Oskanyan bites back

Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan has rebuffed the US for its previous criticism of Kocharian's crackdown.

Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan today warned against superficial judgments on the internal political situation in Armenia.

The minister pointed out that "stability in Armenia has deep roots, and the events we witness today have been created artificially and will soon be overcome", Mediamax reports.

Commenting on the assessment of the official representative of the US Department of State, Richard Boucher, of the situation in Armenia, Vardan Oskanyan said that "he has made an attempt to make a balanced statement".

"However, Mr Boucher has forgotten one important thing - the opposition's calls for violence must be clearly and sharply condemned. If Richard Boucher's statement had included this component, I would have backed it," Vardan Oskanyan said.

The official representative of the US Department of State, Richard Boucher, said on 13 April that "the United States is concerned about the current political situation in Armenia, particularly the sharp escalation in confrontation between the government and the opposition". He also noted that "physical assaults, raids on political party offices and widespread arrests and detentions of opposition activists by the police do not contribute to creating an atmosphere conducive to political dialogue".

Posted by Matt on April 15, 2004 | TrackBack | Email to a friend