(Saturday, August 25)
1in.am hails German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s first-ever official visit to Armenia as “historic” and notes that it took place just a few months after the democratic revolution in the country. The online publication says the visit was a unique opportunity for the new Armenian government to present its foreign policy to the leader of a key European Union member state.
“Aravot” reports that the chairman of the Central Election Commission (CEC), Tigran Mukuchian, is ignoring calls for his resignation made by a small political party. The leader of the party, Andrias Ghukasian, is quoted by the paper as saying that the CEC and its territorial divisions are still dominated by members of the former ruling HHK who could manipulate upcoming elections in Armenia for “counterrevolutionary” purposes. Mukuchian insists, meanwhile, that he and other members of the CEC are now busy gearing for the proper conduct of those elections.
“Our society is still not prepared for being objective and constructive on many issues,” editorializes “Hraparak.” “For some reason elementary values and standards are not observed in our country. Our love for the [new] authorities is turning into a personality cult, while hatred is taking the form of calls for prosecuting, punishing, hanging and killing [opponents] … Instead of rejecting crimes and demanding fair punishment for criminals, we insult and humiliate them, expel them from the society, and treat them like lepers.” The paper points out that many of the people voicing such demands for decades tolerated the previous governments.
“Haykakan Zhamanak” reports that some officials in Azerbaijan have floated the idea of their country joining the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). The paper believes that Azerbaijan’s membership in the CSTO would “disrupt the normal functioning of the organization” due to the unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
(Tigran Avetisian)
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