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AMBASSADORS' SLAP IN THE FACE OF THE DIGNITY OF THE ARMENIAN MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS: THE FOREIGN MINISTRY STILL KEEPS SILENT
March 28 2013
A set of ambassadors accredited in Armenia, including those of the US,
Germany, Poland, Switzerland, Norway, and the EU, made an appeal, in
which they criticized the prosecution of the Civilitas Foundation and
called for stopping it. www.aravot.am inquired of Vladimir Karapetyan,
a member of the Armenian National Congress (ANC) and a former spokesman
for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, what assessment he would give
to the fact that ambassadors tried to interfere into an issue of
internal political life of the Republic of Armenia. Mr.
Karapetyan stated in response: "Ambassadors usually act in accordance
with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961 and within
the limits permitted by the receiving state's government. Unless our
government has enough prestige and dignity to respond after such
statements, i.e. to show the limits, within which they could act,
ambassadors will take the liberty of making such statements. If we had
had a foreign ministry with dignity, we would have responded to such
statements immediately and wouldn't have left it without a respective
response." Mr. Karapetyan also informed that he shared the opinion
of the ambassadors expressed in the statement and went into detail:
"I agree with the ambassadors that the persecution of Vartan Oskanian
and Civilitas should be stopped. I think that these persecutions of V.
Oskanian are completely political." Arman Navasardyan, a former
Armenian ambassador to Lebanon, said during a conversation with us
regarding the same issue: "This is exceptionally internal business of
the country. Although you know about my liking for Vartan Oskanian,
and I have given my assessment, which is not in favor of the
decisions made regarding him, but I assess the phenomenon negatively
just from the diplomatic perspective. This is a yet another case of
interference, poking nose into the country's internal business, which
is not right and commendable. Suppose Armenia, as a subject of the
international law, interferes into their internal life, how will the
American Ambassador who talks like that perceive that? In diplomacy,
everything is mutual. If you do something to me, I should have a right
to do the same thing to you. If I cannot do that, it is asymmetry of
international relations. If we had a possibility to take the liberty
of doing the same thing to those same countries whose ambassadors made
the statement, it would be understandable somehow. Although from the
perspective of international law and in accordance with the Vienna
Convention, it is not a commendable demarche. It is coercive policy
too, as far as the US is concerned. If it takes the liberty of saying
such a thing, it testifies to the fact that it wants to show that it is
dominant over us in the international domain. It is a coercive action,
muscle-flexing, and ambitions of a large state. If the US hadn't set
the tone, I don't think Poland would have taken the liberty of doing
that." Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
Read more at: http://en.aravot.am/2013/03/28/153259/
© 1998 - 2013 Aravot - News from Armenia
March 28 2013
A set of ambassadors accredited in Armenia, including those of the US,
Germany, Poland, Switzerland, Norway, and the EU, made an appeal, in
which they criticized the prosecution of the Civilitas Foundation and
called for stopping it. www.aravot.am inquired of Vladimir Karapetyan,
a member of the Armenian National Congress (ANC) and a former spokesman
for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, what assessment he would give
to the fact that ambassadors tried to interfere into an issue of
internal political life of the Republic of Armenia. Mr.
Karapetyan stated in response: "Ambassadors usually act in accordance
with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961 and within
the limits permitted by the receiving state's government. Unless our
government has enough prestige and dignity to respond after such
statements, i.e. to show the limits, within which they could act,
ambassadors will take the liberty of making such statements. If we had
had a foreign ministry with dignity, we would have responded to such
statements immediately and wouldn't have left it without a respective
response." Mr. Karapetyan also informed that he shared the opinion
of the ambassadors expressed in the statement and went into detail:
"I agree with the ambassadors that the persecution of Vartan Oskanian
and Civilitas should be stopped. I think that these persecutions of V.
Oskanian are completely political." Arman Navasardyan, a former
Armenian ambassador to Lebanon, said during a conversation with us
regarding the same issue: "This is exceptionally internal business of
the country. Although you know about my liking for Vartan Oskanian,
and I have given my assessment, which is not in favor of the
decisions made regarding him, but I assess the phenomenon negatively
just from the diplomatic perspective. This is a yet another case of
interference, poking nose into the country's internal business, which
is not right and commendable. Suppose Armenia, as a subject of the
international law, interferes into their internal life, how will the
American Ambassador who talks like that perceive that? In diplomacy,
everything is mutual. If you do something to me, I should have a right
to do the same thing to you. If I cannot do that, it is asymmetry of
international relations. If we had a possibility to take the liberty
of doing the same thing to those same countries whose ambassadors made
the statement, it would be understandable somehow. Although from the
perspective of international law and in accordance with the Vienna
Convention, it is not a commendable demarche. It is coercive policy
too, as far as the US is concerned. If it takes the liberty of saying
such a thing, it testifies to the fact that it wants to show that it is
dominant over us in the international domain. It is a coercive action,
muscle-flexing, and ambitions of a large state. If the US hadn't set
the tone, I don't think Poland would have taken the liberty of doing
that." Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
Read more at: http://en.aravot.am/2013/03/28/153259/
© 1998 - 2013 Aravot - News from Armenia