I first came across the term Caviar Diplomacy not in the speeches of Armenian delegates to the PACE, but on the BBC website a few months ago (https://www.bbc.co.
uk/russian/international/2012/06/120613_azeri_diplomacy_caviar_esi.shtml). That article was about the report of the European Stability Initiative NGO, which, by the way, has nothing to do with Armenians, made to the British Parliament, according to which the Azerbaijani government tried to neutralize the criticism of it bribing members of the Council of Europe. Thus, there is an attempt to conceal the crying violations of human rights in the neighboring country. The report itself was entitled Caviar Diplomacy, although it was not only about caviar, but many other kinds of bribes. For example, according to my information, if any European official (not only from the PACE) intends to go toBaku, his ticket automatically becomes a business class one, the hotel becomes 5-star, other conveniences are luxurious and expensive and naturally, the Azerbaijani government pays for all that. And Europeans are so weak-willed that they accept those gifts with great pleasure and present the problems of the Azerbaijani “democracy” in their reports and letters mildly. They also say that no authoritarian country spends so much money on concealing its problems. And there is a point in that – Russia for one doesn’t need that, if the Council of Europe adopts a resolution that the Kremlin doesn’t like, they will openly state that they are not going to follow the “advice” mentioned in that resolution.
Countries like Azerbaijan or our country cannot afford such an attitude for obvious reasons – we must think of our positive image. However, in the case ofArmenia, there is a much shorter way than bribing Europeans, particularly given the fact that we don’t have caviar. Particularly given the fact that our problems with democracy are much smaller than those ofAzerbaijan. Moreover, they are smaller than they were in 2009-10. Why should one take wrong steps and try to justify or conceal them? I for one think that in the next few months, the problems of the Armenian government regarding this will be: a. the release of Tigran Arakelyan and assignment of much milder punishments to all 4 guys; b. the “non-criminal” resolution of the Oskanian case. I understand that the party members demand more – complete acquittal etc. However, too much maximalism is often an obstacle in such cases.
ARAM ABRAHAMYAN
