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Press Review


“A colored revolution is not likely in Armenia, if by that term we mean a falsification of elections followed by civil revolt and regime change,” editorializes “Aravot.” “Only the first part of that chain of events is expected here. Not just because the Armenian authorities are prepared for any violence to suppress a mass revolt. It’s just that things will not get to that point, even though the majority of the population is deeply unhappy with its situation. The force capable of organizing that uprising is missing.”

“Yes, the West can contribute to regime change,” continues “Aravot.” “But only if it sees serious sources of resistance to the regime. Since there are no such sources in Armenia, developed countries prefer to deal with those individuals who solve issues here.”

“The opposition bet on defeat right from the beginning, hoping to make up for its losses after the elections,” political analyst Aleksandr Iskandarian tells “Hayots Ashkhar.” “That is, to declare that the elections were rigged and to try to trigger a wave of mass protests.”

“Azg” complains that the Armenian opposition “can not come up with anything new” despite ongoing talks among its leaders over the formation of new electoral alliances. The paper sees plenty of empty rhetoric in the government camp as well.

“Haykakan Zhamanak” says Justice Minister David Harutiunian intends to join the governing Republican Party (HHK) and to be included on its electoral slate. “Harutiunian’s becoming a Republican is logical if we consider the fact that the Prosperous Armenia party does not want to include him on its list,” comments the paper. “The objective now is as follows: to put Kocharian’s beloved Harutiunian on the list of a government force. And because Prosperous Armenia does not want to have a discredited member like Harutiunian, he can only be dispatched to the HHK.”

“Hayk” scrutinizes income declarations filed by Armenia’s top government officials last year. “Predictably, most of them hid the real size of their revenues and properties,” writes the paper. “After looking into the income declarations of our leaders we got a great desire to set up a benevolent fund for helping them. There is one problem, though. Their declarations do not match their real wealth. A number of parliament deputies, whom the public considers oligarchs, also hid everything.”

“Chorrord Ishkhanutyun” describes the sale of Armenia’s Converse Bank to Argentine-Armenian billionaire Eduardo Eurnekian as a “murky deal.” The paper claims that U.S. officials have discovered that large sums of “Arab origin” have been handled by Converse Bank in recent years. “The Americans found that those sums are simply being laundered with the help of the bank,” it says. “And when the Americans tried to clarify where the laundered money goes they discovered that it ends up in the [bank] accounts of organizations connected with a number of terrorist groups.”

(Atom Markarian)
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