By Vestnik Kavkaza
Problems of the emergency area, which are still topical 26 years after the earthquake, and an opposition meeting are in the focus of attention of the Armenian media this week. Newspapers also paid attention to an attempt on the life of Aram Manukyan, the secretary of the parliamentary faction of the ANC, and new statistical data on migration, the situation on the monetary market of the country and falling living standards in Armenia.
Chorrord Ishkhanutyun tries to answer the question of why numerous top officials, including the president of the country Serge Sargsyan, didn’t visit the emergency area on December 7th. “The President of course couldn’t answer the questions of hundreds of families who still live in trailers, who have received new apartments of very low quality, and who are leaving the country,” the newspaper reports.
Aykakan Zhamanak, speaking about the decision by the Central Bank on selling dollars by tender by the end of the year, reports: “At the moment the Central Bank has a new approach – it sells dollars at auction selling. It is not clear who participates in it, where, how many sums are being sold. The fact is that Armenia has a space where dollars are sold by tender, it is the stock exchange. Why did the Central Bank reject the space and organize selling in an unknown place among unknown participants?”
Speaking about the same topic, 168 Zham is mocking: “The Central Bank stated, when the dollar cost 434 drams, that we would benefit from the situation; exporters would create new jobs, and economic growth would speed up. As the current exchange rate is about 500 drams, it seems we should expect double-digit economic growth; exports would multiply, while the unemployment rate would become zero.”
Turning to a meeting of the opposition parties, which took place on Freedom Square, Zhamanak reports: “The meeting devoted to Human Rights Day, which has usually been held by the ANC, was organized by the opposition troika this time. It was a compromise against the ANC’s dissatisfaction with the end of a wave of meetings. Prosperous Armenia responded moderately to it, but didn’t break off relations. And a compromise was found. On December 10th the last meeting in 2014 took place. The next one will probably be held in February. In February Serge Sargsyan will state his view on the concept of constitutional reforms.” “The meeting was an imitation of activity by the opposition parties, as they don’t show any other political activeness, even though the number of reasons for acting actively has grown,” the newspaper concludes.
Touching on rumors that the most probable candidate for the presidential position in Armenia in 2018 is thought to be the Defense Minister Seyran Oganyan, Aykakan Zhamanak stresses: “Our sources report that in case of the failure of the constitutional referendum which is longed for by Serge Sargsyan, in the current management system the best candidate for Sargsyan would be Seyran Oganyan due to his broad power. However, Serge Sargsyan would do his best to achieve the political consolidation which is necessary for holding a constitutional referendum.”
The media is broadly commenting on the assault on the Secretary of the parliamentary faction of the Armenian National Congress, Aram Manukyan. Graparak reports: “When people in masks and without masks begin to commit violent crimes against Armenian citizens, prevent freedom of expression, for some reasons the crimes are committed against people of opposition views, who demand a change of power. And it is easy to believe that they are organized or encouraged by the authorities. Otherwise, the head of the police should do his business rather than mock and put on airs and graces before journalists… Is it an accident that a criminal chose the man who actually declared the independence of Armenia one day and became its symbol, a deputy of the National Assembly, an opposition activist? The attempt on his life is an attempt on the life of our 23-year-old independence, our statehood, our national identity and our values. And the crime confirms that our society cannot resist the violence.”
Aykakan Zhamanak’s editor notes: “Apparently, the authorities will get away with the beating up of Aram Manuhyan and members of the Pre-parliament Movement. And the main thing is that the opposition should be honest with society and admit that it has no mechanisms to make the authorities be responsible for the crimes, at least at the moment. As a result it will become clear that, before they take responsibility for society, it is necessary to understand what the reaction to certain activities by the authorities should be. Otherwise, it turns out that the opposition struggles for a change of power within the limits permitted by the authorities. And so we have what we have: an opposition which talks, talks, talks… and is knocked out by one punch.”
Recently, Gagik Markosyan, the director of the Armenian NPS Company, was dismissed. According to Graparak, the acting head of the NPS is Movses Vardanyan at the moment.
“He used to be the chief engineer of the nuclear power station. According to our sources, the shift is connected with the national security issue. It is interesting that the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources didn’t publish an official statement; as if he wasn’t the director of the main strategic facility of the country, but a local electrician. Such secrecy provoked our curiosity. We found out that two deputy directors had also been dismissed, and one of them was arrested. The acting director, Movses Vardanyan, told us that Gagik Markosyan left the position a few days ago. According to him, he left it of his own accord. Vardanyan stated that people were arrested, but they were not employees of the station,” Graparak reports.
Life in Armenia became more expensive by 20% in the last four years. And this is official information. According to a report by the National Statistics Service of Armenia, in comparison with 2010 inflation is 20.6%, according to Chorrord Ishkhanutyun.
