Before the conference actually began, chief director of political issues of the European Council Zhan Loui Loran hosted a press conference. According to Loran, throughout the past five years of membership, the only achievements of Armenia have been the exemption of the death sentence and the constitutional amendments. He says that the European Council places emphasis on fair elections, including reforms in the voting and court codes, the law about the ombudsman and freedom of press. The chief director of the European Council’s political issues hopes that the upcoming 2007 parliamentary and 2008 presidential elections will be liberal, fair and correspond to European norms because the cornerstone for democracy are the fair elections. He added that the European Council is ready to help the Armenian authorities in accomplishing that, but in order to do that the Armenian authorities must also be ready and have the will to work. Zhan Loui Loran also mentioned that he has talked with one of the Armenian National Assembly MPs. The MP had sadly mentioned to him that the European Court of Human Rights still hadn’t reached a verdict against Armenia and that, according to him, those decisions will help make democratic reforms in the country.
“But I don’t think that we have to sit and wait for the European Court’s verdicts. We can take preventive measures,” said Loran yesterday. He also mentioned that there are problems concerning freedom of speech in Armenia, in particular regulation and licensing. Is it possible that the European organizations will not pay attention to that in case the results of the elections are faked, just like after the constitutional amendments referendum? Loran said the following in response to the abovementioned question:
“I can’t speak on behalf of the observers of the upcoming elections because that will be in 2007 and 2008 and opinions will be expressed after the elections.”
Chairman of the National Assembly of Armenia Arthur Baghdasaryan was also participating in the “Armenia and European Council: five years of membership” conference yesterday and he described the past five years as years of stable progress. As for Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Vartan Oskanyan, he divided the past five years in a “3+1” category: preparation for membership, membership, fulfillment of requirements and one more stage, which Armenia will come to in the future. While talking about the successes and failures, the minister also mentioned that if it weren’t for the European Council, Armenia “wouldn’t be at the current level and wouldn’t have achieved what it has” and would have a low level of democracy. According to Oskanyan, Armenia has chosen the path for evolutionary developments and has put aside the revolution alternatives. In regard to the Karabagh conflict, Oskanyan stated that the European Council is required to help settle the Karabagh conflict peacefully.
“The word peace is the key word here. The conflict just can’t be settled through war,” said the minister of foreign affairs.
As for the war declarations on the part of Azerbaijan, Oskanyan said that if Azerbaijan really wants to start a war, then it would be hard to imagine Azerbaijan wanting to make compromises.
“We must exclude the possibility of force and the European Council plays a major role here,” emphasized Oskanyan.
He announced that Europe believes that the meeting of Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents wouldn’t hurt the conflict settlement. V. Oskanyan said that it is quite possible that both presidents will meet in the coming month, but the date and place still haven’t been decided.
“We know that the Azerbaijani president has been well-informed during his official visit to Washington that war is not the solution and we consider that as positive. If Azerbaijan keeps war as a possible alternative, then it will be difficult to make compromises,” said V. Oskanyan.
According to him, Armenia has done what it had to do and now it’s Azerbaijan’s turn so that the process will develop. Oskanyan believes that the problem today is not to move one step back and it is expected to see Azerbaijan take the steps it needs to take, otherwise it will be difficult to move forward.
Head of the National Assembly foreign relations committee Armen Rustamyan, leader of the “Justice” National Assembly faction Stepan Demirchyan, Ombudsman Armen Harutyunyan and others were also participating in the conference. In his speech, Stepan Demirchyan stated that there is no progress for democracy in Armenia and corruption is everywhere.
“The people don’t see the democratic achievements,” he said.
The leader of the “Justice” faction considered the past five years as “years of lost chances”. Today, according to Demirchyan, Armenia can’t declare itself democratic and a nation where human rights are defended, compared to five years ago. He says that the European Council’s formal way of fulfilling its requirements misinterprets the idea of Armenia’s integration into Europe.
“It is unacceptable to make reforms based on anti-democratic methods. The methods are as important as the goals,” said Stepan Demirchyan.