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Haykakan Zhamanak , Armenia
Jan 28 2009
Hey Serzhik, now we see what you do
Yesterday's [27 January] session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the
Council of Europe [PACE] approved a new resolution on Armenia's
fulfilment of requirements of PACE Resolutions 1609 and 1620,
according to which Armenia received additional time to fulfil
requirements of the above resolutions yet another time. This time
round until April, i.e. PACE's spring session. Also, the new
resolution does not contain the term "political prisoner", albeit the
resolution initially drafted by the PACE Monitoring Commission said
that "... it considers inadmissible that people were accused and
arrested for political motives and that there are political prisoners
in Armenia" [ellipses as given].
It may seem to some people that what happened in PACE yesterday is a
surprise, taking into consideration the circumstance that the
resolution approved by the Monitoring Commission on 17 December [2008]
was unprecedentedly strict, and until recently Europeans continued to
make harsh statements. That is the situation was getting tenser in the
last months, which gave representatives of the authorities ground to
speak more about the expected application of sanctions against
Armenia.
However, extremely noteworthy events have preceded the PACE session;
it is possible to retrospectively assess their significance now. At
issue is the 15 January and 20 January visits of the PACE
co-rapporteurs and the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs [respectively] to
Yerevan. These are events that are not connected with each other only
at first glance. In fact, two important issues were decided during
these visits - whether the meeting between [Armenian President] Serzh
Sargsyan and [Azerbaijani President] Ilham Aliyev will take place
today in Davos [Switzerland] and whether the co-rapporteurs'
suggestion on applying sanctions against Armenia will remain
valid. That is, if it had become clear during the visit of the
co-rapporteurs that Sargsyan would refuse to meet Aliyev in Davos and
to hold talks on the Karabakh issue - in a specific direction expected
by the international community - then the resolution approved by the
Monitoring Commission on 17 December [2008] might have been approved
today in PACE. However, Sargsyan, realizing the seriousness of the
moment, was able to make a "correct" choice, which is why the
resolution, which contained the term "political prisoner", remained in
the past. However, the Karabakh negotiations are lying ahead of us,
that is the ball is now in Sargsyan's court.
PS. It became clear yesterday that the World Bank decided last week
[18-24 January] to provide Armenia with 525m-dollar assistance for a
period of four years as a result of months-long negotiations. This is
noteworthy since in the beginning of the year the government itself
assessed the probability of getting this support as very low. There
can be no doubt that a Ministry of Finance delegation, which departed
for Moscow the day before [26 January], will also be successful, and
the Russians will all of a sudden agree to give Armenia money.
[translated from Armenian]
Jan 28 2009
Hey Serzhik, now we see what you do
Yesterday's [27 January] session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the
Council of Europe [PACE] approved a new resolution on Armenia's
fulfilment of requirements of PACE Resolutions 1609 and 1620,
according to which Armenia received additional time to fulfil
requirements of the above resolutions yet another time. This time
round until April, i.e. PACE's spring session. Also, the new
resolution does not contain the term "political prisoner", albeit the
resolution initially drafted by the PACE Monitoring Commission said
that "... it considers inadmissible that people were accused and
arrested for political motives and that there are political prisoners
in Armenia" [ellipses as given].
It may seem to some people that what happened in PACE yesterday is a
surprise, taking into consideration the circumstance that the
resolution approved by the Monitoring Commission on 17 December [2008]
was unprecedentedly strict, and until recently Europeans continued to
make harsh statements. That is the situation was getting tenser in the
last months, which gave representatives of the authorities ground to
speak more about the expected application of sanctions against
Armenia.
However, extremely noteworthy events have preceded the PACE session;
it is possible to retrospectively assess their significance now. At
issue is the 15 January and 20 January visits of the PACE
co-rapporteurs and the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs [respectively] to
Yerevan. These are events that are not connected with each other only
at first glance. In fact, two important issues were decided during
these visits - whether the meeting between [Armenian President] Serzh
Sargsyan and [Azerbaijani President] Ilham Aliyev will take place
today in Davos [Switzerland] and whether the co-rapporteurs'
suggestion on applying sanctions against Armenia will remain
valid. That is, if it had become clear during the visit of the
co-rapporteurs that Sargsyan would refuse to meet Aliyev in Davos and
to hold talks on the Karabakh issue - in a specific direction expected
by the international community - then the resolution approved by the
Monitoring Commission on 17 December [2008] might have been approved
today in PACE. However, Sargsyan, realizing the seriousness of the
moment, was able to make a "correct" choice, which is why the
resolution, which contained the term "political prisoner", remained in
the past. However, the Karabakh negotiations are lying ahead of us,
that is the ball is now in Sargsyan's court.
PS. It became clear yesterday that the World Bank decided last week
[18-24 January] to provide Armenia with 525m-dollar assistance for a
period of four years as a result of months-long negotiations. This is
noteworthy since in the beginning of the year the government itself
assessed the probability of getting this support as very low. There
can be no doubt that a Ministry of Finance delegation, which departed
for Moscow the day before [26 January], will also be successful, and
the Russians will all of a sudden agree to give Armenia money.
[translated from Armenian]