US official apologizes for Karabakh remarks – Armenian minister
Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
21 Jan 05
Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan has said that US Assistant
State Secretary Elizabeth Jones has apologized for her recent remarks
describing breakaway Nagornyy Karabakh as a criminal separatist
regime. In his interview with Armenian television, Oskanyan said he
had a telephone conversation with Jones and she called her statement a
“misunderstanding”. Oskanyan also praised the Armenian public for
protesting against the statement and called on it to calm down and
consider the issue to be closed. The following is the text of report
by Armenian Public TV on 21 January. Subheadings have been inserted
editorially:
[Presenter] Mr Oskanyan, you signed a memorandum of understanding
between the secretariat of the Arab League [the League of Arab States]
and Armenia in Cairo. At the same time, US Assistant Secretary of
State Elizabeth Jones made her well-known statement. What is your
attitude to it?
“Apology”
[Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan] You know, I was watching
the developments from Cairo. But when I came back and read the press,
I saw that our people had expressed a strong protest at that
statement. I was positively surprised at all this and naturally, this
is the way it should be. Because it was an accusation that can never
be accepted. These protests had to be expressed and I consider them
normal.
The cause of the public outcry was the content of the article
presented to the people by the media. I consider the contents of the
information presented to be normal, too, because I can say, summing up
Jones’s statement, that based on that statement, the contents of the
articles presented to our people cannot have been different. Because
that statement was indeed ambiguous. Although the points in the
general accusation cannot apply to Karabakh, on the other hand, this
statement does not rule out Karabakh either. This is where the
ambiguity lies. The fact that the statement did not rule out Karabakh
and that the accusation was strong and used the term criminal
separatists gave us grounds to express a strong protest.
I had a telephone conversation with Elizabeth Jones about half an hour
ago. It was her initiative to call me. Now I can tell you what
exactly she said. I asked her if I could tell our public what you
said, she said yes. She said – I apologize for the misunderstanding on
my part. I assure you that I did not and could not mean Nagornyy
Karabakh by using the term criminal separatists. I apologize for that.
I think we have to calm down after this phone call and consider the
issue to be closed. If we give it a closer look, we can see that it
could not have been otherwise.
It is true that the statement was ambiguous and caused doubts as to
what really happened. But on the other hand, taking into consideration
that the USA is involved in the process [of settling the Nagornyy
Karabakh conflict], has had a stable position for these years, issued
neutral statements to date and that the US Congress gives Nagornyy
Karabakh 15m dollars in aid every year, I was feeling that there was a
kind of misunderstanding involved. I welcome and appreciate the fact
that Jones had the courage to apologize for it.
Arab world “important”
As for the Arab League, I told your TV channel in Cairo that it is a
historic event. Although we only signed a memorandum of understanding,
it can be assessed as the start of the development of our relations in
the future. It is historic because this understanding reflects the
glorious history of the Armenian and Arab peoples and their
friendship. Today we already have a chance to build relations not only
with individual Arab states, but also with the entity that unites
them. In turn, this opens up long-term opportunities for deepening and
developing our relations with Arab states in the future.
The Arab world is important to us and we have Armenian communities
there. As you may know, we have been lately involved in the Iraq
issue, too, and we have our own position on the Palestinian issue as
we support its independence. The position of Arab states on the
Nagornyy Karabakh issue is also of importance to us. We also cooperate
with them within international organizations. So this memorandum opens
up opportunities for us to work efficiently with this centre [the Arab
League], to raise our problems there and help each other in an
atmosphere of cooperation.
Holocaust and Armenian genocide
[Presenter] Mr Oskanyan, you are expected to visit the USA on 24
January to take part in the special UN session dedicated to the 60th
anniversary of the liberation of prisoners of war in the Second World
War. What will be the topic of your speech there?
[Oskanyan] I should say that it is a historic event, too. It is the
60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. It will be marked in
a special UN session. The fact that a representative of Armenia,
i.e. its foreign minister, will take part in it is already a political
position in itself. It is our moral duty to be there and have our
say. Auschwitz is the embodiment of the Holocaust, which is related to
Hitler. Hitler’s famous statement – who remembers the Armenian
genocide today – is related to the Holocaust.
Genocide is a topical issue in international politics. We can neither
mark the Holocaust justly, nor speak about preventing future cases of
genocide without going back to the recognition of the first genocide
of the 20th century and talking about it. The gist of my address will
be the following: genocide can be prevented through condemning and
recognizing it.
Good relations with Italy
I will travel to Rome after New York and will join our president
[Robert Kocharyan]. He will start his official visit to Italy on 27
January. It is also important, since it will be the president’s first
official visit to Italy in seven years. We have quite good relations
with Italy. I believe that this visit will strengthen our relations
with that country, especially in the sphere of the economy and small
and medium-sized businesses. The dialogue between Armenia and Italy is
developing within the framework of the EU, especially its New
Neighbourhood Programme.