“For me, entering into the Customs Union and signing the European Association Agreement was not the so-called virtuous action by the President. The RA President was negotiating with the European Union for four years, and then makes a hasty decision and goes to Russia”, – so responded the member of ANC Youth Organization Gurgen Asatryan, to the question of Aravot.am as to whether the RA President Serzh Sargsyan’s decision to join the Customs Union was right. He said that we do not know what the Customs Union says to us. Then he continued,- “The RA President was obligated to introduce the people what the Customs Union is, but he did not do that.” To our question whether the authorities have a chance to correct the mistake, G. Asatryan replied,- “No, because it is not a legitimate, it was not elected by the people. The government in the head of Serzh Sargsyan has failed the entire foreign policy.” He pointed out that the representatives of the authorities, in particular Shavarsh Kocharyan, Tigran Sargsyan, say other thing, Serzh Sargsyan- another, he speaks about the poor condition of the authorities. According to G. Asatryan, RA in the head of Serzh Sargsyan has already lost its international reputation, and the only way out is the change of the power. Member of Hayazn Union Armen Mkrtchyan also believes that the RA authorities should not have to sign the Customs Union agreement. Then he continued,- “The RA leadership did not have such authority to hand the RA sovereignty over another supper state structure. Even if there was a talk of low-level sovereignty, in this case, we would have also expressed our dissatisfaction. But the Customs Union constitutes a threat, therefore we are giving negative assessment. In this situation, the salvation is in the formation of the RA central state, which did not happen in the duration of these twenty years.” Member of RPA Youth Organization Taron Parsamyan considers the RA President’s decision justified. He, in particular, said,- “With his final signature, the RA President confirmed the the desire that we will enter into the Customs Union. In other words, he has not signed the issue of joining the Customs Union. Personally, I think the decision is justified because the economic and other sectors are projected from the military spheres. Given that, it is appropriate to recall that we were already a member of the CSTO, which also operates under the immediate supervision of the RF. Those people, parties who criticize the decision, I divide them into two groups: people, who clearly realize that it was a normal process, but based on their position they were expressing negatively, the other group are those people who have just lack of information.”
To our question whether the RA President had the right to declare this decision so unexpectedly, Taron Parsamyan said,- “This is not unexpected, such discussions were circulated in the media for more than a year. The President has not signed the agreement finally, and it is going to be discussed at the National Assembly in the nearest future. It is meaningless to talk about the unexpectedness, because it is clear for those who understand the political processes that the main collaborative processes with our major military guarantor RF are more realistic than those of the European family, and it is still a question as to what consequences joining the Deep and Comprehensive Trade Zone might bear. I think this adventurous. What is NATO that is the main military instrument of the European family? Can it be a guarantee for us, when Turkey is the second to have a large army by size?”
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
