“Zhoghovurd” reports on a stark warning issued by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on Thursday to government officials and civil servants who he said are still guided by “pre-revolutionary values and relationships.” The pro-government paper says Pashinian must have had reason to warn them seeing as many of those officials “do not seem to have drawn conclusions” from the “velvet revolution” in Armenia. It wonders why Pashinian is not taking stronger action against them. “After all, a period of ‘adaptation’ set after the revolution should have ended long ago,” it says.
“Zhamanak” reacts to National Security Service (NSS) chief Artur Vanetsian’s remark that former President Robert Kocharian had also done “many good things” while in power. Vanetsian also said on Thursday that he served in the NSS during Kocharian’s rule and therefore has no personal grudge against the ex-president and his family. “At the same time he stated that one should not focus only on the Kocharians because the criminal case is extensive and applies to other individuals as well,” writes the paper. It speculates that Vanetsian’s “overtures” to Kocharian are probably a “tactical step towards other individuals involved in the case.” The latter are thus “indirectly urged to cooperate” with the investigators, it says.
Lragir.am reports that Vanetsian also said after a weekly cabinet meeting in Yerevan that the NSS is ready to investigate controversial episodes from the decade-long rule of another former president, Levon Ter-Petrosian. “The motive or the context of the issue is understandable,” it says. “Supporters of former President Kocharian assess the case against Kocharian as political persecution, hinting that the law-enforcers do not deal with the period of Levon Ter-Petrosian’s presidency. Vanetsian hinted that in order to do that he needs facts, examples or reports of criminal acts … Is Robert Kocharian prepared to react to that with such facts?”
(Lilit Harutiunian)
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