Joint Press Conference of the President Serzh Sargsyan and the Secretary General of NATO Anders Fogh Rasmussen

Statement by RA President Serzh Sargsyan at the Joint Press Conference with the Secretary General of NATO Anders Fogh Rasmussen

Dear Mr. Rasmussen,

I once again welcome Your visit to the Republic of Armenia. I am glad to state that Armenia-NATO partnership in this period of time has registered considerable progress.

The third, 2011-2013 document of the Armenia-NATO Individual Partnership Action Plan is in the process of implementation. The advanced level of cooperation with NATO allowed Armenia to bring its participation to the international security system. Currently, Armenia is engaged in the NATO-led peacekeeping missions in Afghanistan and Kosovo.

Armenia is ready and determined to maintain and develop the current level of cooperation.

Existing security threats demand comprehensive and joint approaches on behalf of the Alliance and the partner states. I am confident that relations with the partner states play a significant role in the Alliance’s success and construction of the modern security system.

The framework document of the Partnership for Peace Program states that “Protection and promotion of fundamental freedoms and human rights, and safeguarding of freedom, justice, and peace through democracy are shared values fundamental to the Partnership.” And since 1994, the Program has really had a significant input to the democratic development of our country. Unfortunately, in the framework of the PfP we have also witnessed stern, extremely harsh violations of the mentioned-above principles which certainly mustn’t cast a shadow on our relations with NATO.

In 2004, the axing of the Armenian officer during the NATO Partnership for Peace Program’s English classes is so appalling and blood chilling that there is no need to speak again about that case. At that time, the most fundamental right of Gurgen Margarian – his right for life – was violated most perfidiously. At that time it seemed that justice was done: the murderer was sent to prison for life. However, the incident that happened several days ago sent a challenge to all people with sound reasoning: we learned that the criminal was released by the Hungarian authorities and transferred to Azerbaijan, where he was immediately granted pardon by the president of that country. I use the word “pardon” with reservation because even though that act, that decree was called a “decree of pardon”, it contained a vindication clause, it was meant to exonerate Safarov; nowhere in the world pardoned persons are encouraged, pardoned persons are not rewarded. Nowhere in the world serving a sentence is considered a job or serving in the army. However he was paid for the job, he received his wages and was promoted - that’s the problem.

Broad daylight cynicism and violation of international norms by which the glorification of the murderer is being carried out by Azerbaijan is astonishing. Azerbaijan has deliberately turned itself into the sponsor of the criminal.

It is an unacceptable, appalling and intolerable phenomenon which has dealt a huge blow to the objectives of the Partnership for Peace program, and poses a serious threat to the regional security in the South Caucasus. In this situation, nobody has a moral right to remain silent, to overlook what has happened. It unequivocally and unambiguously has to be condemned universally, sending a message which upholds justice and rejects impunity.

This step by the Hungarian authorities is just unacceptable. The Hungarian authorities simply couldn’t be unaware how Azerbaijan was glorifying the Safarov rogue, couldn’t be oblivious of the fact that he would be set free, moreover so since it was talked about many times and the leadership of Hungary affirmed that suspicions. Today, I express my heartfelt gratitude to those Hungarians, who at this difficult moment have manifested high morals and stood by the Armenian nation.

In this context, I would like also to touch upon another issue. We have warned our partners on numerous occasions that one-side formulations to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, which do not reflect the actual content of the negotiations, are damaging first of all because they encourage Azerbaijan’s destructive, maximalistic stance. I am confident that “political correctness” has become a base for Azerbaijan’s raucous posture and actions.

Once again, Mr. Secretary General, welcome. Please, the floor is yours.

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Statement by the Secretary General of NATO Anders Fogh Rasmussen at the joint Press Conference with President Serzh Sargsyan

Thank you very much, Mr. President,

This is indeed a great pleasure to be here in Yerevan today and thank you, Mr. President for very positive and very constructive meeting this morning. My visit to Armenia shows that NATO is and will remain committed to the South Caucasus region and we highly value the relationship with Armenia. We appreciate your constant support for our mission in Afghanistan: last year, you have more than doubled your contribution to the mission and recently you have once again joined our mission in Kosovo. Your troops, your trainers are doing a great job and you can be proud of their professionalism. Your country’s contribution to the NATO-led missions means that Armenian personnel have received valuable training and peace-keeping experience. This is important in developing your own peace-keeping capabilities and efforts in which NATO is providing significant support.

An important priority in our partnership has been civil defense and disaster response and we have also established good cooperation and dialogue on defense reform and we encourage you to stay the course. NATO is ready to continue to assist. NATO and Armenia share many political priorities and security interests: we have achieved a great deal together in Afghanistan and Kosovo. This is the time to build on our success, to deepen the practical experience that our military forces have gained in the years of cooperation and to explore what more we can do together to face the security challenges of the 21st century.

So, Armenia is a valuable partner for NATO and NATO is a valuable partner for Armenia. Now we have the opportunity to build an even stronger partnership for the future. It is an opportunity we must seize because we all have to gain and so does the region as a whole.
Thank you.

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RA President Serzh Sargsyan’s and Secretary General of NATO Anders Fogh Rasmussen’s answers to the questions of the journalists during the joint press conference

Question: I apologize to the President of the Republic but since there is a topic of the day, I cannot avoid asking the following question to Mr. Rasmussen. Secretary General, tomorrow you will be in Baku and you will meet with the president of Azerbaijan: how are going to shake the same hand that signed pardon for a coward who butchered our officer at the NATO training only for the fact that he was an Armenian? Thank you.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen: When I meet the Azerbaijani president tomorrow, I will convey to him a very clear message: I am deeply concerned by the Azerbaijani decision to pardon the army officer Safarov, because that decision damages trust. The terrible and tragic incident that happened eight years ago was a crime and such crime should not be glorified, on the contrary. Having said that, I also think it’s important to stress that we should not return to conflict in this region. There is a need to reduce tensions, there is a need to promote peace and cooperation and reconciliation. And I will convey that clear message tomorrow.

Question: I direct my question to the President of Armenia: how does Armenia put together its membership to the CSTO and active cooperation with NATO? And a question for the Secretary General: How would you assess the Russia-NATO relations?

Serzh Sargsyan: I believe we successfully combine our cooperation with CSTO and cooperation with NATO. We have noted many times and I repeat it now that our membership to the CSTO is an important element of our military and political security. It was a considered choice and we remain true to the principles and ideas of the CSTO. But I sincerely believe that NATO and CSTO are not adversary organizations. Moreover, I don’t think that the member states should refrain from cooperation, on the contrary – we should reach stability through that cooperation. And as I have stated on many occasions, and repeat it now that our actions should never cause a conflict or deterioration of the relations. That’s what our cooperation is about; cooperation with NATO is beneficial for our country. And right now, at the meeting with the Secretary General I told him sincerely that cooperation with NATO is in the interests of Armenia.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen: There is no contradiction between having good relations with Russia and at the same time having a strong partnership with NATO. In fact, NATO as an organization has a special partnership with Russia. We have the NATO-Russia Council within which we engage in political dialogue as well as practical cooperation, and you ask me of my assessment of the relationship between NATO and Russia. We have seen a lot of progress in cooperation between NATO and Russia during recent years; we have strengthened our cooperation on Afghanistan, among other things Russia provided a transit route which is to the benefit of our operation in Afghanistan, we have enhanced cooperation on counter-narcotics, counter-terrorism, counter-piracy, so in a number of areas we have seen progress in our cooperation with Russia. We have invited Russia to cooperate also when it comes to missile defense. NATO will develop a missile defense system to protect our populations against a missile threat. And we have invited Russia to cooperate. So far, we have not reached the agreement but our dialogue we continue. Two years ago, at the NATO-Russia summit we decided to develop a true strategic partnership between NATO and Russia. I think it will be in the interest of all nations in the Euro-Atlantic area to develop such a true strategic partnership that would serve the security in the Euro-Atlantic area.