
VARTAN OSKANIAN’S FAREWELL SPEECH TO MFA STAFF

I asked that you all gather here today so I can say thank you – to all of you: To the diplomats who have worked with me for these 10 years, and longer. To the technical staff who have made our work here and abroad possible. To our ambassadors who have worked hard, against great odds, to maximally promote our interests.
We can all be proud of our work, and we can all feel satisfied that we are performing a civic duty. We are all citizens of Armenia – you by birth, I by choice. For me, the decision to pack up and return to Armenia after independence was a default decision, a non-decision, an obvious choice. Having come, I’m not now preparing to go.
I’ve been here since almost the beginning, working with you, to create something out of nothing, to build a new institution and a new kind of institution. I have served as Foreign Minister since the beginning of President Kocharian’s term. I had served as Deputy Minister and First Deputy Minister under President Ter Petrossian. In other words, I have served not a man, but a people and a country. Together, that’s what we have done since independence -- we have served the state, the Republic of Armenia. I am proud of the work we have done together.
During these 10 years, I believe much has changed in the nature of our work. Of course the Republic of Armenia has changed and progressed such that many objective conditions have changed – we don’t wait 2, 3, sometimes 5 months to get paid. We have paper on which to print treaties, conventions and documents. We are not hostage to irregular flights into and out of Armenia. There are other differences, too. Diplomats, and all staff, are accepted solely on merit and not for any other reason. Diplomats are assigned postings solely based on professional circumstances and not for any other reason. This ministry has a reputation now for being the cleanest, the most professional, the best regulated, and not corrupt. And that’s no small reason to be proud.
This ministry is a place where people are treated with dignity, with respect and with tolerance. I’m proud of that and I believe that that tradition, once begun, cannot be easily undone. On the contrary, it becomes contagious. I believe that to build a democratic society, we must begin, and we have begun, by building a transparent, accountable ministry, and by treating each other with dignity.
The world has changed too in these 10 years. Russia is no longer in retreat. Europe is much closer than it used to be. The US is more insistent on having partners who are democratic. Azerbaijan is looking to oil for solutions to all problems. Turkey is living both in the past and in the future. Georgia is walking a fine line between beleaguered and bold. Iran is caught between the world’s perceptions and its own self-image.
And Armenia? Armenia has demonstrated that we understand that diplomacy and defense do not replace each other, but work in tandem to secure a nation’s future. Armenia has proven that economic growth is possible, even with the absence of natural resources and open transportation corridors. Armenia is living proof that one can be a respected member of the international community and at the same time swim against the global tide to assure self-determination and security for Nagorno Karabakh. Armenia has become a trustworthy and I can say, full partner in international organizations with a full agenda of reforms, insights and action items. Armenia has established good relations with all major world centers – Russia, the Americas, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America.
But each of the successes I just mentioned have brought with it a set of new challenges and new problems. And that’s our job – to make the best of each opportunity and minimize all threats.
Now, we must perform our job in the changed environment of the last several months. When we allowed the political tensions and emotions of the election and post-election period to reign, they demonstrated that we sometimes imagine that revolution can be an alternative to reforms, and that revenge can take precedence over reconciliation. No one knows better than we in this building that that is false. No one knows better than we that our domestic strength, integrity, stability, morality and perseverance are our best – actually our only – calling cards in the international arena.
If those were our assets, today we work with a deficit. The capital we had accumulated internationally has been squandered. That means my successor, each of you, and all of us who live in Armenia, must work even harder to regain our respectability and our confidence in ourselves and our future. I will continue to work with you. I don’t intend to terminate my public engagement, but to enter a new phase. I don’t intend to be foreign minister but I intend to work domestically to help the next minister to succeed internationally.
The weeks after March 1 were the most difficult of my entire career. On the one hand, I am part of an admininstration which, at the end of the day, is responsible for what happens in this country. On the other hand, from the beginning of their campaign, I disagreed, publicly and privately, with the tactics, methods and goals of the opposition.
Just as it is not in my nature to follow blindly, it is also not in my nature to be in bitter opposition. I believe in carrying out the responsibilities I have undertaken. I believe I have done so these 10 years, sometimes before the TV cameras but more often behind the scenes.
My commitment to Armenia and its future did not begin when I became foreign minister. It will not cease now that I am no longer foreign minister.
Instead, it will change. I will undertake a new set of responsibilities that will focus on fashioning a relevant, inclusive civic and political forum and that will work with the public and with the existing political forces on mending the torn fabric of our society, on finding genuine paths to political concensus by reconciling our differences, not suppressing them. I will partner with those who wish to create the mechanisms that replicate the experience of other developed countries and offer serious, convincing political alternatives that are not destructive, extreme and self-serving. Most of all, or first of all, I will work to strengthen the institutions which will decrease our people’s cynicism and readiness to believe the worst about ourselves, that will empower people to say what they believe and believe in what they say.
The work that you and I will do will be complementary. I feel a part of this family. And that’s not going to change. I would like it to remain that way, and I know it will be hard to pass by this building, or through Republic Square in general.
Thank you.
Discussion
Alex wrote:
God Bless you.
Those words sound as if they're coming stright from your heart.
MIHRAN wrote:- Alex
God Bless you. Those words sound as if they're coming stright from your heart.
Vartan Oskanian an outstanding diplomat. with great vision, that is why Azeries opted to UN.The peace proposal MINSK OSCE proposed did not serve the imterests of Azerbaijan.Unlike Arzumanian's LTB'S line of diplomacy,
Mihran- Alex
VARTAN OSKANIAN’S FAREWELL SPEECH TO MFA STAFF
2
I asked that you all gather here today so I can say thank you – to all of you: To the diplomats who have worked with me for these 10 years, and longer. To the technical staff who have made our work here ...GAS POISONING
At 07.40, 11 April, Mariam Nushkian, 22, Ani Hakobian, 17, and Lilia Hakobian, 18, residents of Gyumri, were taken to the Austrian children’s hospital of Gyumri with gas poisoning.
Doctors say their ...DISTRICT HAS TURNED INTO DUMP
Gharibjanian macadam road of Gyumri has turned into a dump. Debris and domestic rubbish have been dumped just at the entrance Gyumri-Armavir highway.
Residents of the neighbourhood say the area was ...FIRE
At 00:15, April 10 a grass fire was reported in the village of Karmrashen, Vayk. 400 ha grass belonging to Verjanush Gh., 1940, burnt down as a result.
Later in the day it was known that an unknown ...HIS HOLINESS KAREKIN II CONVEYS BLESSING TO PRIME MINISTER
His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, congratulated and conveyed his pontifical blessings to the newly appointed Prime Minister of Armenia Tigran Sarkissian.
“Dear ...SHANT HARUTIUNIAN DETAINED
The ex-leader of the “Tseghakron” (Ethnoreligion) Party, Shant Harutiunian, was arrested near the “Kazerok” cafe at about 8:00-8:30 p.m., April 10.
Shant Harutiunian participated in the rallies organised ...“HAVE MERCY ON ME…”
Today Armenia's newly appointed Prime Minister Tigran Sarkissian refrained from answering journalists' question whether he might become an intermediary between Levon Ter-Petrossian and the authorities. ...“TIGRAN KARAPETIAN IS NOT CONSIDERED AN AUTHORITY”
“President Serzh Sarkissian appointed Tigran Sarkissian Armenia’s PM taking into consideration the opinion of international organisations,” Republican MP Rafik Petrossian said during today’s parliamentary ...TER-PETROSSIAN'S PROXIES IMPRISONED
more images
The Court of General Jurisdiction of Gegharkunik Marz publicized the verdicts of Simon Amirkhanian, Samvel Karapetian and BHK member Hripsime Haitsian.
Simon Amirkhanian and Samvel ...SLAUGHTER IN CITY CENTRE
Every day animals are slaughtered in the centre of Ijevan town, on the bank of the Aghstev River. Entrails are thrown into the river and meat is sold in the street amid dust and smoke. Meanwhile, the ...VICTIM OF AUTOMOBILE-PEDESTRIAN ACCIDENT FOUND
A police car ran into a RA civilian near a “888” supermarket in Paronian Street during the March 1 events. According to our verified data, the citizen wasn't hurt. Both th citizen and the driver have ...HUNGER-STRIKE CEASED
25 out of 26 political prisoners followed first President Levon Ter-Petrossian's appeal and stopped the hunger-strike. Only Petros Makeyan / “Nubarashen” Penitentiary Institution / still continue his ...JUDGEMENT TO BE PRONOUNCED ON APRIL 14
The Appellate Court is due to pronounce a judgement on GALA TV Company at 2:00, April 14. Today the Court held a hearing on the case.
The chief executive of the TV Company, Karine Harutiunian, informed ...ONE MORE VICTIM
Armenian serviceman Tigran Abgarian, 19, wounded during the March 1 events, died at the “Mikayelian” medical centre a few hours ago. The doctors had done their best to save the boy who had gunshot wounds ...
AMERICAN ARMENIANS HOLD PROTEST ACTION

VARTAN OSKANIAN’S FAREWELL SPEECH TO MFA STAFF

U.S. EMBASSY IN ARMENIA URGES TO EXERCISE CAUTION

TIGRAN SARGSSIAN HAS NOT SERVED IN THE ARMY

KILLED WITH BAGHDASAROV’S WEAPON?
“PRIME MINISTER SHOULD BE SKILLFUL MANAGER”
“DIALOGUE IS NOT END IN ITSELF”
KOCHARIAN CONGRATULATES WOMEN
GAS POISONING
HOVANNISIAN MEETS BRYZA, SEMNEBY
- 1806 Birth of educator and literary figure Ruben Papazyan in Constantinople. He died in 1857 in Smyrna.
- 1865 Birth of poet, translator Alexander Tsatooryan.
- 1879 The Azgaser Union is created in Constantinople.
- 1915 Start of the 11-day defense of the Armenian town of Taron (Western Armenia).
- 1919 Having been found guilty of serious crimes in the Genocide of the Armenians of Yozghat, Kemal Bay was hung in Constantinople's Sultan Bayazet square. He was the deputy governor of Yozgat.
- 2001 Armenian Genocide Heirs Settle New York Life Insurance Company Class-Action Lawsuit concerning policy holders who were victims of the 1915 Armenian Genocide.
ARMENIAN NEWS
INTERACTIVE NEWS
INFORMATION
MY ARMTOWN

How to quit smoking?
How to write in Armenian on Windows XP?

