US envoy tries to be impartial in assessment of situation in Armenia – paper
Haykakan Zhamanak, Yerevan
23 Apr 04
Text of Hayk Gevorkyan report by Armenian newspaper Haykakan Zhamanak
on 23 April headlined “The ambassador tried to seem neutral”
US Ambassador to Armenia John Ordway held a regular news conference
yesterday. Naturally, its main theme was the domestic political
situation in Armenia after the 13 April events [opposition rally].
The keynote of the ambassador’s answers was that the events should
develop in a way that would rule out violence and ensure a
constructive dialogue between the authorities and the opposition.
“It is obvious that there are many different views regarding Armenia’s
future and those differences should be resolved only in a democratic
and civilized way, exclusively by means of political dialogue,” the
ambassador said.
However, his words concerning the dialogue were more directed to the
authorities: “It is very important that the authorities create a basis
for political discussions and the opposition takes part in these
discussions.” It was evident that it was a principled task for US
Ambassador to Armenia John Ordway not to make any statements
expressing a preference for either party. So, he noted several times
that actions of the authorities did not promote dialogue. The
ambassador asked a rhetorical question: is it realistic to wait for
the opposition to enter the dialogue when, for example, police starts
acting in front of their parties’ offices?
According to Ordway, it is no good if the parties think that they are
in a deadlock. He especially stressed that all the actions aimed at
coming out of the current situation should be decided “in Armenia and
by Armenians”.
He said that in the last 10 days he had had numerous meetings and
telephone talks with party leaders, including [Armenian President
Robert] Kocharyan. But he declined to specify the details of the
meeting with Kocharyan.
As for the recognition of the Armenian genocide by the USA, the
ambassador believes that the USA has not changed its position
regarding this issue. “But I am expecting that in two days we shall
have the US president’s statement dedicated to 24 April [marked in
Armenia as “genocide day”] and it will then be clear how he decides to
form our policy,” John Ordway said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
