The Leader of the New Times Party (NTP) Says About External Threats of Armenia
As early as a month ago, representatives of political forces warned about external political problems, which hang over Armenia’s head like the sword of Damocles. In that context, the development of relations between Armenia and Iran, the developments in the Middle East, in particular, were perceived as burning issues. Pre-election processes seem to have shaded the problems related to foreign policy. Yesterday during a conversation with Aram Karapetyan, the leader of the New Time Party, Aravot tried to understand what the real threats to Armenia were. According to our interlocutor, if Georgia gets a status of an associated member of the NATO, which can take place soon, it will make the condition of Armenia “overloaded,” “In that case, it is unclear what awaits the Russian bases providing the security of the Republic of Armenia. Add to this also the problems between America and Iran, which are not only over, but also gradually become unmanageable.” Our interlocutor thinks that problems between Syria and Turkey, which can be a serious threat to the Armenian Diaspora in the Middle East, are not less important for our country. These issues of regional security, in Aram Karapetyan’s opinion, are not the only ones. He thinks issues of economic security are also important and our interlocutor is convinced that they gradually become more important, “Armenia has to eventually clarify which are the important factors of its economic development – investments, selling goods abroad… or what?” In this context, the NTP leader attaches particular importance to the latest resolutions adopted by the Council of Europe, which were made during the Armenian pre-election fuss and the main issues were connected again to the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Let us remind that during the plenary session of the Council of Europe two resolutions were adopted on Armenia and Azerbaijan. One of them was related to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement process and the other to the implementation of the association agreements between the EU and Armenian and Azerbaijan. “The association agreements between the EU and Armenia, as well as between the EU and Azerbaijan should contribute to the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which prevents the proper development of the European Neighborhood Policy,” reads the document. Members of the Council of Europe are convinced that these resolutions should improve the human rights and democratic reforms implemented at the level of the two countries. Our interlocutor thinks that emigration is also an external political threat, “We should understand the connection with those countries, the relationship between governments, the possibilities of imposing sanctions and the comparison between the new emigrants with the existing Diaspora – even just organizational problems. We must understand how we can use this for our benefit.”
According to our interlocutor, at the moment, as always, the world expects from Armenia normalization of relations between Armenia and Turkey in terms of external political developments and as a result opening the border and some settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. However, according to the NTP leader’s analyses, none of these problems will be urgent for our country in the near future, since shortly after the parliamentary election, a
presidential election awaits the Republic of Armenia, certainly, if there are no regional military force majeure situations. “The issues related to the Eurasian Union are the only interesting, although not so much, issues at the moment. We are not interesting for the world in any other way,” Aram Karapetyan thinks.
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Defining the most important external political issues for the Republic of Armenia, which would be the focus of the future government’s attention, at the request of Aravot, Aram Karapetyan said, “Whether we like it or not, no. 1 problem of Armenia remains the unsettlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. I wouldn’t relate the second important issue to the relations between Armenia and Turkey. I don’t think that this issue has any prospects at the moment. In terms of geopolitics, it is important for Armenia to have a so-called crack. Without that crack the future of Armenia is vague, because after 21 years of independence, one should eventually understand that under these constrained conditions, without integration in international processes, without investment processes, Armenia will remain a poor country, whatever changes we make inside the country. It will be impossible to fix the economic situation in Armenia without external communications so that people may return to Armenia. Even if we dispossess all oligarchs, return all the stolen money, we will need a geopolitical crack in the economic field. It can be the cooperation in the framework of the Eurasian Union, if they agree to finance Armenia.” Anyway, Aram Karapetyan thinks that the Russian Federation must also be seriously concerned about the current condition of Armenia, if it doesn’t want to lose a part of its territory, since the regional developments make Armenia with a population of some two million people face the Muslim World with a population of some 150 million people.
Our interlocutor thinks that another important issue is the real consolidation of Armenia and the Diaspora, the control of the international Armenian resource not at the level of the Ministry of Diaspora and “come and go” projects, but with serious, strategic projects, uniting the Diaspora around Armenia, directing the resolution of Armenian and pan-Armenian issues.
NELLY GRIGORYAN
