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Armenian youth ready to meet the challenge and defend Artsakh

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  • Armenian youth ready to meet the challenge and defend Artsakh

    /PanARMENIAN.Net/

    Armenian youth ready to meet the challenge and defend Artsakh
    Home policy review for December 7-14

    12.12.2009 GMT+04:00


    The week in Armenia started with the commemoration of the victims of
    Spitak earthquake, which had claimed more than 25 thousand lives back
    in 1988. In connection with the 21st anniversary of the earthquake,
    top executives of the country visited the disaster area. However, in
    the political sense, all the attention of both the political
    establishment and the Armenian community was focused on the
    forthcoming meeting between the U.S. President Barack Obama and
    Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan.

    /PanARMENIAN.Net/ In the evening of the same day President Serzh
    Sargsyan received the delegation from the United Arab Emirates, led by
    Foreign Minister Anwar Gargash. Welcoming the guests, Sargsyan
    expressed confidence that the visit of the UAE Foreign Minister would
    contribute positively to the strengthening of bilateral relations
    between the two countries. He also appreciated the restrained and
    balanced attitude of the UAE towards regional problems. Minister of
    Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash expressed his gratitude for the warm
    reception and said the Emirates were keenly interested in expanding
    cooperation with Armenia.

    On Monday, Armenian National Assembly hosted discussions over
    Republican Party representative David Harutyunyan's draft decision on
    vesting State and Legal Affairs Committee with the authority to
    monitor the implementation of the final report, submitted by the
    interim committee investigating 1 March 2008 events. The draft
    decision met the protest of `Heritage' faction, particularly its
    leader Stepan Safaryan, who expressed doubts as to the ruling party's
    impartiality. He called on MPs to support ARFD's proposal on
    establishing a separate ad-hoc committee dealing with monitoring
    issues. Nonetheless, the country's supreme legislative body approved
    the decision and monitoring of the implementation of the final report
    on examining the events of 1 March 2008 was assigned to the Commission
    on State and Legal Affairs. Thus, coalition retained the power to
    control the situation.

    Earlier this week, Head of Heritage parliamentary faction Stepan
    Safaryan made a new assessment of the statement issued by the Foreign
    Ministers of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries in Athens on
    December 1, declaring that in addition to the principles of non-use of
    force, the right of nations to self-determination and territorial
    integrity, the statement contained also a provision on equality of
    nations. `This provision may be used by Azerbaijan to make NKR
    participation in talks senseless and to equalize the Armenian and
    Azeri communities' rights on Nagorno Karabakh,' Safaryan noted.

    The day was completed with yet another statement issued by the
    Armenian National Congress (ANC) in defense of Nicol Pashinyan, Editor
    of the Armenian opposition newspaper Haykakan Zhamanak, registered as
    a candidate for the National Assembly and currently under arrest.
    Referring to the RA Electoral Code, the ANC declared that depriving a
    parliamentary candidate of liberty was possible only with consent of
    the Central Election Committee.

    Tuesday, December 8 began with the discussions on the outcome of the
    meeting between U.S. President Barack Obama and Turkish Prime Minister
    Erdogan. Secretary of the parliamentary faction of the Republican
    Party of Armenia Eduard Sharmazanov was the first to give an interview
    to reporters. According to him, for the first time Turkish Prime
    Minister Erdogan announced that the Armenian-Turkish Protocols
    contained no preconditions. Commenting on the timing of the Protocols'
    ratification in the Turkish Parliament, Mr. Sharmazanov reiterated
    that in case of unjustified delays, the Armenian side would take
    relevant steps.

    However, Erdogan's statements voiced at the press conference, did not
    cause so positive a reaction among the representatives of other
    political parties of Armenia. `Armenia should not be sensitive to
    Turkish senior officials' statements concerning the interrelation
    between the Armenian-Turkish relations and the settlement of the
    Nagorno-Karabakh conflict until they directly raise the issue at the
    talks with the Armenian side,' Naira Zohrabyan, MP of the
    parliamentary faction `Prosperous Armenia told a PanARMENIAN.Net
    reporter. `Should Turkey link the current rapprochement process with
    the resolution of Karabakh conflict directly at the talks with
    Armenia, our answer is simple - RA will withdraw from the current
    process of normalization,' Zohrabyan believes.

    In its turn, ARF Dashnaktsutyun called on the Armenian President to
    respond more harshly to the statements of the Turkish Prime Minister.
    Head of the ARF faction Mr. Vahan Hovhannisyan recalled the statement
    made by the Turkish Prime Minister, who stated that the Turkish
    Parliament was an independent political authority and the government
    could not press it for the ratification of the Protocols. According to
    Hovhannisyan, the President of Armenia should give an adequate
    response to such statements of the Turkish side.

    At the governmental meeting of December 9, RA Prime Minister Tigran
    Sargsyan gave a positive answer to the question issued by the Head of
    the parliamentary faction ARF Dashnaktsutyun Mr. Vahan Hovhannisyan on
    whether Armenia is interested in Turkey's integration into the
    European Union. According to the Prime Minister, if Turkey fulfills
    all the requirements of the EU, it will undergo qualitative changes,
    which would be very advantageous to Armenia in terms of her national
    interests. He emphasized that Armenia would be able to achieve
    recognition of the Armenian Genocide by Turkey only if the latter
    changed seriously from inside, and the path to this lies through the
    implementation of EU requirements.

    On Wednesday, by invitation of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan,
    Latvian President Valdis Zatlers carried out a three-day official
    visit to Armenia. On the following day, at a joint press conference
    with the Latvian President, Serzh Sargsyan stated that Official
    Yerevan was ready to fulfill all international obligations it
    undertook, and if Ankara dragged out ratification of the Protocols,
    Yerevan would have to exercise its international rights. `I have
    already instructed to work out amendments to the Armenian legislation
    referring to signature, ratification and nullification of
    international agreements,' declared the Armenian President. Serzh
    Sargsyan also stressed that the more the process was protracted, the
    more barriers appeared for normalization of the Armenian-Turkish
    relations. The Head of State also commented on the effects of the
    Washington meeting between U.S. President Barack Obama and Turkish
    Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. According to him, Ankara has to
    realize that in order to achieve peace and stability in the Caucasus,
    establishing diplomatic relations with Armenia is inevitable.

    However, optimism of the Armenian President, in spite of the
    counterblow of the Armenian side in the form of proposed amendments to
    the law on international agreements, was not shared by the ARF
    Dashnaktsutyun in the person of ARFD Hay Dat Bureau Director Giro
    Manoyan. According to him, after the meeting between Turkish Prime
    Minister and U.S. President, Armenia should accuse Turkey of changing
    the rules of `football diplomacy', failing of negotiations and should
    withdraw from the negotiation process. According to him, Erdogan's
    excuses on Turkish executive's inability to exert pressure upon the
    legislative, sounds ridiculous. `The sooner Armenia speaks about
    Turkey's violation of the negotiation process, the better chances she
    will have to avoid negative consequences for Armenia,' Manoyan noted.

    However, the party `Orinats Yerkir', which rarely makes any
    statements, estimated President Serzh Sargsyan's declaration as a
    `proper response to Turkish senior officials' intention to protract
    ratification of RA-Turkish Protocols.' Khachik Harutyunyan, MP from
    Orinats Yerkir faction declared about it on Friday. He also touched
    upon the Baku visit of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, who had arrived
    in the capital of Azerbaijan with new proposals on Madrid principles.
    Harutyunyan voiced hope that in future the revised principles would be
    made public, as Karabakh conflict settlement issue gained
    transparency.

    The balanced policy carried out by the President of Armenia in the
    issue of rapprochement with Turkey was supported also by the party
    members of `Prosperous Armenia'. According to Naira Zohrabyan, Deputy
    of the parliamentary faction of the party `PA', President Serzh
    Sargsyan's statement on amending the RA Law on International
    Agreements was an appropriate response to Turkey's intention to
    protract protocol ratification. `Turkish senior officials' statements
    to delay ratification of RA-Turkish Protocols already surpass all
    limits,' Zohrabyan said.

    On December 11, Friday, youth sections of several Armenian political
    parties made statements condemning the Azeri leadership declarations
    on resuming hostilities. `We believe that peace is among the most
    important values for humanity, especially for our region. The arrogant
    statements of the Azerbaijani President and Defense Minister on the
    necessity to `settle the Karabakh problem by military means' show that
    they have not drawn lessons from history. Such statements are
    blameworthy even if they are made merely for propaganda purposes,' the
    statements said. It was also noted that in the event of renewal of
    hostilities, the Armenian youth would accept the challenge and defend
    the rights of the Nagorno-Karabakh people.

    On Saturday, December 12, the party `Orinats Yerkir' convened its 9th
    congress in Yerevan. The congress was attended by President Serzh
    Sargsyan, representatives of the `Republican Party of Armenia', the
    party `Prosperous Armenia', ARF Dashnaktsutyun and Heritage. At the
    congress members of the political council and leader of the party are
    to be elected.


    Mikhail Balayan
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