“Zhamanak” says that the decisions by the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) to reject one pro-Azerbaijani resolution on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and adopt another marked a “draw” in the latest Armenian-Azerbaijani battle in Strasbourg. “It is hard to tell whether this was the result of efforts made the Armenian delegation at the PACE or the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, who warned against the passage of resolutions that could hamper the conflict’s resolution,” writes the paper. “The question of [the efficiency of] Armenian diplomacy at the assembly remains open. If the Minsk Group co-chairs have to work in place of the Armenian side, then maybe Armenian delegations should not spend resources and travel to Strasbourg in the first place.”
“They already knew about the [pro-Azerbaijani PACE] reports one and a half years ago,” “Zhoghovurd” writes, also criticizing the authorities in Yerevan. “For one and a half years the Armenian diplomatic corps has sat idly by and waited. And Hermine Naghdalian (the head of the Armenian parliamentary delegation in Strasbourg) has failed to do anything except for berating the Europeans. They started scrambling only after it became obvious that the inclusion of the anti-Armenian reports on the agenda of the PACE’s [latest] plenary session is inevitable.”
“Hraparak” expects that Naghdalian and members of her delegation will claim credit for the PACE’s rejection of the more important of the two resolutions drafted by Robert Walter, a retired British parliamentarian. The paper says they will also claim that recent weeks’ visits of Armenian officials to various European capitals also proved very helpful.
“Zhoghovurd” reports that Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS) on Tuesday released from pre-trial custody a sixth suspect in its investigation into an alleged plot by an Armenian militant group to assassinate senior state officials. “It is expected that more people will be set free in the coming weeks,” writes the paper. “It is still unclear to the public how the members of the armed group got hold of a large number of weapons and ammunition.” It speculates that they somehow obtained most of those weapons from Armenian security agencies.
“Chorrord Ishkhanutyun” says that Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian on Tuesday was at a loss to explain to reporters why Armenian soldiers serving on the frontlines with Azerbaijan mostly come from poor families. “Unfortunately, I don’t know why this is the case,” Ohanian said at a news conference. The paper brushes aside his claim.
(Heghine Buniatian)