“Hraparak” says that the Armenian diplomacy is also to blame for the violence in Nagorno-Karabakh because of its failure to thwart pro-Azerbaijani resolutions adopted by the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly (PACE), the United Nations and other international bodies. The paper says Armenian officials and pro-government pundits have for years given assurances that those resolutions cannot have any implications for the Karabakh conflict because they are non-binding. “But it turned out that every minor diplomatic setback suffered by us does matter,” it says. “Now [Azerbaijani President Ilham] Aliyev’s clan bases its aggressive rhetoric on UN resolutions.”
“Russia is not out ally, neither is any other country of the world,” writes “Aravot.” “Demanding something from Russia, complaining about its behavior, holding demonstrations, voicing accusations, whimpering or citing our ‘centuries-old friendship’ is a meaningless and humiliating exercise that infringes on our national dignity.”
“Zhoghovurd” reacts to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s remark that Russia’s main objective regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and international efforts to resolve it is to avoid any “harm.” The paper finds this claim disingenuous, saying that dozens of Armenian soldiers have been killed this month in Karabakh with Russian-made weapons. It points to large amounts of those weapons purchased by Azerbaijan since 2011.
“Haykakan Zhamanak” reports that the Armenian government will keep allocating “for a long time” more funding to the ongoing construction of a luxurious “training center” for customs and tax officials in the resort town of Dilijan. “After the latest events on the borders which exposed inadequate equipment possessed by our army, the public is right to be furious with senseless public expenditures,” says the paper. “The facility in question, which has already absorbed several dozen million dollars, is a vivid example of such expenditures.”
(Tigran Avetisian)