“Zhamanak” quotes, a spokesman for Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian, as denying media reports that he partly owns a company registered in Cyprus. “The prime minister has nothing to do with that company and has never registered any company in Cyprus or any other offshore zone personally or through other individuals,” says Hrach Berberian. He also says that Sarkisian will ask Armenian prosecutors to investigate the source of that information reported by the Hetq.am online publication.
Hetq.am published on Wednesday what it described as a copy of a document certifying that Sarkisian, Archbishop Navasard Kchoyan and businessman Ashot Sukiasian own the Cyprus-registered company called Wlispera Holdings Limited. It also quoted another businessman, Paylak Hayrapetian, as saying that the company played a key role in stripping him of his assets in Armenia. Kchoyan, who heads the largest diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, also strongly denies any connection with it, according to “Zhamanak.”
“168 Zham” commends writer Levon Khechoyan for refusing to accept a state medal from President Serzh Sarkisian, calling his decision “the most civic, the most political and the most human action of recent times.” “Not only and not so much because the renowned writer refused to accept the medal of a government that does not enjoy public trust and has reproduced itself in rigged elections,” writes the paper. “There have been a few such precedents in recent years. Khechoyan spurned [the award] without abusive language, making his move much more influential and sobering than it would have been if he had said that he does not want to accept a medal from the kleptocratic and illegitimate regime.”
“Aravot” says that there are no indications that President Serzh Sarkisian’s failure to attend ex-Soviet summits in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan was politically motivated. The paper dismisses the argument that Sarkisian might have thus protested against the rise in the price of Russian natural gas. It argues that both the president and the public already knew one year ago that the gas price will go up. The paper also points out that Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian will fly to Minsk on Thursday to take part in a meeting of his counterparts from other former Soviet republics.
(Tigran Avetisian)
Hetq.am published on Wednesday what it described as a copy of a document certifying that Sarkisian, Archbishop Navasard Kchoyan and businessman Ashot Sukiasian own the Cyprus-registered company called Wlispera Holdings Limited. It also quoted another businessman, Paylak Hayrapetian, as saying that the company played a key role in stripping him of his assets in Armenia. Kchoyan, who heads the largest diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, also strongly denies any connection with it, according to “Zhamanak.”
“168 Zham” commends writer Levon Khechoyan for refusing to accept a state medal from President Serzh Sarkisian, calling his decision “the most civic, the most political and the most human action of recent times.” “Not only and not so much because the renowned writer refused to accept the medal of a government that does not enjoy public trust and has reproduced itself in rigged elections,” writes the paper. “There have been a few such precedents in recent years. Khechoyan spurned [the award] without abusive language, making his move much more influential and sobering than it would have been if he had said that he does not want to accept a medal from the kleptocratic and illegitimate regime.”
“Aravot” says that there are no indications that President Serzh Sarkisian’s failure to attend ex-Soviet summits in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan was politically motivated. The paper dismisses the argument that Sarkisian might have thus protested against the rise in the price of Russian natural gas. It argues that both the president and the public already knew one year ago that the gas price will go up. The paper also points out that Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian will fly to Minsk on Thursday to take part in a meeting of his counterparts from other former Soviet republics.
(Tigran Avetisian)