(Saturday, June 26)
“Hraparak” says that the main factor in the massive post-Soviet emigration from Armenia has been “injustice,” rather than unemployment. “When a person earns little, he has hope, he hopes to earn more one day,” explains the paper. “But when he sees that his neighbor was jailed for three years for taking part in [anti-government] demonstrations, while another neighbor stabbed a man and got a suspended prison sentence … when he fails a qualification test, while his stupid boss is promoted to become deputy minister, he thinks that emigration is his salvation.”
“Chorrord Inknishkhanutyun” reports that Swedish lawmaker Goran Lindblad will replace France’s Georges Colombier as one of the two Armenia co-rapporteurs of the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly. “This gentleman is mainly known for the fact that he has signed whatever anti-Armenian document that have appeared in the PACE,” writes the paper. “At least on the Karabakh issue, that person is overtly pro-Azerbaijani.” It says the PACE’s stance on the Armenian-Azerbaijani dispute will become “more unfavorable to us” after Lindblad’s appointment. It has already “changed to the worse,” the paper claims.
“Zhamanak” carries an interview with Peter Omzigt, a Dutch member of the PACE who signed a statement last week accusing the Armenian authorities of failing to honor their commitments to the Council of Europe. “The purpose of our statement was to remind Armenia of the obligations to the Council of Europe which it had assumed,” says Omzigt. “I am very concerned about the events that took place in Armenia in March 2008, during which ten people were killed, according to official sources. Efforts to investigate them have been effectively fruitless.” “You can’t talk about democracy in a country where ten people were killed in post-election violence,” he says. “You can’t talk about any progress.”
“Hayots Ashkhar” says Armenia is right to expect a “clear” international reaction to what it calls Azerbaijani efforts to portray the Karabakh conflict as a religiously driven one. The paper dismisses as hypocritical statements by various international bodies that stopped short of explicitly blaming Azerbaijan for the June 18-19 firefight in Karabakh.
Armen Martirosian, the chairman of the opposition “Zharangutyun” party, tells “Azg” that its political strategy and, in particular, format of cooperation with other opposition forces will be decided by a new party board to be elected next month. “We have e cooperated on all those issues regarding which there is agreement with the other opposition wings and this will remain the case in the future,” he says.
(Aghasi Yenokian)
“Hraparak” says that the main factor in the massive post-Soviet emigration from Armenia has been “injustice,” rather than unemployment. “When a person earns little, he has hope, he hopes to earn more one day,” explains the paper. “But when he sees that his neighbor was jailed for three years for taking part in [anti-government] demonstrations, while another neighbor stabbed a man and got a suspended prison sentence … when he fails a qualification test, while his stupid boss is promoted to become deputy minister, he thinks that emigration is his salvation.”
“Chorrord Inknishkhanutyun” reports that Swedish lawmaker Goran Lindblad will replace France’s Georges Colombier as one of the two Armenia co-rapporteurs of the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly. “This gentleman is mainly known for the fact that he has signed whatever anti-Armenian document that have appeared in the PACE,” writes the paper. “At least on the Karabakh issue, that person is overtly pro-Azerbaijani.” It says the PACE’s stance on the Armenian-Azerbaijani dispute will become “more unfavorable to us” after Lindblad’s appointment. It has already “changed to the worse,” the paper claims.
“Zhamanak” carries an interview with Peter Omzigt, a Dutch member of the PACE who signed a statement last week accusing the Armenian authorities of failing to honor their commitments to the Council of Europe. “The purpose of our statement was to remind Armenia of the obligations to the Council of Europe which it had assumed,” says Omzigt. “I am very concerned about the events that took place in Armenia in March 2008, during which ten people were killed, according to official sources. Efforts to investigate them have been effectively fruitless.” “You can’t talk about democracy in a country where ten people were killed in post-election violence,” he says. “You can’t talk about any progress.”
“Hayots Ashkhar” says Armenia is right to expect a “clear” international reaction to what it calls Azerbaijani efforts to portray the Karabakh conflict as a religiously driven one. The paper dismisses as hypocritical statements by various international bodies that stopped short of explicitly blaming Azerbaijan for the June 18-19 firefight in Karabakh.
Armen Martirosian, the chairman of the opposition “Zharangutyun” party, tells “Azg” that its political strategy and, in particular, format of cooperation with other opposition forces will be decided by a new party board to be elected next month. “We have e cooperated on all those issues regarding which there is agreement with the other opposition wings and this will remain the case in the future,” he says.
(Aghasi Yenokian)