“Aravot” is upset with what it sees as a lack of public debate provoked by former President Levon Ter-Petrosian’s latest article reaffirming his view that Armenia should not press Turkey to recognize the 1915 Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire. The paper believes that the article published on Tuesday contains very important points that should at least be discussed by politicians and pundits.
“This is not a new approach by Ter-Petrosian and it already proved bankrupt years ago,” “Zhoghovurd” writes on the subject. The paper argues that Turkey did not open its border with Armenia even when Ter-Petrosian’s views were a government policy during his 1991-1998 presidency. “And today, on the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide, such a proposal of humiliating political bargaining would certainly not prove more productive than it was 20 years ago,” it says. “Even if Ter-Petrosian wants us to even ask the European Union governments not to regard recognition of the Armenian genocide as a precondition for admitting Turkey into the EU.”
“Zhamanak” sees indications that a “vacuum” within Armenia’s opposition landscape, which was created by last month’s successful government crackdown on Gagik Tsarukian and his Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK), is now being filled by other forces. “New ideas and new approaches are emerging in the [opposition] field,” writes the paper. In particular, it points to the unfolding transformation of Nikol Pashinian’s Civic Contract movement into a political party.
“Haykakan Zhamanak” reports that Russia will lower next month the price of its natural gas delivered to Armenia from $190 to $165 per thousand cubic meters. But, the paper says, this does not mean that Armenian households and corporate consumers will now pay less for their gas. It says the fresh price discount agreed with the Russians is aimed at preventing an increase in gas tariffs within Armenia that could have resulted from a recent depreciation of the Armenian currency, the dram. “If the Russian side had refused to cut the [wholesale] gas price, the [retail] tariff for Armenian consumers would have risen by 10-12 percent,” adds the paper.
(Tigran Avetisian)