“Haykakan Zhamanak” says that local elections held in about 70 communities across Armenia over the weekend highlighted “the real political situation” and explained why numerous street protests organized by Armenian opposition groups have not brought about regime change in the country. “One of the reasons for that is that the opposition always rushed to occupy Liberty Square [in Yerevan,] while the authorities occupied neighborhoods and courtyards in response,” the paper says. “In the fight between t between Liberty Square and neighborhoods the latter will always prevail because at the end of the day people return from Liberty Square to their neighborhoods where the [ruling] Republicans and elements loyal to them hold sway.” Therefore, it says, having “regional leaders is imperative for the Armenian opposition.
“Zhamanak” notes that Armenia’s state budget for next year has been drafted by a government that has to resign in just five months from now. “There is no guarantee that the prime minister and members of that government will be reappointed to their positions [in April,]” writes the paper. Also, it says, the budget will be executed under a different, parliamentary system of government.
Interviewed by “168 Zham,” a Russian military analyst, Pavel Felgenhauer, comments on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s reported plans to present his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin with proposals on a resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict at their upcoming meeting in Russia. “In all likelihood, Putin will gently rebuff Erdogan,” says Felgenhauer. “What is more, that will not affect relations between the two countries. Even in case of Putin’s consent, Armenia will not agree to Turkey’s intervention and involvement in the Karabakh conflict.”
“Hraparak” carries an editorial on the 100th anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution in Russia. “Who could have predicted in Soviet times that in 2017, 100 years after the revolution, we will be living in the era of brutal capitalism, rather than Communism promised by leaders of the Soviet Communist Party?” the paper says. “Who would have thought that the omnipotent party will not only not govern the country but also become a wretched group whose members cannot even clear the 5 percent vote threshold [in parliamentary elections?]”
(Siranuysh Gevorgian)
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