AHMADINEJAD CUTS SHORT ARMENIA VISIT
By Ruzanna Stepanian, Ruzanna Khachatrian and Ruben Meloyan
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Oct 23 2007
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad rushed back to Tehran on Tuesday,
cutting short a two-day official visit to Armenia for reasons that
were not immediately clear. Armenian officials linked the move with
the political situation in Iran.
Ahmadinejad arrived in Yerevan on Monday and held talks with President
Robert Kocharian that focused on growing bilateral cooperation in
the energy sector. The Iranian leader was scheduled to begin the
second day of the trip with a visit to the Tsitsernakabert genocide
memorial in Yerevan. He was also due to deliver a speech in Armenia’s
parliament and visit a 18th century Iranian mosque in the capital
later in the day.
Although all of these engagements were abruptly cancelled, Ahmadinejad
claimed on his return to Tehran that he did not cut short the
visit. "The trip to Armenia took longer than what was scheduled
before," the Iranian state news agency IRNA quoted him as saying,
according to AFP. "This trip was due to last 22 hours but because of
some visits, it became one hour and half longer than the schedule."
A senior Armenian Foreign Ministry official told RFE/RL, however,
that Ahmadinejad did change his visit itinerary which had been agreed
by both the Iranian and Armenian sides beforehand. IRNA and other
Iranian news agencies themselves reported on Monday he will address
the National Assembly and meet representatives of the Iranian community
in Armenia on the second day of the trip.
According to Kocharian’s spokesman Victor Soghomonian, Ahmadinejad
informed his Armenian counterpart late Monday that he has to head back
home earlier than expected for "urgent reasons." Soghomonian refused
to specify those reasons, insisting only that they have nothing to
do with the Iranian-Armenian relationship.
The abrupt end of Ahmadinejad’s visit coincided with the start of
negotiations in Rome on Iran’s controversial nuclear program. Iran’s
new nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, was due to hold his first talks
there over the atomic crisis with European Union foreign policy chief
Javier Solana.
Ahmadinejad flew back to Tehran at around noon after a breakfast
meeting parliament speaker Tigran Torosian, Foreign Minister Vartan
Oskanian and Energy Minister Armen Movsisian. Torosian said afterwards
that the visit was cut short due to unspecified "internal issues"
in Iranian.
"It is not customary to discuss such issues [with foreign officials,]"
Torosian told reporters. "Especially considering the fact the visit
was not initiated by the National Assembly."
"Mr. Ahmadinejad asked me to tell our parliamentarians that he regrets
the need to interrupt the visit and return to Iran and that he will
not be able to visit the parliament," he told the National Assembly
later in the day.
Deputy Foreign Minister Gegham Gharibjanian, who was also present at
the meeting, said the Iranian side presented "very serious arguments"
in favor of the change of plans but declined to disclose them. "I
spoke to the Iranian deputy foreign minister," said Gharibjanian. "He
said there are urgent issues and that they have to depart."
Gharibjanian also insisted that Ahmadinejad’s visit was "very
successful." "A lot of progress was made on serious [Armenian-Iranian]
economic projects," he said.
Kocharian said after talks with the Iranian leader on Monday that
they agreed to press ahead with plans to jointly build a large oil
refinery in southeastern Armenia as well as an Armenian-Iranian
railway. The two governments also plan to start next year work
on a major hydro-electric plant on the Arax River marking the
Armenian-Iranian border. In addition, the Armenian side has pledged
to complete by the end of 2008 the ongoing construction of the second
and final Armenian section of a natural gas pipeline from Iran.
Speaking at a joint news conference with Kocharian, Ahmadinejad said
Iran remains committed to deepening ties with Armenia as it believes
they are "very important" for the two nations and the region as a
whole. "Fortunately, Armenian-Iranian relations are warm, strong
and developing," he told professors and students at Yerevan State
University later on Monday. "Relations that are based on friendship,
justice and mutual respect."
Ahmadinejad stressed at the same time that Tehran and Yerevan are
only "at the beginning of the road" and that their relationship has a
"bright future." "I believe we should step up efforts to deepen our
relations in the scientific, cultural and intellectual spheres and
to develop our infrastructures," he said.