SERZH SARGSYAN: FROM APRIL TO APRIL

ArmInfo
2009-04-09 15:52:00

ArmInfo Today, is the first anniversary of the inauguration of
the third President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan. Sargsyan came into
power amid mass protests against the outcome of the presidential
election. With, literally, burning ground under his feet, during the
first months of his rule, Sargsyan demonstrated strong commitment to
consolidate the Armenian national in order to confront the external
challenges and to resolve the national tasks.

Mildly speaking, the situation was unfavorable. It is not a secret that
many families in Armenia are, literally, struggling for survival. In
such a situation, any outburst of displeasure in the opposition may
trigger mass public disturbances. In this light, the primary task
of the President is to concentrate the efforts of the government and
society in order to minimize the consequences of the crisis. For this
purpose, it is necessary to resolve social problems.

One of the positive steps of the President towards this end was the
appointment of the chairman of the Central Bank Tigran Sargsyan as
Prime Minister. Tigran Sargsyan had all necessary competences for
the position. As the chairman of the CB he had created a mechanism of
generation of economic ideas and programs and acquired experience and
grip necessary for effectively managing the economy. It should be noted
the President preferred Tigran Sargsyan to some of his own "allies,"
thereby, giving preference to national interests and elementary
logic. As a result, we can already see substantial progress in the
tax and customs reforms and growth in the tax collection rate due to
the use of effective fiscal mechanisms. All these achievements are
part of the economic development program launched at the beginning
of the last year.

The Armenian authorities have always realized the necessity of
cooperation with the Armenian Diaspora. However, Sargsyan was the
first to show practical approach to this problem. He has established
a Ministry of Diaspora and always meets with Diaspora Armenians during
his foreign visits irrespective of their influence in their respective
countries. The Diaspora must feel itself a full partner of Armenia,
which will have most positive consequences for the Armenian state.

Over a year of presidency, Sargsyan’s foreign political activity
was unprecedented in all the key directions. The first place in this
activity is held by the Armenian leadership’s efforts to normalize
the relations and establish diplomatic relations with Turkey. It
is noteworthy that the first step in this direction was done by the
Armenian president who invited Turkish President Abdullah Gul to a
football match between the national teams of Armenia and Turkey. This
step immediately called "football diplomacy" marked the beginning of
the Armenian-Turkish dialogue.

Experts think th at thanks to this dialogue, the Armenian-Turkish
border will be opened in 2009 and it will be easier to establish
diplomatic relations between the countries in the future. There
is no need to speak about the advantages of opening the border for
Armenia which has been blocked by Azerbaijan for about 18 years. It
is noteworthy that the Armenian leadership, which is doing its best
to normalize the Armenian-Turkish relations, continues stating
that the Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Turkey can’t be a subject
of discussion. Here another important fact should be mentioned –
Turkey practically ceased calling the Karabakh conflict settlement
as a precondition for establishing diplomatic relations with Armenia.

Unlike the aggressive behavior of Baku, the peaceful policy of
Armenian leadership has already given its results. In December 2008
OSCE countries’ foreign ministers made a statement saying that the
Karabakh problem has no military solution and should be settled on
the basis of three principles of the international law: nations’ right
to self-determination, territorial integrity and non-use of force. A
similar approach was applied and fixed in the Declaration signed by
the presidents of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan in Meindorf castle,
Moscow suburbs, on November 2, which became an important step throwing
a new obstacle on the way of Azerbaijan’s militarist thoughts.

In general, the foreign political activity of the Arm enian president
was maximally intensive. Sargsyan personally published Armenia’s
position at Munich Security Conference, World Economic Forum in Davos,
UN General Assembly session. Sargsyan also paid state and official
visits to Russia, France, Bulgaria, Georgia, Brussels.

The president’s activity within a year after he assumed office was
active enough. It should be the way it is under, to put it mildly,
the complicated conditions, that Sargsyan came to power.

David Stepanyan 9 April 2009 ArmInfo

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress