“Hraparak” comments on the formation of Prime Minister Karen Karapetian’s government, claiming that the main criterion for the selection of the eight Armenian ministers that did not serve in the previous cabinet was their being “unknown” to the public. “In the eyes of the public, the government has been joined by a team of young and non-discredited professionals,” writes the paper. “At least four or five months would be needed to discredit them. And within four or five months the main mission of this team -- to clean the government from decades-old dirt -- will be fully accomplished.”
“Zhamanak” reacts to Finance Minister Vartan Aramian’s Tuesday remark that the Armenian economy has endured a “shock” for the past two years. “If the economy has undergone a shock, if our foreign debt has increased by about $1 billion in the past year as a result of that, and if members of the previous government … lied to citizens about a ‘qualitatively new’ economic growth, then they all must be held accountable,” says the paper.
“Chorrord Ishkhanutyun” says that the four-day heavy fighting that broke out around Nagorno-Karabakh resulted from a “serious failure of our foreign policy.” “And this is how official propaganda present things,” says the pro-opposition paper. “After all, Azerbaijan intensively armed itself in the years preceding the war, buying modern weapons from our strategic ally [Russia.] Armenia and Karabakh received no foreign support during the [April] war. Even the [Russian-led] Collective Security Treaty Organization did not speak up. Our diplomacy committed serious blunders, but the army somehow made up for that. It would have therefore made sense if the foreign minister [Edward Nalbandian] was sacked and the defense minister [Seyran Ohanian] retained his post. But for some reason, the opposite happened.”
But as “Zhoghovurd” points out, the April war exposed the need for major changes within the Armenian military. The paper says that the Defense Ministry’s mistakes and failings cost dozens of Armenian soldiers their lives during the hostilities. The resulting media criticism of Ohanian was therefore absolutely justified, it says.
(Karlen Aslanian)