(Saturday, September 16)
“It is naïve, to say the least, to think that if Serzh Sarkisian does not become prime minister [in April] the [government] system will face a collapse and the opposition will be able to step in,” writes “Zhamanak.” “On the contrary, the fact that the opposition is again targeting a single person means that basically the opposition itself does not know what to do and is again doing something that will at best leave it with an illusion of victory.”
“Zhoghovurd” says that a series of shootings that outraged many in Armenia in recent weeks were mainly revenge killings. The paper says many are now also wondering whether Armenian law-enforcement bodies were really unable to disarm those criminal groups beforehand. “If they were not, then this is a tragedy for any state,” it says. “It would mean that there is no law-enforcement system as such. And if the law-enforcers do control the situation and do not even try to take away illegal weapons from criminal elements then it’s a tragedy too.”
“Haykakan Zhamanak” claims that such criminal groups have a government “license” to act with impunity. “In return for that, they assume one key obligation: to earn the [ruling] HHK votes during the elections,” writes the paper. “That is also an additional source of revenue. The center provides large sums of money for the distribution of vote bribes. Part of it does not get distributed and is channeled into new villas and expensive cars for local chieftains.” The paper likens such individuals to “gladiators whose only aim is to stay alive.”
“Hraparak” speculates that European Union officials are now somewhat worried that Armenia may not sign the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with the EU as planed in November. “The fact that Armenia dropped out of a [U.S.-led] military exercise in Georgia at the last minute created fertile ground for those worries,” the paper says. Armenian pundits, meanwhile, are confident that Yerevan will not walk away from the deal with the EU this time around.
(Tigran Avetisian)
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