PRESIDENT SARGSYAN REAFFIRMS ARMENIA’S DISPOSITION IN BRUSSELS
Panorama.am
12:47 31/05/2010
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Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan traveled to the Belgian capital of
Brussels on a working visit May 25-27. The full agenda of Presidents’
visit and the numerous meetings did not provide opportunity to analyze
President Serzh Sargsyan’s discussions and statements duly.
Before referring to the President’s visit, we find it necessary to
speak about the significance of the Belgian capital. This is necessary
for profound comprehension of the full spectrum of President Sargsyan’s
meetings.
Thus, besides being the capital of Belgium, Brussels is also the
headquarters and capital of NATO and the EU. This modest city of
European standards has deserved this status as it is situated
in the crossline of the European civilizations – Romance and
Germanic. Having inherited the rich historical traditions of both of
them today Brussels has turned to one of the symbols of the united
Europe. In the meanwhile, note that in terms of this the main “rival”
of Brussels is the other Franco-Germanic city – Strasbourg, which is
also associated with the European unity.
President’s agenda in Brussels
Naturally, during his Brussels visit, President’s meetings with the
leadership of NATO, EU and Belgium, as well as the traditional meetings
with the representatives of the Armenian community were scheduled. On
May 25, President met with the NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh
Rasmussen. On the same day President Sargsyan had a working dinner
with the President of the European People’s Party Wilfried Martens,
in the evening he met with the representatives of the Armenian
communities of Belgium and the Netherlands.
The second day of President’s visit was even fuller. On May 26 Serzh
Sargsyan met with Karel De Gucht, European Commissioner for Trade.
Later the Armenian President met with the President of the Belgian
Senate Armand de Decker, as well as the President of the European
Commission Jose Manuel Barroso.
Afterwards, President Sargsyan had meetings with two members of the
European Commission – European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary
Affairs Olli Rehn and Commissioner for Enlargement and European
Neighbourhood Policy Stefan Fule. On the same day President visited
“Villa Ampen” center, founded by the Pogosian Foundation.
The following day, May 27, the President had meetings with the
High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security
Policy Catherine Ashton, and the President of the EU Council Herman
Van Rompuy.
Besides the meetings, during his Brussels visit Serzh Sargsyan had
joint press conferences with Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Jose Manuel
Barroso and Herman Van Rompuy.
During his visit to “Villa Ampen”, President Sargsyan delivered a
welcome speech.
Among a number of issues, President’s discussions and statements
mainly focused on Armenia-Turkey normalization and Nagorno-Karabakh
settlement processes.
Armenia – West
Armenia-West formula is strictly conditional. Though NATO and EU
headquarters are situated in Brussels and the members of the latter
are mostly represented in the former one, currently Armenia-NATO,
Armenia-EU interrelations are lying on quite different platforms and
have quite different missions.
In terms of NATO, the stress lies on the military-political sphere,
while the EU focuses on the economic one. However, in both Armenia-NATO
and Armenia-EU relations there is one significant component: support
to democratic governance and institutional reforms, humanitarian and
value spheres.
All these issues as well as the ways of their further progress were
discussed during President’s meetings. During his meeting with Anders
Fogh Rasmussen both the implementation of the Private Partnership
Action Plan and the joint military drills and Armenia’s extended
participation in NATO international peacekeeping activities were
estimated as successful.
Highlighting the efficiency of the NATO-backed reforms implemented in
the RA Armed Forces, President Sargsyan said Armenia is committed to
continue collaboration with NATO allies and partner states in all the
spheres the agenda includes: combat against international terrorism,
protection of borders, peacekeeping mission.
Issues related to the relations with the EU were more actively raised.
The discussions with the European Commission representatives focused
on a wide frame of cooperation issues: signing a free trade agreement
with the EU, security in the South Caucasus, EU Neighborhood Policy
and Euro-integration issues.
To sum up, we would recall a part from President Sargsyan’s statement
at a joint press conference with Herman Van Rompuy.
“The promotion of Armenia-EU high-level political dialogue is a
speaking evidence of the existing common value system. Armenia-EU
relations are at a dynamically developing stage. EU is of special
significance to Armenia not only as an important role-player in the
international field but as a side that renders multifaceted assistance
to the implementation of reforms in different spheres of social life
in our country.”
Armenia not principally against Turkey’s Euro-integration
It was beyond doubt the Armenian-Turkish normalization process would
be raised during President’s Brussels meetings. First, here Europe’s
stance towards the close borders goes with all the consequences coming:
support and mediation in the process, etc.
Second, this is the EU-Turkey relations platform. In terms of this,
Armenia-Turkey relations are both a kind of indicator for Europe
(to check Turkey’s level of being-civilized) and a whip (to make
pressure o Turkey if needed).
Therefore, it shouldn’t seem accidental that Europeans kept the issue
in focus during the meetings with the Armenian officials.
As to President Serzh Sargsyan, this was his first visit to the
West following his April 22 address over suspension of ratification
process of Armenia-Turkey protocols and even though the West had
hailed President’s decision, it was necessary to reaffirm Armenia’s
disposition and give clarifications to the European officials over the
causes. As the received response shows, President Sargsyan succeeded
in doing this.
“Turkey has left no other choice for us but freeze the ratification
process of the protocols. We have presented our comments over
the issue, though, even this hasn’t made Turkey move forward,”
President Sargsyan said in Brussels, highlighting that by putting
forth preconditions and breaking the agreed terms, Turkey has spent
its stock of being a reliable negotiating partner.
European officials hailed Armenia’s disposition and President’s
decision as despite the existing hurdles, he has not closed the door
for continuation of the dialogue.
The most important scene over Armenia-Turkey process, in which
Europeans also showed great interest, however, found place in Serzh
Sargsyan’s answer over Armenia’s attitude to Turkey’s EU membership
attempts.
“Armenia would be only glad if Turkey could meet all the standards for
EU membership as this will mean we deal with another, more reliable
and stable country with values very close to us,” S. Sargsyan said.
Thus, the President stated that:
a) Today’s Turkey is an unstable country and unreliable partner
b) Turkey can meet EU standards only if it acquires the mentioned
qualities and these should be expressed through the commitment to
fulfill agreements reached with Armenia.
Another point of the statement made at the presence of the EU President
is that Armenia is not principally against Turkey’s EU membership.
Nagorno-Karabakh settlement format cannot be changed
Karabakh issue was the major focus of President’s Brussels statements,
one of the highlights being the way and format of the settlement of
the conflict.
President Sargsyan said and all his interlocutors agreed that the
dispute should be solved through peaceful talks (note that China’s
MFA also reaffirmed the same disposition last week).
“The OSCE Minsk Group has conducted and should continue to conduct
Nagorno-Karabakh negotiating process,” Anders Fogh Rasmussen said.
Jose Manuel Barroso, in turn, added:
“We are ready to continue supporting the Minsk Group-mediated process
in the future as well.”
President Serzh Sargsyan highlighted at a joint press conference with
Jose Manuel Barroso:
“Armenia thinks, there is serious work to be done in the negotiating
process conducted in the frames of the Minsk Group. This requires
from the sides will, commitment to give full solution to the issue
and ability to find solutions.
Armenia doesn’t think that staging performances on separate scenes
of the issue worldwide, while leaving aside the real workstyle and
format, should be seen as a concern over the solution of the conflict.”
What the statement says is:
a) Armenia sees no alternative to the currently adopted format for
the settlement of the conflict.
b) Any attempt to change or break the format is seen as a
manifestation of evading form responsibility, extracting the process
and deconstructive attitude.
c) It’s still early to speak about the urgent solution of the conflict
within the framework of Minsk Group process as there is still much
do be done.
As far as Turkey’s attempts to mediate the process and Azerbaijan’s
demands are concerned, the President’s statement can be regarded as
a kind of strict caution:
“Armenia doesn’t think that new mediator can help the process,
moreover, it finds that thus, Turkey not only doesn’t help Azerbaijan
but day by day decreases any perspective for its constructive role
in the region.”
It’s impossible to eliminate the consequence without referring to
the causes
Another point over Nagorno-Karabakh settlement was reaffirmation of
Armenia’s disposition on the model of the solution of the issue.
“We want to once again stress that we were imposed Karabakh war. And
the current situation is a result of a failed attempt to annihilate
Karabakhi people. The consequences are impossible to eliminate unless
the self-determination of Karabakhi people is solved. The main focus
of the issue is the opportunity for the realization of the right
to self-determination of Karabakhi people,” the President said in
Brussels.
Thus, Serzh Sargsyan actually showed that the Armenian side does not
at all disregard the problems the conflict brought, including the
humanitarian ones (which the Europeans are particularly concerned
about).
President also indicated that without elimination of the causes bearing
these consequences, there would be no real opportunities to eliminate
the latter.
Armenia has many times said and reaffirmed that the consequences of
the conflict come from the ethnic cleansings and the use of aggression
against Artsakh carried out by Azerbaijan. As it is known, Azerbaijan
continues the same workstyle both on official and propaganda level.
This means under the current conditions by conserving the causes
and eliminating the consequences, prerequisites for even bigger
consequences will emerge.
Thus, the Armenian side finds that the consequences of the conflict
can be referred to only after:
a) Azerbaijan recognizes the right to self-determination of Karabakhi
people,
b) Nagorno-Karabakh people are given clear security guarantees.
Principally, this is what the President’s abovementioned statement
said and it’s remarkable that European officials understood him,
as it can be seen in Jose Barroso’s statement.
“Peaceful settlement should include all the main elements: the
right of the return of those evicted, property right, right to
self-determination, as well as guarantee of security and withdrawal
of forces.”
No alternative to elections in Artsakh
Nagorno-Karabakh parliamentary elections were also raised during the
Brussels meetings. Azerbaijan had again raised propaganda hysteria
over the issue making different representatives of the international
community voice statement on non-recognition of the elections.
At the initial stage Baku, of course, managed to obtain some remarks
to carry out the propaganda. However, President Sargsyan prevented
the attempts during his Brussels visit.
“For many years Nagorno-Karabakh has been forming legitimate
power through elections. Naturally, during these years different
institutions, including the EU, announced that they don’t recognize
the elections, which, of course, sounds odd to us, though, we are
trying to understand the causes,” president Sargsyan said.
“We are sure there is no alternative to the elections. The only
alternative is that Karabakh be ruled by field commanders or other
forces, and we are against it. So, we consider it quite normal that
Nagorno-Karabakhi people can hold transparent, democratic elections.”
It’s hard to say whether the persons having spread pro-Azerbaijani
statements can say anything to contradict this argument. Actually,
this is why all the European officials expressed satisfaction after
meeting with President Sargsyan and raising the issue, noting that they
are not intent to interfere and the only thing they can do is support
the negotiations conducted in the frames of the OSCE Minsk Group.
President Sargsyan touched upon another aspect: “Armenia thinks
that the negotiating process could enter a new stage through NKR
participation in it. Moreover, Nagorno-Karabakh parliamentary elections
held last Sunday and the comments of the international observers once
again proved that during this time Nagorno-Karabakh people were able
to establish full-fledged democracy in the country, which can develop
civilized relations with all its neighbors.”
Thus, Serzh Sargsyan highlighted that the conflict may be settled
only in case of Karabakh participation and agreement while the will
of Karabakhi people may be expressed only through the authorities
they have elected.
At the same time, the President drew attention that election processes
in Karabakh are more democratic and advanced than in some neighbor
states, including Azerbaijan, and this was stated by a great many
international observers.
And what is the alternative?
As said above, neither Armenia, nor the international community sees
any alternative to the peaceful settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh issue.
However, this does not mean at all that Azerbaijani authorities
spreading bellicose statements will not choose adventure (at least
to deepen own authoritarian regime or distract the public attention
to reproduce some) and the military activities will not resume.
Today this is a less probable, but quite possible script.
So, how should the Armenian side react?
Actually, the answer is known and once Azerbaijan has already received
response for its aggressive behavior. There is no doubt, the second
attempt will have similar ending.
Though, note that during President Sargsyan’s Brussels visit,
Azerbaijan’s militant stance met some practical counter effect.
First, Anders Fogh Rasmussen announced at a joint press conference
with the Armenian Prresident that NATO is not intent and is not
going to interfere with any military activities in the region of
the South Caucasus. Second, President Serzh Sargsyan highlighted in
his statement made at NATO headquarters that persons and countries
voicing willingness and self-confidence over settling conflicts in
the South Caucasus through arms, are just at a loss.
“The Armenian army has the victorious army model. It is an army
capable of combat. An army that is well organized as an institution.
And it’s ready to accomplish any task given to it. The Armenian army
has types of ammunition that countries ten times the size of Armenia
would dream of having. The professional capacity of our officers
is well known to our colleagues in the West and in the East when we
engage in joint operations or drills.
Our army was born and baptized in the battlefield and the core of the
Armenian officers, top officers, led by the Minister and the Army Chief
of Staff, have a wealth of experience of warfare and it’s a positive
experience, a successful experience. With all of this our army is an
army that is under democratic control, that operates transparency.
It’s an army that cooperates with NATO, yes, and it’s an army that
cooperates with the Collective Security Treaty Organization member
states, Armed Forces. Let me reiterate, it’s an army that is ready
to accomplish any task.
We’re proud of our army. But on the other hand we dream of the day
when in our region there will not be huge or oversized armies relative
to the capacity of our states,” he said.
Azerbaijani got interested in (or let’s even say terrified by) the
President’s remark on different types of ammunition. We will refer
to the remark shortly.
From: A. Papazian