Մատչելիության հղումներ

Press Review


"Hayastani Hanrapetutyun" quotes several top army commanders as endorsing President Kocharian's harsh criticism of General Vagharshak Harutiunian, the former defense minister. General Mikael Grigorian, who is a deputy defense minister, says his former boss had made little contribution to the creation and strengthening of the Armenian armed forces. Another top general, Haykaz Baghmanian, says he has never seen Harutiunian on the frontline during the war with Azerbaijan. Similar comments are made by General Arshaluys Paytian.

Also interviewed by "Hayots Ashkhar," the generals stress Kocharian's and Serzh Sarkisian's role in the Armenian victory in Karabakh.

"Haykakan Zhamanak" reports that the scandal over the reported beating of Gevorg Hakobian, a parliament deputy from Miasnutyun, has sparked tensions inside the parliament's largest faction. The paper says several deputies have moved to leave the faction in protest against its leader Galust Sahakian's denial of Hakobian's claims. It says Sahakian personally promised fellow faction members on July 8 to seek tough action against Ashot Gizirian, the Yerevan police chief who allegedly beat the deputy. "On the same day he met with Gizirian at a restaurant outside Yerevan and lost his memory as a result of that meeting," the paper adds sarcastically.

"There is mutual hatred inside the government camp," opposition leader Ashot Manucharian tells "Haykakan Zhamanak." "In this situation anything can happen at any moment: a palace coup, terror, conspiracy, treason and agreement with any other force." Manucharian, who leads the Socialist Armenia bloc, says both the current authorities and their predecessors led by Levon Ter-Petrosian should be rejected by voters because they are ready to accept an unfavorable solution to the Karabakh conflict which he believes is being imposed on the Armenian side by the United States.

"Or" observes that Ter-Petrosian's Armenian Pan-National Movement (HHSh) party continues to favor the most conciliatory approach to ending the conflict with Azerbaijan. The HHSh is thus right to count on Western support. But that will not be sufficient for its possible return to power.

"Aravot" and "Orran" say the Dashnaktsutyun party sent a stark warning to Kocharian at a political seminar which it organized on Friday. Dashnak leaders hinted that they may join the opposition or refuse to support Kocharian's reelection.

In an interview with "Hayots Ashkhar," Perj Zeytuntsian, a prominent Armenian writer, deplores what he sees as a lack of "patriotism" in modern-day Armenia. It is the main cause of the widespread "plunder and immoral atmosphere," according to Zeytuntsian.

(Vache Sarkisian)
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