Political News from Armenia

EU Mulls Free Trade Deal With Armenia
By Ruben Meloyan

The European Union is considering signing a free trade agreement with
Armenia as part of its efforts to strengthen ties with the South
Caucasus state, a senior official from the EU's executive Commission on
Thursday.

Hugues Mingarelli, deputy head of the European Commission's
Directorate-General for External Relations, said during a visit to
Yerevan that the EU is currently looking into such possibility and plans
to open negotiations with the Armenian government soon.

`In the coming months we hope to engage in a dialogue with the Armenian
authorities on the possibility of establishing a free trade zone,' he
said during a lecture at the French University in Armenia.

The EU has been Armenia's number one trading partner ever since the late
1990s. According to official Armenian statistics, EU member states
accounted for 39 percent of the country's external trade in the first
four months of this year. The total volume of the Armenia-EU commercial
exchange rose by 35 percent to almost $597 million in this period.

According to Mingarelli, a `preferential' trade regime would give
Armenian exporters greater access to the affluent European markets.
`It's a regime that will allow Armenia to export its goods to the
European Union with very favorable customs duties,' he said.

Mingarelli discussed the issue with Armenian Prime Minister Tigran
Sarkisian later in the day. His other interlocutors included Finance
Minister Tigran Davtian and Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian.

His talks with Davtian were followed by an announcement that the EU has
released the first installment of a 16 million-euro grant designed to
help the Armenian government fight youth unemployment through a reform
of the education sector. The assistance is part of a 21 million-euro aid
package that was approved by the European Commission last year. EU
assistance to Armenia totaled more than 400 million euros ($620 million)
from 1992-2006.

According to the Foreign Ministry in Yerevan, Nalbandian assured the
visiting EU official that the Armenian government will continue its
`consistent steps to move closer to the European family.' He said the
government is committed to implementing political and economic reforms
stemming from Armenia's inclusion in the EU's European Neighborhoods
Policy (ENP) program.

The tense political situation in Armenia triggered by last February's
disputed presidential election was also on the agenda of Mingarelli's
visit, with the EU official meeting with opposition leader Levon
Ter-Petrosian on Wednesday.

`The union is continuing to closely follow the situation and to
encourage the Armenian authorities to engage in a dialogue with the
opposition and respect freedom of assembly,' Mingarelli said the next
day. `At the same time we are urging the opposition to take a
responsible stance and to do its job of an opposition in a construction
manner.'

Ter-Petrosian, according to his office, reiterated that he will be ready
to negotiate with the authorities only after the release of dozens of
his loyalists arrested in the wake of the February 19 election.

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ARMENIA FACING STRASBOURG CENSURE
Two weeks ahead of a crucial debate on Armenia, few of the demands

made by the Council of Europe have been implemented,
By Marianna Grigorian in Yerevan

Two weeks before an important session in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, PACE,

at which the Armenian delegation risks losing its voting rights, opposition supporters say that little has been

done to implement reforms.

The opposition says little has been done to fulfil the demands laid out in the assembly's toughly-worded

Resolution 1609, passed on April 17. It says that there are still several dozen political prisoners in jail, no

independent investigation has been launched into the bloodshed in Yerevan on March 1 and there are still

restrictions on the right of assembly.

"Almost two months after the adoption of the PACE resolution, there have been no significant changes,"

said Stepan Safarian, a member of parliament from the opposition Heritage party.

The response from the Armenian government is that it has begun the process of passing new legislation

on the right of assembly, that it has launched an enquiry into the March violence, but that its overtures to the

opposition to initiate a dialogue have been rebuffed.

The opposition is particularly angry over what it says are "political prisoners", most of whom were detained

on or around March 1.

According to the prosecutor's office, 45 people are in detention charged with criminal offences relating to the

bloody events of that day, when ten people were killed on the streets of Yerevan in the wake of the disputed

presidential election ten days earlier.

The PACE resolution says that "persons detained on seemingly artificial and politically motivated charges,

or who did not personally commit any violent acts or serious offences in connection with them, should be

released as a matter of urgency".

"Several political prisoners have been released, but only the form of their punishment has changed - the

criminal investigation has not been halted," said Suren Surenyants, a leading member of the opposition Republic

party.

"Many of our friends remain behind bars and there's been no independent investigation into the events of

March 1."

Surenyants was detained on February 25 and accused of organising an unauthorised demonstration and for

attempting to "seize power". He spent 53 days in detention and was only released after he staged a 12-day

hunger-strike.

"I think that the PACE resolution played a big role in getting me released," said Surenyants. "Instead of

fulfilling the demands of the resolution, the authorities are busy creating the illusion that they are implementing

them."

He went on to warn, "If these trends continue, Armenia will find itself in quite an unpleasant situation."

Safarian elaborated on the possible implications, "All the members of the Council of Europe will review their

political support for Armenia, which will weaken our position, for example on the question of resolving the

Nagorny Karabakh conflict."

The assembly is due to take a vote on June 19 on measures which might include the humiliating step of

stripping the Armenian delegation of its voting rights. A few days before the vote. two rapporteurs from

PACE, Georges Colombier and John Prescott, will visit Armenia to report on the extent to which the resolution

is being implemented.

Speaking at the April 17 session at which the resolution was passed, Prescott warned that "unless changes

are made through open dialogue on reforms, all of Armenia's civic society and its credibility as a member of

the Council of Europe will be put in doubt".

Armenian officials have said they take the resolution seriously and intend to implement its demands.

"The proposals in Resolution 1609 are in harmony with my electoral programme, my programme of action

and the spirit of statements made by the political coalition we have formed," President Serzh Sarkisian -

whose election sparked the crisis - said on May 19.

Eduard Sharmazanov, spokesman for the pro-government Republican Party and member of parliament, said,

"Armenia's voting rights in PACE are very important, but even if there was no PACE, we would do everything

to return the country to the democratic path."

Officials say that the Armenian parliament has passed, in a first reading, amendments that PACE requested

be made to the law of assembly; and that it has also made other concessions such as setting up a parliamentary

committee to investigate the March 1 bloodshed.

"Why does the opposition not notice these reforms?" asked Sharmazanov. "Amendments have been made to

the law on conducting marches and rallies, and there's been an initiative to form a Public Chamber, which the

opposition expressed no desire to take part in. And that's not all - these reforms can't be implemented in one

day; they still need a lot of time."

The Public Chamber, as proposed by the new president, will be a consultative body that includes representatives

from both inside and outside parliament, former presidential candidates, public figures and members of the

intelligentsia.

On May 23 former president Levon Ter-Petrosian, the main opposition candidate in the election, rejected the

initiative.

Ter-Petrosian and his supporters say they will only engage in dialogue with the new authorities if the principal

demands contained in the PACE resolution are met - chiefly, the release of prisoners, changes to the law on

assembly, and an independent investigation into the March 1 violence.

They say the parliamentary committee formed to investigate the bloodshed lacks the independence envisaged

by Resolution 1609.

"The main conditions have not been fulfilled, which is why we've refused to take part in the work of the

[Public Chamber]," said Ter-Petrosian's spokesman Arman Musinian.

The opposition makes little comment on the one point in the resolution which requires it to compromise by

recognise the Constitutional Court ruling that Sarkisian was legally elected as president. The resolution includes

the proviso that the opposition would still have a right to contest the court's decision at the European Court of

Human Rights.

Asked about this issue by IWPR, Musinian said only, "We know that there is a document called the

'Constitutional Court verdict', but we have said on numerous occasions that we do not accept the election

results and we are going to apply to the European Court."

The opposition says that is planning to ask permission from the Yerevan mayor's office to hold a mass rally

on the city's Freedom Square, outside the opera-house, on June 20 to be addressed by Ter-Petrosian. That

is the day on which PACE summer session opens, with discussion of Armenia's implementation of Resolution

1609 on the agenda.

Lyudmila Sarkisian, head of the opposition Social Democratic Party, told Radio Liberty that more than 50 a

pplications for demonstrations had been turned down so far by the city authorities.

Marianna Grigorian is a correspondent for Armenia Online in Yerevan and a member of IWPR's Cross

Caucasus Journalism Network project.

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THOMAS DE WAAL: THERE'S LITTLE EXPECTATION FOR SARGSYAN-ALIYEV MEETING
PanARMENIAN.Net
03.06.2008 12:31 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ There is little expectation for the forthcoming
meeting between the Armenian and Azerbaijani Presidents, according
to a British expert on the Caucasus.

"There is little chance for successful continuation of talks. With
passage of the UN resolution "on the situation in the occupied
territories", Azerbaijan has moved away from the Basic Document
discussed last year. The Azeri leadership is not likely to take drastic
steps on the threshold the presidential election while Yerevan is
too loaded with domestic problems to highlight Karabakh settlement,"
Thomas de Waal told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter.

Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev are scheduled to meet in Saint
Petersburg on June 6 in the framework of an international economic
conference.

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BARONESS CAROLINE COX INSPIRED WITH CHANGES IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH
DeFacto Agency
June 2 2008
Armenia

YEREVAN, 02.06.08. DE FACTO. The situation in the Nagorno-Karabakh
was discussed in the course of the NKR President Bako Sahakian's
meeting with a British delegation held in Stepanakert on May 30.The
delegation was headed by Baroness Caroline Cox, vice Speaker of the
U. K. House of Lords.

According to the Central Department of Information under the NKR
President, during the meeting Baroness Cox noted her optimism and
inspiration over the changes taking pace in the Republic grew with
every visit.

On the guests' request Bako Sahakian presented the current
situation and perspectives of development of the Republic's various
spheres. According to the NKR President, freedom, independence and
peace are the most important conditions of a state's development.

Upon completion of the meeting the state's head expressed his
gratitude to the guests for their constant attention and care about
Nagorno-Karabakh. He voiced confidence in the continuation of the
cooperation's traditions.

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EDWARD O'HARA: "SITUATION IN NAGORNO KARABAKH IS VERY DANGEROUS"
Azeri Press Agency
June 2 2008
Azerbaijan

Baku. Tamara Grigorieva-APA. "Ten days ago I met with the members
of Azerbaijan's Parliament at the meeting of the Council of Europe
Committee in Paris and discussed with them details of my mission to
Baku and Nakhchivan", Edward O'Hara, British MP and PACE Culture,
Education and Science Committee Rapporteur on the studying of cultural
heritage in the South Caucasus told APA exclusively.

He said his proposals caused interest at the meeting. "I didn't feel
their intention for special cooperation. Azerbaijani side expressed
its position with the upcoming presidential elections. There is
enough time until the elections and we can visit the region in this
period". The British parliamentarian said he believed in realization of
his visit. "We are still learning the working schedules and negotiating
the issue. I hope we can realize the visit later in June and early
in July". Edward O'Hara expressed opinion on the visit to Nagorno
Karabakh. "Of course, we are planning to visit Nagorno Karabakh region,
but it is not an easy visit, because the situation in Nagorno Karabakh
is very dangerous".

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