SOME POLITICAL EXPERTS DID NOT UNDERSTAND AMBASSADOR EVANS’ SPEECH

Azg/arm
26 Jan 05

Though, John Evans, US ambassador to Armenia, repeated for five times
in the course of the interview given to Armenia TV that the Assistant
of the US State Secretary didn’t call the NKR authorities “criminal
elements” and the American lady has personally called Vartan Oskanian,
RA foreign minister, and assured that she didn’t mean Nagorno Karabakh
and its authorities by saying”criminal separatists,” the Armenian
press and the TV continued the “anti-Johns” hysteria on Saturday and
Sunday.

It turns out that the denials given by ambassadors Evans and Johns are
of no great importance for some Armenian political experts and
journalists. The point is that they are speaking of the words the
American lady didnâ=80=99t even say. Our local newspapers published
the analytical articles of the political experts instead of publishing
the interview give by Evans.

Aram Sargsian was the most serious among them. According to Haykakan
Zhamanak, Sargsian stated that if the Armenian authorities make no
conclusions of the statement made by Johns, there can be very
complicated consequences. He predicted that one day RA authorities
might flee from Armenia, one day theymay wake up and see that they are
not in Armenia any longer, they have escaped from fear.

Stepan Gevorgian, political expert, pointed out in Aravot, that the
statement made by the American lady should be observed “in the context
of the consequences occurred as a result of the wrong foreign policy
conducted by RA authorities.” Hrant Khachatrian, leader of Union of
National Self-Determination, that used to be fed by the sources
received from Karabakh, said: “The very regime of Armenia was
described as that of the separatists and the criminals,” as “everybody
knows that we can’t lie that NKR is out of Armeniaâ=80=99s control in
some aspect.”

The Second Glance program over Shant TV was the most exciting one. It
was broadcasted on Sunday evening, i.e. 2 days later the denial of
Evans and Johns. Some of the guests of the program pretended that
they don’t understand anything. For instance, Sergey Shaqariants,
political expert, expressed theopinion that Johns is carrying out the
policy of the US State Department, while Aghasi Yenoqian called the
NKR authorities criminal and corrupted, because the opposition won the
latest elections for the local administration bodies.

Suren Zolian also showed his unawareness, saying that, in fact, the US
State Department recognized Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity by
spreading the January 18 statement. Afterwards, when a student asked
how could Mrs. Johnssay such a thing on days of sending forces to
Iraq, Shaqariants, political expert, responded: “Perhaps, that was the
way the US thanked us. Yenoqian observed the statement made by the
American lady (in fact, the things she didn’tsay) in the context of
the coming meeting between Bush and Putin.

While, some of the newspapers couldn’t help admiration and joy in the
articles they issued. Even the Azeri press was not that delighted for
the “criminal elements” word combination. One of the newspapers was no
excited by these words that they even remembered the prediction of
Vano Siradeghian, saying that Robert Kocharian should be passed to the
International Court in Hague.

The press of the AAM (All Armenian Movement) and of the former
authorities were also delighted. The position of the authorities was
queer, as the local administration bodies, doctors, intelligentsia
gathered against the American by their assistance. The Public TV
worked well on those days, highlighting the arrangements reminding of
the Communist times.

The Azeri press didn’t touch upon the American lady’s statements that
much. The game between Nevtchi-Pyunik and the victory of the Baku
team were in the center of the attention on those days. The official
Baku echoed the events on January 22, after the denial of ambassadors
Evans and Johns. Araz Azimov, Azeri deputy foreign minister, said in
the interview to ANS TV: “I think that Mrs. Johns’ statement was
objective and corresponded to the reality.” Asfor the statement of
Oskanian, saying that Johns personally called him and explained the
situation, Azimov said that it is a mere PR step and advised the
journalists not to pay attention to the statements made by RA foreign
minister and treat then less seriously.

By Tatoul Hakobian