Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

"I Know That Desecration Of The Armenian Cemetery In Nakhichevan Rai

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

  • "I Know That Desecration Of The Armenian Cemetery In Nakhichevan Rai

    "I KNOW THAT DESECRATION OF THE ARMENIAN CEMETERY IN NAKHICHEVAN RAISED VERY STRONG FEELINGS IN ARMENIA"

    The exclusive interview of the OSCE Secretary General, Ambassador
    Marc Perrin de Brichambaut, to Armenian Mediamax news agency, May
    2006

    Mediamax news agency
    May 2006

    - Armenia was among those CIS countries which criticized the OSCE in
    a statement made in summer 2004 and today it seems the OSCE reform
    has become a legitimate item on the agenda of the Organization.

    - Like any organization, OSCE is in a constant process of adapting
    to new realities. What you are referring to is the requirement of
    certain countries within OSCE to make more substantial changes in
    order to reflect their own perception that there are occasionally
    double standards within OSCE.

    Since decisions are taken in the OSCE on the basis of consensus,
    any decision requires a large amount of compromising discussion in
    order to be reached. We are right now going to that process. We hope
    this process will be a very successful one.

    But I do not think any final package will be reached before the next
    Ministerial meeting to be held in Brussels this December. In between,
    we are in active contacts with all countries, including Armenia,
    which has been following this issue closely, and I think the Armenian
    authorities understand that the OSCE Secretariat is doing its best
    to address the existing concerns under the prevailing conditions.

    - In July 2004, CIS member states declared that "there is a clear
    misbalance between the three dimensions of security - Military and
    political, Economic and environmental and Human. There is a clear
    shift of priorities towards humanitarian problems, which noticeably
    reduces the OSCE's ability to oppose new challenges and threats". Do
    you agree that such misbalance indeed exists?

    - Here in Armenia the work done by OSCE is remarkably balanced. In
    a broader way, it is true that the OSCE occasionally is perceived
    more through its Human dimension, but it is also a fact that a lot
    of resourses of the OSCE come from the voluntary contributions of
    participating states and that many of them place a large emphasis on
    the Human dimension, providing resourses for that.

    I would greatly encourage all those participating states who want more
    spending on other dimensions to look at how they might contribute to
    all the dimensions.

    - It seems that the Economic and Environmental dimension of the OSCE
    is coming to the forefront of discussions initiated 30 years ago in
    Helsinki. What benefits can Armenia expect from the OSCE?

    - We are going to have in Prague the Economic forum on May 21, which
    has been solely prepared by meetings in Dushanbe and Baku. We will be
    putting attention on issues which are directly relevant to the economic
    prosperity of a country like Armenia. This is a clear indication that
    the economic dimension is being taken very seriously, with particular
    focus on issues which are relevant to the countries in the Caucasus.

    - How is the cooperation between Armenia and the OSCE Office for
    Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) developing? Do you
    see any room for improvement?

    - I think the relations between OSCE and Armenia are good and that
    the Office for Democracy and Human Rights (ODHR) is part of that
    relationship. We expect that ODHR will be invited to send long-term
    and short-term election monitors to the upcoming elections in Armenian
    in 2007 and 2008. We are making comments on the amendments to the
    electoral law and we hope that this will be taken into account. But
    what is most important would be for any decisions taken by the
    parliament to be fully implemented in the forthcoming elections.

    - In the context of the OSCE Human dimension the issues of Tolerance
    and Non-Discrimination are at the forefront of the discussions.

    Don't you think that in this respect much more attention should be
    paid to the situation in our region?

    - I think you are touching on a very important point. It would be a
    great complicating factor if existing political tensions would be given
    a cultural dimension. I am well aware of the fact that desecration of
    the Armenian cemetery in Nakhichevan has raised very strong feelings
    in Armenia. The Armenian Catholicos expressed his deep sadness and
    sorrow about this. We are going to work very hard for the solution
    of the conflict itself in order to eliminate the root causes for this
    possible cultural tension. We are all concerned about this.
Working...
X