Vahan Hovhannisyan: "It is dangerous"
ARF Bureau member, head of the ARF faction Vahan Hovhannisyan has noticed more disturbing provisions in Resolution 2216 adopted by the European Parliament than the provisions that are being talked about.
First, in the resolution authored by Bulgarian Kirilov it is stated that it is worth replacing France's co-chair in the OSCE Minsk Group with the European Union's mandate.
According to Vahan Hovhannisyan, that may violate the Minsk Group's principle of balance.
"Time will pass and there will inevitably come a proposal to rotate the mandate. If it is the mandate of the European Union, then why France? It could be Britain, Spain, Germany and any other country within the European Union that will sharply violate the balance formed in the Minsk Group," said Vahan Hovhannisyan who says that may later become a reason for granting a CIS mandate to Russia and then replacing Russia with, say, Ukraine or Kazakhstan.
"We need to make an effort to not let that happen," Vahan Hovhannisyan warned Serzh Sargsyan.
Another danger that Armenia hasn't seen is that the resolution proposes to create a Black Sea Union. Vahan Hovhannisyan noted that that proposal already questions Armenia's participation in the already existing Black Sea Economic Cooperation where Armenia is trying to protect its interests, but is unable and the current proposed union is simply against Armenia's interests.
"It is clear that Russia and Turkey will be the ones to promote the Black Sea Union," noted Vahan Hovhannisyan, recalling what close ties between Russia and Turkey mean for Armenia.
Taking into account the government's claims that such resolutions are not subject to mandatory fulfillment, how realistic are the dangers? In response, Hovhannisyan said: "There is a real danger in this resolution." As far as the government's claims are concerned, he said:
"Turkey and Azerbaijan are gathering cases and that will lead to something one day," said Vahan Hovhannisyan.
Touching upon some of Armenia's views on author of Resolution 2216 Kirilov, according to which Kirilov is an imbalanced person, Vahan Hovhannisyan noted: "Kirilov is very well-balanced, smart and rather dangerous."
According to Hovhannisyan, there are three reasons for these resolutions and the pressure on Armenia: first, the Armenian government has shown many times that it is ready for concessions even at the price of its national interests; secondly, the world sees that the government imposes and implements any draft law or resolution with or without the consent of the people and political parties and thirdly, the Armenian government can take a firm stand only if it has strong backup, but the society doesn't the current authorities.
There will be change of power
To avoid foreign pressures, ARF faction leader Vahan Hovhannisyan called on the government to call back its signature under the Turkey-Armenia Protocols, come to terms with the opposition, hear their warnings and establish justice in the country. If the authorities don't listen to the call, they will continue to make mistakes and the opposition will continue to fight against them and even lead to change of power.
"The opposition will continue to correct the mistakes and not let them happen. If you are asking whether there will be change of power or not, yes, the opposition will fight against the authorities," said Vahan Hovhannisyan.
