Մատչելիության հղումներ

Press Review


"Aravot" criticizes Amnesty International for its concerns over the treatment of suspects in the case of the 1999 attack on parliament. The paper says the respected international human rights watchdog should have been equally outspoken in highlighting rights abuses allegedly committed by the US troops in Afghanistan.

A leader of Dashnaktsutyun, Armen Rustamian, tells "Hayots Ashkhar" that Armenia should honor all its obligations to the Council of Europe, including the pledge to abolish the death penalty. Otherwise, he says, the country will risk finding itself in international isolation. Tigran Torosian of the governing Republican Party, however, believes that it is still possible to persuade Strasbourg officials to make an exception for the Armenian parliament gunmen. Gagik Tadevosian of the Communist Party favors a tougher stance, saying that Armenia should leave the Council of Europe if the
latter does not agree to its demands.

"Haykakan Zhamanak" reports that a senior member of the Communist Party, Vanya Mkhitarian, has been stripped of his party post after disclosing a statement by several disgruntled members of its Central Committee. Mkhitarian, who was dismissed as deputy minister for state property after alleging high-level corruption, says the leadership of the party is no different from the country's authorities. He says the real reason for his ouster was his attempt to inspect the party's financial records. He brands
the party's first secretary, Vladimir Darpinian, and his allies as "criminals" who have been embezzling party funds.

The party's newspaper, "Hayastani Komunist," makes no mention of the scandal in its Tuesday edition. Instead, it runs an article by its editor, Norik Petrosian, repeating traditional Communist accusations directed against the authorities. Petrosian also chides those Communists who believe that no Armenian party can get the country out of its economic doldrums single-handedly.

"Iravunk" quotes Tigran Torosian as saying that the Republicans find it too early to think about forming alliances for the next year's elections or to endorse any of the presidential candidates, including Robert Kocharian.

In an interview with "Haykakan Zhamanak," Albert Bazeyan of the opposition Hanrapetutyun party ducks a question on the late Vazgen Sarkisian's role in the disputed presidential election of 1998. Bazeyan says he and other close associates of the then defense minister who cast their ballots in Kocharian's favor did so at Sarkisian's request. "Shortly after the elections we realized that we made a big political mistake and that was the reason why we joined forces in the [1999] parliamentary elections with Karen Demirchian, our 1998 election rival," Bazeyan says.

(Vache Sarkisian)
XS
SM
MD
LG