“Who says that we are going to join the Customs Union together with Nagorno-Karabakh? It is impossible because presently Nagorno-Karabakh does not constitute a part of Armenia, at least according to our legislation and our notions,” so was said by the President of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan, at the meeting with the participants of the RPA Youth Organization’s gathering in Tsaghkadzor, in response to the noise raised around the condition put forward by Nursultan Nazarbayev. Naturally, there is a clear answer to this question of Serzh Sargsyan. And who has said that it will be accessing the CU with Karabakh?
The NA Speaker and at the same time the Vice-President of the Republican Party of Armenia. On December 18, 2013, in the interview with the “People”, he had stated that Armenian is joining the Customs Union with Karabakh. “In the event of Armenia’s accession to the Customs Union, the same custom mode will automatically operate for Nagorno-Karabakh.” According to him, as long as Armenian has no Customs checkpoint with NKR, hence, in the event of accession to the Customs Union, the same regime will operate. “Karabakh is considered a border area to Armenia. Like today, Karabakh is importing or exporting, the same way it will be then. There will be no problems.” And Galust Sahakyan is not the only RPA member that has justified Serzh Sargsyan’s statement of entry into the Customs Union, by associating Karabakh and Nagorno-Karabakh issue with the Union. The RPA executive body and Chairman of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Financial-Credit and Budgetary Affairs, Gagik Minasyan, in the conversation with journalists on Nov. 29, stated that Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan de facto recognize NKR as a territory of the Customs Union. The MP has said this is evidenced by the statement of the Minsk Group made during the last meeting that there is no customs border between Armenia and NKR. “This means that the products that will have access to Armenia will also operate in the NKR without any customs duty. This approach has already been endorsed.”
Hripsime JEBEJYAN
