Press Review

'Orran' is getting harsher on the current authorities in its last few editions. "The suggestion that Robert Kocharian occupied our republic appears to be true", the paper writes in its Saturday's editorial. Kocharian behaves like fascist policemen in the Russian city of Smolensk in 1942, when German troops occupied parts of Russia. Today, the opposition is tolerated as much as German occupation authorities would tolerate partisans in Russia, 'Orran' writes in its editorial.

The presidential spokesman Vahe Gabrielian gave an explanation about the support base of Robert Kocharian in the upcoming elections. There are parties with whom Robert Kocharian has had close cooperation for several years. The cooperation with these parties helped to keep the internal political situation stable. The number of parties which are supporting Kocharian will not change, says Vahe Gabrielian. Commenting on reports that wealthy Armenians in Moscow will support Kocharian during next year's elections, Vahe Gabrielian tells 'Aravot' that the president is not in the habit of calling upon strongmen for help to fight his rivals.

'Golos Armenii' analyzing latest the developments in the opposition camp of 13 parties, concludes that judging from the political activity of the opposition, the AZhM leader Vazgen Manukian hopes to be nominated as the single candidate representing the 13 opposition parties. It seems that the political summer dead season didn't bother the 13 opposition parties. The opposition continues to create a storm in a cup of water. 'Golos Armenii' believes that the union of '13', which is not an official alliance yet, could not gather pace and has virtually collapsed. The leaders of '13' would not want to see the reality, the paper writes.

"I am convinced, that Levon Ter-Petrossian will not run for presidency, realizing the prospects of his defeat and [moreover] the HHSh would prefer to hide behind other parties, instead of running with its own banner", parliament deputy Hrant Voskanian told 'Hayots Ashkhar'. "I know that recently they are trying to be active, making several statements, but this activity is rather testing the waters rather than a real intention to run", the leader of reformed communist party Voskanian believes.

Coming to power with nationalist slogans, the HHSh now tries to regain power with anti-nationalist banners, 'Golos Armenii' writes.

The country now resembles street "brotherhoods" (gangs), rather than a republic. The main issue now is not about strengthening statehood but who is with whom, art critic Henrik Igitian says in his interview with 'Hayots Ashkhar'. There are too many parties in Armenia, which undermine the foundation of this small country. The purpose of these parties is just to obtain a comfortable seat somewhere in the government. "These politicians don't think about the people, they are only concerned about their own well-being and as in other underdeveloped countries, in Armenia also money and power decide everything" Henrik Igitian told 'Hayots Ashkhar'.

'Azg' analyses the UN Human development report of 2002. Citing the UN Human Development Report, according to which Armenia has higher level development than Turkey, 'Azg' suggests that it would be absurd to link Armenia's development to the prospect of economic cooperation with Turkey. Only the HHSh is interested in economic cooperation with Turkey, as its only means to remain active in politics, concludes 'Azg'.

A foreign policy expert, Stepan Grigorian, believes that Russian-Armenian relations have worsened during the last two years. "The Russian-Armenian relations could be even described as unfriendly”, he says in his interview with 'Orran'.

Hrach Melkumian