RA PRESIDENT EXPECTS NA SPEAKER’S EXPLANATIONS OVER THE LATTER’S STATEMENTS ABOUT ISSUES OF FOREIGN POLICY

Noyan Tapan
Apr 27 2006

YEREVAN, APRIL 27, NOYAN TAPAN. According to the “Haykakan Zhamanak”
newspaper, the sitting of the coalition council that recently takes
place at President Robert Kocharian’s office will also touch upon
the issue of Armenian National Assembly Speaker Artur Baghdasarian
soon. According to the daily, Kocharian got indignant with NA Speaker’s
statement in his interview to the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”
German newspaper, that Armenia is going towards NATO and RF should
not stand in this way. And RPA has been angry with Artur Baghdasarian
since the previous four-day session because of the stir made by him
around the 2001-2003 privatization report. And all together will
demand an explanation from Artur Baghdasarian over his expression
that if the coming elections are falsified like the previous ones,
serious changes are awaited in Armenia. In his interview to the
“Golos Armenii” newspaper Robert Kocharian commenting upon Artur
Baghdasarian’s statement about joining NATO said: “Armenia is not going
to join NATO. Membership to the Collective Security Treaty Organization
(CSTO) and the current high level of military-technical cooperation
with Russia solve the issue of providing the country’s security to
the suifficient extent”. According to the President, today Armenia
prepares for closer cooperation with the European Union within the
framework of the New Neighborhood policy but “we do not set the issue
of joining EU, either. Armenia’s Euroatlantic ambitions are balanced
and realistic, they are positively perceived by the European structures
and do not give rise to problems in relations with Russia. We voice
our position in Moscow, in Brussels and in Washington,” the President
said. Kocharian also mentioned that NA Speaker is received by him every
week and “it was strange to learn about such viewpoints expressed by
him from the German newspaper”. Besides, according to the President,
the legal-contractual bases of Armenian-Russian relations in the
military-technical sphere, as well as the agreement on membership
to CSTO were ratified by the Armenian parliament, which expresses
Armenia’s position in the sphere of defence. “All officials are obliged
to respect this position,” the President said and emphasized: “By the
way, the country’s foreign policy, according to the Constitution,
is determined by the Armenian President. The Speaker’s statement,
possibly, expresses his changed viewpoint. I think we need to wait for
his explanations over this issue,” the Armenian President emphasized.