“Zhamanak” tries to guess the political orientation and future of the Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) after the resignation of its founding leader, Gagik Tsarukian. “The BHK is now being placed under Serzh Sarkisian’s full control that will be coordinated by Hovik Abrahamian,” writes the paper. “Therefore, to cooperate with the BHK will now essentially mean to cooperate with Serzh Sarkisian.” Even so, it claims that Levon Ter-Petrosian’s Armenian National Congress (HAK) and other opposition parties may still choose to collaborate with the BHK to make sure that they win seats in Armenia’s next parliament.
“Zhoghovurd” says that after Tsarukian’s retirement from politics nothing stands in the way of far-reaching constitutional reforms planned by President Sarkisian. The paper believes that the HAK and Zharangutyun (Heritage) party of Raffi Hovannisian are not strong enough to thwart the reforms. It notes that just hours after Tsarukian’s exit parliament speaker Galust Sahakian said that constitutional amendments drafted by a presidential commission will be put on a referendum by the spring of 2016. The paper expects Sarkisian to make an official statement to that effect within one or two weeks.
“Chorrord Ishkhanutyun” quotes Lernik Aleksanian, a parliament deputy from the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), as saying that socioeconomic problems in the country can only be solved gradually and by the government. “Lernik Aleksanian is certainly right,” comments the paper. “The reason for the severe socioeconomic plight of the people is that more than half of the national wealth is concentrated in the hands of the country’s rulers. A solution to the problem must therefore come from above in one way or another.” But it cannot be “evolutionary” given the existing scale of government corruption and the ruling regime’s desire to cling to power at any cost, according to “Chorrord Ishkhanutyun.”
“Aravot” weighs in on a controversy sparked by former President Robert Kocharian’s allegations that the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic was left out of Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks during Ter-Petrosian’s rule. The paper dismisses those claims, arguing that international mediators presented their peace proposal to Armenia, Azerbaijan and the NKR leadership until 1998. It also points out that Kocharian publicly defended Karabakh’s exclusion from the negotiations during his 2003 reelection campaign.
(Tigran Avetisian)