By Vestnik Kavkaza
The Armenian media is focused on the thaw in relations between Serge Sargsyan and Gagik Tsarukyan. Aykakan Zhamanak reports that after the famous controversial statement by Serge Sragsyan toward the former leader of Prosperous Armenia, Gagik Tsarukyan, they appeared before the public together at weekend.
Aykakan Zhamanak’s video camera recorded how warm relations between the former coalition partners have become, even though previously they were enemies – Tsarukayn called Sargsyan’s power ‘the power of evil’, while Sargsyan called Tsarukyan ‘Dodi Gago’, who hid billions of drams from taxation. The newspaper notes that orders by Serge Sargsyan to check the rumors about unpaid taxes by Tsarukyan have been quickly forgotten.
Zhamanak reports on the same topic: “The messages which are sent to society are important today due to the joint entertainments of these two actors. These are educational messages. Society again realizes what the contemporary Armenian economic and political elite is… On the other hand, everything is very sincere and fair. In the end, Serge Sargsyan said in February that he had no problems with Tsarukyan; the problem was Tsarukyan’s presence in politics. When he left politics, he gained a stable position near Serge Sargsyan.”
Zhogovurd notes about the meeting: “Photos show that “the power of evil” and the warrior who is fighting against it are together again and their love won’t be broken ever again.”
Zhamanak reports on checks on companies which belong to members of the family of the former head of Prosperous Armenia, Gagik Tsarukyan: “Obviously, the checks are an instrument to put a pressure on Tsarukyan. Checks at his enterprises are connected with certain situational circumstances. Therefore, today a certain problem is being solved. Probably the point is in redistribution of his property.”
Zhogovurd reports: “Officials of Armenia prefer to make no comments on scandals over children of other officials. However, one can look at the stories from another point of view. State bureaucrats believe that Armenia is a safe country for their children, considering the behavior of some of their colleagues. Yesterday our correspondent tried to get a comment on the issue from the Minister of Justice Ovannes Manukyan. He said that Armenia was a promising country for him, where his children lived, studied, and worked. And will his son be secured, if one day he ‘crosses over the road’ of the son of the Syunik governor? Manukyan responded: “Yes, he will, considering the last report by the General Prosecutor who promised that all criminals would be punished.””
Interesting processes are taking place behind the political scenes. A new stage of the power reproduction has started, Irates De Facto reports. “People strengthen their positions to orient themselves quicker to a new political situation – what side they should take.”
Graparak reports: “The simple and light-minded approach to the idea of statehood which we have can lead to a certain fact. One day it will turn out that we have lost the chance to have a state, just like we did in 1920 – due to our indifference, unprofessionalism, and absence of simple respect toward the state.”
“Seyran Oganyan is thought to be a preferential candidate for some; for others he is a potential rival; but both of them have doubts about ‘the target’.
According to our sources, mentioning the name of Seyran Oganyan is connected with a desire to find out attitudes of certain persons. While everybody is focused on him, in a different place a real candidate is being raised,” the newspaper reports.
The former premier of the country, Tigran Sarkisyan, is also in focus of the media. Zhamanak reports in its article headlined ‘Tigran Sarkisyan Turns to a Contract’: “An offshore row over Tigran Sarkisyan is gaining momentum. At least it is confirmed by the fact that the former prime minister, the current Armenian Ambassador to the US Tigran Sarkisyan, brought legal action against Paylak Ayrapetyan, who accused Sarkisyan of his bankruptcy. The question is why the Armenian Ambassador to the US decided to do it now, as being the prime minister he didn’t do this… Probably Sarkisyan took the step according to Serge Sargsyan’s request, as the accusations caused questions among the US government due to Sarkisyan’s position as Ambassador.”
About the economic problems of the country, 168 Zham writes that "the reduction of direct foreign investment by half is quite a serious signal, and it further deepens the suspicion that this year Armenia's economy won't be able to fix the economic growth close to the planned 4 1%."Touching on the government's intention to sell the Haypost company, which is currently transferred to the asset management of the company owned by an Argentinean businessman of Armenian origin, Eduardo Eurnekian, Haykakan Zhamanak notes that "perhaps it is natural if Eurnekian, who has operated it over the years, will become the owner of Haypost CJSC. However, the process of privatization is weird. The weirdness is that the government, like a bolt from the blue, suddenly published a draft decision, which will be taken within a few hours without serious discussion. Until then no official even hinted that the government wants to sell the company.""If the government believes that it is doing the right thing, then it should not have hesitated to inform us in advance. But since the decisions were made in secret, without prior notification about this, so there is a complex: the government is not sure of the validity of its decision and wants to hide something," the newspaper suggests.Ayuts Ashkhar reports: "There is a growing wave of discontent over a possible rise in the price of electricity. As might be expected, the protests against the plans for the next increase in tariffs are becoming more organized and the number of participants is increasing."Chorrord Ishkhanutyun writes: "We are currently interested in the following question: what is the position of the Armenian authorities? Simply stated, do the Armenian authorities not oppose the rises because they are traditionally afraid of Russia, or because they have a stake in this robbery?"'The wires of electric grids and thin threads' is an article in Zhamanak: "The elimination of the existing system is almost impossible without systematic resistance. That is why the citizens are breaking away from the political opposition and they will be cut off from it as long as the political opposition will cut her threads, even thin ones, from the authorities or will form a new opposition which will not have these threads."Zhoghovurd writes that the more detail you study the application on the increase of electricity tariffs filed by the Electric Networks of Armenia to the Commission on regulation of public services, the more you find out."In particular, over the next year the company, among other materials, is going to buy 63 tons 215 kg of cement. And, as it turns out, Electric Networks of Armenia is going to buy cement at a price of 57 thousand drams. No, no, there is no misunderstanding. ENA is going to spend 3 billion 603 million 255 thousand drams on cement. This is the amount if you purchase cement for 57 thousand drams. By the way, the wholesale price per ton of cement by 10 thousand drams is below this. So it is necessary to find out what kind of cement the company is going to buy for this price. Maybe it's a special cement which, for example, will be produced in space by Russian spacecraft to then be imported into our country by the order of Electric Networks of Armenia," Zhoghovurd ironically notes.The explosion in a natural gas station in Charentsavan, which claimed the life of a man, was the fourth such incident in May. Three people were killed as a result of all these explosions, Zhoghovurd reports."It should be noted that the explosion occurred at the gas station owned by LLC Drive - 2014, the employee Grigor Simonyan was killed as a result. But, unlike the previous incidents, this time the balloon of the car, which was filling with gas, exploded.In the context of these incidents there are rumors that the Armenian authorities have decided to take this opportunity to monopolize the sector. The fact is that currently the service of gas stations, in terms of their owners, is too diverse, and provides competition. Suspicions have also arisen that the authorities, under the pretext of tightening control, will force some stations to close," Zhoghovurd writes.Chorrord Ishkhanutyun notes: "Although the National Security Council as a public body doesn't do anything serious, its staff incur huge budget costs. In April alone the Security Council spent about 2 million 390 thousand drams on repair services for vehicles. In addition, in April this agency spent more than 610 thousand drams on printing. And the fact that that the post of Secretary of the Security Council has remained vacant for exactly one year shows the role and importance of the Security Council, which is allocated huge funds from the state budget, for the government."Chorrord Ishkhanutyun reports in its article headlined 'The secret of using the diaspora's opportunities': "The Diaspora has not helped. Armenia occupied not an entirely convincing 16th place in the Eurovision Song Contest. But it's not about Eurovision, which has already long been a boring semi-political show. The question is that, particularly in the case of Armenia, the competition of this year once again discovered the fact that the Diaspora can only help in cases if, roughly speaking, there are reasons for help, if it hasn't any, no Diaspora will help it."
About the economic problems of the country, 168 Zham writes that "the reduction of direct foreign investment by half is quite a serious signal, and it further deepens the suspicion that this year Armenia's economy won't be able to fix the economic growth close to the planned 4 1%."
Touching on the government's intention to sell the Haypost company, which is currently transferred to the asset management of the company owned by an Argentinean businessman of Armenian origin, Eduardo Eurnekian, Haykakan Zhamanak notes that "perhaps it is natural if Eurnekian, who has operated it over the years, will become the owner of Haypost CJSC. However, the process of privatization is weird. The weirdness is that the government, like a bolt from the blue, suddenly published a draft decision, which will be taken within a few hours without serious discussion. Until then no official even hinted that the government wants to sell the company."
"If the government believes that it is doing the right thing, then it should not have hesitated to inform us in advance. But since the decisions were made in secret, without prior notification about this, so there is a complex: the government is not sure of the validity of its decision and wants to hide something," the newspaper suggests.
Ayuts Ashkhar reports: "There is a growing wave of discontent over a possible rise in the price of electricity. As might be expected, the protests against the plans for the next increase in tariffs are becoming more organized and the number of participants is increasing."
Chorrord Ishkhanutyun writes: "We are currently interested in the following question: what is the position of the Armenian authorities? Simply stated, do the Armenian authorities not oppose the rises because they are traditionally afraid of Russia, or because they have a stake in this robbery?"
'The wires of electric grids and thin threads' is an article in Zhamanak: "The elimination of the existing system is almost impossible without systematic resistance. That is why the citizens are breaking away from the political opposition and they will be cut off from it as long as the political opposition will cut her threads, even thin ones, from the authorities or will form a new opposition which will not have these threads."
Zhoghovurd writes that the more detail you study the application on the increase of electricity tariffs filed by the Electric Networks of Armenia to the Commission on regulation of public services, the more you find out.
"In particular, over the next year the company, among other materials, is going to buy 63 tons 215 kg of cement. And, as it turns out, Electric Networks of Armenia is going to buy cement at a price of 57 thousand drams. No, no, there is no misunderstanding. ENA is going to spend 3 billion 603 million 255 thousand drams on cement. This is the amount if you purchase cement for 57 thousand drams. By the way, the wholesale price per ton of cement by 10 thousand drams is below this. So it is necessary to find out what kind of cement the company is going to buy for this price. Maybe it's a special cement which, for example, will be produced in space by Russian spacecraft to then be imported into our country by the order of Electric Networks of Armenia," Zhoghovurd ironically notes.
The explosion in a natural gas station in Charentsavan, which claimed the life of a man, was the fourth such incident in May. Three people were killed as a result of all these explosions, Zhoghovurd reports.
"It should be noted that the explosion occurred at the gas station owned by LLC Drive - 2014, the employee Grigor Simonyan was killed as a result. But, unlike the previous incidents, this time the balloon of the car, which was filling with gas, exploded.
In the context of these incidents there are rumors that the Armenian authorities have decided to take this opportunity to monopolize the sector. The fact is that currently the service of gas stations, in terms of their owners, is too diverse, and provides competition. Suspicions have also arisen that the authorities, under the pretext of tightening control, will force some stations to close," Zhoghovurd writes.
Chorrord Ishkhanutyun notes: "Although the National Security Council as a public body doesn't do anything serious, its staff incur huge budget costs. In April alone the Security Council spent about 2 million 390 thousand drams on repair services for vehicles. In addition, in April this agency spent more than 610 thousand drams on printing. And the fact that that the post of Secretary of the Security Council has remained vacant for exactly one year shows the role and importance of the Security Council, which is allocated huge funds from the state budget, for the government."
Chorrord Ishkhanutyun reports in its article headlined 'The secret of using the diaspora's opportunities': "The Diaspora has not helped. Armenia occupied not an entirely convincing 16th place in the Eurovision Song Contest. But it's not about Eurovision, which has already long been a boring semi-political show. The question is that, particularly in the case of Armenia, the competition of this year once again discovered the fact that the Diaspora can only help in cases if, roughly speaking, there are reasons for help, if it hasn't any, no Diaspora will help it."
