By Vestnik Kavkaza
The Armenian press reports on recent events surrounding the Prosperous Armenia party and its leader Gagik Tsarukyan, including his meeting with President of Armenia Serge Sargsyan, commenting on possible peacemaking between the RPA and PA.
Aykakan Zhamanak reports: “Obviously, the separate meeting caused indignation in the Republican Party. Its members from Serge Sargsyan’s team believe that if peacemaking takes place, they will look like fools, as they have been heavily criticizing Gagik Tsarukyan for a week. Some Republicans think that if peacemaking really takes place, it will mean that Tsarukyan should leave politics and never come back. At the same time, numerous members of Prosperous Armenia are sure that their leader won’t yield, and that in the very near future they will organize an overthrow in the country and expel “the power of evil” together with Serge Sargsyan.”
Zhamanak reports on the same meeting: “At the moment there are questions only. If they make peace, what is the foundation? What will happen to Serge Sargsyan’s demand for Tsarukyan’s expulsion from political life? What will happen to constitutional reforms? What will Tsarukyan’s party do? There are too many questions. On the other hand, it is senseless, as answers to these questions only have a point if society comes to certain conclusions. And Armenian society has great reasons for conclusions; however, it hasn’t come to any conclusions. So we shouldn’t expect that Armenian society will come to them for any new reasons.”
Chorrord Ishkhanutyun writes: “It turns out that a member of PA, Melik Manukyan, has left the party and the parliament. In such cases they usually say “rats desert a sinking ship first.” However, usually it doesn’t save the rats; they will go down anyway. Sometimes, a ship isn’t drowned in the end, but rats have no chances of returning to it, and they go down. Of course, nobody has a right to blame MPs who leave PA. This is up to them. However, the result could be funny if the all-people’s movement wins or the RPA and PA make peace.”
168 Zham reports: “Armenian society turned from a subject into an object of political processes long ago. Actually, it could become cannon fodder again. It is society that has to decide which side is thinking more about people – the authorities who warn about their intention to use force or the non-authorities who reject a route which wouldn’t lead to anything good. The war between the RPA and PA is probably ended or frozen. The question is who has won and who has been defeated – it is almost rhetorical, as in the end it is society that has lost again.”
Aykakan Zhamanak sums up: “We can state that in the current events not only Gagik Tsarukyan’s political career has come to its end, but also the career of Levon Ter-Petrosyan, the leader of the Armenian National Congress. Ter-Petrosyan is thd author of a big failure, who has planted a nuclear bomb under the opposition political system and has blown it up. Of course, Ter-Petrosyan won’t admit his political failure. He will take several hundred of his supporters onto the streets, till they will be exhausted.”
Zhogovurd notes: “The majority of society is deeply disappointed, as many of our citizens thought that Tsarukyan was a savior who would liberate them from Sargsyan. Activists who united over the leader of PA and confronted the ruling regime were also disappointed. Many people wanted to join the RPA; meanwhile, the prime goal of society was not the destruction of Tsarukyan, but a search for justice. However, Serge Sargsyan is doing nothing in that direction.”
Commenting on another article by the first president of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan, Aykakan Zhamanak reports: “Ter-Petrosyan says in the article that memories about Tsarukyan won’t fade away in our hearts, and we shouldn’t say bad things about him. The main essence of the article is that. The leader of the ANC speaks about the political events of the current period as an observer, as if he has nothing in common with them – he has just followed the process as a historian and a political scientist. It seems Ter-Petrosyan justifies Tsarukyan, but in fact he justifies himself, as he knows well: when criticism of PA’s leader will come to an end, he will be the main target for sharp questions, as he is the author of the internal political mess.”
Chorrod Ishkhanutyun considers “the political analysis” of Ter-Petrosyan from a different angle: “Those who have been criticizing Ter-Petrosyan for his “political analysis” for two years, are now triumphant: you see, we have been right, an oligarch cannot confront the authorities, and one shouldn’t pin hopes on PA. However, if they were honest, they should say: you see, we have been right that resources play no role, if the regime feels a real threat, it will send tanks and special forces against people and will shoot thousands of them dead… What could the conclusion be? Should it be admitted that it is impossible to change the authorities and resistance should be rejected, or should we find different ways? One thing is clear: failed attempts don’t mean we should reject the idea of resistance.”
Analyzing possible scenarios of the current internal political developments, Chorrord Ishkhanutyun reports: “Today the winning side should dictate its conditions, and it would be naïve to think that it will reject the main strategy of constitutional reforms. In general, Serge Sargsyan initiated the “war” to achieve a goal. Apparently, in the very near future he will officially declare his intentions to provide constitutional reform. Necessary figures will be falsified at the referendum, the same will happen at the parliamentary elections, and Serge Sargsyan will become the head of the National Assembly and the situation will continue.”
As a result of the process of “neutralizing” the leader of Prosperous Armenia, Gagik Tsarukyan promised that PA (now he will be the honorary chairman of the party) won’t prevent the provision of constitutional reform in the country, according to Zhokhovurd, which cites its own sources. “We should state that when internal political battles come to an end in Armenia, the authorities and Serge Sargsyan will have no obstacles for starting the process of constitutional reforms officially. Now Sargsyan has an overwhelming majority in the parliament. However, according to our information, there are MPs from PA who continue to stand against constitutional reforms. They will leave the party soon,” Zhokhovurd notes.
“In January 2015 exports from Armenia fell by 22% in comparison with the same period of 2014. It is a drastic fall of export volumes for Armenia. However, it has happened under interesting conditions,” Aykakan Zhamanak reports. “At the end of 2014, when the dram was suddenly devaluated, the Central Bank of Armenia made a statement that “correction of the Armenian dram exchange rate was explained by recent developments on regional and international financial markets and would encourage competitiveness.” “Improvement of competitiveness of export” directly requires that devaluation of the dram should lead to export growth; and this is the only positive side of devaluation. However, the opposite has happened. The dram was devaluated, encouraging the impoverishment of people, and export volumes decreased by 22%,” the newspaper concludes.
Why does the government charge the motor vehicle inspectirate, if operability or non-operability of vehicles stays on a driver’s conscience? – Zhokhovurd asks the question. “The order of the motor vehicle inspectorate changed on March 31st 2011. According to the current system, drivers are issued an MOT check, after they pay a fee to a bank. At the same time, passing through the MOT is not obligatory anymore. In the bank the drivers are issued a special receipt, and they can go through the MOT if they want to. However, drivers don’t do it, as it takes a lot of time. The question is why the state charges the MOT. It would be more effective if the sum was collected as a tax for using roads. And drivers would have a right to demand supporting normal road conditions from the government,” the newspaper states.
“The TV-company Kentron, which belongs to the leader of Prosperous Armenia, will soon become the TV-channel of the Eurasian Economic Union,” Aykakan Zhamanak reports. “At least, rumors about the fact are discussed in governmental circles. The fact that Tsarukyan has no intention of financing the TV-company and will deny it, is thought to be a done deal. PA’s leader is going to stop financing several websites as well,” the newspaper reports.
