Watched the deliberations live at http://tv.coe.int/internet/index.html
There were about 26 people at the deliberations. Raffi Hovhannisian walked out after his speech. All the amendments, and amendments to amendments, most of which were by the Armenian delegation, were passed.
Prescott was for keeping the political prisoners in jail at least until January 2009 and was against an amendment to set a deadline of July 2008 for the resolution of the issue of political prisoners. Based on his recommendation the political prisoners will stay in jail until next year.
Resolution 11656 passed - let's see what the final text looks like.
There were about 26 people at the deliberations. Raffi Hovhannisian walked out after his speech. All the amendments, and amendments to amendments, most of which were by the Armenian delegation, were passed.
Prescott was for keeping the political prisoners in jail at least until January 2009 and was against an amendment to set a deadline of July 2008 for the resolution of the issue of political prisoners. Based on his recommendation the political prisoners will stay in jail until next year.
Resolution 11656 passed - let's see what the final text looks like.
Probably Prescott was promised a generous portion of khash, khorovats, kyufta, dolma and all other Armenian dishes if he postponed the sanctions.
ReplyDeleteHe is a controversial and disliked figure in Great Britain, not only famous for gorging unlimited quantities of food but also public funds.
Who knows what else he was promised when he was in Armenia?
A whole lot can be read about him in any British newspaper.
His performance today was very unpleasant. His arguments were pretty much in line with the Armenian representatives that are from the government parties (Rustamian from ARF and Harutyunian from RPA).
ReplyDeleteEvery other representative who spoke were in line with what this blog and the progressives have said about democratic values and political prisoners. But Prescott represents the committee so his words have a substantial effect.
So he is a trade unionist who plays croquet? :)
ReplyDeleteBBC has covered him, too.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/
uk_news/politics/2968074.stm
The LTP movement and other rhetoric is based on strong emotional argumentation, may be it is easy to sell in Armenia during rallies but hard to sell to Europeans during discussions. And Prescott is not the king of Europe to make decisions alone.
ReplyDeleteAnon- You may be right in that the LTP movement and rhetoric, as you call it, is not one that many are used to seeing (anywhere in the world), as it is based on values and principles. And, as a corollary to that, it may in fact have an emotional component, in the sense that those who support him actually believe in him, maybe because he enables them to believe in themselves, empowered to change the system in which they live. They're not just following a party, or some old standard agenda. When 20,000, or 100,000 people feel empowered to make change, it may be emotional, but its also called Democracy.
ReplyDeletetzitzernak - values and principles?
ReplyDeleteLTP appealed to oligarchs in his 1st public speech when campaigning for president.
LTP's crowds cheered when additional discredited mafiosos or scum like Jhangiryan, Grzo, Lady Hakob, General Manvel etc appeared or were announced to be with the failed ex-prez.
LTP consistently invoked racist and divisive rhetoric to prey on dissatisfied peoples' base feelings.
LTP exhorted people to ignore laws, rulings by the courts and the election commisions and fight to the end, pushing for clashes on March 1.
Not the values and principles Armenia needs.
Actually, besides Prescott and Rustamian/Harutyunian, the rest of the speeches were in support of releasing the political prisoners and restoring democracy in Armenia. But as I mentioned, Prescott being the chair of the committee assigned to Armenia has a lot of weight.
ReplyDeleteWhat I found weak was Raffi Hovhannisian spending a substantial portion of his speech on Genocide even though it was completely irrelevant to the issue at hand. You need to focus on the message instead of bringing up diversions. It was pretty much the same with the Azeri delegation accusing Armenia in harboring terrorism. Completely irrelevant and a waste of the audience's time.
These people call themselves professional politicians and yet they do not seem like professionals.
It appeared that dashnaks outdid themselves again. They supported the imprisonment of opposition politicians. I still dont understand that how they could stay so short-sighted for over 100 years. It seems that they havent developed since the turn of 20th centaury when they supported the Young Turks even after the Adana massacres.
ReplyDeleteIf before I thought that they are a neo-nazi organisation now I changed my mind, they are not even neo (new).
antifa, its a good try to compare current regime as young turks and support of dashnaks to young turks as the current support of dashnaks to incumbent.
ReplyDeleteHowever we should learn our history lessons well, compare current regime as to dashnaks in 1918-20 and the people movement of 2008 as to bolshevik movement of 1920.
our history books tell that if current neo-bolshevik movement wins, we will face similar problems of 1920.
yes we should fight against mauzerists of 1918s as well as bandits and oligarchs of 2008s, but the cost should not be division of armenians and the risk of losing what we have. Revolutions cost more than mauzerists' and/or oligarchs' harm.
Well, the dashnaks have made a choice to be in the government. It is their choice and no one else's. And why are we talking about them, anyway?
ReplyDeleteDashnakcutyun is a very minor party and I do not think that they are significant. I mean, look at them.
They have print media, a couple TV channels and cash flows from Diaspora and still get 5-6% of the votes at every election. They have a small base and not a wide appeal among the population.
I think people bring up the Dashnaks because it is a convenient frame in which to see the problems:
ReplyDeleteLTP attacked Dashnaks, therefore he is good.
Dashnaks support this or that position, therefore it is wrong.
Unfortunately, this is indicative of the political maturity level of many Armenians. And the various leaders capitalize on this. It is nothing more than a continuation of Soviet re-writing of history, and few in the current generation have bothered to unlearn what Big Brother told them is the Truth.
How minor the Dashnaks are is debatable. The reality is that there are very few political parties of principle at all...and most probably the Dashnaks are the largest one, both in Armenia and in the Diaspora.
But I agree, their popularity/power today is not widespread.
I dont advocate any division. It is the dashnaks who do that.
ReplyDeleteThye not only do that by talk but also do that by action by prolonging the duration of imprisonment of the political prisoners.
That's a fact nobody can deny.
For the record:
ReplyDeleteՍտեփան Սաֆարյանը նշեց, որ "Ժառանգություն" կուսակցության անդամները հանդիպել են ԵԽԽՎ-ում Հայաստանի հարցով զկուցողների հետ եւ մանրամասն ներկայացրել իրականությունը, համապատասխան փաստաթղթեր տրամադրել, որոնք տեղ չեն գտել ԵԽԽՎ 1620 բանաձեւում, ինչը պարոն Սաֆարյանին թույլ է տալիս հայտարարել. "Համազեկուցողների պահվածքը մեզ լուրջ մտորումների տեղիք է տալիս եւ անթույլատրելի է, որ նույն անձինք որեւիցե հարցում առնչվեն Հայաստանի վերաբերյալ զեկույցներին: Այս մարդիկ կարծես թե Հայաստան էին եկել ՀՀ իշխանությունների բոլոր արածները արդարացնելու համար, իբրեւ այլ երկրներում նույնպես հանդիպում են նման երեւույթների: Իմ կարծիքով, գործարք կա ՀՀ իշխպանությունների եւ ԵԽԽՎ համազեկուցողների միջեւ: Նրանք մեր իշխանություններին կարտ բլանշ են տվել, որոպեսզի վերջիններս չմիջամտեն Ադրբեջանի եւ այլ հարցերի վերաբերյալ զեկույցների ընդունմանը: Դա պարզապես հանցավոր գործարք է":
ԵԽԽՎ-ում Հայաստանի հարցով համազեկուցողների, իր բառերով, հանցավոր գործունեությունից հատվածներ ներկայացրեց §Ժառանգություն¦ կուսակցության անդամ Զարուհի Փոստանջյանը` նշելով, որ Ջոն Պրեսկոտի կուսակցության դեմ քրեական գործ է հարուցված ընտրախախտումների համար:
Ի դեպ, քրեական գործ է հարուցված նաեւ ԵԱՀԿ դիտորդներից բելգիացի Ան Մարի Լիզի նկատմամբ: §Ընդհանրապես պետք է պարզել, թե ինչ դիտորդներ են գալիս Հայաստան, ինչու նրանք հանցավոր կեսագրություն ունեն: Այո, պետք է բարձրաձայն ասել, որ եվրոպական դիտորդները հանցավոր համաձայնության են եկել ՀՀ իշխանությունների հետ` ՀՀ-ի գործընթացների վերաբերյալ իրենց գնահատականները հայտնելիս":
The crux of the matter is that an internal political situation in Armenia which sadly turned violent has become a matter of international concern. Whether we like it or not the issue is as i stands a bargaining chip for political push and pull.
ReplyDeleteIt would have been much smarter on the part of the opposition not to instigate images of looting and public violence, but also it would have been even much smarter move by the government not to use live ammunition.
The use of live ammunition draws one to many legitimate questions about how benefited from the murders that took place on March the 1-st?