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CONFLICT LASTS TOO LONG
Kima Yeghiazaryan
"Hayots Ashkharh" Daily Newspaper
6 Nov 07
Armenia
The joint press conference of Council of Europe Secretary General
Terry Davis who has paid a two days visit to Armenia and Armenian
Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan took place in the press-hall of
Armenian Foreign Ministry.
After welcoming the guest who visited our country after Georgia,
Vardan Oskanyan underscored, " Taking into consideration the fact
that the relations between Armenia and Council of Europe are rather
profound and that we have certain obligations, in my view this visit
will help to evaluate everything that has been done and to decide
upon our future actions during the coming months."
Representing the issues discussed with Terry Davis the Foreign Minister
informed that, "Our cooperation with the Council of Europe is not
only limited to the democratic processes in Armenia and institutional
reforms.
The issue of Nagorno Karabakh is also included in our agenda. Today
we discussed this issue with the Secretary General, in detail, and
we also detailed the recent developments. I introduced our viewpoints
regarding the possible solution of the conflict."
Besides that, "we have also discussed the possible missions of the
Council of Europe to the region connected with the evaluation of the
cultural values. We reached an agreement upon conducting a similar
mission in the near future."
Anyhow Terry Davis didn't cite any specific term when he will send
observers to, for example Nakhijevan. He only said, " Council of
Europe and me personally attach great importance to the maintenance of
cultural and religious monuments. I have heard that certain monuments
have been damaged in Armenia. Today I met the Prime Minister who said
that he doesn't have any objections to the visit of the observers,
to see how the monuments are maintained here.
Touching upon the regulation of Karabakh conflict CoE Secretary General
reminded that he used to be a reporter on NKR issue and as before,
at present he is still of the opinion that "the conflict must find a
peaceful solution". " We have clearly mentioned this in the written
form for both Armenia and Azerbaijan. And the people of the both
countries agree with me that the conflict lasts too long. There are
many other important issues in this life," the quest underscored.
According to the observation of CoE Secretary General, "Unlike
all the others, the people of Nagorno Karabakh can't appeal to the
European Court of Human Rights. It derives from the interest of any
people. But these people are deprived from it. They would have had
all the rights has the conflict been solved." He also doesn't share
the opinion that the regulation of Kosovo conflict can be a precedent
for Nagorno Karabakh, for example because at the moment they have
appeared in quite different situations. "There are peace-keeping
forces in Kosovo. Of course they would like to separate, but there
is a conditional, temporary government there. There is nothing of a
kind in Nagorno Karabakh. They are separatists, just like in South
Osia and Transdnerstria."
Recently the elections of Local Self Government Bodies were hold
in NKR.
The interesting thing was that the CoE Secretary General didn't
condemn those elections. Why? Terry Davis' answer to this question was
ambiguous. " If I didn't condemn, it means something. But it doesn't
mean that silence means agreeing with something. I also don't comment
on the protests of the homosexuals in any country."
Recently Russia appealed to OSCE, suggesting that the number of
the observers in the elections be reduced to not more than 50
people. Armenia has joined this proposal together with other CIS
countries. What is the attitude of CoE Secretary General and Armenian
Foreign Minister towards this issue?
It turned out that this suggestion doesn't terrify Terry Davis,
especially because it is in the process of discussion and it is
not adopted.
Besides that he emphasized that the office of the Special
Representative of CoE Secretary General operates in Armenia
and that in the pre-election period he gets information about
the election preparation activities, every month. He also
added," We have a pre-election program in Armenia and it is not
extraordinary. The organization of election is not limited to the day
of voting. Preparation activities and the issues of elucidation are
also important factors. It is very important how the Mass Media will
elucidate the facts before the elections rather than after it. We have
equal attitude towards all the 47 member countries. We trust all of
them and we want these countries to hold free and fair elections."
In response to this question Vardan Oskanyan firstly underscored
that the joint proposal of Russia and CIS countries has been
misrepresented. And clarified that what the proposal really meant was
that the missions are usually financed from OSCE general budget, and
that only long-term observing missions are usually financed, which
is extremely expensive. And naturally it would have been better to
reduce the number of the observers to 50. That is to say the proposal
mostly touches upon budget issue.
"But this will never have any influence on Armenia, because by now
the number of the long-term observes in Armenia hasn't surpassed 30.
That is to say even if OSCE is limited to 50, it will not influence
Armenia."
Kima Yeghiazaryan
"Hayots Ashkharh" Daily Newspaper
6 Nov 07
Armenia
The joint press conference of Council of Europe Secretary General
Terry Davis who has paid a two days visit to Armenia and Armenian
Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan took place in the press-hall of
Armenian Foreign Ministry.
After welcoming the guest who visited our country after Georgia,
Vardan Oskanyan underscored, " Taking into consideration the fact
that the relations between Armenia and Council of Europe are rather
profound and that we have certain obligations, in my view this visit
will help to evaluate everything that has been done and to decide
upon our future actions during the coming months."
Representing the issues discussed with Terry Davis the Foreign Minister
informed that, "Our cooperation with the Council of Europe is not
only limited to the democratic processes in Armenia and institutional
reforms.
The issue of Nagorno Karabakh is also included in our agenda. Today
we discussed this issue with the Secretary General, in detail, and
we also detailed the recent developments. I introduced our viewpoints
regarding the possible solution of the conflict."
Besides that, "we have also discussed the possible missions of the
Council of Europe to the region connected with the evaluation of the
cultural values. We reached an agreement upon conducting a similar
mission in the near future."
Anyhow Terry Davis didn't cite any specific term when he will send
observers to, for example Nakhijevan. He only said, " Council of
Europe and me personally attach great importance to the maintenance of
cultural and religious monuments. I have heard that certain monuments
have been damaged in Armenia. Today I met the Prime Minister who said
that he doesn't have any objections to the visit of the observers,
to see how the monuments are maintained here.
Touching upon the regulation of Karabakh conflict CoE Secretary General
reminded that he used to be a reporter on NKR issue and as before,
at present he is still of the opinion that "the conflict must find a
peaceful solution". " We have clearly mentioned this in the written
form for both Armenia and Azerbaijan. And the people of the both
countries agree with me that the conflict lasts too long. There are
many other important issues in this life," the quest underscored.
According to the observation of CoE Secretary General, "Unlike
all the others, the people of Nagorno Karabakh can't appeal to the
European Court of Human Rights. It derives from the interest of any
people. But these people are deprived from it. They would have had
all the rights has the conflict been solved." He also doesn't share
the opinion that the regulation of Kosovo conflict can be a precedent
for Nagorno Karabakh, for example because at the moment they have
appeared in quite different situations. "There are peace-keeping
forces in Kosovo. Of course they would like to separate, but there
is a conditional, temporary government there. There is nothing of a
kind in Nagorno Karabakh. They are separatists, just like in South
Osia and Transdnerstria."
Recently the elections of Local Self Government Bodies were hold
in NKR.
The interesting thing was that the CoE Secretary General didn't
condemn those elections. Why? Terry Davis' answer to this question was
ambiguous. " If I didn't condemn, it means something. But it doesn't
mean that silence means agreeing with something. I also don't comment
on the protests of the homosexuals in any country."
Recently Russia appealed to OSCE, suggesting that the number of
the observers in the elections be reduced to not more than 50
people. Armenia has joined this proposal together with other CIS
countries. What is the attitude of CoE Secretary General and Armenian
Foreign Minister towards this issue?
It turned out that this suggestion doesn't terrify Terry Davis,
especially because it is in the process of discussion and it is
not adopted.
Besides that he emphasized that the office of the Special
Representative of CoE Secretary General operates in Armenia
and that in the pre-election period he gets information about
the election preparation activities, every month. He also
added," We have a pre-election program in Armenia and it is not
extraordinary. The organization of election is not limited to the day
of voting. Preparation activities and the issues of elucidation are
also important factors. It is very important how the Mass Media will
elucidate the facts before the elections rather than after it. We have
equal attitude towards all the 47 member countries. We trust all of
them and we want these countries to hold free and fair elections."
In response to this question Vardan Oskanyan firstly underscored
that the joint proposal of Russia and CIS countries has been
misrepresented. And clarified that what the proposal really meant was
that the missions are usually financed from OSCE general budget, and
that only long-term observing missions are usually financed, which
is extremely expensive. And naturally it would have been better to
reduce the number of the observers to 50. That is to say the proposal
mostly touches upon budget issue.
"But this will never have any influence on Armenia, because by now
the number of the long-term observes in Armenia hasn't surpassed 30.
That is to say even if OSCE is limited to 50, it will not influence
Armenia."