“Zhoghovurd” says that the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe remains the main international format for resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict despite Moscow’s and Washington’s periodical unilateral initiatives in the peace process. “During the 20-year settlement process there have been three key meetings in which the parties were very close to a peace deal,” writes the paper. It cites the Armenian-Azerbaijani summits held on the Florida island of Key West in 2001, near Paris in 2006 and in the Russian city of Kazan in 2011. The paper says Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sarkisian may well meet again this fall. At their last meeting held in Sochi on Sunday, it says, Sarkisian acted “confidently and from an uncompromising position.” “And after that meeting tension on the borders markedly eased,” it concludes.
“Zhamanak” cites former Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin as saying that Western economic sanctions will cost Russia more than $200 billion in losses over the next three years. The paper wonders how much Armenia will lose as a result of that. “Naturally, there are no such calculations in Armenia,” it says. “Nobody has dealt with this question in earnest so far. And that applies to not only the government but also the opposition.” In that regard, the paper dismisses as “unserious” government officials’ claims that Armenian farmers and food-processing companies could boost their exports to Russia because of the Russian ban on food imports from Europe and the United States.
“As long as certain moral norms do not function in international relations and political and economic calculations take precedence instead, genocides will be repeated,” writes “Aravot.” “Yezidis are a very ancient nation. According to their calendar, we now live in the 86th century. This is a whole layer of civilization which the humankind must preserve. But those who arm and support Islamist extremists in Iraq -- Saudi Arabia, Turkey and, at one point, the United States -- are deeply indifferent to civilization and pursue their political and economic interests.” The paper also laments the lack of popular concern in Armenia over a “modern-day genocide” unfolding in northern Iraq.
(Tigran Avetisian)