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A Temporary Deviation Vs. A Constant Regress

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  • A Temporary Deviation Vs. A Constant Regress

    A TEMPORARY DEVIATION VS. A CONSTANT REGRESS
    Lilit Poghosyan

    Hayots Ashkhar Daily
    April 01, 2008

    Under the leadership of PER SYORGEN, the delegation of the Ago
    Monitoring Group of the CoE Council of Ministers yesterday met
    with Foreign Minister VARDAN OSKANYAN. Along with other issues,
    the parties discussed the ways of overcoming the internal political
    tensions continuing after the March 1 events.

    In a joint press conference convened at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
    the European official first stated that the Group which had arrived in
    Armenia was an unprecedented and influential delegation consisting of
    9 members, i.e. delegates representing 9 countries. This means that
    considering Armenia a European state, the European Union is deeply
    "concerned about and interested in" the complex situation resulting
    from the mass disorders of March 1.

    The Ago group submitted to V. Oskanyan a package of proposals
    consisting of 6 points.

    Detailing the "strategy" of the CoE Council of Ministers, the speaker
    notified that the first proposal concerns the protection of the rights
    of the individuals detained in connection with the March 1 incidents.

    "Yesterday, we visited the penitentiary of 'Kentron' district and
    were informed that the detainees were isolated from their families,"
    he stated, adding that the previous day he had managed to discuss the
    issue with the Prosecutor General and Foreign Minister, and they had
    expressed assurance that the problem would be solved in a couple of
    days' time."

    Second, "The European Union supports the international organizations
    which have called for releasing the individuals detained with
    political considerations." While answering the questions, the speaker
    did not make it clear how to distinguish the individuals detained
    with political considerations from those inciting disorders and
    provocations, and if the organizers of the "peaceful rallies" have
    made statements and committed actions resulting in murders, ravage
    and vandalism, whether this constitutes a "political activity" or a
    grave criminal offence.

    The second demand (or proposal) advanced to the RA authorities,
    particularly the Minister of Justice, is that the authorities shall
    periodically and at regular intervals notify the Council of Ministers
    of both the process of releasing the detainees and the judicial
    procedures.

    The fourth enshrined in the document is quite "fuzzy". It proposes the
    RA authorities to conduct an impartial and "independent investigation"
    and clarify all the circumstances of the March 1 disorders.

    As to how the group of "independent investigators" will be set up and
    who will be its members, Head of the delegation is not aware of it;
    nor does he want to go into details. The only thing he definitely
    knows is that it should be a "national" investigation. That's to say,
    "Such investigation shall be conducted by the state" and not the
    international investigators, as expected by the activists of the
    liberation movement.

    The fifth point of the proposals concerns the changes regulating the
    rights and liberties envisaged by the law on "Marches, Demonstrations
    and Rallies". "We regret that the law was adopted in conditions of the
    regime of the state of emergency, without consultations and discussions
    with the European Union. The Venice Committee has conducted an urgent
    expertise of the newly adopted law and has criticizing assessments
    which have already been submitted to the Ministry of Justice and the
    Government. We anticipate the Government to raise those questions in
    the Parliament," Mr. Syorgen said. He also added that "the freedom
    of gatherings cannot be a subject of bargainings".

    And finally, by proposing the 6th point, the Ago group calls on the
    "parties" to initiate, without preconditions, a round table discussion
    over the issues of concern. This is proposed as a key to decreasing the
    tension and as a settlement of the "conflict" between the authorities
    and the opposition.

    What sanctions shall be applied against Armenia should the proposals
    be ignored? In response to this question, the speaker uttered some
    hazy words about "responsibility", without concretizing ideas.

    One of the journalists was interested to know to what extent the
    "Armenian side" was inclined to meet the Ago group initiative
    half-way. In response to the question, the Foreign Minister noted
    that the issue was still to be considered on the level of the acting
    President and the President-elect, so the authorities' attitude
    towards the CoE initiative is still to be seen.

    In general, V. Oskanyan finds that the European community, and
    particularly, the delegates of the Ago Group consider us, Armenians,
    "to be on the right path, and what happened on March 1 is not a
    constant regress but rather, a temporary deviation from the adopted
    course. And our task is to undertake the right steps to get the
    country on a normal and democratic path as quickly as possible."

    AZERBAIJAN PLAYS A DIRTY TRICK

    In response to the questions, V. Oskanyan touched upon the recent
    exacerbations of the Azerbaijani blackmail tactics, including the
    Foreign Ministry's statement saying that Azerbaijan has rejected
    "the request of the Armenian side" to organize a meeting between
    Ilham Aliev and Serge Sargsyan within the frameworks of the NATO
    summit. "It's too bad Azerbaijan has refused to organize a meeting,
    but the Armenian side has neither made a request nor acted as an
    initiator. "The proposal was advanced by the Co-Chairs. Our answer
    was, 'if you make the proposal and Azerbaijan agrees, we will agree
    too.' Azerbaijan is playing a dirty trick. What it is doing is not,
    anyway, in harmony with the steps they have been making recently".
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