“Haykakan Zhamanak” reports and comments on President Serzh Sarkisian’s meeting on Tuesday with the Yerevan-based ambassadors of the United States, Russia and other member states of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The paper notes that his previous collective meeting with them took place during the April 2016 war in Nagorno-Karabakh. At that meeting Sarkisian threatened to formally recognize Karabakh as an independent republic if the hostilities drag on. He also said that he will instruct the Armenian government to draft a military pact with Karabakh. The paper says that the fighting was halted hours after that meeting.
“Zhoghovurd” continues to discuss the scandal caused by the revelation that senior aides to businessman and parliament deputy Artak Sargsian threatened to fire his employees if they failed to help him retain his parliament seat in the April 2 elections. The paper says some commentators put the blame on Sargsian while others believe that the employees should have resisted his threats. “Many point out that people are very fortunate to have a job these days and that one should understand the obedience of the workers afraid of losing their source of living,” it says. “But amid this debate, the key issue remains unresolved: a total violation of workers’ rights in all areas, including the private and public entities.” It says that even Armenian civil servants who supposedly enjoy the strongest legal protection can be dismissed at will.
“As regards the private sector, they are 100 percent unprotected there,” adds “Zhoghovurd.” “The staff meeting at [Sargsian’s] SAS company is a vivid, albeit not the worst, manifestation of that.”
“Zhamanak” quotes Armen Ashotian, a deputy chairman of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), as saying that the HHK has chosen the motto “For Yerevan” for its unfolding campaign for the May 14 municipal elections. The paper finds this choice “illogical,” saying that if the HHK had really cared about the city it would not have joined the mayoral race in the first place. It says that Yerevan’s Republican Mayor Taron Markarian has failed to solve any serious problem during his five-year tenure.
(Siranuysh Gevorgian)