Press Review

(Saturday, May 20)

“Haykakan Zhamanak” tries to understand why in their statement on the most recent ceasefire violations in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone the American, Russian and French co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group decided to clearly put the blame on Azerbaijan: “This is an unprecedented reaction. Even during the April 2016 war the international mediators and the individual co-chair countries refrained from defining Azerbaijan as an aggressor, even though they surely could not have failed to notice, due to their satellite equipment, that it was Azerbaijan that had launched an offensive along the perimeter of the line of contact… What has changed? The thing is that if the Minsk Group had not made such a targeted statement, having received such data from one of the parties, it would have put its mandate and further activities in doubt.”

“168 Zham” assesses the latest statement of the OSCE Minsk Group as one of the most serious successes of recent years and even decades in the settlement of the Karabakh conflict: “Finally, the Minsk Group is calling things by their proper names... It is not an exaggeration to say that this was a slap by the international community in the face of Azerbaijan, which is doing and will be doing everything in order to scuttle the agreements reached after the April 2016 war during meetings in Vienna and St. Petersburg... It is hard to say how far this is the result of Armenian diplomatic efforts and how far it is the reflection of the current global geopolitical developments. It is important, however, to keep this result and take the initiative. And this should become the number one task for Armenian diplomacy.”

“Zhoghovurd” comments on the process of the formation of standing committees in the newly elected Armenian parliament. The daily, in particular, writes: “Armenia has become so dependent on the Kremlin over the past decade that even the existence of a parliamentary committee on European integration should be regarded as a serious achievement. It is another matter whether this was done after permission obtained from the North or as a result of political courage, for which in the near future the Armenian authorities are certain to get some ‘fraternal’ slaps. Given the nominal presence of this committee and its actual inaction in the past, it can be said that this can become a small bonus for the Armenian authorities in order to win the favors of EU officials promising tens of millions in loans. After all, the Kremlin understands that if it gives no money to its outpost, then at least it should not close the opportunity for it to get money from another channel. Otherwise, there may be some uncontrolled developments.”

Assessing the speech of President Serzh Sarkisian during the first meeting of the new parliament, “Hayots Ashkhar” writes: “The speech of the president at the first meeting of the National Assembly of the sixth convocation was an important one from the point of view of expectations for the coming years in the sphere of economy, social development and other areas. The speech sets out the basic tasks that must become the basis for the future governments’ programs. Judging from the president’s speech, both in the economic and social spheres strict and high demands are being put forward, and the fulfillment of these demands should create conditions for the formation of a new quality of economic and social environment in Armenia.”

(Tigran Avetisian)