In the future, when people look back on the Kocharian era, they will associate it with the ugly new cafes around the Yerevan Opera house, "Haykakan Zhamanak" comments, describing that development as unprecedented cultural and architectural vandalism by government officials. "They claim that they are constructing cafes because they care about Yerevan residents' well-being. But it is clear to everybody that the real aim ...was to seize the best properties of the city and profit from them," "Haykakan Zhamanak" says.
In an interview with the newspaper "Orer," former Prime Minister Aram Sarkissian criticized President Robert Kocharian's statement accusing the opposition for lacking political culture. "If Kocharian thinks that political culture is entering the parliament and killing people, or killing a man in a cafe with two hundred witnesses and getting away with it, then we really don't have any political culture," Sarkissian said.
In an analytical article entitled "The Comeback of the HHSh," "Iravunk" says that with the press conference of its former leader Babken Ararktsian, the former ruling Armenian Pan National Movement made clear its intention to reenter political life and to participate in the pre-election campaign. According to "Iravunk," the HHSh didn't want to enter the political race so early. But they did so because they saw that no other opposition party wanted to take the lead in shaking up the government and that there will be no other forces capable of bringing down the current regime. If they see the first signs of external support then it is quite possible that Levon Ter-Petrossian will try to make a political comeback, "Iravunk" concludes.
The last hope of opposition romantics who want to change the regime is the elusive belief that there are disagreements between President Kocharian and the powerful Defense Minister Serzh Sarkisian, "Hayots Askharh" says. The opposition believes that the defense minister also has strong disagreements with the "Dashnak Party which could also help their cause, says "Hayots Askharh".
According to "Yerkir," HHSh politicians resurrected their old doctrine about "Dashnaktsutyun." They are afraid that the parties with a "Dashnak" party ideology or other parties and politicians with a strong national ideology could increase their influence in the government and the parliament. For that reason, they are trying to scare the public with the prospect of the Dashnak party's success, "Yerkir" concludes.
The conditions that we are in now are not suitable for the "Dashnak" party character, says former "Dashnak" party leader Eduard Hovhanessian in his interview with "Iravunk." "The Dashnak party is a nationalist party, but it functions in a regime where the role of internationalism is so big for the Armenian people and Armenia that the nationalist party has nothing to do in it." "The Dashnak party is a revolutionary party, but today it is forced to take part in the parliamentary system, which runs counter to our nature," Hovhanessian says. "I have my personal opinion on the current president and as a human being I have my reservations and criticism about him. But I am a law-abiding party member and my party has taken no decision yet to criticize the president. However, the situation is so tense that the party might decide to change its stance and join the opposition, and if that happens I would talk differently," Eduard Hovhanessian tells "Iravunk" weekly.
The awful internal collapse could happen if we don't try to prevent a deepening rift between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia, "Azg" newspaper writes. Citing the results of a recently conducted sociological survey, the newspaper says that 40 percent of respondents think that main reason behind the increasingly negative attitude about Nagorno-Karabakh and people who were born there is the activity of local mafia.
Vache Sarkisian
In an interview with the newspaper "Orer," former Prime Minister Aram Sarkissian criticized President Robert Kocharian's statement accusing the opposition for lacking political culture. "If Kocharian thinks that political culture is entering the parliament and killing people, or killing a man in a cafe with two hundred witnesses and getting away with it, then we really don't have any political culture," Sarkissian said.
In an analytical article entitled "The Comeback of the HHSh," "Iravunk" says that with the press conference of its former leader Babken Ararktsian, the former ruling Armenian Pan National Movement made clear its intention to reenter political life and to participate in the pre-election campaign. According to "Iravunk," the HHSh didn't want to enter the political race so early. But they did so because they saw that no other opposition party wanted to take the lead in shaking up the government and that there will be no other forces capable of bringing down the current regime. If they see the first signs of external support then it is quite possible that Levon Ter-Petrossian will try to make a political comeback, "Iravunk" concludes.
The last hope of opposition romantics who want to change the regime is the elusive belief that there are disagreements between President Kocharian and the powerful Defense Minister Serzh Sarkisian, "Hayots Askharh" says. The opposition believes that the defense minister also has strong disagreements with the "Dashnak Party which could also help their cause, says "Hayots Askharh".
According to "Yerkir," HHSh politicians resurrected their old doctrine about "Dashnaktsutyun." They are afraid that the parties with a "Dashnak" party ideology or other parties and politicians with a strong national ideology could increase their influence in the government and the parliament. For that reason, they are trying to scare the public with the prospect of the Dashnak party's success, "Yerkir" concludes.
The conditions that we are in now are not suitable for the "Dashnak" party character, says former "Dashnak" party leader Eduard Hovhanessian in his interview with "Iravunk." "The Dashnak party is a nationalist party, but it functions in a regime where the role of internationalism is so big for the Armenian people and Armenia that the nationalist party has nothing to do in it." "The Dashnak party is a revolutionary party, but today it is forced to take part in the parliamentary system, which runs counter to our nature," Hovhanessian says. "I have my personal opinion on the current president and as a human being I have my reservations and criticism about him. But I am a law-abiding party member and my party has taken no decision yet to criticize the president. However, the situation is so tense that the party might decide to change its stance and join the opposition, and if that happens I would talk differently," Eduard Hovhanessian tells "Iravunk" weekly.
The awful internal collapse could happen if we don't try to prevent a deepening rift between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia, "Azg" newspaper writes. Citing the results of a recently conducted sociological survey, the newspaper says that 40 percent of respondents think that main reason behind the increasingly negative attitude about Nagorno-Karabakh and people who were born there is the activity of local mafia.
Vache Sarkisian