ARMENIAN DEPUTIES ARE NOT GOING TO BAKU

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Armenian Parliament from the first day stated that it was interested in participation in the seminar and would delegate its representatives in Baku in case if the Azerbaijan authorities assured their safety. The governors of Azerbaijan have promised to the heads of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly to create conditions for the opportunity for Armenians to take part in the forum works. The President Illham Aliev personally stated that the officials would not hamper the arrival of Armenian deputies. Meanwhile the authorities have given sanction to the start of a large-scale company directed against the Armenian Parliamentarians' participation in the seminar. It has been done by the hands of activists from radical grouping named OKL (Organization for Karabakh Liberation). (The fact that the leaders of this structure are being consulted by the presidential personnel is not a secret anymore.) The general atmosphere in Baku caused by the mass-actions organized by this grouping arouses anxiety. There are serious reasons to doubt that the law machinery would protect Armenians in case of any incident.

In practice the officials did absolutely nothing to convince Yerevan of its envoys' safety in Baku. The last chance to guarantee the safety could be a reply to the Armenian National Assembly Speaker's letter addressed to the Head of Milli Mejlis Ziyafet Askerov which contained the concerns of the Armenian Parliament over the safety of the Armenian deputies. If the Azeri officials would really be ready to accept the Armenians they would have reacted somehow. But Baku did not answer even by means of mediators.

Now they state in Baku that Armenia has not intended to send its delegates from the beginning and has temporized just to discredit Azerbaijan. If Armenia aimed to benefit by means of the propaganda it should have boycotted all the events held in Baku. Yet the Head of the department of development and foreign relations of the Armenian Ministry of Energy Levon Vardanyan participated in the conference on energy and transport issues held in Baku only two weeks ago and had there a number of beneficial meetings. In fact the ones who spread propaganda are the Azerbaijanis who have concentrated their attention on the NATO seminar as in this case the Armenian hysteria may cause much ado.

The Baku propagandist took care of creating a legend explaining why the Armenian governors may visit Azerbaijan but the NATO seminar participants may not. By order of the President Administration there was organized a PR campaign aimed against Armenian delegates Mher Shakhgeldyan and Aleksan Karapetyan. According to the concocted legend both the deputies in their times had participated in the "occupation of Azeri lands". According to the pro-power press accounts Shakhgeldyan "participated in the grabbing of Lachin and Shushi in 1992-94". In fact the deputy was a post-graduate student at that time writing a Ph.D. thesis and had never even been to Karabakh. Concerning Aleksan Karapetyn they say that he had participated in the operation on Fizuli and Jebrail seizure. Moreover, it is asserted that for the displayed brutality in the assault he had been awarded an Order of "Gold Cross". Such rude edition of deputy's biography looks funny for everyone who knows Karapetyan. The point is that he was an instructor of the socio-economic Department of the Central Committee of the Republic Communist Party those years and had not held a weapon since he was demobilized from the Soviet Army. One more detail which only can cause laughter. According to the Baku press publications "since 2000 Karapetyan has been an active member of the "group of 33" in the Armenian Parliament, which is known as "Kocharyan's group"". If the PR men who concocted the forgery had a look in the official site of the National Assembly they would know that Karapetyan can not be a member of "Kocharyan's group" if for no other reason than that he represents an opposition fraction. We have to note that in 2000 Aleksan Karapetyan was not a deputy at all.

It is clear why the Azerbaijani propagandists need all this cheap disinformation. By means of it they are trying to alarm the residents and show to the NATO administration that the Azeri people do not accept concessions. For this purpose all means are good.