“Zhamanak” comments on the first anniversary of the signing of the Turkish-Armenian protocols in Zurich and notes a sharp change in the tone of statements made by Turkish and Armenian officials. “Armenia is saying that there are no secret Turkish-Armenian contacts and that there will be contacts only when Turkey is ready for negotiations without preconditions, whereas Turkey’s government is speaking of a period of silent diplomacy,” writes the paper. It says fence-mending negotiations between Ankara and Yerevan could resume only after Turkey’s June 2011 parliamentary elections.
“Chorrord Inknishkhanutyun” wonders if the Armenian authorities will manage to get the Monitoring Committee of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) to replace its outgoing Armenia co-rapporteur, Sweden’s Goran Lindblad, by another PACE member less critical of their human rights record. Lindblad lost a recent parliamentary election in Sweden and is due to resign from the PACE soon. In a letter to the head of the Armenian delegation at the PACE publicized this week, he accused the authorities of blocking his last fact-finding trip to Yerevan which he hoped will take place in October.
“Hraparak” chides the authorities for portraying Lindblad as an “enemy” of the Armenian people. “A negative attitude towards this person has even united the authorities and the opposition, notably Dashnaktsutyun,” writes the paper. It wishes they jointly waged a “war” against “negative phenomena in our life” in the same coordinated fashion.
Interviewed by “Hayots Ashkhar,” actor Sos Sargsian complains about the post-Soviet decline in the influence and moral authority of Armenian intellectuals. “Nowadays everyone from the village mayor to the most high-ranking official does not need to listen to my opinion,” he says. “They don’t care about my opinion. And they have taught intellectuals to mind their business and shut up.”
(Tigran Avetisian)
“Chorrord Inknishkhanutyun” wonders if the Armenian authorities will manage to get the Monitoring Committee of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) to replace its outgoing Armenia co-rapporteur, Sweden’s Goran Lindblad, by another PACE member less critical of their human rights record. Lindblad lost a recent parliamentary election in Sweden and is due to resign from the PACE soon. In a letter to the head of the Armenian delegation at the PACE publicized this week, he accused the authorities of blocking his last fact-finding trip to Yerevan which he hoped will take place in October.
“Hraparak” chides the authorities for portraying Lindblad as an “enemy” of the Armenian people. “A negative attitude towards this person has even united the authorities and the opposition, notably Dashnaktsutyun,” writes the paper. It wishes they jointly waged a “war” against “negative phenomena in our life” in the same coordinated fashion.
Interviewed by “Hayots Ashkhar,” actor Sos Sargsian complains about the post-Soviet decline in the influence and moral authority of Armenian intellectuals. “Nowadays everyone from the village mayor to the most high-ranking official does not need to listen to my opinion,” he says. “They don’t care about my opinion. And they have taught intellectuals to mind their business and shut up.”
(Tigran Avetisian)