ARMENIAN PRESIDENT ROBERT KOCHARYAN MEETS AMBASSADOR EXTRAORDINARY
AND PLENIPOTENTIARY OF USA TO ARMENIA
YEREVAN, JULY 22. ARMINFO. Armenian President Robert Kocharyan met
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the USA to Armenia
today. Ambassador John Ordway completes his three-year diplomatic
mission to Yerevan.
The press-service of the Armenian President told ARMINFO that
thanking the American diplomat for joint fruitful work, the president
gave a high assessment of John Ordway's activity in Armenia and his
efforts to deepen the Armenian-American relations. In his turn,
Ambassador Ordway thanked Robert Kocharyan for his contribution in
the course of the diplomatic mission to the country. The sides also
discussed the reforms in the country and the assistance by the
American Government. In conclusion, Robert Kocharyan wished success
to John Ordway in his further diplomatic activity,-M-
THE MILITARY IN ARMENIA
Exclusive interview of the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of
the United States to Armenia John Ordway to Mediamax agency. Ambassador
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States to Armenia John
Ordway accomplishes his diplomatic mission in Yerevan. Before his departure
from Armenia he gave an exclusive interview to Mediamax agency.
- Your Excellency, what do you consider to be your biggest achievement
during your stay in Armenia, and, vice versa, your biggest disappointment?
- But I think that across the board in a number of areas we've had really
strong improvement in relations and in what we've been able to accomplish
here. The working of the US-Armenian Task Force, it's gotten much better,
has become a more detailed, much better and deeper cooperation. In the
agricultural area, I think what USDA [u.S. Department of Agriculture] is
doing has had a lot of impact and a lot of success in the rural areas in
Armenia. The military relationship has improved remarkably over the last two
or three years. And our relationship in law enforcement and the security
area has also been really developing, so there is much more actual
cooperation, not just talk but things that are happening and moving and we
are achieving results in those areas.
I think the biggest disappointment obviously is in the elections,
presidential and parliamentary elections [held in Armenia in 2003]. Those
clearly do not go nearly as well as we had hoped, or as I think most people
in Armenia had anticipated. In general I think developments in political and
civil society and in the media although not bad are proceeding more slowly
than we would like to see.
I think that when it comes to local politics, local government, NGOs that
are active, it shows that people here are engaged and that they do want to
have an impact on their society and the way they live their lives. But there
is a real gap and it is hard for people to have much faith or confidence in
the political system and in the political opportunities that are presented
to them. There is a real disconnect there. I think much more work needs to
be done by politicians, from both the government and the opposition as well
as the public itself to try to create more space, more ground in which a
good solid dialogue and public discourse can actually take place.
It's one of the reasons why we strongly urge the opposition to return to the
parliament, because we think that does offer an opportunity to work, even
when you disagree, to work together to try to achieve solid aims for the
country.
- Commenting on the appointment of John Evans, having headed the State
Department's Office of Russian Affairs, for the post of the new Ambassador
to Armenia, several Armenian media recalled that you have also worked in
Russia in your time. Stemming from this, there was drawn a conclusion that
the United States sends to Yerevan Ambassadors "with Russian background" as
the USA do not consider Armenia an independent country and perceive it as
"Russia's vassal". What can You say concerning this?
- I think that is a rather silly and facile analysis. I don't think it has
any connection with reality. If you look at the generation of diplomats who
have been working for the last twenty or twenty-five years in this part of
the world almost every single one of them will have experience in Moscow and
Russia.
But, with that background, when someone comes to Armenia or any other
country, that's just a background, the real work is to work with that
country. And the fact that we were the first country to establish an
embassy, to recognize Armenia's independence, to establish diplomatic
relations, the fact that we are building a very significant embassy is a
very, I think, visible demonstration of the fact that we do take Armenia
seriously as an independent country with its own views, with its own
security interests, that we want to deal separately and independently with
Armenia.
- Armenia-U.S. military cooperation started soon after you took up the post
of the U.S. Ambassador to Armenia. What role did the terrorist acts
committed in the USA on 11 September 2001 and the global struggle against
terrorism play in this?
- We did have some efforts to try to build a relationship between our two
militaries even before September 11. We have had for a number of years a
military attaché here, who has had good relations with the military
establishment. We have our demining program which worked with the Ministry
of Defense to create humanitarian demining capability. We were looking for
ways in which we could engage, but it was very very limited by our hands-off
policy on actual military assistance for both Armenia and for Azerbaijan.
So, once September 11 had happened, once our security interest in the larger
region including the need for overflight access into Afghanistan became
clear, it became clear that the Caucasus and Central Asia would play a much
more important role in the military sense. And that was what led the
Administration to seek authority to waive section 907 of the Freedom Support
Act, which cleared away the legal barrier to allow U.S. assistance to
Azerbaijan and cleared away the policy prohibition against providing
assistance to Armenia without providing it to Azerbaijan. So as a result we
have set our military relations with both countries on a slightly different
plane, one that would involve significant amounts of military assistance.
And in the case of Armenia I think we have made good progress over the last
two or three years in terms of deepening, expanding and broadening that
military relationship and we look forward to continuing it. We do it in the
sense to achieve our mutual goals of strengthening Armenia's ability to
participate in international peacekeeping, to fight terrorism and other
negative phenomena and basically to pursue its own national interest in the
security area.
We have been looking for a series of specific developments in this area,
many of which have happened, a few others we continue to work on. But
clearly it included Armenia joining the Partnership for Peace Status of
Forces Agreement. We have signed an Acquisition and Cross-Servicing
Agreement which allows us to support Armenia in its deployments in
international peacekeeping or other areas. Armenia is participating in
international peacekeeping in Kosovo, it is committed to participating in
the coalition in Iraq, and we are working actively to make that happen, at
this point there is certainly nothing on the Armenian side that is slowing
that down. Our military assistance program is moving ahead at full speed. We
have delivered radios, we have delivered training and so forth. Armenia has
signed an Article 98 agreement, which is something that is important for the
United States, we look forward to seeing that ratified in the fall. And we
had a series of visits back and forth.
- The United States is very active in the processes of the settlement of the
Nagorno Artsax conflict and normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations.
What part of your time did you spend on these problems?
- Well it does not quite work in a mathematical sense. I have probably
personally spent more time on the Artsax issue. There is a fair amount of
very active work with Armenia on that issue. But when it comes to Turkey and
Turkish-Armenian relations the real issue is not so much working with
Armenia to change Armenia's point of view, it is trying to work with Turkey
to have Turkey take more steps towards improving the relationship. Simply
since Armenia has a policy of being ready to improve relations and open the
border without any preconditions, most of the preconditions then are on the
Turkish side. So, I think there is more work and more engagement with Turkey
on this issue than we raise with Armenia, which isn't to say that we don't
have conversations, we don't talk about it, we haven't shared experiences,
but simply in terms of the amount of time spent here in Yerevan there is
more on the Artsax issue than there is on Turkish-Armenian relations.
- Did You have any idea about the level of complexity of the Nagorno
Artsax problem before your arrival in Armenia?
- I had some sense of how complicated it was because I had been following it
from my work in Moscow for a number of years, but of course having
acquaintanceship at a distance is a little bit different from really having
a day-to-day sense for it. So I have a much better appreciation for how
difficult it is and I have an even better appreciation from my visits to
Baku where I really also got a sense of the gap in public perceptions, and
the gap in the positions of the two governments.
When I first was getting ready to come to Armenia, or was beginning to think
about coming to Armenia, we were still in the lead-up to the Key West
meetings. There was still some hope that we would be able to actually
implement that peace agreement, or that we would have a peace agreement to
implement, let me put it that way, because we never got to the agreement.
But it became pretty clear shortly after I arrived that that was not going
to happen. I think, over the last couple of years, there has not been a lot
of movement towards that agreement.
We are very hopeful that with this round of engagement by the co-chairs'
meetings with the presidents, engagement of the foreign ministers in regular
meetings, that we may be in the process of identifying some possible
approaches that would mean it would be possible to actually move towards an
agreement. It's a little early to tell whether that is possible, but we are
certainly working very intensively and will continue that work.
- Despite the consecutive efforts by the United States, which repeatedly
calls on its Turkish colleagues to open the border and establish diplomatic
relations with Armenia, it does not manage to achieve any success. Don't You
think that Washington has to take new, may be, more radical steps in order
to normalize Armenian-Turkish relations?
- First of all, in the last year or so, you have had a somewhat different
situation in Turkey, because you have a new government, a government that
for the first time in quite some time has a solid majority in parliament and
we had some expectations that we would be able to have the kind of movement
forward that we had hoped. This has proved not to be the case. I think the
situation in Turkey has proved to be somewhat more complex than we had
anticipated.
We have a very complicated agenda with Turkey, a lot of very important and
serious issues on that agenda. It has not been an easy period in the last
year or two in our relations with Turkey, but clearly improving relations
with Armenia, opening the borders is on our agenda that we are pursuing.
And I don't know whether I would say we are looking for more radical
measures, or that more radical measures would be possible or effective. All
I can say is that on all of the issues that we pursue with Turkey, we pursue
them in a friendly manner as befits relations between allies, that we push
our viewpoint and sometimes we make progress and sometimes we don't. But we
will continue to move ahead whether it is on issues of the region, Middle
East Peace Process, in Iraq or Cyprus, and continue to try to get a
resolution in Cyprus, or moving Turkey towards the European Union, or
improving the internal situation in Turkey, or improving Turkish-Armenian
relations.
Those are all very important issues and we are not in a position, we don't
have the luxury of saying, "If you don't move on one, you will keep back
things on the other." We want progress across the board and I don't think we
are really prepared to hold one thing hostage to another.
- Your Excellency, how predictable was the activization of Armenia-NATO
relations observed for the last 2-3 years for the United States?
- I think that in some sense they were, once we activated the U.S.
military-to-military relationship. We really did become much more interested
in looking across the border for ways in which we could help Armenia improve
its military situation and NATO is one of the principle elements available
to do that. The other thing is that much of NATO's attention over the last
decade has been devoted towards expanding the alliance in Central and
Eastern Europe. That is now largely completed and we have been encouraging
for the last year or two NATO to look not necessarily to expand the alliance
but certainly to deepen and broaden the relationship that NATO has with the
countries of the Caucasus and Central Asia. This is a natural consequence of
the post-September 11 environment with terrorism, as well as the next stage
of how the alliance is approaching the region.
I worked at NATO in the mid-1990s when we began the Partnership for Peace
program which was originally designed, the intention was it would both work
on membership for those countries that wanted to become members as well as
building relations and improving the relationship with countries that
perhaps had no intention of deciding to become members, but nonetheless were
important to build these new ties in the post-Cold War era. And the first
task got a lot of attention, more than that second task, and now, I think,
more attention will be paid to the second task which has always been there,
but never quite got the resources or the attention it deserved. And I think
now you will begin to see there will be more attention paid to this. And I'm
glad that Armenia too sees benefit in increasing its ties to NATO, and sees
that NATO can offer something to the Armenian military, and so tries to move
to strengthen its ties to the outside world, to participate more in
international peacekeeping. We have eventually to engage much more
vigorously in the reform and the modernizing of the military in Armenia.
- Both in Armenia and outside it we can very often face the following
stereotype - "being a pro-Russian country, Armenia retards the pace of
integration of the whole South Caucasian region into the Euro-Atlantic
structures". Do you think that Armenian-Russian relations are the very
factor that prevents Armenia and the whole region from fully developing
their relations with the West?
- I have never been a particularly big fan of this line of reasoning. I
think that there are longstanding historic and natural reasons why Armenia
should have good relations with Russia. And in fact I think those relations,
that analysis really applies to all the countries of the Caucasus as well.
Now each of the three countries has its own different relationship based
upon more recent developments and particular interpretations of where it
sees its national interest. I think that to Armenia's credit it has not
pursued a sort of single vector direction for its foreign policy, but it
instead has proceeded to move pragmatically to develop its relations where
it needs to, while clearly making the long-term strategic choice that it
wants to be integrated into European structures.
And when you look at, for instance, the economic choices that Armenia makes,
joining the WTO, working and cooperating with the European Union and the
United States in the economic area, it's very clear that they had made a
strategic choice. But at the same time one of the major markets, a lot of
the commercial ties, a very large and in some ways wealthy Diaspora is in
Russia. Russia is an important commercial and economic partner for Armenia,
so it would make no sense at all for Armenia to turn its back on Russia and
only move in the direction of the West. Just as it would make no sense at
all for Armenia to turn solely towards Russia and ignore Europe.
So, for our part we work at the U.S.-Armenia relationship for what it's
worth for us and what it's worth for Armenia, and we don't put it on the
scales and say, "Neh, it's a little more here or a little less there." And
what other nations do is really up to them. But in terms of the U.S.-Armenia
relationship, we approach it on its own terms and we think there is great
value for us and for Armenia in pursuing across-the-board improvements, but
we do not see this as a zero-sum issue that any improvements with us are
going to be negative for anyone else in the region.>
AAA 7/22
In his interview to Novoye Vremia newspaper, Ordway referred to the TARC. He
said that one should not underestimate the Commission's activity. The
Ambassador added that the Commission had achievements and pointed to the
conclusion by the International Center for Transitional Justice. According
to Ordway, the Commission was a diplomatic attempt to normalize relations
between the two countries.
US AMBASSADOR NOT CARRIED OUT ANY ANTI-IRANIAN MISSION IN ARMENIA
YEREVAN, JULY 22. ARMINFO. "Working as US Ambassador to Armenia I
have not carried out any anti-Iranian mission," US Ambassador to
Armenia John Ordway stated at his final press conference, commenting
on the commencement of the construction of the Iran-Armenia gas main.
He said that he has never made any strong-worded statements
concerning the gas main. He stressed that the USA's actions toward
Iran are accounted for by the sanctions stipulated by the law on Iran
approved by the US Congress, which has not yet been abolished. -T-
RESUMPTION OF HOSTILITIES IN NAGORNO-Artsax FATAL FOR ENTIRE
REGION: US AMBASSADOR
YEREVAN, JULY 2. ARMINFO. The resumption of hostilities in the
Nagorno-Artsax conflict zone will be fatal for the entire South
Caucasus, and there will no be winner in the war, which is clear to
all the conflicting parties, US Ambassador to Armenia John Ordway,
who is completing his mission in Armenia, stated at his final
press conference.
According to him, it is now time to pass from declarative statements
to the settlement process. The US Ambassador disagreed that the OSCE
Minsk Group has lost its significance and the conflicting parties can
settle the problem by themselves. The latest developments - the
Co-Chairmen's frequent visits to the region, meetings between
Armenian and Azerbaijani Presidents and other factors - testify
that the OSCE Minsk Group is determined to and will settle the
Nagorno-Artsax conflict provided the conflicting parties display
political will. Various opinions on the settlement can exist, but the
only thing can be said for certain: all the conflicting parties are
concerned with the establishment of security and prosperity, Ordway
said. He pointed out that the longer the conflict remains unsettled
as more serious is the threat of resumption of hostilities. The US
Ambassador pointed out that in any way the current statu quo is
better that resumption of hostilities. -T-
U.S. AMBASSADOR EXTRAORDINARY AND PLENIPOTENTIARY TO ARMENIA JOHN
ORDWAY ASSESSES HIS THREE-YEAR ACTIVITY IN ARMENIA EFFECTIVE
YEREVAN, JULY 22. ARMINFO. Completing his diplomatic mission to
Armenia, U.S. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary John
Ordway assesses his three-year activity in Armenia effective and is
sure that in this period of time the Armenian-American relations were
dynamically developing.
At the same time, at his final press-conference today, Ambassador
Ordway said that one should not compare Armenia's relations with the
USA and those with other states, as Yerevan's complementary policy
can be assessed on each country separately. The American diplomat
said that the Armenian-American relations will further develop
dynamically. He expressed a special gratitude to Armenia for its
assistance to the USA in the struggle against international
terrorism.
He also said that in the course of his activity in Armenia as a U.S.
Ambassador, the bilateral military cooperation has also developed. In
this connection, he pointed out America's military assistance to
Armenia, the cooperation of Armenia and Kansas State in the sphere of
civil defense, participation of Armenian peace-makers in operations
in Kosovo and Armenia's successful cooperation with NATO. As a NATO
member-state, we can only welcome this, and it is not ruled out that
Armenian peace-makers will participate in the mission to Iraq in
future, John Ordway said.-M-
JOHN ORDWAY: FRAMEWORK OF ARMENIAN-AMERICAN MILITARY
COOPERATION IS MUCH WIDER THAN MILITARY AID
YEREVAN, July 22 (Noyan Tapan). In the previous 3 years
Armenia and the US achieved great success in the sphere of
military cooperation. John Ordway, the Ambassador of the US to
RA, gave such estimation to the current level of the
Armenian-American military cooperation at the July 22 press
conference. He expressed a hope that the military aid of the US
to Armenia will continue in the future, as well.
But, according to the Ambassador, bilateral relations in
military sphere have a wider framework than the military aid.
Thus, at present a program of cooperation between the state of
Cansas and Armenia is being implemented at present. "And I hope
that soon the Armenian forces will participate in the
peace-making mission in Iraq," John Ordway mentioned.
According to the US Ambassador, relations of Armenia with
NATO are also becoming more active. "As a country of NATO we
greet this activization and we also will try to improve and
develop these relations," he declared.
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JOHN ORDWAY: "ARMENIAN PEOPLE HAS GREAT POTENTIAL FOR
BUILDING OF FREE, INDEPENDENT AND ECONOMICALLY DEVELOPING
COUNTRY"
YEREVAN, July 22 (Noyan Tapan). John Ordway, the Ambassador
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the US to Armenia, who is
finishing his diplomatic mission in Armenia, had the last
meeting with representatives of Armenian mass media on July 22.
In his opening speech in Armenian he mentioned that in 3
years he had an opportunity of being in all the regions of the
Republic of Armenia, saw the beauty of the country and the
cultural values, got acquainted with many interesting people.
The Ambassador said that during his numerous visits he was able
to estimate the results of the American aid on the spot and to
get acquainted with the problems of people. According to him,
these 3 years were very efficient: "Jointly with the RA
government we tried to develop economy, establish supremacy of
law and form a civil society."
Ambassador Ordway mentioned that the US highly estimates
the assistance of the RA government in the issue of struggle
against terrorism. The US, in particular, wants the principles
of democracy to strengthen, poverty to reduce, economic reforms
to go on and investment field to improve in Armenia.
According to him, security and stability in the whole
region should be strengthened. John Ordway declared that the US
will continue working with the co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk
Group for the purpose of "fair and mutually admissible solution"
of the Artsakh problem.
"Having the experience of these 3 years, I may say with
confidence that the Armenian people has a great potential for
building of a free, independent, economically developed and
prospering country, being the US Ambassador to RA and having a
contribution to development of Armenian-American relations is an
honour for me," the Ambassador declared.
John Ordway expressed his gratitude to Armenian journalists
for efficient work and wished them success.
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US AMBASSADOR CONSIDERS THAT SERIOUS PROGRESS REGISTERED IN
ARMENIAN-AMERICAN RELATIONS
YEREVAN, July 22 (Noyan Tapan). "We have registered very
serious progress in the Armenian-American relations in the
previous 3 years. Of course, there were some faults, but on the
whole, we see positive relations and deeper cooperation between
2 countries," John Ordway, the US Ambassador to Armenia,
declared at the July 22 press conference while estimating the
current level of Armenian-American relations.
He declared that the US is interested in development of
Armenian-American relations, further cooperation in different
spheres of mutual interest. He mentioned the importance of
improvement of economic atmosphere in Armenia, strengthening of
democratic processes, as well as peace and security in the
region.
As for the construction of such a large new complex of the
Embassy on the Yerevan Lake side, Ambassador John Ordway
mentioned: "The fact that we make large investments and build a
large, safe and modern building of the Embassy shows that we
consider relations with Armenia as very stable and long-term.
This is the credit of confidence in our relations with Armenia."
As to the perspective of Armenian-American
inter-governmental relations, he declared that after Armenia
became independent both countries all the time improved the
bilateral relations. According to him, the further improvement
of relations at this level depends on developments in Armenia
and in the region. "I am sure that the interests shared by the
governments and peoples of 2 countries won't change. We share
the loyalty of the Armenian people to democratic values and
formation of a civil society. Armenia still remains loyal to
these values and I hope that this won't change and we
will continue working together in this direction," he declared.
Answering the question, how he estimates the situation of
human rights and freedom of speech in Armenia, the US Ambassador
said: "This is the sphere where less progress was registered
than we expected taking into account the resources of Armenia."
Nevertheless, in his estimation, a number of steps in the
direction of formation of a civil society and presence of
"active" press inspires hope. "I think that there is a hope in
this sphere and we have great expectations here. We will do our
best in order to assist to progress in this sphere."
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U.S. AMBASSADOR EXTRAORDINARY AND PLENIPOTENTIARY TO ARMENIA JOHN
ORDWAY COMMENTS ON DEMOCRATIZATION PROCESS IN ARMENIA
YEREVAN, JULY 22. ARMINFO. Establishment of democratic values in
Armenia i.e. formation of civil public, protection of human rights
etc.. is slower than it was expected, U.S. Ambassador Extraordinary
and Plenipotentiary to Armenia John Ordway said at his final
press-conference in Yerevan. The Ambassador completes his diplomatic
mission to Armenia.
He said that this process is likely to require a change of
generation. At the same time, the USA intends to further assist
Armenia in establishment of democratic values. And taking into
account the successful formation of local self-government bodies and
the activity of native Mass Media, one can hope for a success, the
diplomat said.-M-
