YEREVAN, JULY 8, NOYAN TAPAN. We completely lack political dispute culture in Armenia. Ethnographer Hranush Kharatian gave assurance at a discussion organized on July 7 by the Civilitas Foundation. In her words, before each state or local self-government elections political forces start discrediting one another. And the saddest thing is that press also gives much place to bad language on its pages. According to H. Kharatian, those guilty should be punished by the judicial order for a culture of a civilized dispute and in general political culture to be formed. Helsinki Association Chairman Avetik Ishkhanian said that today society considers opposition those who abuse the authorities louder than they and treat the notion of "constructive opposition" with distrust. Touching upon the proposal of solving the issue by court, A. Ishkhanian stated that taking into consideration the current condition of the judicial system one can conclude that in any case oppositionists will be found guilty. ARFD member Artsvik Minasian, in his turn, mentioned that both politicians and press overstep the limits of correctness. In his words, the authorities created the Azatamtutyun newspaper purely for abuse, so as not to lag behind the Chorrord Ishkhanutyun.

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