(Saturday, August 27)
“Aravot” says that there is nothing “heroic” or “romantic” about the July 17 deadly attack on a police station in Yerevan’s Erebuni district that was carried out by armed members of the Founding Parliament opposition movement. “Armed political struggle is unacceptable to me,” writes the newspaper editor, Aram Abrahamian. “I know that such a view generates a litany of abuse and allegations of service for the ruling regime. There are, though, people … who share my view but do not want to express it for fear of such accusations and insults. A desire to please the [opposition] masses is another factor. And yet I believe that it is incumbent on any thinking individual to counter romantic passions with which he or she disagrees.”
“Have the authorities been committing crimes, rigging elections, stealing from the people and so on for the past 25 years? Yes, they have. But you just can’t rectify those crimes with other crimes,” concludes “Aravot.”
“Hayots Ashkhar” is worried about what it sees as growing manifestations of “primitive Russophobia” in Armenia. The paper says that vocal pro-Western elements in the country are exploiting controversial aspects of Moscow’s policy on the South Caucasus to blame Russia for all of Armenia’s past and present ills. It claims that they are keen to replace Armenia’s “one dependence with another.”
Lragir.am continues, meanwhile, to make a case for an end to Russia’s strong influence on Armenia which it terms “decolonization.”The staunchly pro-Western publication sees a growing number of political and civic groups in Armenia that favor such a reorientation of Armenian foreign policy and hopes that they will have a strong presence in the next National Assembly. It claims that more than 80 percent of Armenians now have “anti-Russian sentiment.”
“Haykakan Zhamanak” claims that a sharp deterioration of the macroeconomic situation in Armenia that was recorded by the National Statistical Service (NSS) is July is a stern warning issued to Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamian by other government factions. Abrahamian, the paper speculates, was thus told not to have “excessive ambitions” or expect to hold senior government positions after the 2017 parliamentary elections. Abrahamian earlier indicated his desire to retain the post of prime minister after the vote.
(Tigran Avetisian)