On October 4 and 5 in Strasbourg the President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia, Head of the National Assembly Delegation to PACE Mr. T. Torosyan held several meetings within the framework of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Session.
According to the established tradition, in the course of the meeting with Mr. Milos Aligrudic, Head of the Serbian Delegation to PACE, the opportunities of cooperation regarding the issues of mutual interest were discussed. Once again the two parties emphasized their readiness to fully support the other side regarding any issue. The reasons of taking out the report regarding the Kosovo issue from the agenda of the session were discussed. The issue of the joint position presented by Mr. Adrian Severin regarding the Pact on Stability in South Caucasus, which was on the agenda of the Political Committee on October 5, was discussed as well. The Head of the Serbian Delegation Mr. Milos Aligrudic expressed readiness to fully support the Armenian delegation in that issue. The opportunities of using mechanisms available in the PACE Rules of Procedure of the solution of those issues were also discussed.
In the course of the meeting with the speaker on the issues of the Pact on Stability in South Caucasus Mr. Adrian Severin the draft resolution and recommendation were discussed at the PACE Committee on Political Affairs. Mr. Severin accepted the two suggested proposals. At the same time he was told that in the memorandum of the speaker, in the information regarding the current status of South Caucasus there are statements, which do not correspond to the reality. Mr. Severin promised to make appropriate corrections after the Committee sitting, and during the further process of the document make the memorandum fully corresponding to the reality. Mr. Torosyan mentioned that since Mr. Severin accepts these proposals, the Armenian party would protect the draft of the report resolution and recommendation.
At the meeting of the RA NA President, the Head of the Armenian Delegation to PACE Mr. T. Torosyan and the Head of Ago Group Mr. Per Sjogren the representatives of the Venice Commission participated. Mr. Torosyan informed in detail about the process of meeting the obligations after the last visit of the Rapporteurs. It was also presented, what steps had been undertaken to reflect the amendments in laws after the Constitutional amendments; how is the process going on in adopting about 50 laws, which are the outcome of the Constitutional amendments, and regarding which there was a government-made schedule. The Ago group members were particularly interested in the status of those ten laws, the list of which they handed to the Parliament during their last visit. Mr. Torosyan mentioned that six laws had already been adopted; one of the laws had been debated and defeated (the Law on Radio and Television), because it had a number of shortcomings. But nevertheless, the Parliament would adopt that law by the end of the year. The adopted and current laws are sent to the Council of Europe (CE) experts for the examination. Regarding these laws the letter from the Secretary General of the CE Mr. Mateo Sorinas has already been received, which stated that these laws had been sent to experts. The amendments to the Electoral Code were presented as well. The Ago group members were interested in the status of electoral process problems: the situation with electoral polls, the order of the establishment of electoral commissions, and the voting process. The approaches that exist in the draft were presented in detail. During the last debates the Venice Commission members expressed their satisfaction with the solution of some problems available in the draft amendments to the Electoral Code. The Ago Group members noted that when they were in Yerevan, they proposed to publish the report of the Committee on Torture Prevention related to Armenia.
The Head of Ago Group Mr. Per Sjogren expressed satisfaction that the Constitutional amendments are reflected in laws rather effectively and all these would promote the deepening of democracy and respect of human rights in Armenia. At the same time he expressed a hope that further developments would foster that 2007 Parliamentary elections conform to all international standards.
The Forum of the Ministers of Justice is to be held soon in Yerevan. Mr. Thomas Hammarberg, the CE Commissioner for Human Rights will participate in the Forum. During the meeting at his request Mr. Torosyan informed about recent developments in the sphere of human rights in Armenia, especially the situation which was established after the Constitutional amendments was pointed out: particularly the enlargement of the circle of individuals having the right to apply to the Constitutional Court. It was informed that the citizens received the right to apply to the Constitutional Court from July 1, and there are already about 15 cases, which were debated and will be debated till the end of the year. Mr. Hammarberg was interested in the situation of the Law on Radio and Television. He was informed that the draft has got shortcomings, but since it is an outcome of the Constitutional amendments and it has an important meaning in the sphere of regulation of electronic mass media activities, the draft will be re-elaborated and it would be correct to adopt it till the end of the year. Mr. Hammarberg was presented the statement that in spite of the fact what solution would get the Karabakh issue and especially what status would have Karabakh, it would be correct that the protection of human rights in Nagorno Karabakh and in the zones of conflict of CE region is taken into account. Considering the fact that during the adoption of laws the Parliament of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic takes into account the approaches that the Council of Europe proposes, it was suggested to keep an eye at conflicting regions, because the population residing in these territories had great losses in the result of wars, they suffered a lot, and it would not be correct to leave them without attention: communication is necessary.Mr. Hammarberg considered the statement interesting, and though he is not involved in the peace settlement or status issues in conflicting regions, but the issues of human rights are important issues, and it is necessary to find opportunities for cooperation in this sphere.
During the meeting of the RA NA President, the Head of the Armenian Delegation to PACE Mr. T. Torosyan, the CE Rapporteur on Nagorno Karabakh Lord Russell Johnston and the Head of the Azerbaijani delegation to PACE Mr. Samad Seidov, Mr. R. Johnston mentioned that the time for the visit of the members of the Committee to the region is unfavorable. It would be better to postpone the visit up to the next year, and before that to hold debates in Strasbourg in the course of January part session with participation of the members of the Armenian and Azerbaijani delegations. An agreement was reached to clarify the agenda of debates.
On October 3 the PACE Monitoring Committee sitting was held. Mr. Stepan Demirchyan participated in that session. The reporters presented the results of their visit to Armenia after the Constitutional amendments referendum. The cooperation with the National Assembly was positively evaluated, and a hope was expressed that positive amendments would be a basis for 2007 Parliamentary elections to conform to international standards. At the same time, the Committee was informed that the draft law on Amendments to the RA Law on Radio and Television would be re-elaborated and adopted. The Member of the Armenian delegation Mr. Stepan Demirchyan highlighted the Constitutional reforms. Then he presented the opposition’s reservations regarding the electoral processes, the discontent with the non-punishment of the persons responsible for the violations during the 2003 elections. The Committee reaffirmed that a session of the Monitoring Committee would be held in Yerevan on October 16. During the session there was also a proposal to touch upon the issue of increasing tension in relations between Russia-Georgia at the Yerevan session.
On October 5 the sitting of the PACE Political Committee was held, where Mr. Adrian Severin’s report on the Pact of Stability in South Caucasus was presented for the first time - the draft resolution and recommendations were discussed. There was an expression in the draft resolution, that South Caucasian countries do not have perspectives to join the European Union. Members of the Georgian delegation suggested taking out that expression, the speaker would not agree. On the proposal of the Head of the Armenian delegation Mr. T. Torosyan, the word “yet” was added, and the issue was solved. Indeed, there has not been any step undertaken in that direction yet, and “yet” means that the perspective may appear any time. The previous draft was adopted, and the report will be presented at the session later.
On October 5 a sitting of the PACE Committee on Migration, Refugees and Population took place, where proposals concerning the report of Mr. Einarsson were being discussed. The resolution of the session was adopted. We’ll remind that this report had already been presented once, and the previous resolution mentioned concrete cases. The Armenian delegation suggested that 1915 Genocide should also be mentioned, and the committee had expressed a positive opinion. But the general report was taken off from the debate of the session, and a new report was presented.The resolution section of the new report did not mention concrete cases but the 34th item of its memorandum says “the international community was justly indignant at the persecution of the Armenians of 1894-1897 in the Ottoman Empire,” and the 36th item says “Before the World War I the number of the Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire was two million, the majority of which was exterminated or expelled in 1915-1923. Your Rapporteur (Mr. Einarsson) welcomes the proposals of setting up an international research committee under the aegis of the UN or other international organization, which can contribute to the historical perception and recognition of the past events. In 1987 the European Parliament has adopted a resolution on the political settlement of the Armenian issue recognizing and condemning the Genocide.”
On October 5 a sitting of the Subcommittee on Cultural Heritage took place, which debated the issue of the arrival of the fact finding group to the South Caucasian region. The Azerbaijani representatives were not attending the meeting, which caused the indignation of the committee members. Mr. Stepan Demirchyan, who delivered a speech in the name of the Armenian delegation, noted that Armenia was and is ready to receive the mission group, and the visit cannot be postponed endlessly. What regards the visit to NKR, the organizational issues related to the visit have to be settled with the NKR authorities, naturally, Armenia will support in any way it can. Mr. Demirchyan expressed his indignation at the attitude of the Azerbaijani party, as they hinder the visit. It was decided that Azerbaijan will be given one month, and if there are no positive changes, the European Council will express its disappointment with a letter.
During the debate of the Alliance of the Liberals and Democrats for Europe on the establishment of a European Remembrance Center for Victims of Forced Population Movements and Ethnic Cleansing Mr. Demirchyan supported the above-mentioned idea in the name of the faction. He noted that the 20th century was a century of scientific and technical achievements, but it was also a century of genocides and world wars. It was noted, that the atmosphere of unpunishability generates new crimes, especially the fact that the Armenian Genocide was not condemned at its time gave Hitler the possibility to carry out his cruel intentions and say that no one remembers the Armenian Genocide. Mr. Demirchyan noted that Turkey has to recognize the Armenian Genocide, which will open e new page in the history of relations of the two nations.
Mr. Armen Roustamyan, member of the Armenian delegation also had a speech on this issue at the PACE session. He said that the best example of ethnic cleansing is the tragedy of the Armenians, which is known by many as the genocide of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. Many countries and international organizations have already recognized and censured this monstrous crime against humans. But there was time when many were not only in the role of an observer, but they were also persuading Armenians to forget the past and look ahead. One of those who didn’t forget about the Armenian Genocide was Adolph Hitler, who repeated it as a holocaust. The humans were again punished for their amnesia. Today, we feel confident to say that independently from the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by Turkey, the fact of genocide has become part of the memory of not only Armenians, but also of the humans all over the world. There are attempts to thrust into this memory realities, that have nothing in common with the truth, and the purpose of which is very simple – to subordinate the facts to own interests, adjust the history, erase the witnesses’ memories, and create a virtual reality that corresponds to their interests. Anyway, they cannot deteriorate the reality in a way that no one knows how the territories of Nakhijevan and Karabakh appeared in Soviet Azerbaijan. How can Azerbaijan talk about ethnic cleansing, when everybody knows that not a single Armenian was left in Nakhijevan, from 40 percent of its population, and this was long before the Kharabakh war? Or how does Azerbaijan call Armenia an aggressor, when everybody knows who and how has started the war? How Azerbaijan is going to explain the terrible massacres of the Armenians in Sumgait, Kirovabad and then in Baku, which are confirmed by judicial assessments, and its barefaced announcements that Azerbaijan has peaceful intentions towards Armenians? Of course, thousands of Azerbaijanis have become victims of war, but they cannot conceal that those are victims of aggression organized by Azerbaijani powers. And they cannot conceal the truth with an intention of preparing and justifying new aggressions. Mr. Roustamyan expressed a hope that the establishment of the center will help avoid repeating tragedies and will not let distort the memory and history.
Mr. Artashes Geghamyan, member of the Armenian delegation had a speech on the situation in the Balkans and on the policy regarding this situation. He noted that the political situation in the Balkans reminds the year of 1918, which was the last phase of the World War I. Mr. Geghamyan reminded the words of the U.S. President Woodrow Wilson: “Each nation has the right to choose its preferable version of sovereignty,” and noted, that in Europe there were 17 countries in 1915, 24 countries in 1920 and there are 46 countries in 2006. Mr. Geghamyan noted, that Montenegro gained independence as a result of a referendum, and the same thing can work in the case of Nagorno Karabakh.
Speaking about the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development of Europe (OECD) Mr. Geghamyan said that during the debate of this question they expect answers from PACE concerning the relevant issues of economic development, especially, what OECD suggests against the more and more complicated challenges of globalization (global energy safety, protection from epidemics of the 21st century, fight against hunger and illiteracy, prevent overall warming of the climate etc.). Mr. Geghamyan noted that the resolution of these problems is within the economic development of OECD countries. But we have to take into account the extent to which this development considers the interests of other countries and protects them from negative consequences of globalization.