A Russian expert on Armenia tells “Aravot” that Russia “cannot make concessions” to Turkey on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue “because the conflict is not taking place in its territory.” As to the likelihood of renewed Armenian-Azerbaijani hostilities in the time to come, member of the Russian Association of International Law, publicist Denis Dvornikov believes it will largely depend on how low oil prices fall: “The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict for [oil-rich] Azerbaijan is solely a political toy to deviate its public from economic problems.”
“Chorrord Ishkhanutyun” questions the ability of Armenian political parties that position themselves as oppositional to form viable blocs ahead of next year’s parliamentary elections. At the same time, it claims that separately these forces are weak because they are either “not oppositional, not political or don’t constitute a force”. “In this situation the public has two options: either to follow the real force, hoping that it will be a political opposition or go with the political opposition, turning it into a real force. In other words, hybrid blocs give no offspring,” the daily concludes.
“Haykakan Zhamanak” notes a 2.3-percent fall in bread consumption in Armenia, according to official statistics, suggesting that it may be revealing in terms of demographic trends it the country: “Bread is a staple product, and data on its production are considered to be strategic. No matter how poor or wealthy a man is he is likely to consume about the same amount of bread annually. Therefore, a change in the volume of bread consumption is considered to be one of the alternative methods of estimating the size of the population. If bread consumption decreases, then it means that the population has shrunk by about the same degree.”
(Anush Mkrtchian)