Armenian newspapers write on the eighth anniversary of the deadly post-election clashes marked in Armenia on March 1. Eight civilians and two security personnel were killed in the 2008 unrest. No one has been held responsible for the killings yet.
“168 Zham” writes: “Those responsible for the killings will once have to be brought to justice regardless of their status or prescription of the crime. If we really want to ever build a normal state that will be not only for those with privileged positions and party affiliations, but for all citizens, then we must also say today that we ‘remember and demand’ [ed: a motto of the 2015 commemorations of the centennial of the Ottoman-era Armenian genocide].”
“Chorrord Ishkhanutiun” claims that the ‘March 1’ crime continues every day today: “Today Armenia is ruled not by political authorities, but by some unclear hybrid. Simply, on March 1, 2008, units of this hybrid attacked people and now they have attacked the whole of the country and are feasting on the nation using the same methods…. Since 2008 every day 30 families on the average have emigrated from Armenia.”
The editor of “Aravot” comments on yesterday’s decision by the parliament’s ethics committee not to consider the claim against pro-government lawmaker, popular singer Shushan Petrosian over her apparently offensive comments on Facebook: “Someone says to an opponent that he will ‘cut his ears off’, another one threatens to ‘rape’ him, but [members of the ethics committee] consider it a normal process and do not attach value to the word. But when someone says ‘I’ll shoot you’ these are not mere words, this is language that adds to some other language that later leads to an explosion.” The paper’s editor considers that the October 27, 1999 parliamentary killings and the March 1, 2008 post-election clashes were just a few examples of such cumulative ‘explosions’.
(Anush Mkrtchian)