“Yerkir” is alarmed by the continuing racially motivated killings of Armenians in Russia. “The Russian authorities describe them as crimes committed for hooligan motives or as a result of personal conflicts, and our bewildered society is keeping silent,” complains the paper.
Opposition leader Aram Sarkisian tells “Aravot” that in its quest for democracy Armenia should “step back from the sponsorship by the big Russian brother, reconsider its orientation and slowly redirect the vector towards democracy, towards the West.” “This is the solution and we must realize this,” he says. “If we realize this, we will get the country out of this situation. If not, the authorities, just like [Libya’s Muammar] Gaddafi, will prolong their power by several months and we will lose everything in the process.”
Sarkisian also makes the point that when it comes to democratization and other political reforms Armenia has nothing to learn from Russia. “I very much wish Russia was a democratic country and we followed its example because we are close to Russia,” he says.
“Zhamanak” says Armenia’s political landscape is increasingly dominated by President Serzh Sarkisian and his loyalists and Levon Ter-Petrosian’s Armenian National Congress (HAK). “Evidently, other political forces, if they want to stay in politics, are now left to choose which camp they want join and fit into,” writes the pro-HAK daily. “For the moment they are trying to actively resist, creating some fronts, announcing the formation of alliances, initiating civic gatherings.” It says they are positioning themselves as an alternative to the HAK.
“Chorrord Inknishkhanutyun,” another paper staunchly supportive of the HAK, claims that Ter-Petrosian never faced “serious opposition” during his 1991-1998 presidency. “His opponents were squeaky and aggressive forces that only promised to raise wages by 10-15 times and hang government leaders from nearby trees. It was the absence of such serious opposition that led to the [1998] palace coup, whose consequences are still gripping us. Serzh Sarkisian has been very lucky in this sense. A serious opposition force has been formed during his rule. So in a sense, he is immune to a palace coup.”
Interviewed by “Hayots Ashkhar,” Vahagn Harutiunian, the chief investigator in the ongoing criminal inquiry into the March 2008 violence in Yerevan, that there is nothing wrong with the fact that most individuals questioned in connection with those events are opposition supporters. “Mainly citizens supporting the opposition were at the scene of the events,” he argues. “Naturally, if you try to find witnesses who could have information about what happened, we have to summon them as witnesses.”
(Aghasi Yenokian)
Opposition leader Aram Sarkisian tells “Aravot” that in its quest for democracy Armenia should “step back from the sponsorship by the big Russian brother, reconsider its orientation and slowly redirect the vector towards democracy, towards the West.” “This is the solution and we must realize this,” he says. “If we realize this, we will get the country out of this situation. If not, the authorities, just like [Libya’s Muammar] Gaddafi, will prolong their power by several months and we will lose everything in the process.”
Sarkisian also makes the point that when it comes to democratization and other political reforms Armenia has nothing to learn from Russia. “I very much wish Russia was a democratic country and we followed its example because we are close to Russia,” he says.
“Zhamanak” says Armenia’s political landscape is increasingly dominated by President Serzh Sarkisian and his loyalists and Levon Ter-Petrosian’s Armenian National Congress (HAK). “Evidently, other political forces, if they want to stay in politics, are now left to choose which camp they want join and fit into,” writes the pro-HAK daily. “For the moment they are trying to actively resist, creating some fronts, announcing the formation of alliances, initiating civic gatherings.” It says they are positioning themselves as an alternative to the HAK.
“Chorrord Inknishkhanutyun,” another paper staunchly supportive of the HAK, claims that Ter-Petrosian never faced “serious opposition” during his 1991-1998 presidency. “His opponents were squeaky and aggressive forces that only promised to raise wages by 10-15 times and hang government leaders from nearby trees. It was the absence of such serious opposition that led to the [1998] palace coup, whose consequences are still gripping us. Serzh Sarkisian has been very lucky in this sense. A serious opposition force has been formed during his rule. So in a sense, he is immune to a palace coup.”
Interviewed by “Hayots Ashkhar,” Vahagn Harutiunian, the chief investigator in the ongoing criminal inquiry into the March 2008 violence in Yerevan, that there is nothing wrong with the fact that most individuals questioned in connection with those events are opposition supporters. “Mainly citizens supporting the opposition were at the scene of the events,” he argues. “Naturally, if you try to find witnesses who could have information about what happened, we have to summon them as witnesses.”
(Aghasi Yenokian)