Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Hovannisian On Baku Trip: Armenians Must ". . . Take Up The Pursuit

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Hovannisian On Baku Trip: Armenians Must ". . . Take Up The Pursuit

    HOVANNISIAN ON BAKU TRIP: ARMENIANS MUST ". . . TAKE UP THE PURSUIT OF NATIONAL INTERESTS . . ."
    By SIRANUYSH GEVORGYAN

    ArmeniaNow
    28.11.12 | 15:52

    Photo: www.heritage.am

    Heritage party leader Raffi Hovannisian doesn't view his visit to
    Baku this week as a heroic deed. During his Wednesday meeting with
    the press independent Armenia's first foreign minister said if he
    has a chance he will go to Baku again, because it is a service that
    every Armenian should offer in order to advocate the Armenian side
    of the Nagorno Karabakh issue.

    Participating in the International Conference of Asian Political
    Parties (ICAPP) held in Baku on November 22-23, Hovannisian made an
    appeal to Azerbaijan to recognize Nagorno Karabakh stating that it is
    as much a post-Soviet state as Azerbaijan itself. His participation in
    the conference stirred a scandal, when on the last day Hovannisian
    in his attempt to respond to Azeri's anti-Armenian claims asked
    for a chance to speak, but was denied. Moreover, Turkish and Azeri
    participants raised a clamor, pounding fists on their tables, and
    causing a commotion that drowned out Hovannisian's comments.

    Hovannisian, who has announced his candidacy for president in next
    February's election, told the press that he considers his visit to be
    important in terms of Armenia's foreign policy, because for the first
    time representatives of many countries present at the Baku event
    had a chance to hear an Armenian viewpoint on the Karabakh issue,
    whereas before they had heard only the Azeri side of things.

    "In Azerbaijan, if a thousand people are working on something they say
    the same thing, while we express different opinions. And my opinion
    is that the Armenian state - the authorities, the opposition, the
    society - has to be present, not absent. With our presence we have
    to able not only to balance the informational, political, diplomatic
    shortcomings and failures, but also have the entire state take up the
    pursuit of national interests and get rid of this terrible abyss of
    fragmented, idle talk and no action," he said.

    Hovannisian also said that in Baku he wanted to find at least one
    Armenian family to meet, but failed.

    "The numbers they say don't match. Once they say 12,000 Armenians
    reside in Azerbaijan, another time they claim 30,000, or even 60,000.

    So to challenge those deceptions with fake figures I said I wanted to
    meet at least one Armenian. That meeting never took place. Instead I
    came across a fenced, cross-less Armenian church now used for other
    purposes," said the Heritage leader.


    From: Baghdasarian
Working...
X