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  • Open, But Closed 'Public' Discussion

    OPEN, BUT CLOSED 'PUBLIC' DISCUSSION
    Lusine Barseghyan

    Haykakan Zhamanak
    Nov 21 2008
    Armenia

    The "public" discussions initiated by [President] Serzh Sargsyan
    yesterday [20 November] took place under conditions of total secrecy.

    First, the presidential press service compiled a list of the invited
    media outlets on a thorough selective basis. The entry into the
    "public" discussions was based on a list. However, 10 minutes after
    the start of the meeting, Sargsyan asked the media, including the TV
    channels under his personal control, to leave the hall.

    All the parties in the [opposition] Armenian National Congress have
    rejected Sargsyan's invitation. All other small parties were warned by
    the presidential office to attend the meeting by all means. Already
    behind closed doors, Sargsyan set a condition for everyone that
    everything to be discussed should not be disclosed. In fact, Sargsyan
    did it "for the sake of appearance".

    Moscow Declaration calls for public discussions

    The matter is that the Meindorf declaration signed in Moscow says
    clearly that public discussions about Karabakh settlement should be
    organized in Azerbaijan and Armenia. Now Sargsyan tries to show that
    he keeps his word and organizes the discussions. However, in fact,
    what was organized yesterday [20 November], cannot be called a public
    discussion with the best will in the world. Anyway, this closed
    "public" discussion lasted for about five hours yesterday.

    Representatives of all the parties, who were leaving the sports and
    concert complex named after Karen Demirchyan, did not say anything
    about topics discussed. Some admitted in "friendly" conversations
    only that their concerns regarding the Karabakh issue have not
    been dispersed at all. Moreover, some people left this discussion
    in a depressed condition. That is to say, people still had serious
    concerns after about a five-hour discussion during which 47 people
    raised questions.

    The chairperson of the [opposition] Heritage Party board, Anahit
    Bakhshyan, who took part in that discussion yesterday [21 November]
    agreed to say only what issues the Heritage Party raised and
    answered a few of our questions very briefly. Bakhshyan answered
    briefly and clearly: "No", when asked if she is satisfied with the
    discussions, and whether concerns regarding the Karabakh issue, have
    been dispersed. Bakhshyan said that many questions arose after the
    discussion. "However, I realized one thing that we raise many issues
    about the course of the negotiations, which are not clear for them
    either. Yes, there are many undiscovered, unclarified things. I just
    do not want to break the rules of the game," Bakhshyan said.

    She said that however, it was at least stated that the political
    forces sitting there back the following formulation that the Nagornyy
    Karabakh's right for self-determination cannot be considered within
    Azerbaijan's composition. In short, all these moods show that Serzh
    Sargsyan did not say anything specific about a Karabakh settlement.

    Opposition dubs discussion "senseless"

    While answering our question whether Sargsyan said when a referendum
    will be held, Bakhshyan said: "He said but nothing is precisely
    clear." We also asked Bakhshyan about the purpose of the discussion,
    if Sargsyan will anyway sign what the international community puts
    in front of him. "Serzh Sargsyan said that this meeting provided him
    with an opportunity to listen to everyone's opinions." Yesterday
    [20 November] we also asked the Armenian National Congress [ANC]
    to comment on this closed "public" discussion.

    A representative of the ANC, Arman Musinyan, said: "The ANC member
    parties said that this meeting was both senseless and frivolous by
    refusing to attend it. This meeting was merely of PR goal, because
    if there was something substantial to say, a specific plan would
    have been suggested, in particular not secret Madrid principles,
    which Serzh Sargsyan has found in the Internet. Maybe via Google."
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