“Chorrord Ishkhanutyun” says former President Robert Kocharian is primarily to blame for the existing state of affairs in Armenia while his successor, Serzh Sarkisian, is trying to “fight against consequences” of his decade-long policies. “Being much superior to Robert Kocharian in terms of intellect, Serzh Sarkisian is trying to eliminate consequences of his ten-year inactivity,” says the pro-opposition daily. “But he is doing that in such a wrong way that he had better do nothing. And until Serzh Sarkisian changes this strategy we can have no positive expectations from the Munich or any other meeting [of the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents.”
“Hayots Ashkhar” sees an ongoing attempt by unnamed foreign powers to put in place a “long chain of mutual obligations and demands in the region.” “Now it is Turkey’s turn to be drawn into a trap, on the one side of which is relations with Baku and on the other the prospect of ratifying the protocols [with Armenia] or facing recognition of the [Armenian] genocide,” says the paper. Turning to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s latest threats to resolve the Karabakh conflict by force, it says Armenia should respond to them by “flexing its own muscles a little.”
“Kapital” says that the Karabakh conflict resolution will take many years even if Armenia and Azerbaijan sign a framework peace accord soon. “In the conditions of the unresolved Karabakh conflict and the unfinished war, it is a military leader who usually comes to power in Armenia,” the paper writes, predicting that Armenia’s next president will also be a “former or current military man” if the dispute with Azerbaijan remains unresolved.
“168 Zham” reports that Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian and Yerevan Mayor Gagik Beglarian will be elected to the governing board of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) during its congress in Yerevan scheduled for November 28.
“Hraparak” reports on the war of words between Ruben Hayrapetian and Gagik Tsarukian, two “oligarchs” heading Armenia’s Football Federation and National Olympic Committee respectively. “Gagik Tsarukian supports the return of … Robert Kocharian, whereas Hayrapetian continues to be loyal to Serzh Sarkisian and is doing everything to prevent the master’s throne from shaking,” says the paper. It quotes Hayrapetian as saying, however, that he has “no political and especially economic disagreements” with Tsarukian. “Our rapport is not bad,” he says.
(Ruben Meloyan)