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MARGARIT YESAYAN. "THE EUROPEAN MPS WERE OFFENDED THAT ARMENIA HAS CHANGED ITS ORIENTATION."
February 11 2014
In Strasbourg, February 5-6, the 14th session of the EU-Armenia
Parliamentary Cooperation Committee for the first time in recent
years did not pass the joint statement, which has given rise
to concern among our society. There are many interpretations of
this theme, there is also disagreement among the members of the
Armenian delegation, however, everyone seems to agree on one thing:
the European parliamentarians attitude change was associated with
Armenia's policy change, with the statement of joining the Customs
Union. To our question whether the statement about joining the Customs
Union was indeed the cause of some tension, Margarit Yesayan, a member
of the EU-Armenia parliamentary Armenian delegation, NA MP, responded,
"From the moment when the President of Armenia stated about Armenia's
joining the Customs Union on September 3, this was the first session of
the EU-Armenia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee, and it is natural
that there should be some tension, there should be a situation when
we would be asked and they would want to hear the answers.
Although the agenda was very full, and we had prepared speeches
about many issues and were prepared for discussions, however, it was
obvious that our European partners were mostly interested in why,
after four years of negotiations, when we were obviously going to the
EU Association Agreement, all of a sudden it was announced that we
are joining the CU. They participated in the negotiations over the
Association Agreement, they are well aware of our problems, and it
is natural that they were concerned about the issue, and there was
offensiveness and resentment in somewhere. We, naturally, tried to
remind them that it was not an unexpected decision, that our president
and other officials in various statements did not unequivocally denied
the possibility of joining the Customs Union, we recalled the statement
made by the President of Armenia once, which said "not either-or,
but and-and, that "we are ready to cooperate with the Customs Union
in economic sector, and with the European Union in democracy, human
rights, combat corruption, and introduction of real European values
systems." To our question of whether this offensiveness caused the
session to fail, Mrs. Yesayan answered, "I have read here in the press
that the session failed, but I officially declare that no such thing
has happened. The session did not fail, two sessions took place:
on February 5 and 6, there was just a delicate difference, since
their plenary session was taking place on the same days, of course,
they also wanted to participate in it, there were not a great number
of deputies in the EU-Armenia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee. It
was the first time I attended that session, but our older deputies
told that it was also happening in the past, and there were not
very many participating MPs." We also asked Mrs. Yesayan whether
it is true that should the head of the Armenian delegation, Samvel
Farmanyan, has displayed a diplomatic flexibility, a statement of
not violating Armenia's interests would be accepted, as it is claimed
by opposition MPs, particularly Tevan Poghosyan from the "Heritage"
and Aghvan Vardanyan from ARF. In response, the MP said.
"Tomorrow we have invited a press conference and we will be
distributing the text of the statement and you will see, meanwhile
I will say the following, the statement consisted of three parts,
the first and second parts, which were about the Armenia-EU and
Armenia-Turkey-EU relations, did not raise any problem, we all came
to an agreement, and there was no objection. But, when it came to
Nagorno-Karabakh, the passions rose. To our surprise, the European
co-chair of the Parliamentary Cooperation Committee, the Czech Republic
representative, Milan Tsabernokh, abruptly announced that the version,
which he represents, should not be subjected to any change.
Although, before that, about two months ago we had sent our objections
and recommendations regarding the statement of NK-related text, but,
unfortunately, our objections were not adopted and were not found in
the text. Naturally, we could not be in favor of a text, in which the
most important and fundamental problems were left out regarding the
peaceful and negotiated settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
In particular, the main principles of the Helsinki Final Act were left
out of the text, which applies to use of force, territorial integrity
and the right to self-determination." In other words, whether there
was a consensus within the group not to sign under unfavorable
statement, in response to our question, the NA MP responded, "Yes,
there was a consensus within our group not to adopt a statement,
which does not proceed from the interests of peaceful settlement of
the conflict. Armenia's co-chair of the Committee, Samvel Farmanyan,
said that he would not sign a statement under this format, and so it
happened. We decided that it's better not to accept any statement than
to accept a statement, which will not contain favorable provisions."
Melania BARSEGHYAN
Read more at: http://en.aravot.am/2014/02/11/163759/
February 11 2014
In Strasbourg, February 5-6, the 14th session of the EU-Armenia
Parliamentary Cooperation Committee for the first time in recent
years did not pass the joint statement, which has given rise
to concern among our society. There are many interpretations of
this theme, there is also disagreement among the members of the
Armenian delegation, however, everyone seems to agree on one thing:
the European parliamentarians attitude change was associated with
Armenia's policy change, with the statement of joining the Customs
Union. To our question whether the statement about joining the Customs
Union was indeed the cause of some tension, Margarit Yesayan, a member
of the EU-Armenia parliamentary Armenian delegation, NA MP, responded,
"From the moment when the President of Armenia stated about Armenia's
joining the Customs Union on September 3, this was the first session of
the EU-Armenia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee, and it is natural
that there should be some tension, there should be a situation when
we would be asked and they would want to hear the answers.
Although the agenda was very full, and we had prepared speeches
about many issues and were prepared for discussions, however, it was
obvious that our European partners were mostly interested in why,
after four years of negotiations, when we were obviously going to the
EU Association Agreement, all of a sudden it was announced that we
are joining the CU. They participated in the negotiations over the
Association Agreement, they are well aware of our problems, and it
is natural that they were concerned about the issue, and there was
offensiveness and resentment in somewhere. We, naturally, tried to
remind them that it was not an unexpected decision, that our president
and other officials in various statements did not unequivocally denied
the possibility of joining the Customs Union, we recalled the statement
made by the President of Armenia once, which said "not either-or,
but and-and, that "we are ready to cooperate with the Customs Union
in economic sector, and with the European Union in democracy, human
rights, combat corruption, and introduction of real European values
systems." To our question of whether this offensiveness caused the
session to fail, Mrs. Yesayan answered, "I have read here in the press
that the session failed, but I officially declare that no such thing
has happened. The session did not fail, two sessions took place:
on February 5 and 6, there was just a delicate difference, since
their plenary session was taking place on the same days, of course,
they also wanted to participate in it, there were not a great number
of deputies in the EU-Armenia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee. It
was the first time I attended that session, but our older deputies
told that it was also happening in the past, and there were not
very many participating MPs." We also asked Mrs. Yesayan whether
it is true that should the head of the Armenian delegation, Samvel
Farmanyan, has displayed a diplomatic flexibility, a statement of
not violating Armenia's interests would be accepted, as it is claimed
by opposition MPs, particularly Tevan Poghosyan from the "Heritage"
and Aghvan Vardanyan from ARF. In response, the MP said.
"Tomorrow we have invited a press conference and we will be
distributing the text of the statement and you will see, meanwhile
I will say the following, the statement consisted of three parts,
the first and second parts, which were about the Armenia-EU and
Armenia-Turkey-EU relations, did not raise any problem, we all came
to an agreement, and there was no objection. But, when it came to
Nagorno-Karabakh, the passions rose. To our surprise, the European
co-chair of the Parliamentary Cooperation Committee, the Czech Republic
representative, Milan Tsabernokh, abruptly announced that the version,
which he represents, should not be subjected to any change.
Although, before that, about two months ago we had sent our objections
and recommendations regarding the statement of NK-related text, but,
unfortunately, our objections were not adopted and were not found in
the text. Naturally, we could not be in favor of a text, in which the
most important and fundamental problems were left out regarding the
peaceful and negotiated settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
In particular, the main principles of the Helsinki Final Act were left
out of the text, which applies to use of force, territorial integrity
and the right to self-determination." In other words, whether there
was a consensus within the group not to sign under unfavorable
statement, in response to our question, the NA MP responded, "Yes,
there was a consensus within our group not to adopt a statement,
which does not proceed from the interests of peaceful settlement of
the conflict. Armenia's co-chair of the Committee, Samvel Farmanyan,
said that he would not sign a statement under this format, and so it
happened. We decided that it's better not to accept any statement than
to accept a statement, which will not contain favorable provisions."
Melania BARSEGHYAN
Read more at: http://en.aravot.am/2014/02/11/163759/