Vartan Oskanian: I wanted to achieve the maximum for Armenia
06.06.2009 15:32 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ `Most important foreign policy legacy of the two
governments I were a part of was clearly our willingness to enter into
relations with Turkey with no pre-conditions,’ RA FM of 1998-2008,
Head of Civilitas Fund, Vartan Oskanian stated.
According to him, the history will show that the first administration
did what it could to secure Karabagh’s security during and after a
time of war.
`The other is our clear commitment to Europe. Although we haven’t done
enough I think to move towards European values and traditions, we have
stated clearly from the beginning that our view is toward Europe, that
is where we belong,’ Armenian politician noted.
The ex-FM emphasized that applying a complementary policy it means one
act among different countries.
`I wanted to achieve the maximum for Armenia. Not only did we have
little diplomatic or political experience, we also had limited
resources. So, if we only had 10 or later 20 embassies around the
world, it is difficult for us to communicate with the other 180
capitals around the world. The first thing international organizations
made possible was direct contact. It was during those annual or
semi-annual meetings that we could converse with ambassadors of those
other countries and make sure they understood our perspectives, our
policies, our positions. We also learned a very important lesson about
multilateralism, that is, if you want others to be interested in your
issues, your causes, your problems, you must be interested in
theirs. We cannot be a member of the world community and not be
concerned with global issues like weapons of mass destruction, climate
change, minority rights, migration, reforming international
institutions. If we’re not interested in those topics, if we don’t
have something to say about them, then we shouldn’t be surprised if
they leave the room when we start talking about self-determination or
genocide recognition or regional cooperation. International
organizations force you to become a member of the international
community,’ asbarez.com cited the Head of Civilitas Fund as saying.