“Hayots Ashkhar” ridicules opposition protests against the impending passage of a legislative change that will allow the Armenian government to hold non-binding referendums on various issues, including the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. “The fuss over the bill, rich in comical elements, is certainly amusing,” editorializes the paper. “But this noise and outcry going on for the past several days is at the same time not comprehensible. Ever since the signing of the [1994] truce the people of both Karabakh and Armenia, all political forces active in the two republics have constantly expressed the same view. No decision on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh problem can be taken single-handedly. Furthermore, the signing of a peace accord can not be the prerogative of one or several persons and the main role in the deciding the fate of Karabakh must be reserved for the people who will say yes or no in a popular referendum.”
“The hasty passage of this bill is certainly connected with the Karabakh conflict,” comments “Chorrord Ishkhanutyun.” “Nobody doubts this. Political forces and analysts are inclined to presume that the authorities accept this law in order to hold a referendum on a Karabakh settlement in the near future, rig its results in accordance with their habits, return liberated territories and place full responsibility for that on the people’s shoulders.”
“Aravot” comments on the acrimonious dispute between Gyumri Mayor Vartan Ghukasian and the head of the regional diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church. The paper believes that Ghukasian’s aggressive campaign against Archbishop Mikael Ajapahian was made possible by former Presidents Levon Ter-Petrosian’s and Robert Kocharian’s blunt interference in the 1995 and 1999 elections of Armenian catholicoses. “If a president can appoint a catholicos, then a mayor must also be able to fire a diocese leader,” it reasons with sarcasm. “Especially an authoritative figure like Vartan Ghukasian.” The paper adds, on a more serious note, that “Gyumri’s little fuehrer” has accused the archbishop of supporting Levon Ter-Petrosian.
“The problem is not that Serzh Sarkisian will always be hostage to Robert Kocharian’s political activities,” writes “Zhamanak Yerevan.” “The unfortunate thing is that Armenian society will feel the negative effects of that. Serzh is already deprived of a chance to maneuver and deceive not only the three co-chairs [of the OSCE Minsk Group] but the people that never elected him. Because a government can only once deceive everyone, and the new administration formed by Serzh has done everything to be associated with Kocharian’s administration.”
(Aghasi Yenokian)
“The hasty passage of this bill is certainly connected with the Karabakh conflict,” comments “Chorrord Ishkhanutyun.” “Nobody doubts this. Political forces and analysts are inclined to presume that the authorities accept this law in order to hold a referendum on a Karabakh settlement in the near future, rig its results in accordance with their habits, return liberated territories and place full responsibility for that on the people’s shoulders.”
“Aravot” comments on the acrimonious dispute between Gyumri Mayor Vartan Ghukasian and the head of the regional diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church. The paper believes that Ghukasian’s aggressive campaign against Archbishop Mikael Ajapahian was made possible by former Presidents Levon Ter-Petrosian’s and Robert Kocharian’s blunt interference in the 1995 and 1999 elections of Armenian catholicoses. “If a president can appoint a catholicos, then a mayor must also be able to fire a diocese leader,” it reasons with sarcasm. “Especially an authoritative figure like Vartan Ghukasian.” The paper adds, on a more serious note, that “Gyumri’s little fuehrer” has accused the archbishop of supporting Levon Ter-Petrosian.
“The problem is not that Serzh Sarkisian will always be hostage to Robert Kocharian’s political activities,” writes “Zhamanak Yerevan.” “The unfortunate thing is that Armenian society will feel the negative effects of that. Serzh is already deprived of a chance to maneuver and deceive not only the three co-chairs [of the OSCE Minsk Group] but the people that never elected him. Because a government can only once deceive everyone, and the new administration formed by Serzh has done everything to be associated with Kocharian’s administration.”
(Aghasi Yenokian)