In response to a letter received from the Azeri lobby group Union of Europe and Azerbaijan, Jose Manuel Barroso, the President of the European Commission, wrote the following, talking about putting the Stepanakert airport into operation: “Launching flights from the airport will not help the peaceful process.” www.aravot.am inquired whether such a statement should be thought of as a failure of the Armenian diplomacy or a special position of the international community. Davit Apinyan, an analyst of East, a center for strategic analysis, mentioned first the economic interests Europe had in our region. “For the West, maintaining peace in the region is the ultimate goal, since the oil and gas pipelines passing through the region are of vital importance for European capitals. The one who controls the gas flow controls the decision-making in many European capitals. For example, if we acknowledge that there are serious hostilities in the region, it can cause serious problems for European countries, which are the final consumers of oil and gas products. Therefore, they make their statements mainly taking into account their national, common European interests.” Getting back to the issue of the Armenian propaganda policy, D. Apinyan stated: “I am not inclined to think that our lobby has been weak. We are a victorious country, an airport is built, which will surely be put into operation. The Republic of Armenia and the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) have a concrete goal to put the Stepanakert airport into operation. We are gradually coming closer to taking that step and will surely take it. There was nothing there a few years ago. Now an airport is built, the respective work is done. Our lobby is not weak. Since the 1994 armistice, many officials have made anti-Armenian speeches; those issues have been discussed in the United Nations too. I suggest that we consider the issue given the facts. Karabakh has matured as an independent state; it doesn’t matter whether it has been recognized by the international community or not. So there is a fact; whatever they say, the fact is that the NKR has been maturing.”
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
