“Aravot” says that one should not expect any tangible benefits for Armenia that could emanate from Russia’s confrontation with Turkey triggered by the downing of a Russian warplane. The paper says that the crisis has already fueled such “illusions” among some Armenians. “In fact, there is no good and bad in international politics,” writes the paper. “There is no loyalty and betrayal, there is no devotion and sellout. Actions of the states are beyond such moral evaluations. Their actions are based on their interests.”
“Zhamanak” says the incident on the Syrian-Turkish border could have “extremely dangerous consequences” for Armenia. “In international relations, shooting down a plane is a very serious incident that can have unpredictable consequences,” writes the paper. “It is beyond any doubt that a Russian-Turkish conflict would primarily affect Armenia due to a number of factors.” It says Yerevan should therefore “multiple its vigilance towards the Armenian-Turkish border” in order to forestall “provocations” there. The paper claims at the same time that Yerevan has no full control over that border because of the presence of Russian border guards there.
“In the strategic sense, nothing has changed,” “Chorrord Ishkhanutyun” comments on the subject. “At first glance, it may look as though a lot has changed in the last two months. Russia has sharply stepped up its involvement in Syria, bombing Islamic State targets. After the Paris terrorist attacks the West has started perceiving Russia as an ally and talking of the need to jointly fight against international terrorism. But by and large, all this is only rhetoric. The fact is that the Russian-West standoff continues … and for NATO the number one threat is not the Islamic State but Russia.”
“Zhoghovurd” notes that the Armenian government has published and disseminated only 15,400 free copies of the draft amendments to the Armenian constitution proposed by President Serzh Sarkisian. The paper says this calls into question its loyalists’ claims that most Armenians are familiar with the essence of those amendments and support their passage. “With only days to go before the [December 6 constitutional] referendum, we can conclude that both pro-government and opposition forces in Armenia are exploiting the people’s name without bothering to ensure a minim degree of public awareness [of the proposed constitutional reform,]” it says.
(Tigran Avetisian)