Armenia's democratic development in interest of the U.S.-Armenia bilateral relationship

PanARMENIAN.Net - Societal tensions will only increase if the authorities fail to take swift, dramatic, and substantive measures to heal the serious divisions in the country that the presidential election and its violent aftermath exacerbated, David J. Kramer, Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor said before the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe.



"While all elements of society have an obligation to engage in constructive dialogue and to act responsibly, the heaviest responsibility lies with those who actually hold power - the government," he said.



"It is in the interest of the U.S.-Armenia bilateral relationship and in the interest of the Armenian people to see the new government in Yerevan succeed in deepening Armenia's democratic development. On a positive note, I found the Ombudsman to be playing an important role on behalf of democratic reform in the country," Mr. Kramer said.



As to Azerbaijan, he noted that there are some serious concerns about the state of democracy and the protection of human rights in this country. "In my meetings I focused on democracy and human rights concerns which are essential for the type of relationship. We seek to bring our cooperation on democratization up to the level of our security and energy collaboration. Azerbaijan's progress on democratic reform is key not only to the strengthening of our bilateral relationship, but also to Azerbaijan's own long-term stability," he said.



Commenting on the forthcoming presidential election, Mr Kramer said, "A key factor in determining the credibility of the entire elections process, and for establishing broad confidence in the legitimacy of the outcome of the election, is serious domestic and international election monitoring. It is especially unfortunate that this spring Azerbaijani courts deregistered and annulled Azerbaijan's largest independent domestic election monitoring NGO, the Election Monitoring Center (EMC)."