Armenian Opposition Bloc Lashes Out At German Ambassador Over Commen

ARMENIAN OPPOSITION BLOC LASHES OUT AT GERMAN AMBASSADOR OVER COMMENTS

Tert.am
04.10.11

Opposition Armenian bloc Armenian National Congress (HAK) has
criticized Germany’s Ambassador to Armenia over his recent statements
about the opposition and HAK leader Levon Ter-Petrosyan.

In a statement issued late on Tuesday, the HAK said that Hans-Jochen
Schmidt made statements at a discussion organized by Civilitas
Organization that are “indecent to his status and are considered as
intervention into Armenia’s domestic affairs”.

It also said that the German ambassador made another statement on
Monday and reaffirmed what he had said earlier.

“After the first incident, the Congress [HAK] refrained from any
comment or assessment over the issue, considering it simply a slip
of tongue by the ambassador, a fact not wroth paying attention,”
read the statement.

Hans-Jochen Schmidt said during that discussion on September 27 that
the present critical situation in Armenia is a legacy left by the
country’s first president Levon Ter-Petrosyan who at his rallies is
constantly critical of all elections.

Further, the HAK statement said that the second statement by
Hans-Jochen Schmidt proves that the first one was not a slip
of tongue, and rather shows that he exceeded “the boundaries of
diplomatic ethics”.

“During Armenia’s 20 years of independence no single ambassador has
behaved that way in public,” the statement added.

Further, the HAK said that the ambassador’s criticism is “one-sided
and targets only the opposition and its leader.

“He has never publicly criticized Armenia’s authorities. Moreover,
he has never expressed his attitude towards the flagrant facts of
human rights violations in Armenia – something that is already the
mission and the obligation of an ambassador,” read the statement.

“We consider this strange behavior by Germany’s ambassador as a
blatant intervention into Armenia’s domestic issues and an obvious
support for Armenia’s criminal regime,” read the statement.

The HAK also said it hoped that this was only the ambassador’s personal
viewpoint and not that of the German Federal Republic.