/PanARMENIAN.Net/
Armenian youth ready to meet the challenge and defend Artsakh
Home policy review for December 7-14
12.12.2009 GMT+04:00
The week in Armenia started with the commemoration of the victims of
Spitak earthquake, which had claimed more than 25 thousand lives back
in 1988. In connection with the 21st anniversary of the earthquake,
top executives of the country visited the disaster area. However, in
the political sense, all the attention of both the political
establishment and the Armenian community was focused on the
forthcoming meeting between the U.S. President Barack Obama and
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan.
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ In the evening of the same day President Serzh
Sargsyan received the delegation from the United Arab Emirates, led by
Foreign Minister Anwar Gargash. Welcoming the guests, Sargsyan
expressed confidence that the visit of the UAE Foreign Minister would
contribute positively to the strengthening of bilateral relations
between the two countries. He also appreciated the restrained and
balanced attitude of the UAE towards regional problems. Minister of
Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash expressed his gratitude for the warm
reception and said the Emirates were keenly interested in expanding
cooperation with Armenia.
On Monday, Armenian National Assembly hosted discussions over
Republican Party representative David Harutyunyan’s draft decision on
vesting State and Legal Affairs Committee with the authority to
monitor the implementation of the final report, submitted by the
interim committee investigating 1 March 2008 events. The draft
decision met the protest of `Heritage’ faction, particularly its
leader Stepan Safaryan, who expressed doubts as to the ruling party’s
impartiality. He called on MPs to support ARFD’s proposal on
establishing a separate ad-hoc committee dealing with monitoring
issues. Nonetheless, the country’s supreme legislative body approved
the decision and monitoring of the implementation of the final report
on examining the events of 1 March 2008 was assigned to the Commission
on State and Legal Affairs. Thus, coalition retained the power to
control the situation.
Earlier this week, Head of Heritage parliamentary faction Stepan
Safaryan made a new assessment of the statement issued by the Foreign
Ministers of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries in Athens on
December 1, declaring that in addition to the principles of non-use of
force, the right of nations to self-determination and territorial
integrity, the statement contained also a provision on equality of
nations. `This provision may be used by Azerbaijan to make NKR
participation in talks senseless and to equalize the Armenian and
Azeri communities’ rights on Nagorno Karabakh,’ Safaryan noted.
The day was completed with yet another statement issued by the
Armenian National Congress (ANC) in defense of Nicol Pashinyan, Editor
of the Armenian opposition newspaper Haykakan Zhamanak, registered as
a candidate for the National Assembly and currently under arrest.
Referring to the RA Electoral Code, the ANC declared that depriving a
parliamentary candidate of liberty was possible only with consent of
the Central Election Committee.
Tuesday, December 8 began with the discussions on the outcome of the
meeting between U.S. President Barack Obama and Turkish Prime Minister
Erdogan. Secretary of the parliamentary faction of the Republican
Party of Armenia Eduard Sharmazanov was the first to give an interview
to reporters. According to him, for the first time Turkish Prime
Minister Erdogan announced that the Armenian-Turkish Protocols
contained no preconditions. Commenting on the timing of the Protocols’
ratification in the Turkish Parliament, Mr. Sharmazanov reiterated
that in case of unjustified delays, the Armenian side would take
relevant steps.
However, Erdogan’s statements voiced at the press conference, did not
cause so positive a reaction among the representatives of other
political parties of Armenia. `Armenia should not be sensitive to
Turkish senior officials’ statements concerning the interrelation
between the Armenian-Turkish relations and the settlement of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict until they directly raise the issue at the
talks with the Armenian side,’ Naira Zohrabyan, MP of the
parliamentary faction `Prosperous Armenia told a PanARMENIAN.Net
reporter. `Should Turkey link the current rapprochement process with
the resolution of Karabakh conflict directly at the talks with
Armenia, our answer is simple – RA will withdraw from the current
process of normalization,’ Zohrabyan believes.
In its turn, ARF Dashnaktsutyun called on the Armenian President to
respond more harshly to the statements of the Turkish Prime Minister.
Head of the ARF faction Mr. Vahan Hovhannisyan recalled the statement
made by the Turkish Prime Minister, who stated that the Turkish
Parliament was an independent political authority and the government
could not press it for the ratification of the Protocols. According to
Hovhannisyan, the President of Armenia should give an adequate
response to such statements of the Turkish side.
At the governmental meeting of December 9, RA Prime Minister Tigran
Sargsyan gave a positive answer to the question issued by the Head of
the parliamentary faction ARF Dashnaktsutyun Mr. Vahan Hovhannisyan on
whether Armenia is interested in Turkey’s integration into the
European Union. According to the Prime Minister, if Turkey fulfills
all the requirements of the EU, it will undergo qualitative changes,
which would be very advantageous to Armenia in terms of her national
interests. He emphasized that Armenia would be able to achieve
recognition of the Armenian Genocide by Turkey only if the latter
changed seriously from inside, and the path to this lies through the
implementation of EU requirements.
On Wednesday, by invitation of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan,
Latvian President Valdis Zatlers carried out a three-day official
visit to Armenia. On the following day, at a joint press conference
with the Latvian President, Serzh Sargsyan stated that Official
Yerevan was ready to fulfill all international obligations it
undertook, and if Ankara dragged out ratification of the Protocols,
Yerevan would have to exercise its international rights. `I have
already instructed to work out amendments to the Armenian legislation
referring to signature, ratification and nullification of
international agreements,’ declared the Armenian President. Serzh
Sargsyan also stressed that the more the process was protracted, the
more barriers appeared for normalization of the Armenian-Turkish
relations. The Head of State also commented on the effects of the
Washington meeting between U.S. President Barack Obama and Turkish
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. According to him, Ankara has to
realize that in order to achieve peace and stability in the Caucasus,
establishing diplomatic relations with Armenia is inevitable.
However, optimism of the Armenian President, in spite of the
counterblow of the Armenian side in the form of proposed amendments to
the law on international agreements, was not shared by the ARF
Dashnaktsutyun in the person of ARFD Hay Dat Bureau Director Giro
Manoyan. According to him, after the meeting between Turkish Prime
Minister and U.S. President, Armenia should accuse Turkey of changing
the rules of `football diplomacy’, failing of negotiations and should
withdraw from the negotiation process. According to him, Erdogan’s
excuses on Turkish executive’s inability to exert pressure upon the
legislative, sounds ridiculous. `The sooner Armenia speaks about
Turkey’s violation of the negotiation process, the better chances she
will have to avoid negative consequences for Armenia,’ Manoyan noted.
However, the party `Orinats Yerkir’, which rarely makes any
statements, estimated President Serzh Sargsyan’s declaration as a
`proper response to Turkish senior officials’ intention to protract
ratification of RA-Turkish Protocols.’ Khachik Harutyunyan, MP from
Orinats Yerkir faction declared about it on Friday. He also touched
upon the Baku visit of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, who had arrived
in the capital of Azerbaijan with new proposals on Madrid principles.
Harutyunyan voiced hope that in future the revised principles would be
made public, as Karabakh conflict settlement issue gained
transparency.
The balanced policy carried out by the President of Armenia in the
issue of rapprochement with Turkey was supported also by the party
members of `Prosperous Armenia’. According to Naira Zohrabyan, Deputy
of the parliamentary faction of the party `PA’, President Serzh
Sargsyan’s statement on amending the RA Law on International
Agreements was an appropriate response to Turkey’s intention to
protract protocol ratification. `Turkish senior officials’ statements
to delay ratification of RA-Turkish Protocols already surpass all
limits,’ Zohrabyan said.
On December 11, Friday, youth sections of several Armenian political
parties made statements condemning the Azeri leadership declarations
on resuming hostilities. `We believe that peace is among the most
important values for humanity, especially for our region. The arrogant
statements of the Azerbaijani President and Defense Minister on the
necessity to `settle the Karabakh problem by military means’ show that
they have not drawn lessons from history. Such statements are
blameworthy even if they are made merely for propaganda purposes,’ the
statements said. It was also noted that in the event of renewal of
hostilities, the Armenian youth would accept the challenge and defend
the rights of the Nagorno-Karabakh people.
On Saturday, December 12, the party `Orinats Yerkir’ convened its 9th
congress in Yerevan. The congress was attended by President Serzh
Sargsyan, representatives of the `Republican Party of Armenia’, the
party `Prosperous Armenia’, ARF Dashnaktsutyun and Heritage. At the
congress members of the political council and leader of the party are
to be elected.
Mikhail Balayan