“Haykakan Zhamanak” believes that the anti-government revolution in Ukraine is good for Armenia “in all respects.” “Ukraine is not going to join the Customs Union, and that is good,” writes the paper. “There is hope that the Customs Union will be meaningless without that country and we will be spared that scourge. If Russia raises the issue of Crimea’s self-determination that is also good. That would create a positive background for Karabakh.”
“Hraparak” attacks Armenian government backers who say that Ukraine is on the brink of a civil war, telling them to mind their business. “Unlike you, Ukrainians very well realize what is good and bad for them,” writes the paper. “They have a political thinking, the will to fight and are patriotic enough. Certainly the majority of these [Armenian] doomsayers are in bed with the government. They are terrified by the thought that one day the Armenian society may also rise up and fight for its rights.”
“168 Zham” says the outcry against the government’s controversial pension reform is exposing “the undemocratic nature of the ruling regime” in Armenia. “President Serzh Sarkisian has openly said that 80 percent of the public is against this law, admitting that the government is in minority on this issue,” writes the paper. It says this contradicts the whole essence of democracy: the rule of the majority.
“Aravot” laments the highly partisan character of media coverage in Armenia, saying that it limits people’s access to objective information about the state of affairs in their country. The paper says the main mission of most local media outlets is not to inform the public but to promote a particular political or economic group and denigrate its rivals.
“Chorrord Inknishkhanutyun” quotes Robert Nazarian, the chairman of the Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC), as saying that many Armenians have deep suspicions about the calorific value of natural gas supplied to their homes because of their low living standards. The paper dismisses Nazarian’s explanation, saying that the quality of gas has indeed deteriorated in recent years. Many people are poor precisely because of this kind of fraud perpetrated or tolerated by the authorities, it says.
(Tigran Avetisian)
“Hraparak” attacks Armenian government backers who say that Ukraine is on the brink of a civil war, telling them to mind their business. “Unlike you, Ukrainians very well realize what is good and bad for them,” writes the paper. “They have a political thinking, the will to fight and are patriotic enough. Certainly the majority of these [Armenian] doomsayers are in bed with the government. They are terrified by the thought that one day the Armenian society may also rise up and fight for its rights.”
“168 Zham” says the outcry against the government’s controversial pension reform is exposing “the undemocratic nature of the ruling regime” in Armenia. “President Serzh Sarkisian has openly said that 80 percent of the public is against this law, admitting that the government is in minority on this issue,” writes the paper. It says this contradicts the whole essence of democracy: the rule of the majority.
“Aravot” laments the highly partisan character of media coverage in Armenia, saying that it limits people’s access to objective information about the state of affairs in their country. The paper says the main mission of most local media outlets is not to inform the public but to promote a particular political or economic group and denigrate its rivals.
“Chorrord Inknishkhanutyun” quotes Robert Nazarian, the chairman of the Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC), as saying that many Armenians have deep suspicions about the calorific value of natural gas supplied to their homes because of their low living standards. The paper dismisses Nazarian’s explanation, saying that the quality of gas has indeed deteriorated in recent years. Many people are poor precisely because of this kind of fraud perpetrated or tolerated by the authorities, it says.
(Tigran Avetisian)