-determination are expected in Europe: Scotland and Catalonia, and they too preoccupy the Azerbaijanis. They can’t just keep saying that the Karabakh case is different from other ones.”
“Zhamanak” quotes economist Vartan Bostanjian as voicing skepticism over Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamian’s public pledges to improve the business environment in Armenia. “This is not the right way to solve such a serious problem,” Bostanjian says. “Even in developed countries the rule of law has worked only when it has been backed up by necessary sanctions. Sanctions are defined [in Armenia] but the overwhelming majority of [business] entities have no trouble flouting them because the sanctions are often outweighed by benefits resulting from their violation. Also, there is a circle [of businessmen] that is never subjected to sanctions. They operate in privileged conditions.”
(Tigran Avetisian)