ARF Dashnaktsutyun promises restless January to authorities

PanARMENIAN.Net - On Monday at a press conference on ratification of the Armenian-Turkish Protocols, Head of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun parliamentary faction Vahan Hovhannisyan promised a restless January to the authorities. He informed that before and after the decision of the Constitutional Court on the conformity of the Protocols to the RA Constitution, the ARF was planning to launch a series of protest actions against the Turkish-Armenian Protocols. According to him, the failure of ratification of the Protocols in Armenia is quite possible, as majority of Armenians share the view of the ARF on existing preconditions in the Protocols. Vahan Hovhannisyan also declared ARF would not return to the coalition government, even if the President of Armenia introduced amendments in the foreign policy of the country and refused ratification of the Protocols. Honhannisyan motivated this decision by the fact that creation of a coalition government does not make sense until the authorities change the principles of their work.

At a joint press conference with a member of the Republican Party Gagik Minasyan, another representative of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun, MP Artsvik Minasyan stated that Armenia should do its best to withdraw from the current format of normalizing ties with Turkey. He also criticized the country's budget for 2010 proposed by the government, which was voted for by majority of the coalition government. Artsvik Minasyan believes that the government does not have a healthy program to stabilize the economy of Armenia, and its members "must hand in their portfolios to those who can lead the country out of crisis."

The danger of the simultaneous step-up of two processes - the Armenian-Turkish relations and the Nagorno Karabakh conflict regulation - was discussed by Chairman of the "European Integration" NGO Karen Bekaryan, who noted that the Armenian society should be given time to "digest" these processes at a time. Bekaryan predicts certain progress in the Turkish Meclisi in January-February 2010, and believes that the Armenian-Turkish Protocols will already be ratified in March-April. In addition, the expert points out that in case the process of ratifying the Protocols is delayed, international community will deliver a counter-blow to Ankara. He also states that so far no document requiring concessions from the Armenian side has been signed. "The mediators on conflict regulation do not even speak of an early signing of the agreement," Bekaryan said, still predicting acceleration in the negotiation process.

Other possible date for ratification of the Protocols was given on the following day by Head of the Analytical Center on Globalization and Regional Cooperation Stepan Grigoryan, who believes that the Protocols will be ratified earlier, in December-January. He reiterates that Armenia should be the first to ratify the protocols, thus shifting the responsibility for the further normalization of relations on Turkey. According to Grigoryan, in this way Armenia can avoid future pressure from the superpowers, which will concentrate all their pressure on Ankara.

Later dates for ratification of the Protocols were forecasted by political scientist Armen Agayan. "I believe that ratification may take place on the eve of April 24 (the Day of Remembrance of the Armenian Genocide). If it does not happen then, ratification of the Protocols may be delayed for 2-3 years," stated Aghayan at a press conference, not excluding the possibility that the Protocols may be ratified as soon as the framework agreement on Karabakh is signed.

Another event that drew attention of the Armenian society in the middle of the week was the special congress of the Social Democrat Hunchakian Party of Armenia. Leader of the Party Lyudmila Sargsyan called the requirement of convening a special congress with the wording "a vote of no confidence" a violation of the Party Charter. She also called the convened congress an attempt to split the party from within. However, the subsequent events showed that the party did not split up. The congress decided to exclude Lyudmila Sargsyan from the party, elected a new board and a new chairman, receiving further recognition from the All Hunchak Board of Directors. The party also retained its relationship with the Armenian National Congress (ANC).

On the other hand, Leader of the Marxist Party of Armenia, David Hakobyan announced Tuesday his party's decision of seceding from the Armenian National Congress. According to Hakobyan, the reason for the party's quitting the ANC is that "The bloc failed to become a leader of public opposition and a generator of neo-liberal democratic ideology for the society. This opposition alliance was unable to provide the Armenian society with a new national vision, a new doctrine of foreign and domestic policy."

On Thursday, the Republican Party of Armenia in the person of Head of the parliamentary faction of RPA Mr. Galust Sahakyan made it clear that the party was not pleased with the actions of its MPs, who earlier in the week had undersigned the letter issued to the President of Armenia, requesting amnesty for Sasun Mikaelyan; moreover, the party condemned their action. Touching upon the Armenian-Turkish relations, Galust Sahakyan said: "Turkey cannot be our partner either today or tomorrow. It is impossible until she recognizes the Armenian Genocide."

Two other events that began early in the week and lasted till the very end of the week were the visit of the parliamentary delegation of Nagorno-Karabakh to Yerevan and the visit of Turkish journalists representing the best-known Turkish media to the Armenian capital.

The parliamentary delegation from the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, led by Speaker of the NKR National Assembly Ashot Ghulyan was received by President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan, who declared at the meeting that the negotiation process on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict could succeed only in case of direct participation of NKR. Next, the NKR delegation took part in the 7th inter-parliamentary collaboration sitting RA NA - NKR NA. Two major issues - "The Demographic situation in Armenia and NKR" and "International organizations' perception of the Karabakh conflict" - were included in the agenda. Opening the meeting, NA Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan stressed, priority should be given to developing cooperation in the economic sphere. For his part, Chairman of the NKR National Assembly Ashot Ghulyan expressed hope that the parties would engage in constructive negotiations, and would present a comprehensive package of proposals as the result of the sitting.

On Thursday a press conference of Turkish journalists was held in Yerevan in which the journalists responded to many topical issues of concern for the Armenian public. The main issues were ratification of the Armenian-Turkish Protocols, the Karabakh conflict settlement, and recognition of the Armenian Genocide by Turkey. Journalist of the Turkish newspaper "Milliyet" Kadri Gürsel noted that Azerbaijan's pressure on Turkey was much stronger than peer pressure within the country. At the same time, Gürsel noted that Ankara had never before been so determined about normalizing ties with Armenia. According to him, this is due to the desire of Turkey to improve relations with neighboring countries rather than to the pressure exerted on Turkey from outside. According to another Turkish journalist, "Sabah" newspaper foreign policy correspondent Bilge Eser, today the Turkish society is ready for a dialogue with the Armenian society.

At the end of the week Turin University Professor Luca Guiduzzi introduced the results of his studies on the Nagorno Karabakh, during a round table discussion hosted Friday by Armenian Center for National and International Studies (ACNIS). Based on his personal meetings and conversations, Luca Guiduzzi concluded that the residents of Nagorno Karabakh continue to believe they are "still at war and ready to fight for their freedom."