“Zhoghovurd” reports that President Serzh Sarkisian is set to hold final consultations with major Armenian parties on his controversial efforts to amend Armenia’s constitution. The paper says Sarkisian claimed after his previous “photo session” with leaders of those parties in March that none of them objected to the constitutional reform in principle. It says that the fresh consultations will be boycotted by the opposition Armenian National Congress (HAK) and Zharangutyun (Heritage) parties.
Naira Zohrabian, the chairwoman of the opposition Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK), tells “Haykakan Zhamanak” that the BHK has still not formulated an official position on the constitutional changes drafted by a special presidential commission. She says that the party founded by Gagik Tsarukian has not even held “serious substantive discussions” on the matter yet. Zohrabian goes on to slam media outlets predicting that the BHK will eventually endorse those changes and undermine its opposition credentials. She also says that most ordinary Armenians do not care about the constitutional reform process.
“Hraparak” looks at one of the proposed amendments stipulating that members of the Armenian parliament would have to pass Armenian language proficiency tests. Vartan Poghosian, a member of the presidential commission, spoke recently of “serious problems” with Armenian parliamentarians’ knowledge of literary Armenian. He apparently referred to thuggish lawmakers affiliated with the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK).
“Aravot” says that many in Armenia seem to be dissatisfied with a Russian military tribunal’s verdict on last January’s slaughter of an Armenian family in Gyumri blamed on a Russian soldier. The paper says they feel that not all individuals responsible for the killings have been identified and prosecuted to date. “No matter how much it is emphasized [by officials] that the [murder] case has been handed over to the Armenian side, unanswered questions are lingering on because the Armenian side does not possess a considerable part of the [Russian] investigation materials,” it says.
(Tigran Avetisian)