“Zhoghovurd” reacts to President Serzh Sarkisian’s assurances that Prime Minister Karapetian enjoys his “full trust.” The paper says they should no way be seen as a sign that Karapetian and his team will retain their posts after April 2018. “Even if he wanted to, Serzh Sarkisian could not have made a different statement,” it says. “If Karen Karapetian’s government had not enjoyed his and [the ruling] HHK’s trust it should not have been in office in the first place. Besides, Serzh Sarkisian had dedicated similar statements to other prime ministers, whom he fired … one by one.”
“Haykakan Zhamanak” sees internal political reasons for the alleged beating of five of the 14 arrested members of an armed opposition group standing trial one year after their deadly attack on a police station in Yerevan. The paper says that Sarkisian perceives threats to his power despite his HHK’s landslide victory in the recent parliamentary elections. Those threats, it claims, emanate not only from Karen Karapetian but also from public discontent with a lack of positive change in the country. The violence against the jailed oppositionists was aimed at measuring the extent of that discontent, speculates the paper.
“Hraparak” reports that the Armenian police admitted but defended the use of force against the five defendants inside a court building in Yerevan. The paper laughs off police claims that they insulted and resisted law-enforcement officers.
“Aravot” looks at renewed opposition talk of a “velvet revolution” in Armenia. The paper says that opposition politicians could accomplish such a peaceful revolution only if they “resolutely dissociate themselves” from radical elements seeking violent regime change. “Why did velvet revolutions occur in Georgia and Ukraine?” it says in an editorial. “Because in those countries most people agreed to pay a very high price for that: spoil relations with Russia and lose territory as a result. Are we ready to pay such a price?”
(Tigran Avetisian)
Facebook Forum