US bureaucrat calls pressurizing Armenia

Regnum, Russia
Oct 19 2006

US Permanent Representative to the OSCE Julie Finley deems
very important inviting OSCE observers to monitor the process of
parliamentary elections 2007 in Armenia. The US functionary expressed
her urge to journalists Oct 19 in Yerevan following an OSCE conference
on trafficking.

Finley said at an informal meeting that pressure should be exerted
upon Armenian government so that it invited the OSCE observers,
for they could not perform monitoring without an invitation. She
says that talking with Armenian officials, she has heard that the
Armenian side intents to hold democratic elections in 2007, and she
so far has no reason not to believe them.

The US Ambassador to OSCE says she regrets that the President of
Armenia, for the reason that his schedule had been too tight, had
not admitted her. She says she wanted to discuss with the president
the future of Armenia.

According to REGNUM information, the US representative to the OSCE did
not appeal in advance to schedule the meeting with the President of
Armenia. Besides, according to the official protocol, an ambassador
of a foreign state to an organization does not belong to the circle
of officials who can be admitted by a head of state.
From: Baghdasarian