Lragir.am adds to media speculation that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian is planning constitutional changes that would again turn Armenia into a parliamentary republic. “There may be several motives [for doing that,]” writes the publication. “First, the existing constitution has a very fuzzy definition of commander-in-chief and in that regard the prime minister cannot be the absolute leader of the state. This is made clear to Nikol Pashinian especially during Eurasian conferences … There may also be another motive: the next parliamentary elections, which will be regular or pre-term. The one-year work of the new parliament has exposed its strong and weak sides and Pashinian may not be sure that he will manage to retain a stable majority in the parliament even if his personal approval rating remains high.”
“Aravot” dismisses former President Robert Kocharian’s remark that “a society rejoicing at arrests cannot be creative.” “If such a thing was said by a humanist like Leo Tolstoy or Mahatma Gandhi I would consider it an undisputed truth,” writes the newspaper editor, Aram Abrahamian. “Indeed, rejoicing at people’s arrests or other sufferings is an unconstructive emotion regardless of who that person is. It’s a different thing when a citizen is satisfied with the enforcement of their county’s laws and the prosecution of other citizens who violated those laws … But when such a claim is made by Armenia’s second President Robert Kocharian, who was busy provoking the same destructive emotions during his ten-year rule, that is highly bewildering.”
“Zhoghovurd” says that the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has handed down more than 100 rulings against Armenia since the country joined the Council of Europe in 2001. They have cost the Armenian state more than $3 million in damages paid to Armenian citizens. The bulk of that money has been awarded to the owners of old houses in downtown Yerevan controversially demolished in the early 2000s. The paper complains that Armenia continues to pay a heavy price for illegal actions of its former authorities.
(Lilit Harutiunian)
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