KOCHARIAN DISAGREES WITH THE UNITED STATES: AMERICAN EXPERT SAYS THERE WON’T BE A COLOR REVOLUTION IN ARMENIA
by Yuri Simonian
Translated by Elena Leonova

Source: Nezavisimaya Gazeta, No. 81, April 19, 2007, p. 6
Agency WPS
What the Papers Say Part A (Russia)
April 20, 2007 Friday

An update on the political situation in Armenia; Armenian President
Robert Kocharian has completed a three-day official visit to Egypt.

The visit included a joint business forum, where the two sides signed
a free trade agreeement and some banking sector agreements. Kocharian
expressed strong disagreement with US policy in the Middle East.

Armenian President Robert Kocharian has completed a three-day official
visit to Egypt, where he met with President Hosni Mubarak, Prime
Minister Ahmed Nazif, parliamentary speaker Fath Surur, and Amr Musa,
secretary-general of the League of Arab States. The visit included
a joint business forum, where the two sides signed a free trade
agreeement and some banking sector agreements; Kocharian described
this as highly significant. "The level of Armenian-Egyptian economic
relations should correspond to the high level of bilateral political
cooperation," said Kocharian, adding a diplomatic remark to the
effect that the economies of Armenia and Egypt are complementary,
not obstacles to each other.

Kocharian made some clearer statements at his meeting with League
of Arab States envoys in Cairo. Firstly, he emphasized that Armenia
always supports the position of Arab states in all international
organizations. Secondly, he expressed strong disagreement with US
policy in the Middle East: "The Iraq problem should be resolved
by gradually reducing the foreign military presence, establishing
dialogue between ethnic groups within Iraq, and involving interested
countries in a peace regulation process." Kocharian said that the
war had also had an adverse impact on the Armenian community in Iraq.

According to Kocharian, the situation shows that the West’s hopes
have not been justified, and that simple solutions should not have
been applied to a country as complex as Iraq. Kocharian emphasized
that Armenia has not participated in military operations against
Baghdad, and its current mission in Iraq is humanitarian, consisting
of teachers and drivers.

Before leaving for Belgrade to take part in Nagorno-Karabakh
negotiations, Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian described Kocharian’s
visit to Egypt as extremely important in both political and economic
terms: "Armenia is one of the few countries in the non-Arab world
which has signed a memorandum of understanding with the League of
Arab States."

Kocharian’s statements are unlikely to please Washington, which seems
to be at a loss regarding what to do about the expanding cracks
in relations with Yerevan. On the one hand, Armenia is annoyingly
recalcitrant on relations with Azerbaijan and Turkey; on the other,
there’s a powerful Armenian lobby group in America. Thus far, the
United States has chosen to use mild economic pressure and insistent
advice about ensuring that the May 12 election is democratic, along
with a veiled warning about cutting humanitarian aid.

Daniel Fried, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian
Affairs, spoke out strongly last week. Radio Liberty reports that
at a press roundtable with foreign journalists in Washington, Fried
said: "We want to see an improvement in the Armenian parliamentary
elections. That is important. We don’t expect perfection. We don’t
expect to go from deeply flawed to perfect, but we do expect to see
substantial forward progress. That is important." He went on to say:
"Armenia, given the strength of the Armenian Diaspora and given
Armenia’s links to the West, frankly, you ought to be way ahead of
Georgia. But I ask you, are you in terms of democratic reforms?

Armenia should be doing better. It should be a leader. It should be
a prospering country."

The Yerevan government has been sensitive to hints from the United
States about the upcoming election; it is well aware that the color
revolutions in neighboring Georgia and Ukraine started straight
after elections. Richard Kirakosian, an American expert attending
a conference on elections in Yerevan, says that Washington will not
export democracy to Armenia, since it expects development there to be
stable. Kirakosian says: "Armenia has chosen evolutionary rather than
revolutionary processes, and the parliamentary election in May will
be an important democracy test. The US State Department has changed
its policy – it does not expect a perfect election, but it does expect
Armenia to progress and develo on the path of democratization.

In contrast to Ukraine or Kyrgyzstan, Arminia has proposed a good
version of stability, based on institutional development."