“I don’t have the right to participate in the internal political processes”

says Armenian Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Kingdom of Belgium, Head of the Diplomatic Mission of the Republic of Armenia to the European Union Avet Adonts

– The attention of the different bodies of the European Union toward Armenia seems to increase; in particular, European Parliament members send requests all the time, organize debates on our region. How do you explain this given the fact that Armenia is not at the focus of the EU attention?
– I agree that the attention has increased. The practical interest of the European Union has increased because of a very simple reason – i.e. the collaboration between the EU and us has increased compared to the 2-3 years ago. First of all it is so thanks to the new formats of collaboration, in particular, the Eastern Partnership. The priorities of the EP are: signing the association agreement, the inherent part of which is creating free economic zone with the EU; fueling relations between people; increasing the level of cooperation between civil societies etc. All this makes EU increase its attention. There is no alternative – all this cannot be negotiated on and realized without following the regional processes. And this refers not only to Armenia. All 6 countries of the EP have grabbed the same attention.
– It was published recently that the Head of the European Parliament Subcommittee on Human Rights had requested information on the clash that took place between the protesters and the police in front of Hotel Yerevan during EU-Armenia conference on the subject “Fair trial and independence of the judiciary”. I was present at the incident myself and finding out from the press what answer you gave to the request, I can claim that you presented exclusively the police version of the incident. Do Armenian diplomats intentionally give wrong information to the European institutions about the internal situation of our country?
– The question is one-sided itself. And I am convinced that neither you nor the publisher knows how the Armenian representative to the EU responded to that request about the incident. I can reaffirm only one thing – what happened was presented in a few lines. No assessment was made and nobody tried to present anyone as a traitor of the nation.
– Nevertheless, the text you put forward about the incident – about the clash provoked by the protesters – judging from the publication, was obviously the version of the police officers about the incident and not what the journalists witnessed.
– I am more than convinced that no one tried to verify what was published. I claim that nobody tried to verify how the Armenian Foreign Ministry and the Armenian Mission to the EU responded to the European Parliament‘s request.
– Let us try to verify another publication that refers to the accusations of former second secretary of the Armenian Embassy in Belgium Mushegh Mkrtchyan about your activities – that you sold the tickets to the concert of the State Youth Orchestra and appropriated the proceeds of car-wash. Does all this correspond to the reality?
– I am not going to respond to the reflection of unhealthy imagination, which is based on a complete lie, evil and slander. The second reason why I don’t wish to respond is the following; they obviously tried to politicize all this in that publication. I returned to the diplomatic service two years ago and I don’t have the right to participate in the internal political processes – it is a well-known diplomatic rule.
However, there is an issue I cannot bear not talking about. How can the mass media, not even trying to verify the “facts”, publish those and present them to the public. I think this is a serious issue that is worth discussing.