HOVHANNISIAN: “ONE MORE CHANCE TO CONNECT STRUGGLE AGAINST INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM WITH NK CONFLICT WAS MISSED”

Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Oct 6 2005

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 5, NOYAN TAPAN. “In summer the world was shocked by
London terrorist acts. The voice of Armenia and Armenians wasn’t heard
in the noise of condemnation,” this was mentioned in the open address
of Raffi Hovhannisian, founder and head of the Armenian Center for
National and International Studies, Chairman of the Zharangutiun
(Heritage) party, first RA Foreign Minister, publicized on the
occasion of organization’s 11th anniversary. While, according to him,
“the inability of the Armenian leaders to voice our decisive word on
the anti-terrorist front, to emphasize our worthy role leaves the
country out of the procees of world development depreciating the
value and meaning of our victims.”

In R.Hovhannisian’s opinion, the authorities missed one more
opportunity to connect the general struggle against terrorism with
the Artsakh conflict in the best way. “It’s time to remind to the
civilized society that an Artsakh soldier fighting some years ago
for his freedom also ran across with Afghan mojaheds, with hired
pilots bombing peaceful towns. The hypocritical officials and obliging
diplomacy displayed spinelessness being unable to present the captive
foreign hirelings and documents confiscated from them to the world
as a weighty proof of our great contribution to struggle against the
international terrorism.”

“Then while they were telling tales about their own adherence to
principles, they weren’t able to widely voice the fact that ill-famed
terrorist Shamil Basayev defended the positions of our enemy in Shushi
in the Karabakh-Azeri war, then he organized a slaughter of hundreds of
peaceful people in Russia. As a result the Artsakh struggle for human
rights and freedom that formerly enjoyed world support became only
a territorial problem discussed by several international officials,”
Raffi Hovhannisian declared.