LET’S ANTICIPATE THE DANGER AHEAD
By Shahan Kandaharian
Aztag Daily
April 15 2008
Lebanon
The news is officially confirmed. It is stated on the website of the
Helsinki Committee of the US Congress that the post-election situation
of Armenia will be discussed on the 17th of April.
Those responsible for forming the agenda of the committee base their
decision on the fact that during the past ten years, Armenia has
lived the most critical political crisis. Both the legality of the
presidential elections has been questioned by some opposition leaders
and the lifting of the emergency situation has been followed by some
measures that restrict the possibility of organizing public gatherings.
Both legally and politically organizing such hearings or discussions
can be seen as a standard procedure by any country especially in the
light of the fact that they restated the impact those discussions
would have on the Nagorno Karabagh peace process and the "Millenium
Challenges". Discussing both subjects could also politically be seen
as normal procedures for the United States given the fact that in the
first case it is a cosponsor in the group overseeing the talks, and
in the second case, the program is the result of a mutual agreement
between the two countries.
The reports that are going to be presented during those hearings and
the conclusions that are going to be drawn out of them are quite
clear. They cannot deviate from the overall political agenda that
the US employs towards the region generally and Armenia particularly.
There may be some delicate differences, presenting themselves directly
or indirectly; nevertheless, there is no doubt that once again we
will witness the preconditioning of the accomplishment of various
projects in the name of democratization.
However, the problem lies in another area in this case. It has been
announced that in addition to Mathew Bryza, the assistant deputy
US secretary of state, the discussions will be attended by Viken
Sarkessian, the Armenian President’s aide, and also by Arman Krikorian,
who is the political advisor of the former Armenian presidential
candidate Levon Der Bedrossian.
The two Armenian attendees have diametrically opposite outlooks on the
issues to be discussed. Whether they are going to voice their opinions
on the official stand or during non-official, sideway discussions,
it’s very clear from which perspective each will present his views. In
its effort to stage objective discussions, the Congress committee is
obviously trying to manifest the wide space of perspectives found in
the Armenian political stage by inviting the representatives of both
the party in power and the opposition.
However, in such a kind of panels and during discussions of Armenian
issues, there has not been any manifestation of the inner conflicts
of the Armenian political parties. No matter how much of national and
inter-communal differences or conflicts the Armenian lobby faced,
it always functioned having the higher interest of all Armenians
in perspective: that was seen in the case of the increase of the
aid to Armenian, the assertion of the right of self-determination of
Nagorno-Karabagh, the efforts against the military aid to Azerbaijan,
let alone the acknowledgement of the Armenian Genocide.
The representatives of the Armenian authorities and the opposition will
change the rules of the game if they move with national consciousness
and succeed in illustrating and discussing the post-election Armenian
situation in such a way as to avoid shedding any doubt on the process
of state-building in our country.
In order for us to anticipate the danger ahead, the Armenian factor
now, as always, in this delicate and sensitive stage, must disappoint
those who are eager to witness a sharp division in the Armenian
reality.