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SANCTIONS MOST PROBABLY NOT TO BE IMPOSED
Gevorg Harutyunyan
Hayots Ashkharh Daily
17 Dec 2008
Armenia
Today the Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the
Council of Europe will convene its regular session. The discussion of
the report assessing the process of the implementation of resolutions
1609 and 1620 on the activity of the democratic institutions in
Armenia and the related bill is in the agenda of the session.
It is well known that the co - rapporteurs on Armenian issue
George Columbie and John Prescott will cover in their reports
the conclusions of the Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner
Tomas Hammarberg. The before mentioned bill will be submitted to the
discussion and confirmation of the PACE during the winter session to
take place on January 26-30 in Strasburg.
And how do our political figures assess the process of the
implementation of resolutions 1609 and 1620?
Victor Dallakyan
"It is evident that our authorities are taking certain actions to
meet the requirements of PACE resolutions 1609 and 1620. But in my
view these actions are of imitative character.
Anyhow I don't think they will impose serious sanctions on Armenia.
Based on my observations I can state that in case Armenia remains
Council of Europe member country, and in case we are not deprived of
the right to vote and avoid harsh sanctions, Armenia will have rather
weighty influence. In this regard the Council of Europe can use more
serious sanctions, with rather serious consequences and have more
effective influence on the activity of the democratic institutions,
than depriving of the right to vote and quitting the membership.
Galust Sahakyan
The fact that we usually stipulate Armenia's relations with the
international structures, especially Council of Europe, by secondary
factors, foreign interference, and sanctions is explained by our
adoration towards the foreigners. I'm sure that our country has not
only implemented the proposals made by PACE resolution, but we have
also moved forward, and made essential reforms.
After all Tomas Hammarberg has built his conclusions and impressions
on the basis of the data and the opinions submitted by our political
figures. He will most probably repeat the ideas speculated by certain
political figures in Armenia.
The opinions and the approaches of our people must comply with the
speeches and the assessments of our delegations. In this case there
will be no artificial obstacle between the relations of our country
and the Council of Europe.
Aram Safaryan
If the monitoring committee of the Council of Europe, on December
17 and PACE, at the end of January come to a decision to deprive
Armenia of the right to vote, the consequences for our country will
be very sad and unpleasant. I mean the positions o f those political
figures in our internal political domain, who have always encouraged
our cooperation with international and European structures and have
been the champions of the implementation of the demands made by the
Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, will become weak.
Instead the positions of the political factions and individuals,
who are the champions of harsh policy and stance towards the foreign
forces, will strengthen.
I would like to abstain from predictions. Meanwhile I hope that the
process of the reforms underway is continual and the Council of Europe
will perceive its necessity. And if they do the opposite than it will
give reasons for profound meditation on why did the Council of Europe
adopt this harsh stance towards our country and to what extent is it
conditioned by political interests and pan-European principles.
Armen Martirosyan
I don't attach any importance to the PACE sanctions. The most important
thing for me is the general and political developments taking place
in my country. I strongly believe that Armenia has all the necessary
pre-conditions to comply with the highest scale of democracy.
In the context of the PACE resolution, certain actions are already
taken in terms of the improvement of the Electoral Code. But
unfortunately the interested discussions of all the parliamentary
political forces didn't have logical effect, because the reforms of
the code were not submitted to the discussion of the parliament.
Instead we recorded regress. I assess negatively the existence of
political prisoners and the process of the political trials in our
country. The delay in finding the culprits of the post election
developments, as well as the imperfect activity of the state,
legislative and justice structures is also negative.
Anyhow in my view they will not impose sanctions, especially strict
sanctions towards our country.
Gevorg Harutyunyan
Hayots Ashkharh Daily
17 Dec 2008
Armenia
Today the Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the
Council of Europe will convene its regular session. The discussion of
the report assessing the process of the implementation of resolutions
1609 and 1620 on the activity of the democratic institutions in
Armenia and the related bill is in the agenda of the session.
It is well known that the co - rapporteurs on Armenian issue
George Columbie and John Prescott will cover in their reports
the conclusions of the Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner
Tomas Hammarberg. The before mentioned bill will be submitted to the
discussion and confirmation of the PACE during the winter session to
take place on January 26-30 in Strasburg.
And how do our political figures assess the process of the
implementation of resolutions 1609 and 1620?
Victor Dallakyan
"It is evident that our authorities are taking certain actions to
meet the requirements of PACE resolutions 1609 and 1620. But in my
view these actions are of imitative character.
Anyhow I don't think they will impose serious sanctions on Armenia.
Based on my observations I can state that in case Armenia remains
Council of Europe member country, and in case we are not deprived of
the right to vote and avoid harsh sanctions, Armenia will have rather
weighty influence. In this regard the Council of Europe can use more
serious sanctions, with rather serious consequences and have more
effective influence on the activity of the democratic institutions,
than depriving of the right to vote and quitting the membership.
Galust Sahakyan
The fact that we usually stipulate Armenia's relations with the
international structures, especially Council of Europe, by secondary
factors, foreign interference, and sanctions is explained by our
adoration towards the foreigners. I'm sure that our country has not
only implemented the proposals made by PACE resolution, but we have
also moved forward, and made essential reforms.
After all Tomas Hammarberg has built his conclusions and impressions
on the basis of the data and the opinions submitted by our political
figures. He will most probably repeat the ideas speculated by certain
political figures in Armenia.
The opinions and the approaches of our people must comply with the
speeches and the assessments of our delegations. In this case there
will be no artificial obstacle between the relations of our country
and the Council of Europe.
Aram Safaryan
If the monitoring committee of the Council of Europe, on December
17 and PACE, at the end of January come to a decision to deprive
Armenia of the right to vote, the consequences for our country will
be very sad and unpleasant. I mean the positions o f those political
figures in our internal political domain, who have always encouraged
our cooperation with international and European structures and have
been the champions of the implementation of the demands made by the
Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, will become weak.
Instead the positions of the political factions and individuals,
who are the champions of harsh policy and stance towards the foreign
forces, will strengthen.
I would like to abstain from predictions. Meanwhile I hope that the
process of the reforms underway is continual and the Council of Europe
will perceive its necessity. And if they do the opposite than it will
give reasons for profound meditation on why did the Council of Europe
adopt this harsh stance towards our country and to what extent is it
conditioned by political interests and pan-European principles.
Armen Martirosyan
I don't attach any importance to the PACE sanctions. The most important
thing for me is the general and political developments taking place
in my country. I strongly believe that Armenia has all the necessary
pre-conditions to comply with the highest scale of democracy.
In the context of the PACE resolution, certain actions are already
taken in terms of the improvement of the Electoral Code. But
unfortunately the interested discussions of all the parliamentary
political forces didn't have logical effect, because the reforms of
the code were not submitted to the discussion of the parliament.
Instead we recorded regress. I assess negatively the existence of
political prisoners and the process of the political trials in our
country. The delay in finding the culprits of the post election
developments, as well as the imperfect activity of the state,
legislative and justice structures is also negative.
Anyhow in my view they will not impose sanctions, especially strict
sanctions towards our country.