ARMENIAN SPEAKER PLAYS DOWN CONTROVERSIAL NATO REMARKS
Aravot, Yerevan
3 May 06
Armenian parliament speaker Artur Bagdasaryan has said that his
remarks about the need to strengthen relations with NATO did not mean
that he was against ties with Moscow. However, he said that “I am for
friendly but not vassal relations with Russia”. Bagdasaryan also said
that a serious rift with its partners could force his Law-Governed
Country Party leave the ruling coalition. The following is the text
of Margarit Yesayan report by Armenian newspaper Aravot on 3 May
headlined “We shall not create obstacles for the president of the
country or our coalition partners”
An interview with the speaker of the parliament Artur Bagdasaryan. He
does not rule out that the Law-Governed Country Party [LGCP] may
leave the ruling coalition.
[Aravot correspondent] Mr Bagdasaryan, we understood from your speech
that you are ready to leave the coalition. When are you going to
declare that?
[Artur Bagdasaryan] It is evident that there must be serious
and insurmountable disagreements for us to decide to leave the
coalition. True, I have said that we shall not create obstacles for
the president of the country or for our partners and if there is an
inconsistency of ideas and the style of working, the LGCP will leave
the coalition.
[Correspondent] How may this inconsistency be expressed? Why did
an interview with a German newspaper give rise to so many different
interpretations?
[Bagdasaryan] You know, when in 2003 the LGCP was blamed for
populism it was a little bit clear: that was an election year and the
pre-election passions had yet to calm down. When they continued doing
the same in 2004, that was surprising, and in 2005 this is pointless
as they have had enough time to understand that neither my official
visits to other countries, nor my working visits to the regions of
Armenia, nor my setting up of councils under the parliament, nor
topical speeches of the LGCP members are populism, but an ordinary
parliamentary work.
Moreover, I said nothing new in an interview with any foreign or
local newspaper. I do not rule out that there may be different
interpretations. I said the following: “towards Europe preserving
friendly relations with Russia”, that was the gist. Russia itself
does not consider NATO its enemy. I said in St. Petersburg that it
is unacceptable to juxtapose Russia and the European Union, and that
Armenia will not become a member of NATO tomorrow. Finally, NATO has
military as well as political bodies and there are countries which
became members only of the political organization.
Incidentally, Russia itself wants to deepen relations with NATO and to
set up a special NATO-Russia council. I said nothing about membership,
I spoke about NATO-Armenia individual partnership programmes. As
the chairman of the National Assembly, I know that the issue of
joining NATO is not on the foreign policy agenda of Armenia. But
when a journalist asks about different topics, including this one,
do you think it is correct to reply: “ask the president”? As for
Armenian-Russian relations, I highly appreciate them, and I said in
the same interview that I am for their becoming more purposeful. And
if as a politician I see my country adopting the western system of
values, this does not at all mean that I am against friendly relations
between Armenia and Russia.
[Correspondent] According to our information, at a Armenian-Russian
interparliamentary session in Moscow Russian State Duma deputy
Konstantin Zatulin, criticized you for making speech on Kiev’s Maydan
[main venue of the Orange Revolution in Kiev in 2004]. Is that
really so?
[Bagdasaryan] I am not going to comment on what Zatulin said. I am
the parliament speaker of an independent country and I made a speech
after being invited by President Viktor Yushchenko. I greeted Ukrainian
people in connection with their state holiday. I am for friendly but
not vassal relations with Russia as Zatulin might imagine.
[Correspondent] Do you not think that everything started from your
speech on privatization when you voiced serious corruption allegations?
[Bagdasaryan] My speech was directed not at persons but at the
phenomenon. We should not forget that we have free speech which
is called democracy. The fact that, as a result of our consistent
fight, schools, kindergartens, colleges and science companies may
not be privatized any more is already an achievement. Since the first
day after we came to power we said that we shall work and fight for
democratic, social and economic reforms. And we were fair on this way,
we spoke openly and publicly.
Armenia should be a country of the future. We should not be afraid of
our future, we should fight for that and for the progressive values
which we have and for the ideas to which we are devoted.