AZG Armenian Daily #088, 17/05/2005
Armenia-CE
APPROACHES OF KOCHARIAN AND ALIYEV ‘ARE VERY DIFFERENT IN A NUMBER OF
ISSUES’
Meeting of Armenian and Turkish Leaders Within the CE Summit Framework Not
Arranged
On May 16-17, the 3d summit of the Council of Europe in the Polish capital
is hosting presidents, prime ministers or foreign ministers of CE member
states. This is an important gathering for Armenia as within its framework
RA President Robert Kocharian will probably meet the Azerbaijani President
and the Turkish Prime Minister. The first meeting has already taken place,
the second one is unlikely to happen.
Armenia and Azeri President Do Not Discuss Any Concrete Document
The next meeting of Robert Kocharian and Ilham Aliyev to discuss Nagorno
Karabakh issue was held Sunday evening. The Russian and French foreign
ministers, Sergey Lavrov and Michel Barnier, were present during the first
20 minutes of get-together. Tete-a-tete of Kocharian and Aliyev continued
around 2 hours.
The presidents said nothing for the media after the meeting. Only the Azeri
foreign minister gave scant information on Nagorno Karabakh regulation
process. Elmar Mamediarov stated that the presidents summarized the results
of Prague Process.
“There is no concrete document put for discussion. Problems are connected
with details. There are many issue that we agree over, but there are still
issues over which we have very, very different approaches”, Elmar Mamediarov
said.
Kocharian-Erdogan Meeting Is Not Arranged
Turkish officials and press were optimistic about the meeting of Armenian
President and Turkish Prime Minister in Warsaw. But most likely the meeting
of Kocharian and Erdogan at the summit will not take place. RA President’s
spokesperson told us that there was no such arrangement.
Numerous bilateral meetings are taking place during the summit. Kocharian,
in particular, will hold talks with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili
as well as the leaders of Lithuania, Slovakia and Cyprus. Meeting with the
European Commission commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner is envisaged.
Yesterday, Azeri President Ilham Aliyev had a closed-door meeting with
Turkish PM Erdogan.
‘We Feel to be Part of Europe’
The 46 CE member states of are represented at the summit mainly by
presidents and prime ministers. Presidents of Russia and France, Vladimir
Putin and Jacques Chirac, as well as British Prime Minister Tony Blair did
not arrive in Warsaw.
Reports of the heads of national delegations are accompanying the summit. RA
President noted in his speech yesterday that Yerevan intends deepen
relations with the European Union within the framework of “European
Neighborhood” policy.
“We feel to be part of common (united) Europe”, Kocharian said, assuring,
“Armenia is at the start of difficult road to European integration. We shall
fulfill all obligations before the CE by the end of the current year”.
Kocharian said in his speech that people of Armenian believe in Europe with
open borders, without refugees and blockade, he emphasized that Europe
should avoid new demarcation lines.
“We believe in Europe where human rights and the right of people’s choice
are respected, where the present is built based on the objective evaluation
of the past”, Kocharian said adding, “This is the perspective from which we
look at Nagorno Karabakh regulation”.
Armenian President considered Nagorno Karabakh “a de fact state”, reminded
of the Genocide of 1915 saying, “We are commemorating the 90th anniversary
of those tragic events”.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan had his speech before Kocharian. Turkish PM will issue
another report today as well. Late in the evening yesterday, the European
leaders were to listen to president of another “democracy-pursuing”
Caucasian state – Ilham Aliyev.
The Anarchists
Despite the security measure in Warsaw, European anarchists do not lay their
arms. They hold campaigns and announce that the Council of Europe is an
organization of schizophrenics and hypocrites. To prove the point they
indicate the Iraqi war, oppression of Chechens and Kurds in Russia and
Turkey.
P.S. Polish embassy to Armenia supported publication of this article
By Tatoul Hakobian in Warsaw