“Serzh Sarkisian’s third term in office also began behind barbed wire surrounding police forces and water cannons and amid protests,” writes “Zhoghovurd.” “We must now conclude that the ‘wall of misunderstanding’ between the authorities and the society which deepened after the rigged presidential election of 2008 and the March [2008] massacre has not disappeared during all these years, even though Sarkisian was speaking about tearing down that wall ten years ago.”
“It’s not normal that the person who has governed the country for ten years is saying things that are not clear and understandable and are giving rise to various suspicions and presumptions,” says “Hraparak.” “Who did Serzh Sarkisian mean he spoke [in the parliament] of ‘dormant volcanoes’ and those trying to ‘trigger up?’” The paper criticizes him for still not imagining himself outside the government.
“Zhamanak” wonders whether opposition leader Nikol Pashinian’s movement will die down or mark the beginning of a very different political process in Armenia. “This is an open question,” the paper says.
“The mass gatherings taking place in Yerevan these days are truly unprecedented, first and foremost in terms of their essence,” editorializes “Haykakan Zhamanak.” “Of course, there is nothing unusual about mass protests for Armenians. But if we look at their essence we will see that the ‘Take a step, reject Serzh!’ movement is special. The thing is that this movement is not preceding national elections.”
“As soon as rallies start in Armenia there is panic not so much among Armenian government officials as Kremlin propagandists,” says “Aravot.” The latter, the paper says, regard any protest movement as Ukrainian-style unrest instigated by the West. “The protests in Armenia have nothing to do with that,” it says.
(Tigran Avetisian)
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