(Saturday, August 6)
Lragir.am comments on Republican Party (HHK) representative Galust Sahakian’s claims that Armenia’s government is engaged in a dialogue not only with the Armenian National Congress (HAK) but also the two other major opposition forces, the Zharangutyun and Dashnaktsutyun parties. “It appears that the authorities have set up a joint-stock company called Dialogue and are urging the Armenian National Congress not to aspire to all shares in the company because Zharangutyun and Dashnaktsutyun should also be taken into account,” the online journal comments with sarcasm.
“The authorities are trying to balance the situation in the opposition field and prevent the Congress from finally neutralizing Zharangutyun and Dashnaktsutyun,” Lragir.am continues on a more serious note. “They are thereby also stimulating tight competition in the opposition field.” It also claims that the Armenian authorities will likely hold pre-term elections soon.
“Haykakan Zhamanak” says President Serzh Sarkisian agreed to begin a dialogue with the HAK because he realized that he cannot “destroy” the opposition movement with repression. “In an effort to cling to power, since 2008 Serzh Sarkisian has concentrated government and business levers in his hands so much that now there is no room for adding anything to them,” writes the opposition daily. “That is to say that the authorities have no more potential for getting stronger.”
“Any thinking person in Armenia, Artsakh and Azerbaijan must strive to ensure that tension between our peoples weakens,” editorializes “Aravot. “Whether or not our presidents and foreign ministers negotiate or pretend to be really seeking peace is difficult to say.” The paper says the tough anti-Armenian propaganda in Azerbaijan is “understandable” because “they need to compensate their defeat in the battlefield with verbal victories.” “If, God forbid, we had lost the war, we would have done the same,” it says.
“Hayots Ashkhar” reports on Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s remarks that the 2008 Russian-Georgian war was a “very serious” lesson for Armenia and Azerbaijan. The paper believes that Medvedev thus warned Baku against attempting to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict by force.
(Aghasi Yenokian)