“Hayots Ashkhar” defends the Armenian leadership’s controversial gas agreement with Russia, describing it as "logical." The paper sympathetic to President Robert Kocharian argues that the Hrazdan power plant given to Russia’s Gazprom has long been incomplete and would become “ruins” unless it failed to attract large-scale investments. It says the government has managed to sell to Gazprom at a “very high price.”
But as a leading member of the opposition Hanrapetutyun party tells “Aravot,” all of this will come at the expense of Armenia’s independence and national security. “It is obvious that the Russians want to dictate terms in this region, while the Armenian authorities can’t do anything to confront Russia because they are [Russian] stooges,” says Smbat Ayvazian. “This is the result of anti-popular elections and a usurpation of power [which took place] when Kocharian was appointed by Russia as Russian governor of Armenia’s territory.”
“Iravunk” carries an open letter by writer Hrachya Matevosian in which he emotionally expresses his disappointment with Kocharian. “I voted for you and my poor village heeded my advice,” he says. “I believe that one, if not the most important, of my numerous mistakes is that I believed in you.” “You have been a law-breaking president and I hope that at you will at least be a law-abiding prisoner. Amen,” concludes Matevosian.
Writing in “Ayb-Fe,” a close associate of former President Levon Ter-Petrosian blasts the Kocharian administration over its open pursuit of international recognition of the Armenian genocide. “Evidently, Dashnaktsutyun and political forces sharing its ideology want to take their historical revenge, by means of contemporary Armenians, on a state or the people to whose tune they used to play,” claims Ara Sahakian. “After all, the genocide of Armenians was masterminded and carried out by Dashnaktsutyun’s parliamentary allies, the Young Turks.”
“Hayots Ashkhar” reminds readers that April 7 is a public holiday in Armenia officially known as Day of Beauty and Motherhood. The paper describes what happens to those men who “do not pay due attention to women.” “Unfortunately, every decent man has to think about women from time to time. Otherwise, he will be covered with pimples and will become bald as a result of stress. Such men would very quickly become extremely unpleasant and would die over time.”
(Armen Dulian)
But as a leading member of the opposition Hanrapetutyun party tells “Aravot,” all of this will come at the expense of Armenia’s independence and national security. “It is obvious that the Russians want to dictate terms in this region, while the Armenian authorities can’t do anything to confront Russia because they are [Russian] stooges,” says Smbat Ayvazian. “This is the result of anti-popular elections and a usurpation of power [which took place] when Kocharian was appointed by Russia as Russian governor of Armenia’s territory.”
“Iravunk” carries an open letter by writer Hrachya Matevosian in which he emotionally expresses his disappointment with Kocharian. “I voted for you and my poor village heeded my advice,” he says. “I believe that one, if not the most important, of my numerous mistakes is that I believed in you.” “You have been a law-breaking president and I hope that at you will at least be a law-abiding prisoner. Amen,” concludes Matevosian.
Writing in “Ayb-Fe,” a close associate of former President Levon Ter-Petrosian blasts the Kocharian administration over its open pursuit of international recognition of the Armenian genocide. “Evidently, Dashnaktsutyun and political forces sharing its ideology want to take their historical revenge, by means of contemporary Armenians, on a state or the people to whose tune they used to play,” claims Ara Sahakian. “After all, the genocide of Armenians was masterminded and carried out by Dashnaktsutyun’s parliamentary allies, the Young Turks.”
“Hayots Ashkhar” reminds readers that April 7 is a public holiday in Armenia officially known as Day of Beauty and Motherhood. The paper describes what happens to those men who “do not pay due attention to women.” “Unfortunately, every decent man has to think about women from time to time. Otherwise, he will be covered with pimples and will become bald as a result of stress. Such men would very quickly become extremely unpleasant and would die over time.”
(Armen Dulian)