HOVANNISIAN DEFENDS KARABAKH BILL, DOWNPLAYS ELECTION DEFEAT
By Anna Israelian, Ruzanna Khachatrian and Atom Markarian
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Sept 3 2007
Opposition leader Raffi Hovannisian defended over the weekend his calls
for Armenia to formally recognize the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic (NKR) as an independent state, denying any ulterior motives
behind them. He also put a brave face on his defeat in a repeat
election to the Armenian parliament.
In an extensive interview with RFE/RL, Hovannisian insisted that
his controversial draft bill on the NKR’s recognition "would in no
way instigate another war" with Azerbaijan. "Nor is it a means of
solving personal or partisan issues," he said. "On the contrary,
it aims to put our problems on the table, before the people."
The bill in question was rejected last week by all parliament factions
except Hovannisian’s Zharangutyun (Heritage) party. Leaders of the
pro-government majority in the National Assembly said that the NKR
has long been effectively recognized by Armenia and that the bill’s
passage would only complicate international efforts to settle the
Karabakh conflict. Some of them accused the U.S.-born politician of
trying to score political points with the initiative.
Hovannisian, who had served as Armenia’s foreign minister in 1992,
rejected the claims, suggesting that they were prompted by "personal
jealousy." He also chided the Armenian press for its overwhelmingly
negative reaction to his bill.
"I simply presented something which has long required a public
discussion," he said. "In my capacity as the first foreign minister
of the Republic of Armenia, I myself placed, together with [then]
President Levon Ter-Petrosian the issue of Karabakh’s international
recognition at the heart of our first year of diplomacy," he added.
In its official reaction to the bill, the Armenian government said
on Friday that the NKR’s unilateral recognition by Yerevan would be
premature. "That must come at a time when it can be maximally effective
and can help achieve a lasting resolution. That time has not yet come,"
Foreign Ministry spokesman Vladimir Karapetian said in a statement.
Speaking to RFE/RL, Hovannisian also addressed his poor performance in
the August 26 repeat parliamentary election that was won a candidate
of the governing Republican Party. Official election results gave
him only 3.4 percent of the vote.
Hovannisian refused to concede defeat, calling the vote "fundamentally
unfree and unfair." Still, he chose to congratulate the election
winner. In addition, Zharangutyun’s representative to the Central
Election Commission endorsed its official results.
The Zharangutyun leader denied on Monday any ambiguity in his party’s
stance and claimed that the outcome of the race was decided by vote
buying and other irregularities. "It is wrong to have an illusion that
a small party could have documented and exposed all that, especially
considering the fact those vote irregularities occurred before voting
day," he said.
"The fact that we got more than votes without bribes is of great value
to me because our goal in those elections was to present a political
alternative," he said.