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Press Review


"Why have the Armenians alienated themselves from the Republic that is called Armenia," asks "Or" newspaper. Constitutional changes, Armenia-Diaspora conferences, government propaganda and even resignation of the President and a change of the regime would not help to save the situation. We have witnessed both a regime change and the system change, when Levon Ter-Petrossian was replaced by Robert Kocharian and when the Soviet regime replaced by an independent republic. But nothing has really changed, and in fact one group of corrupt people who was controlling the state was replaced by another corrupt group, "Or" writes. There is only one way to change the situation and that is to make a qualitatively new systemic change which means to create a new, fourth republic.

"Haykakan Zhamanak" predicts that next year's elections will be different from previous elections. It would be wrong to compare the 2003 elections with the elections in 1996 and 1998, because those elections were unprecedented, the paper says. The elections in 2003 will have a more radical meaning and nature. Armenia will be judged by others based on the results of these elections. There is no doubt that Kocharian will run with brilliant campaign slogans that could win the public's votes. In this situation the opposition will have to clarify its position on all important issues. But so called strategic bargaining between opposition parties over who will be the united candidate will not permit the formation of a common strategy and solutions to problems or generating ideas that could be formulated as election slogans. Without this possibility, the united opposition candidate will fail to win the elections, "Haykakan Zhamanak" concludes.

It is common in Armenia to ignore real dangers while instead spreading artificially created fears, "Orran" writes. President Kocharian for example, instead of addressing numerous accusations by the opposition, claims that those who criticize him are helping the members of the previous regime. And the worst part of it is that Kocharian's self-justification is a satisfactory answer for most Armenians. The main ideological argument of the pro-government propaganda machine is that a victory of the opposition would mean the return of the previous regime.

"Aravot" analyzes the 19 May by-elections in Tavush region, where prominent writer and head of the Union of Armenian writers Levon Ananian failed to get enough votes, and concludes that the vote indicates that Armenians are no longer willing to listen to famous intellectuals. The famous writers and artists Silva Kaputikian, Zori Balayan and Sos Sarkisian tried hard but failed to convinced voters to elect Levon Ananian voters in Tavush, where the locals didn't have the chance to vote for their favored candidate, former interior minister Vano Siradeghian, "Aravot" says.

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