Tweet
POLITICS DOESN'T TOLERATE EMOTIONS
Gevorg Harutyunyan
Hayots Ashkhar Daily
March 20, 2008
All The Circumstances To Be Clarified
President-elect, Prime Minister Serge Sargsyan participated in the
Q & A with the representatives of legislative and executive powers,
for the last time yesterday.
Not to please but to work
In response to the question of the MP of "Heritage" fraction,
Zaruhi Postanjyan, whether or not after taking over the position
of the President Serge Sargsyan intends to start an "independent
investigation" of March 1 events and grant amnesty. Serge Sargsyan
admitted that it is difficult for him to make clarifications three
weeks before taking over the position of the President: "It is very
difficult for me to speak about my steps. But I would like to inform
all the MPs of the National Assembly that inviting international
experts or setting up an international committee implies a special
procedure envisaged by the UN Charter. If you familiarize yourself
with that procedure you will realize whether or not it is expedient to
take that step. It will also be helpful for you. As a political step,
I don't find amnesty expedient. In order to grant someone amnesty it
is necessary to conduct a thorough study. If, after disclosing all
the circumstances of what happened, I arrive at the conclusion that
there is such necessity, amnesty will certainly be granted. If not,
no such step will be taken.
All my steps will be aimed at the development of our country and
not pleasing others. At the moment there are no political prisoners
in Armenia.
And if the US State Department is the highest tribunal for you,
then this is your problem."
Foreign political accentuations to be clarified in the right time.
Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan considered it important to assure the
MPs that the geopolitical developments change swiftly, and not only in
our region but also in global terms. Armenia must be able to pursue
a flexible foreign policy. V. Oskanyan reminded yet again, that the
resolution recently admitted by the UN is of consultative nature and
has no binding force. " In fact many UN member states didn't agree to
Azerbaijan's unilateral approach. Of course it would have been better,
if they didn't pass the resolution, but we must learn a lesson from
this - both Azerbaijan and we. More than hundred states abstained
from voting. It is not right to state that we have lost the propaganda
war. We must accept that it was due to our work as well. Believe me it
wasn't an easy job, because those more than hundred countries share
economic interests with Azerbaijan. We have worked diligently and
it's worth mentioning that Diaspora also had a big role in it. Many
delegations from Yerevan visited different capitals.
The results are known to you."
The Foreign Minister said: "Azerbaijan is doing its best to torpedo
the process of the peaceful settlement of Karabakh issue, initiated
by OSCE Minsk group. They are even trying to dissolve the Minsk group
by the help of OSCE Secretariat. We are well aware of this fact but
we make it public for the first time. We must do our best to help
the Minsk group continue its work.
For the recent years they are trying to transfer the issue to the
UN. For the last more than two years this resolution has been in the
agenda. It could have been put to discussion any moment. But they used
to remove the issue, well aware that they will obtain 30-40 votes for
and others would have abstained from voting. This time they didn't
remove, the issue was admitted as much as it exists. Though the results
of the voting are defeatist, in view of the existence of Kosovo issue,
Azerbaijan considers itself secure from Kosovo precedent.
Gevorg Harutyunyan
Hayots Ashkhar Daily
March 20, 2008
All The Circumstances To Be Clarified
President-elect, Prime Minister Serge Sargsyan participated in the
Q & A with the representatives of legislative and executive powers,
for the last time yesterday.
Not to please but to work
In response to the question of the MP of "Heritage" fraction,
Zaruhi Postanjyan, whether or not after taking over the position
of the President Serge Sargsyan intends to start an "independent
investigation" of March 1 events and grant amnesty. Serge Sargsyan
admitted that it is difficult for him to make clarifications three
weeks before taking over the position of the President: "It is very
difficult for me to speak about my steps. But I would like to inform
all the MPs of the National Assembly that inviting international
experts or setting up an international committee implies a special
procedure envisaged by the UN Charter. If you familiarize yourself
with that procedure you will realize whether or not it is expedient to
take that step. It will also be helpful for you. As a political step,
I don't find amnesty expedient. In order to grant someone amnesty it
is necessary to conduct a thorough study. If, after disclosing all
the circumstances of what happened, I arrive at the conclusion that
there is such necessity, amnesty will certainly be granted. If not,
no such step will be taken.
All my steps will be aimed at the development of our country and
not pleasing others. At the moment there are no political prisoners
in Armenia.
And if the US State Department is the highest tribunal for you,
then this is your problem."
Foreign political accentuations to be clarified in the right time.
Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan considered it important to assure the
MPs that the geopolitical developments change swiftly, and not only in
our region but also in global terms. Armenia must be able to pursue
a flexible foreign policy. V. Oskanyan reminded yet again, that the
resolution recently admitted by the UN is of consultative nature and
has no binding force. " In fact many UN member states didn't agree to
Azerbaijan's unilateral approach. Of course it would have been better,
if they didn't pass the resolution, but we must learn a lesson from
this - both Azerbaijan and we. More than hundred states abstained
from voting. It is not right to state that we have lost the propaganda
war. We must accept that it was due to our work as well. Believe me it
wasn't an easy job, because those more than hundred countries share
economic interests with Azerbaijan. We have worked diligently and
it's worth mentioning that Diaspora also had a big role in it. Many
delegations from Yerevan visited different capitals.
The results are known to you."
The Foreign Minister said: "Azerbaijan is doing its best to torpedo
the process of the peaceful settlement of Karabakh issue, initiated
by OSCE Minsk group. They are even trying to dissolve the Minsk group
by the help of OSCE Secretariat. We are well aware of this fact but
we make it public for the first time. We must do our best to help
the Minsk group continue its work.
For the recent years they are trying to transfer the issue to the
UN. For the last more than two years this resolution has been in the
agenda. It could have been put to discussion any moment. But they used
to remove the issue, well aware that they will obtain 30-40 votes for
and others would have abstained from voting. This time they didn't
remove, the issue was admitted as much as it exists. Though the results
of the voting are defeatist, in view of the existence of Kosovo issue,
Azerbaijan considers itself secure from Kosovo precedent.