"PACE is not Armenia's nurse"
A1+ had an interview with Tigran Torosyan, ex chairman of the Armenian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) and ex speaker of Armenian Parliament.
-How will you assess Armenian delegation's recent "adventures" in the Parliamentary Assembly?
First of all I want to remind that last time the Assembly raised the issue of suspending the mandates of Armenian delegation. After the passions died away, Armenian authorities announced about their victory in Strasbourg. I find this approach futile as our delegation faces the same problem in PACE today. This must come as an alert for Armenian authorities and opposition who had better settle their affairs in Yerevan and find mutually beneficial solutions. I think that the authorities created extra problems for them by changing the staff of the delegation. It means the authorities cannot imagine the delegation's powers in Strasbourg. The delegation is divided into two parts - permanent and substitutes. Substitutes are empowered to work in commissions which carry out the main work.
The authorities needn't have sent four delegates instead of eight. The decision was absurd. The number of commissions exceeded our delegation and the delegation was to have arrived in Strasbourg in full staff.
But PACE confirmed our delegates' mandates and accusations were hailed afterwards blaming PACE for double standards.
The reason is that many people both in the ruling coalition and opposition try to conceal their faults by impartial assessments. All issues must be thoroughly introduced and grounded in PACE. I learnt from the press that the opposition delegate was unable to participate in the PACE sitting for some unknown reasons. This is not a grounded explanation. Most of our delegates do not have a thorough notion of PACE and are unaware of its main functions.
Everyone thinks PACE is Armenia's nurse and must handle Armenia's problems, clarify the reality and make proposals. But in fact, you must deal with your problems and all further decisions shall be taken on the basis of facts and grounds presented by you.
Since 2008 Armenia has appeared in awkward situations in PACE. Why?
The reason is that few understand the role of PACE in Armenia. I must say that some of our delegates cannot work there at all. They think they travel to Strasbourg to make a speech. But it has nothing to do with PACE. Finally, they don't treat the structure seriously. We think that PACE is a formal structure and so are our commitments to it.
Our delegation must be able to depict the general situation in Armenia in real colors, at the same time, as a PACE member the delegation must acknowledge Armenian leadership with the real problems in the country and try its best to settle them.
Diana Markosyan
