Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 3 / Trend , E.Tariverdiyeva/ The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has not deprived the Armenian delegation of right to vote so that it to have more influence on Armenia than Russia has, experts said.
"Europe does not see democratic problems in Armenia. Armenia has become a subject of keen interest of western institutions. For Russia, this is a very bad sign. Its single, true and real ally in the Caucasus may be lost," said Russian expert for CIS Gregory Trofimchuk.
At the meeting in late January, PACE did not support the earlier proposal of the Monitoring Committee to deprive the Armenian delegation of right to vote, because Armenia had not fulfilled a series of provisions of PACE 2008 resolutions. The provisions referred to an impartial investigation of last year's Mar. 1-2 events. Armenian opposition led by ex-President Levon Ter-Petrosyan held protests against the outcome of the presidential elections. Clashes between protesters and law enforcement agencies left 10 people dead and over 200 injured.
Observers and representatives of international monitoring organizations have stated on democratic problems in Armenia after the March events on numerous occasions.
World Report-2009 of Human Rights Watch stated that since gaining its independence Armenia has experienced one of the most serious political rights crises. On Mar. 1, security forces used excessive force against the opposition, protesting against the results of the February 2008 presidential election.
According to officials, Armenia has made its utmost to meet the requirements of PACE resolution.
Terry Davis, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, did not answer the question on the presence of political prisoners in Armenia during his interview for Mediamax news agency on Feb.3. However, Davis said that he is "mostly concerned" by the fact that no one is responsible for tens of citizens killed in the streets of Yerevan in March 2008.
Observers think that "closing eyes" on the violation of human rights in Armenia, the Council of Europe didn't deprive the county of the voting right in the PACE due to special interest of the West in Yerevan.
Azerbaijani political scientist Tofig Abbasov thinks that the West uses democratic norms as small cash and its exchange rate varies depending on how the country follows European and American interests.
"The amorphousness of Armenian diplomacy with the presence of dominating Moscow fools the West into thinking that sooner or later Yerevan will be biased to this direction," expert of analytical group Media-Holding Lider told Trend .
According to Abbasov, the West can't let itself be away from beneficial factors such as unfinished ethnic and territorial conflict around Nagorno-Karabakh.
"The European organizations are absolutely disinterested in how many people were killed during the conflicts, for instance in Armenia," Trofimchuk, president of Centre of Strategic Development Modelling, told Trend .
Trofimchuk said that Europe approached with other measures. It acts sometimes legally and sometimes as it wishes regarding incidents. It is called double standards.
This is very dangerous symptom that will cause Russia's worry as a partner of Armenia, the expert said.
"For Russia, it would be much more profitable if Armenia would be objectively criticized for problems," Trofimchuk said.
The PACE's position has caused ambiguous reaction within the country.
PACE has decided not to deprive the Armenian delegation to vote to keep pressure on Armenia, political scientist Levon Melik-Shahnazaryan said at a press conference in Yerevan.
"Removing Armenia from processes in the Council of Europe, PACE has lost the ability to dictate terms to its game. Furthermore, away from Europe, Armenia is certainly going to be even greater convergence with Russia," Melik-Shahnazaryan said.
According to political scientist, perhaps it would be better for Armenia, because the European nations sought to establish relations with Armenia on bilateral basis, more effectively.
"The concepts of nation state and European democracy were incompatible. To join European organizations, we must accept rules of the game," Melik-Shahnazaryan added.
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