“Who would benefit from the war in the Caucasus?” “Zhamanak” asks in an analysis on the possible consequences of the downing of an Armenian military helicopter in Nagorno-Karabakh. “Would Azerbaijan have not taken into account the consequences? Did it take such an audacious step because of a sense of impunity? Or does the Azerbaijani side have some guarantees? We will most probably not get answers to these questions. Right now the key thing is certainly to maintain peace.” The paper says that the Armenian military should carefully consider all options before deciding whether to retaliate against Baku.
“Hayots Ashkhar” describes Azerbaijan’s actions as “unprecedented.” “We think that apart from the helicopter the main target of the Azerbaijani shots was the negotiation process,” writes the paper. It claims that Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev often resorts to such “severe provocations” to avoid more peace talks and prevent any progress towards a peaceful settlement. “It is hard to tell whether Aliyev has any calculations,” it says. “What is clear is that he is again playing with fire. That is a very dangerous game indeed. Especially for those who sit on oil barrels.”
“It is beyond doubt that the Karabakh armed forces must give an adequate response to this impudent provocation by the Azerbaijani side,” writes “Zhoghovurd.” “The response must be such that the Azerbaijani top brass will think twice before ordering similar provocations in next time around.”
Political analyst Aghasi Yenokian tells “Aravot” that the opposition Armenian National Congress (HAK), Prosperous Armenia and Zharangutyun parties are pursuing different goals in their joint campaign against the government. He claims that they are now busy trying to “solve some internal issues.” Yenokian says they lack a clear plan of achieving “regime change” and have yet to explain why they would govern Armenia better than Serzh Sarkisian.
According “Chorrord Ishkhanutyun,” the opposition trio has realized that Sarkisian is trying to deflect their criticism to Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamian and his cabinet. This, the paper says, explains why the three parties have challenged Sarkisian to accept electoral reforms favored by them.
(Tigran Avetisian)