“Zhoghovurd” reports that Varuzhan Avetisian, the newly freed leader of the armed group that seized a police station in Yerevan in 2016, on Thursday made alarming statements about his and his supporters’ possible recourse to violence in the future. “At first he said [at a news conference] that the new party to be set up [by him and Zhirayr Sefilian] will not be a successor to the armed group and that that group … has turned the page of armed struggle,” writes the paper. “At the same time, Avetisian also said that the Sasna Tsrer group must not be on trial and that if they are tried after all it will mean that Serzh Sarkisian did not quit power.” This leads the paper to assert that Avetisian and the other freed militants are “entering politics with weapons” and “not renouncing armed methods of struggle.”
“They are just not loudly talking about that for the moment,” continues “Zhoghovurd.” “They will resort to such methods not immediately but when they are defeated in the parliamentary elections. And this despite the fact that they were freed during the [Nikol] Pashinian government’s tenure.”
“Haykakan Zhamanak” puts German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s visit to the South Caucasus in the context of the European Union’s relations with Iran. “In all likelihood, Germany will not join, along with other European countries as well as Russia and China, a new wave of [U.S.] sanctions against Iran that will come into force in November,” writes the paper. It speculates that Merkel’s trip could facilitate the creation of new transport corridors connecting Europe to Iran via the South Caucasus. “But that could happen in the long run,” it says. “This particular visit has an introductory character.”
“Aravot” accuses environmental activists of exaggerating negative environmental consequences of additional water from Lake Sevan which the Armenian government will use for irrigation purposes this and next month. “Once again pumping additional water from Sevan is certainly worrying and there will be no need for that when the problem of ‘water mafia’ is solved,” says the paper.
“Hraparak” reports that many current and former Armenian judges are concerned over Prime Minister Pashinian’s stated plans to set up “bodies of transitional justice” in the country. “But many of them are wary of making public statements about that,” writes the paper. It quotes one of those judges, who asked not to be identified, as saying that Pashinian’s plans “contradict a number of international conventions signed by Armenia.” “There can be no transitional justice in a Council of Europe member state,” says the judge. “If we do such a thing we will simply be kicked out of the Council of Europe. After all, we are a signatory to the European Convention [on Human Rights.]”
(Tigran Avetisian)
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