Press Review

“Aravot” believes that Armenian opposition forces should not have discussed domestic political issues with Mevlut Cavusoglu, the visiting Turkish president of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE). “The only question worth discussing with Cavusoglu is the following: how is he going to run the PACE subcommittee on the Karabakh conflict that pits the Armenians against his own people?” editorializes the paper. “For the Turks and the Azerbaijanis declare almost every day that they are the same people living in different states.”

“The president of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly would have certainly enjoyed a totally different reception if he hadn’t been a Turk,” writes “Hraparak.” “And his not visiting [the Armenian genocide memorial at] Tsitsernakanabert would not have caused a controversy. By the same token, nobody would have noticed the Azerbaijani agriculture minister who arrived [in Yerevan] for the Food and Agriculture Organization conference if he hadn’t been an Azerbaijani.”

“Chorrord Inknishkhanutyun” seizes upon Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s announcement that Moscow will consult with Ankara in its Karabakh-related diplomacy. “Of course, we are not talking about changing the OSCE Minsk Group format,” says the paper. “Formally, Turkey will never become a co-chair of the Minsk Group. We are talking about real negotiations and a real settlement. It is now clear that no variant of resolving the conflict can be put into effect without Turkey’s approval.” The pro-opposition daily blames this on President Serzh Sarkisian’s “football diplomacy” with Turkey.

But “Hayots Ashkhar” insists that Medvedev’s visit to Ankara and agreements reached with Turkish leaders must not be a cause for concern to Armenia. “Does this mean that we should take a sigh of relief?” says the pro-establishment paper. “We don’t think so because Russian-Turkish relations held in Ankara were only the beginning of plots against Nagorno-Karabakh hatched by Turkey and Azerbaijan.”

“Haykakan Zhamanak” reports that the two opposition members of the former Fact-Finding Group of Experts, which investigated the March 2008 violence in Yerevan, have drawn up another report that scrutinizes the Armenian army’s involvement in those events. The paper says they argue that the Armenian authorities used the army in violation of the constitution and laws. “The facts cited by them neutralize attempts by the Armenian authorities to deny the use of military hardware, vehicles and personnel in the events of March 1, 2008 before the declaration of a state of emergency,” it says.

(Tigran Avetisian)