(Saturday, July 8)
“Haykakan Zhamanak” quotes former parliament speaker Galust Sahakian as saying that President Serzh Sarkisian should continue to govern Armenia after serving out his final term in April. The paper notes in this regard that just last month Prime Minister Karen Karapetian again indicated that he would like to retain his post next year. Karapetian also said that he is not among individuals who may be urging Sarkisian to become prime minister in April 2018.
“They are thinking about April 2018 in the upper echelons of power,” writes “Past.” “How to be a prime minister? To be nor not to be?”
“Aravot” asks Tigran Avinian, the spokesman for the opposition Yelk alliance, to comment on the Zharangutyun party leader Raffi Hovannisian’s calls for joint opposition protests against Sarkisian’s alleged plans to cling to power in 2018. Avinian says that Yelk remains “open to discussions” with Hovannisian. Yelk can only rule out its involvement in an armed struggle against the ruling regime, according to him.
“Hraparak” looks at structural changes which the Armenian government will undergo as a result of constitutional changes that will take effect in April. The paper speaks of “intensive discussions” within the country’s leadership about the status of the Armenian police. It claims that the leadership of the national police service objects to its possible transformation or incorporation into the Interior Ministry because that would mean becoming directly accountable to the parliament.
(Artur Papian)
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