Armenian youth ready to meet the challenge and defend Artsakh

PanARMENIAN.Net - In the evening of the same day President Serzh Sargsyan received the delegation from the United Arab Emirates, led by Foreign Minister Anwar Gargash. Welcoming the guests, Sargsyan expressed confidence that the visit of the UAE Foreign Minister would contribute positively to the strengthening of bilateral relations between the two countries. He also appreciated the restrained and balanced attitude of the UAE towards regional problems. Minister of Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash expressed his gratitude for the warm reception and said the Emirates were keenly interested in expanding cooperation with Armenia.

On Monday, Armenian National Assembly hosted discussions over Republican Party representative David Harutyunyan's draft decision on vesting State and Legal Affairs Committee with the authority to monitor the implementation of the final report, submitted by the interim committee investigating 1 March 2008 events. The draft decision met the protest of "Heritage" faction, particularly its leader Stepan Safaryan, who expressed doubts as to the ruling party's impartiality. He called on MPs to support ARFD's proposal on establishing a separate ad-hoc committee dealing with monitoring issues. Nonetheless, the country's supreme legislative body approved the decision and monitoring of the implementation of the final report on examining the events of 1 March 2008 was assigned to the Commission on State and Legal Affairs. Thus, coalition retained the power to control the situation.

Earlier this week, Head of Heritage parliamentary faction Stepan Safaryan made a new assessment of the statement issued by the Foreign Ministers of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries in Athens on December 1, declaring that in addition to the principles of non-use of force, the right of nations to self-determination and territorial integrity, the statement contained also a provision on equality of nations. "This provision may be used by Azerbaijan to make NKR participation in talks senseless and to equalize the Armenian and Azeri communities' rights on Nagorno Karabakh," Safaryan noted.

The day was completed with yet another statement issued by the Armenian National Congress (ANC) in defense of Nicol Pashinyan, Editor of the Armenian opposition newspaper Haykakan Zhamanak, registered as a candidate for the National Assembly and currently under arrest. Referring to the RA Electoral Code, the ANC declared that depriving a parliamentary candidate of liberty was possible only with consent of the Central Election Committee.

Tuesday, December 8 began with the discussions on the outcome of the meeting between U.S. President Barack Obama and Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan. Secretary of the parliamentary faction of the Republican Party of Armenia Eduard Sharmazanov was the first to give an interview to reporters. According to him, for the first time Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan announced that the Armenian-Turkish Protocols contained no preconditions. Commenting on the timing of the Protocols' ratification in the Turkish Parliament, Mr. Sharmazanov reiterated that in case of unjustified delays, the Armenian side would take relevant steps.

However, Erdogan's statements voiced at the press conference, did not cause so positive a reaction among the representatives of other political parties of Armenia. "Armenia should not be sensitive to Turkish senior officials' statements concerning the interrelation between the Armenian-Turkish relations and the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict until they directly raise the issue at the talks with the Armenian side," Naira Zohrabyan, MP of the parliamentary faction "Prosperous Armenia told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter. "Should Turkey link the current rapprochement process with the resolution of Karabakh conflict directly at the talks with Armenia, our answer is simple - RA will withdraw from the current process of normalization," Zohrabyan believes.

In its turn, ARF Dashnaktsutyun called on the Armenian President to respond more harshly to the statements of the Turkish Prime Minister. Head of the ARF faction Mr. Vahan Hovhannisyan recalled the statement made by the Turkish Prime Minister, who stated that the Turkish Parliament was an independent political authority and the government could not press it for the ratification of the Protocols. According to Hovhannisyan, the President of Armenia should give an adequate response to such statements of the Turkish side.

At the governmental meeting of December 9, RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan gave a positive answer to the question issued by the Head of the parliamentary faction ARF Dashnaktsutyun Mr. Vahan Hovhannisyan on whether Armenia is interested in Turkey's integration into the European Union. According to the Prime Minister, if Turkey fulfills all the requirements of the EU, it will undergo qualitative changes, which would be very advantageous to Armenia in terms of her national interests. He emphasized that Armenia would be able to achieve recognition of the Armenian Genocide by Turkey only if the latter changed seriously from inside, and the path to this lies through the implementation of EU requirements.

On Wednesday, by invitation of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, Latvian President Valdis Zatlers carried out a three-day official visit to Armenia. On the following day, at a joint press conference with the Latvian President, Serzh Sargsyan stated that Official Yerevan was ready to fulfill all international obligations it undertook, and if Ankara dragged out ratification of the Protocols, Yerevan would have to exercise its international rights. "I have already instructed to work out amendments to the Armenian legislation referring to signature, ratification and nullification of international agreements," declared the Armenian President. Serzh Sargsyan also stressed that the more the process was protracted, the more barriers appeared for normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations. The Head of State also commented on the effects of the Washington meeting between U.S. President Barack Obama and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. According to him, Ankara has to realize that in order to achieve peace and stability in the Caucasus, establishing diplomatic relations with Armenia is inevitable.

However, optimism of the Armenian President, in spite of the counterblow of the Armenian side in the form of proposed amendments to the law on international agreements, was not shared by the ARF Dashnaktsutyun in the person of ARFD Hay Dat Bureau Director Giro Manoyan. According to him, after the meeting between Turkish Prime Minister and U.S. President, Armenia should accuse Turkey of changing the rules of "football diplomacy", failing of negotiations and should withdraw from the negotiation process. According to him, Erdogan's excuses on Turkish executive's inability to exert pressure upon the legislative, sounds ridiculous. "The sooner Armenia speaks about Turkey's violation of the negotiation process, the better chances she will have to avoid negative consequences for Armenia," Manoyan noted.

However, the party "Orinats Yerkir", which rarely makes any statements, estimated President Serzh Sargsyan's declaration as a "proper response to Turkish senior officials' intention to protract ratification of RA-Turkish Protocols." Khachik Harutyunyan, MP from Orinats Yerkir faction declared about it on Friday. He also touched upon the Baku visit of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, who had arrived in the capital of Azerbaijan with new proposals on Madrid principles. Harutyunyan voiced hope that in future the revised principles would be made public, as Karabakh conflict settlement issue gained transparency.

The balanced policy carried out by the President of Armenia in the issue of rapprochement with Turkey was supported also by the party members of "Prosperous Armenia". According to Naira Zohrabyan, Deputy of the parliamentary faction of the party "PA", President Serzh Sargsyan's statement on amending the RA Law on International Agreements was an appropriate response to Turkey's intention to protract protocol ratification. "Turkish senior officials' statements to delay ratification of RA-Turkish Protocols already surpass all limits," Zohrabyan said.

On December 11, Friday, youth sections of several Armenian political parties made statements condemning the Azeri leadership declarations on resuming hostilities. "We believe that peace is among the most important values for humanity, especially for our region. The arrogant statements of the Azerbaijani President and Defense Minister on the necessity to "settle the Karabakh problem by military means" show that they have not drawn lessons from history. Such statements are blameworthy even if they are made merely for propaganda purposes," the statements said. It was also noted that in the event of renewal of hostilities, the Armenian youth would accept the challenge and defend the rights of the Nagorno-Karabakh people.

On Saturday, December 12, the party "Orinats Yerkir" convened its 9th congress in Yerevan. The congress was attended by President Serzh Sargsyan, representatives of the "Republican Party of Armenia", the party "Prosperous Armenia", ARF Dashnaktsutyun and Heritage. At the congress members of the political council and leader of the party are to be elected.