“Haykakan Zhamanak” says that the trial of former President Robert Kocharian has generated three kinds of concerns among Armenians. The paper says some of them are worried that the authorities could “bow to pressures” and free Kocharian while others hope that there will be no clashes between supporters and opponents of the ex-president demonstrating outside a court building in Yerevan. There are also those, it says, who fear that Azerbaijan might conclude that Kocharian’s trial is “the most opportune moment” to restart the war in Nagorno-Karabakh. “Incidentally, this latter concern is skillfully fanned by propaganda outlets of the former authorities,” adds the pro-government daily. It expresses confidence that Kocharian will fail to form a new “opposition axis,” saying that he is unpopular and does not have a political party of his own.
“Zhoghovurd” reports that Kocharian’s son Levon has expressed readiness to meet with relatives of protesters who were killed in the March 2008 clashes with security forces in Yerevan. The paper describes that statement as “long overdue.” It notes that victims’ relatives have repeatedly blamed Robert Kocharian for the deaths. “So the Kocharians could have organized a meeting with relatives of the March 1 [2008] victims earlier in order to dispel the suspicions,” it says.
“Aravot” says that the personal integrity of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and members of his government is not enough to root out corruption in Armenia. “As the authorities have said on many occasions, it’s a system which must be tackled by [another] system, the entire state system,” editorializes the paper. It complains that the authorities are delaying the promised creation of a new and powerful anti-corruption body. Nor are they in a hurry, it says, to reform the existing legal mechanism of asset declarations by state officials, which many believe does not serve its purpose. The paper urges members of the Armenian parliament to take the initiative and draft relevant bills.
(Lilit Harutiunian)
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