Մատչելիության հղումներ

Press Review


Several Armenian newspapers reprint an article by the Russian mass-circulation weekly “Argumenty i Fakty” on the current political situation in Armenia. “In the corridors of power there are growing doubts that the new president [of Armenia] is able to put the situation under his control and settle the domestic political crisis,” writes the Russian paper. “Indeed, the existing situation in Armenia resembles anarchy. The extremely low legitimacy of the regime, internal squabbles, the intransigence of the opposition enjoying broad public support, European and U.S. demands for the restoration of democracy in the country give one reason seriously doubt the regime’s resilience.”

“The authorities are primarily responsible for the events of March 1 and the overall atmosphere in the country,” Samvel Babayan, Nagorno-Karabakh’s former military leader, tells “Aravot.” “People’s protest was not heard and understood. It is ludicrous to brand pro-opposition voters as persons who succumbed to psychological influence. We can’t have hundreds of thousands of mentally deranged people?”

“Hayots Ashkhar” likens opposition statements about international discontent with the Armenian government to Soviet propaganda. “Today our domestic neo-Bolsheviks are seeking to make fellow citizens believe that the entire progressive world is thinking only about one thing: will the authorities authorize the June 20 [opposition] rally?” writes the paper. “They contradict themselves by stating that the rally will take place even if it is not sanctioned by the municipality.”

“Let them interrogate Robert Kocharian and everything will become clear,” Hovik Arsenian, the lawyer for many of the arrested opposition members, tells “Zhamanak Yerevan.” “Let us not forget that he declared on television that the [March 1] shooters were demonstrators … How did he know that? If there was video evidence, why didn’t they air it and show the public its provocateurs on the same day?”

“Haykakan Zhamanak” notes that the most high-ranking foreign dignitary to visit Yerevan since President Serzh Sarkisian’s April 9 inauguration was Tom Adams, a U.S. diplomat coordinating American assistance to former Communist states. “Also occupying a special place on the list of Serzh Sarkisian’s guests are several U.S. congressmen, a representative of the Jewish American Committee, Peter Rosenblatt,” says the paper. “In the big family of world leaders Serzh Sarkisian is so far alone and forsaken,” it concludes.

“Azg” reports that Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian’s wife gave birth to their third child on Tuesday. The paper says the newborn boy will be named Markos.

(Armen Dulian)
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