“Zhoghovurd” blasts what it sees as a thuggish behavior of some members of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) at Tuesday’s session of Yerevan’s municipal council. “Instead of holding debates with their opposition colleagues, they were making offensive remarks,” the paper says. It says Yerevan Mayor Taron Markarian, who chaired the session, did not even attempt to rein in them, meaning that he tacitly supported them. “This is nothing but a disgrace,” it says.
“Hraparak” says that when Karen Karapetian took over as prime minister a year ago he made a grim assessment of the economic situation in Armenia. “It was evident that Karapetian was invited to get the country’s economic out of a pit,” writes the paper. “A pit into which it was plunged by the HHK, its governments and their policies.” It claims that President Serzh Sarkisian and his entourage no longer allow him to “single-handedly make decisions on important issues, appoint or fire high-ranking officials.” “Even on his political future nothing explicit is being said right now, unlike in the initial period of his tenure,” it says.
“Haykakan Zhamanak” ridicules the minuscule volume of trade between Armenia and Kyrgyzstan, a fellow member of the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). Imports of Kyrgyz goods to Armenia stood at less than $10,000 in the first half of this year, official data shows. “It must be noted that Armenia’s exports to Kyrgyzstan are much greater: about $424,000,” the paper says.
(Lilit Harutiunian)