“Zhoghovurd” says that the December 19 Armenian-Azerbaijani summit in Bern was not immediately followed by a de-escalation of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The paper notes that after that meeting President Serzh Sarkisian demanded greater military assistance from the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) at a summit in Moscow, while Azerbaijani leaders met with top Turkish officials.
“It must be noted that the [Armenian-Azerbaijani] war has been going for quite a long time and just because it is not full-scale does not mean that it is not a war,” writes “Zhamanak.” The paper says the Armenian authorities must respond to this reality by dramatically improving their integrity and effectiveness. But as things stand now, it says, the behavior of many senior officials is “as far from being congruent with war as Singapore is from the Armenian-Azerbaijani border region.”
Political analyst Aleksandr Iskandarian tells “Aravot” that Sarkisian’s latest criticism of Armenia’s CSTO allies was primarily meant for his domestic audience. “It is very unlikely that the other CSTO member states will now start criticizing Azerbaijan or that things will change within that organization,” argues Iskandarian.
“The CSTO member states are considered our partners and such problems should be dealt with behind the closed doors, rather than through recriminations voiced at [CSTO] meetings,” comments “Chorrord Ishkhanutyun.”
“Haykakan Zhamanak” reports on Tuesday’s decision by the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) to again lower its refinancing rate, setting it at 8.75 percent. The paper says that in a statement explaining the move the CBA predicted a continuing drop in international commodity prices but stopped short of saying that the cost of living in Armenia will also decrease in the coming months. The CBA said only that inflation in the country will remain at a low level.
(Heghine Buniatian)