“If I were Serzh Sargsyan, I would say Nazarbayev, why Aliyev is worried, the Karabakh issue is in the process,” so commented political analyst Alexander Manasyan, on May 30, in the conversation with Aravot.am, referring to the panel session of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council and the condition put forward by the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev in Astana, saying that Armenia should join the Eurasian Union by the UN-recognized borders, that is, without Nagorno-Karabakh.
The political analyst believes that Serzh Sargsyan should agree to this condition, “The expectations that by entering the Eurasian Union or the EU, thereby we are resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh issue is naive. The diplomatic world and the political world would not accept it. Even if our elders, our first faces had such hopes, I must say that it is a naive thing. There is a Karabakh problem that is being discussed under the auspices of the Minsk Group, where the RF, the United States, and Europe are represented in the face of France. None of these powerful mediators has made a move against one another for about 20 years. Armenia has recognized borders, and entering into any military-political or economic union means entering with its borders, from the viewpoint of international law and diplomacy. Armenia does not have a Karabakh problem, no matter how strange this phrase may sounds. Azerbaijan has such a problem. People are wrong to think that Armenia has the Karabakh problem. Karabakh had declared itself an independent state. Armenia, true, has not recognized this independence, but it presents everywhere with its borders. Some of our politicians have cherished naive and romantic hopes to the fact that the access to the Eurasian Union will resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh problem. Such things cannot just happen.”
According to the political analyst, we should look at have a look at what is beneficial in terms of political, economic and demographic sense, enter into the Eurasian Union, or not. “Due to our geographical position, we’ve reached the point that the Europe has closed its doors, and not the Customs Union. We are in the point of meeting of two major military-political forces, in the intersection. Assuming the role of this intersection is very beneficial for us. As for the Karabakh issue, it is known to the international community by its format. Our task is to strengthen and empower Karabakh. Who prevents to integrate Karabakh economically? No one. The explicit formulations that we would enter with Karabakh are naive. Enter into the EU or the Eurasian Union and take Karabakh with you, in an integrated way.” To our clarifying question whether the date put forth before Serzh Sargsyan, by June 15, means that he must quietly say, “We agree to enter into the Eurasian Union without Karabakh”, Mr. Minasyan replied, “Yes. What were you thinking that by entering into the Eurasian Union, all the UN states would agree to hand over Karabakh to Armenia? That would not happen. If we do not understand Russian, Belarus, and Kazakhs, then we do not understand the diplomacy.”
To our question of whether Armenia could not say, then why doesn’t Russia enter into the Eurasian Union without the Crimea, whether this condition could not be put forwards, or has made any response, Mr. Manasyan replied, “Eurasian Union is established by Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan. This issue should be put forward by these three. Now, neither Belarus, which is interested in the idea of establishing the Eurasian Union, nor Kazakhstan have not said this.” To our question of whether Armenia will join the Union in the status of annex, whether he cannot say anything about it, and whether we are voiceless, the political analyst replied, “We’re going to be a full member of the Eurasian Union. No one obstacles you to involve Karabakh by other evading methods. Develop methods with which Karabakh will be”. To our observation that if Armenian enter into the Eurasian Union without Karabakh, it will give rise to serious speculation, Mr. Manasyan asserted that speaks of our romanticism and democracy on the nationals folklore, the carriers of which are also serious political analysts. To our question of whether this condition was not a slap across Armenia, he replied, “It’s not. It would be a slap if our people were offended and indignant there. Being quiet and restrained was correct. Didn’t people know that the Karabakh problem cannot be resolved by accession. Neither Russia nor Kazakhstan, nobody would go for it. Karabakh problem remains in the process as it had been until now.” To the question of whether it is not apparent that Nazarbayev is presenting the interests of Azerbaijan there, a state that so far is not associated with the Eurasian Union, Mr. Manasyan replied, “Not at all. So far, this game around the Karabakh problem is evolved on the plane of mutual agreement by the three. True, there is jealousy there, there are attempts of seizing the initiative, but they do not openly go against one another. It is not excluded that one day they would openly go against each other, but that day is not today.”
Hripsime JEBEJYAN
