TER-PETROSIAN EXPRESSES HIS DISAPPOINTEMENT WITH EUROPEAN STRUCTURES

YEREVAN, MAY 3, NOYAN TAPAN. The European structures did not manifest
fidelity to principle, which they were expected to do, and failed to
control the actions of Armenia’s authorities and defend the security of
the Armenian people – by the way, not only Armenia has obligations to
the Council of Europe but the Council of Europe has some obligations to
the Armenian people. The first Armenian president, leader of the
opposition Levon Ter-Petrosian stated this at the second congress of
the National Movement on May 2.

In his words, the indifference of Europeans was the greatest surprise.
"They – except for Scandinavian and Eastern European countries where
idealism still exists – are guided by consumer values, cynicism, and in
response to the question about what they would do if such elections
were held in their country, they take offence and say that this is
racism," L. Ter-Petrosian said.

Ter-Petrosian said that the strict but actually empty statements of
European structures are worth little. He reminded the sentence included
in the first PACE report, according to which the election in Armenia
was mostly in line with Armenia’s commitments to the OSCE and the
Council of Europe. He underlined that this sentence is repeated in all
documents, and in fact by this sentence the European structures
legitimized the shameful February 19 election and inspired the Armenian
authorities to further violence. "But for this sentence, the bloody
March 1 events would not have taken place," Ter-Petrosian said.

According to him, the European structures tolerated the shameful
election in Armenia and accepted the March 1 events not as an organized
slaughter of the people but as clashes between police and people. He
pointed out that if European structures allow the Armenian authorities
to conduct an investigation into March 1 event and if this
investigation is not independent and transparent, then the Armenian
people will declare these structures persona non grata. In his words,
partial restoration of the European structures’ authority depends on
how consistent they will be in the issue of implementation of the PACE
resolution by Armenia. He expressed regret that the West (he stressed
that he means Europe) uses double standards, and it either aims to
ensure stability or prefers weak Armenian authorities – for solution of
the Karabakh problem.

"We must solve out problems themselves and not pin hopes on them,"
Levon Ter-Petrosian stated.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress