Navasardian Responds to Accusations

Yerevan Press Club President Boris Navasardian has responded to the accusations and decision by the  Armenian National Platform (ANP) of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum to remove him from his position as National Facilitator.

The statement by Navasardian, in part, reads as follows:

“It is extremely unpleasant to make the situation around the Coordination Council (CC) of the Armenian National Platform (ANP) of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum (CSF) subject for public discussions. However, the decisions of this body, September 16, 2010, consecutively the dissemination of a press release on September 23, force me, as a National Facilitator, to come up with a response. I consider that the decisions rendered, specifically the no-confidence motion passed against me, as the National Facilitator, are absolutely baseless, get beyond the competence of the Coordination Council and are purely stipulated by the malcontent personal ambitions of some CC members.

“In the end of August 2010 the information regarding the approved list of the participants of the Civil Society Forum’s second meeting was released. The preparation for this event, which is scheduled for November 18-19, 2010, in Berlin, entered its final stage. Through their 26 delegates, Armenian NGOs obtain an opportunity to share ideas, suggestions and initiatives at the Forum, and to engage in networking with international peers, to exchange plans on promoting the Eastern Partnership priorities in various realms.   

“On June 7, 2010, Armenia became the first of the six Eastern Partnership countries to establish a National Platform that united 145 NGOs, with a Coordination Council elected and 4 working groups formed. 

“A warning sign could be observed back at the Foundation Meeting, as the majority of the participants refused to accept the recommendations of the Initiative Group, insofar as the election of the Coordination Council was concerned, and sometimes, the environment of the Meeting could be best described as confrontational. As a result a number of organizations that had essentially contributed to the forming of the Platform and to the promotion of EU initiatives in Armenia did not enter the managing body of the Platform. As the further developments showed, the present composition of the Coordination Council was unable to preserve the Initiative Group’s tradition of addressing the issues on the agenda in a constructive and consistent manner. The fashion was set by people who seek opportunities not as much for effective cooperation as for appropriation of the Initiative Group’s achievements, a control over the National Platform, imposing invalid claims – with no granted authority – upon the National Facilitator and the CSF Steering Committee.   

“The first session of the Coordination Council chaired by the National Facilitator was held around the issues related to further consolidation of the ANP and preparations for the Berlin meeting. NGOs, striving for leadership in the National Platform, received all opportunities for demonstrating their capacities and organizing skills. 

“However, they failed. The members of the ANP working groups within three months received no signals from their self-promoted coordinators regarding their action plans. Moreover, organizations, represented in the CC, submitted to the Chairman of the Foundation Meeting no respective protocols even more than three months after the Meeting. Naturally, these important founding documents remain unsigned, which causes serious concerns regarding the significance and legitimacy of the existence and activity of both the National Platform and the body it has elected. These issues become more topical in the light of the decisions, rendered by the CC last week.

“The only beneficial action of the Coordination Council for the last three and a half months was its involvement in the National Facilitator’s work of designing a national shortlist of the candidates for the Berlin meeting participation. Yet, most of the CC members, who later launched a criticism campaign, failed to display significant activity and to affect the selection process. 

“Instead of performing their direct responsibilities, some members of the Coordination Council focused all their energy on criticizing the actions of the National Facilitator insofar as the selection of the Berlin meeting participants is concerned. A number of the Coordination Council members kept questioning the legitimacy of the selection process. It probably goes without saying that, it is not by chance that the most zealous critics and those who failed to perform the assumed duties are the same members of the Coordination Council.

“The unconstructive environment at the Coordination Council has already had its negative implications: as mentioned above, the preparations for the Berlin meeting in the National Platform working groups were put in jeopardy, two members of the Coordination Council, including the National Facilitator, announced their withdrawal from the Council, and serious damage has been made to the reputation of the Armenian National Platform that had taken the founders so much time and efforts to build. It is noteworthy that while passing the recent decisions on no-confidence against the National Facilitator, and respectively, against the selection process of the Berlin meeting members, there were even less CC members, than while forming the shortlist.

“I therefore appeal to: 

– the members of the Coordination Council, who have been neglecting their duties and discrediting the body by fueling conflicts, by rendering baseless decisions, to revise their attitude to their role in the Forum and in the National Platform, and to bring the activity of the Coordination Council back into a constructive course. So far the decision of September 16 is not recalled, I cannot consider this body as legitimate and meeting its mission of coordinating the work of the ANP;

– the members of the Coordination Council, who find the destructive behavior of their colleagues unacceptable, to refrain from radical steps and take every effort to ensure the healthy environment at the Coordination Council;  

– the members of the CSF Armenian National Platform not to view the situation at the Coordination Council as a reason to get disappointed by their initiative, and to make their contribution into the establishment of an effective and consolidated coalition of the civil society organizations that is aimed at promoting the priorities of the Eastern Partnership;

– the organizations, invited to the Berlin meeting of the Civil Society Forum, all other NGOs (regardless of their affiliation to the ANP), interested in Armenia’s active and effective participation in the Forum, to join the preparatory works for this major event. 

Boris NAVASARDIAN

National Facilitator of the CSF in Armenia 

Member of the CSF Steering Committee 

President of Yerevan Press Club  

September 24, 2010”