“Zhamanak” says that the “pan-Armenian declaration” on the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide, which was adopted by Armenia’s top state officials and Armenian Diaspora leaders on Thursday, contains no “clear-cut message to the outside world.” “In the absence of such a message, the declaration amounts to a ceremonial document,” writes the paper. It says the document does not convey any new decisions by Armenia’s government to the international community.
“Chorrord Ishkhanutyun” attacks the Armenian police chief, Vladimir Gasparian, for threatening to prosecute “organizers” of the January 15 violence in Gyumri, which followed the slaughter of a local family. The paper says Gasparian is thus expressing his frustration with the failure of his forces to track down and arrest Valery Permyakov, the Russian soldier charged in the massacre. “In case of identifying and prosecuting the organizers, will they hand them over to the Russian side or not?” it asks mockingly.
“Hayots Ashkhar” sees an “interesting situation” emerging in the Nagorno-Karabakh negotiation process after the January 27 statement by the U.S., Russian and French co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group which effectively blamed Azerbaijan for the latest truce violations. The paper says the statement marked the beginning of “positive developments that had for years been expected by the Armenian side.” “The mediators have breached their ‘balanced’ approach to the conflicting parties and used delicate diplomatic language to make it clear to Baku that for the international community its attempts to turn negotiations into a smokescreen for commando attacks are not acceptable anymore,” it claims.
“Zhoghovurd” reports that 80 percent of fertilizers imported to Armenia will become more expensive as a result of the country’s recent accession to the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. “These are the fertilizers and pesticides that are most frequently used by our farmers,” says the paper. “It is expected that these price hikes will affect the overall cost of [Armenian] agricultural production,” it adds. “In effect, Armenia’s economy has only been suffering losses since its government decided to join the EEU.”
“Haykakan Zhamanak” says that Armenia too will be hit hard if Western powers expand their sanctions against Russia by cutting off the latter from the SWIFT international banking payment system. The paper says that would seriously complicate business transactions between Armenian and Russian firms and eventually lead to a further depreciation of the Armenian dram.
(Tigran Avetisian)