On Tuesday, July 19, co-rapporteur of PACE on Armenia Axel Fischer visited Armenia. The other co-rapporteur John Prescott didn’t visit Armenia because of technical reasons.
According to certain information an Englishman killed himself by throwing himself under the train by which Prescott was travelling, as a result of which he was late from London-Yerevan plain. And as the plane to Yerevan was scheduled for late evening yesterday Prescott found it meaningless to visit Armenia because the official visit of the co-rapporteurs is over today. Thus, co-rapporteur Axel Fischer held the meetings with RA government, parliamentary forces and ANC without his partner. He met RA President Serzh Sargsyan, NA chairman Hovik Abrahamyan, parliamentary factions, coalition and the ANC and discussed the last developments on improvement of the political situation in the country. Let us remember that during their previous visit to Armenia on March 16-17 Fischer and Prescott made a statement, in which they highlighted that it’s the high time for actions and not just words and that the initiatives should be fulfilled. They also warned that the failure of doing so may cause a social riot. Their statement was followed by the amnesty declared by the government in May, as a result of which all the political prisoners were released. And the last action, which was expected by the PACE, was the dialog between the ANC and the government. As it’s known, this dialog took place on the threshold of the visit of the co-rapporteurs. It means that during this visit Fischer should evaluate and review the political situation created in Armenia because Prescott and he are supposed to prepare and submit a report in October on Armenia. Judging from the current actions, in October they will release a very positive report with a few recommendations. According to our sources, during his meetings Fischer mentioned that in their report they will by all means mention that the Armenian government has taken essential steps to improve the democratic situation and human rights in Armenia. According to the same sources, Fischer also highlighted that the main reason for such an opinion was the recent dialog between the government and the Armenian National Congress, the necessity of which they emphasized in their March report. Instead, he spoke about the necessity of the Armenian representation in the PACE sub-committee on NKR. However, during the meeting with the representatives of the coalition the chair of the Armenian delegation to PACE Davit Harutyunyan said that the Armenian delegation will not participate in the activities of the sub-committee and asked Fischer to pass on this message to the PACE management as well. And the member of the Armenian delegation to PACE Naira Zohrabyan from the Prosperous Armenia told Fischer that if PACE really wishes to form mutual trust and tolerance between the people and delegations of Azerbaijan and Armenia it would be a good idea to expertise the textbooks of Azerbaijani schools, which “zombie” the children of Azerbaijan. As a response, Fisher said that perhaps the Armenian delegation will participate in the activities of the committee and present the standpoint of the Armenian side there. However, Davit Harutyunyan excluded that and mentioned once again that the Armenian delegation had notified the PACE Bureau about their decision to abstain from participation. According to the information posted on NA webpage Fischer mentioned that he understood the attitude of the Armenian side and that he had participated in the first session of the subcommittee but thought that the sub-committee didn’t have any idea what they had to deal with. Fischer referred to the first contacts between representatives of President Serzh Sargsyan’s three-party coalition and the opposition Armenian National Congress. He expressed hope that the Sargsyan administration will also engage in a “similar constructive dialogue” with two other major opposition groups. Fischer said he discussed with Sargsyan and other Armenian officials their pledges to reform the country’s law-enforcement, judicial and electoral systems. He said he stressed the importance of properly conducting Armenia’s next parliamentary election due in May 2012. Armenia’s main opposition groups have downplayed the significance of the amended code. They say the Sarkisian government blocked more sweeping amendments proposed by them and will continue to control various-level election commissions. He also said that all the positive things will be emphasized in their October report. Yesterday from the coalition Fischer met with RPA member, head of the Armenian delegation to PACE Davit Harutyunyan and Mkrtich Minasyan, from PA – Naira Zohrabyan and Vardan Bostanjyan and from Legal State no one was present. “The co-rapporteur made a highly positive evaluation of recent steps taken by the Armenian authorities,” told us Naira Zohrabyan after the meeting with Fischer. “Namely, the amnesty and the release of detainees.” “He also made a highly positive evaluation of the recently amended Electoral Code,” she added. The Armenian authorities amended the code as part of sweeping reforms promised to the Council of Europe. The opposition dismisses those amendments, saying that they are not conducive to the proper conduct of the next elections. However, it is interesting to know whether the positive report stipulates that Armenia will no longer be monitored by the PACE. Fischer discussed these issues also with Levon Ter-Petrosyan, the top leader of the main opposition Armenian National Congress. An ANC statement said Ter-Petrosyan briefed him on the ongoing dialogue between the opposition alliance and the ruling coalition. He also had a positive opinion about the steps of the government on the launch of the dialog and the amnesty. According to governmental sources Armenia will be monitored by the PACE as long as Azerbaijan is. PACE will maintain parity and will constantly draw parallels between the two countries. Parliament deputies from the opposition Heritage party reiterated this view at their meeting with Fischer. They argued that the new Central Election Commission (CEC) formed by the authorities last week is dominated by government loyalists. Member of the Armenian delegation to PACE, member of the Heritage faction Zaruhi Postanjyan thinks that as long as Armenia is being monitored by the PACE the positive or negative report of the PACE doesn’t have any impact. “The positive or negative report doesn’t have any connection with the actual reforms if the country still undergoes monitoring. If the country is still in the monitoring process the rest doesn’t matter that much.” By the way, when speaking to us Postanjyan mentioned that during the 30-minute conversation Fischer didn’t give any evaluation about the processes in the country. “He was only listening,” said Postanjyan. Besides her the meeting also hosted Stepan Safaryan, Larisa Alaverdyan and many questions were discussed. “I said that we have no problem. Let the government think about their own reproduction… I said that of course it’s good that certain positive things are visibly happening but as long as the government thinks only about its reproduction then this whole processes is merely imitation. I said that we cannot have a positive evaluation about this dialog, the result of which will be the legitimization of the government. We also spoke about the media, judicial system, ecology and CEC appointments,” said Stepan Safaryan and added that after the meeting Fischer didn’t say a word. He only said that he was in Armenia to listen to opinions for their next report. By the way, Safaryan said that during the meeting he also spoke about their decision to boycott the NA sessions. “I said that during your March visit you were so impressed by the perspective of the dialog that you didn’t even meet with the NA factions in the case when according to your report the obligations must mostly be carried out by the factions. I also added that during this period the parliament very quickly discussed and adopted the new election code.” And during the meeting with the ANC by the request of Levon Ter-Petrosyan Fischer presented the issues, which should be discussed during the September session of PACE and the evaluations around the processes taking place in Armenia. Ter-Petrosyan thanked the co-rapporteurs and said that they signified the efforts of the PACE aimed at punishing the culprits of March 1 events. He also presented the internal political processes in Armenia, specifically the process of the dialog between the opposition and government aimed at strengthening democracy and overcoming the challenges confronted by Armenia. The ANC leader emphasized the ANC demand of snap parliamentary and presidential elections, formation of mechanisms of conduct of free and fair elections, formation of a legitimate government in Armenia. According to the ANC statement during the meeting the Congress representatives raised the issue of sending a delegation of 2000 election monitors during the conduct of elections. They have also signified the exclusion of total control of the government over the media sector of Armenia.