In recent days, a number of events negatively affecting the foreign policy of Armenia took place. Anti-Armenian resolutions began to be included in the PACE plenary session one after the other and then Turkey shot down a Russian warplane in the territory of Syria. The latest events were the neutralization of an armed gang presenting a “terrorism” in Nork-Marash district of Yerevan city, which was responded also by the US ambassador to Armenia. In the framework of the mentioned incidents, “Aravot” talked to Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Armenian National Congress Vladimir Karapetyan.
To the questions of whether the adoption of the anti-Armenian reports in the PACE, one after the other, were the “fruits” of Armenia’s accession to the Eurasian Economic Union, an achievement of the Azerbaijani caviar diplomacy or an outcome of non-professionalism of the Armenian delegation, Mr. Karapetyan responded, “I do not see any direct connection with either one. The decisions are made by the PACE delegates, who come to the Assembly from their parliaments.” Vladimir Karapetyan assured that the majority of these parliaments are genuinely independent of the governments, and the latter has limited impact on the parliamentarians. Plus, the opposition MPs, who, naturally, are not subject to any instructions from any government. And in this light, Mr. Karapetyan believes that a wide field of activity was opened in front of our delegation to prevent any development against Armenia, which, however, apparently was not used.
Vladimir Karapetyan stated, “It is well known that the majority of PACE delegates are members of the EPP parties from different European countries. During one year, Serzh Sargsyan attended, if I’m not mistaken, 4 EPP meetings. Instead of meaningless speeches, the Armenia delegation was to use the possible efforts to influence on the posture of the co-partisans. These resolutions would not be undertaken if the EPP were against.” Consequently, the disgraceful reports adopted by PACE, according to Mr. Karapetyan, were born due to two reasons. “Either the RPA party leader failed and did not work properly to prevent the EPP’s support for anti-Armenian resolutions or these resolutions are the EPP’s posture against Serzh Sargsyan. In was noticed in EPP that Serzh Sargsyan’s speeches had emphasized domestic significance and are not accompanied by any serious work.”
The other challenge facing Armenia in the foreign policy generated after the downing of the Russia “Su-24” warplane in the territory of Syria by Turkey. Numerous analysts expressed fear that now Russia is doing everything possible to involve Armenia in this conflict while it is obvious that the conflict is not ours. To the question about what developments he foresees in terms of involvement of Armenia in the Russian-Turkish conflict. Russia attempts to involve Armenia in this conflict, for example, the offer to put the draft of the law criminalizing the Armenian Genocide denial into circulation and so on. How can Armenia evade this involvement, Vladimir Karapetyan replied, “I would not rush to make such estimates. Russia knows very well about the situation in Armenia for trying to draw us into this conflict. The RA diplomacy should also make efforts to avoid giving grounds for unnecessary tension. I would not also rule out one more initiative that may come from Turkey: the revival of the Armenian-Turkish forgotten protocols. Turkey may come to such a conclusion that it can commence a new process by giving a new breadth to the protocols. Such a decision could actually be a challenge for Armenia.”
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The other notable event causing great interest among the Armenian public, but causing a lot of perplexities was the neutralization of the armed gang by NSS in Nork-Marash district. There are opinions that it could be organized from outside Armenia. But the statement made by the US Ambassador to Armenia, Richard Mills, was the most notable one, “We keep a close watch on the arrest of 21 persons accused of organizing alleged conspiracy of political assassinations and other terrorist acts. The charges, however, are serious and the United States will consider Armenia’s requests to support the investigation.” We asked Vladimir Karapetyan to assess this statement, namely the phrase that “The United States will consider Armenia’s requests to support the investigation”. Vladimir Karapetyan positively assessed the readiness publicly made by the representative of our friendly state to support the investigation for making it comprehensive and fair. “I am confident that other friendly states would not remain indifferent if our relevant authorities apply for this-or-that technical and methodological assistance.”
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN,
“Aravot” daily
