May 3, 2004 - 22:03 AMT
OPPOSITION BLAMES ARMENIAN LEADERSHIP FOR MISINTERPRETATION OF PACE RESOLUTION
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe considered the issue of conducting a referendum on confidence to the authorities to be the original of the political crisis in Armenia, member of the Armenian delegation in PACE, deputy representing Justice opposition bloc Shavarsh Kocharian told journalists today when commenting on the recent resolution on the situation in Armenia. At the same time he accused the Armenian minister of foreign affairs of the wrong interpretation of the document, in part, regarding the legality of the presidential election in Armenia. In the deputy's words, the paper mentions that "the international organizations only give the estimate of the elections without dealing with their being legitimate". Shavarsh Kocharian denied that the Armenian opposition representatives were collecting signatures, "moreover of the Turkish and Azeri parliamentarians", in order to put the issue on the agenda. According to him, the situation in Armenia has become the subject of discussions mainly due to efforts exerted by European parliamentarians.