“The post-election developments in Armenia are not a stagnation of democracy, but temporary deviation from it,” said the foreign affairs minister of Armenia Vardan Oskanyan during the discussion entitled as Whether the Way to Europe Lies Through Caucuses organized within the frameworks of the Brussels Forum – 2008. Concerning the post-election processes in Armenia the minister said that it is a result of the lack of trust in the society toward the state and civic institutions. “Yesterday Georgia, today Armenia are an excellent example of lack of working institutions. Is it deviation from democratization and the European way? No. In the process there have been shocks, problems, criticality, disorientation. And accept it as a warning that there will be new such things,” said Vardan Oskanyan and added, “In the post-Soviet period, in the post-Soviet territory trusting in the institutions fully is the deviation. We cannot yet clean the activities of these institutions from the old methods and ways of activities. We need time to realize it by those people who are managing such institutions, furthermore, we need more time to have good results in those people who have been affected by the activities of such institutions”. “As our post-election processes, the Georgian post-election processes, and I believe the future post-election processes in Azerbaijan, show that the lack of trust in the society toward such institutions is so big that they believe changes should come from the streets,” emphasized the foreign affairs minister of Azerbaijan and added, “Is it a way leading to Europe? I believe it is”. Vardan Oskanyan said that the best proof of his idea is the Armenian presidential election. “Everyone said that there was an improvement in that election. No one was expecting ideal elections but only better elections. It is because of the fact that the level of trust was too low and the expectations so high, the needs so urgent that the better was less than better enough. They went out to the streets thinking that continuous political revolution means political improvement. We know that it is not so. We have already had our political and economic revolutions in our region. What we haven’t had is the social one. Thus in the next ten years, on our way to Europe, we will come and ask you to work with us to implement a social revolution: to implement thorough and deep changes especially through two fields – in the fields of mass media and education. It is how the way of Europe to Europe lasted more than one century; our way will need time as well. However, I believe if it is done together it will not last so long”. According to the press and PR department of the foreign affairs ministry of Armenia, within the framework of the conference held in Brussels on March 15-16 Vardan Oskanyan also had a meeting with European foreign and general security policies official Javier Solana. They discussed the post-election situation in Armenia and the ways to go out of this situation promptly.
