There is a fear that after Armenia’s membership to EaEU, Russian customs will also be transferred to Armenia.
As it is known, the Parliament of Armenia had ratified the document “On Joining the Republic of Armenia the Treaty of May 29, 2014 on the ‘Eurasian Economic Union’”. This week, National Assembly of Armenia, at early mode, from morning until night, in a rapid way, is complying various RA laws, one after the other, with EaEU legislation, while the EaEU member countries have not yet ratified Armenia’s accession with the EaEU. This is the politico-legal aspect of the issue. It’s another matter that yet not being fully entered into the EaEU, the civil society representatives of Armenia are in panic. The have the fear that Russian customs that do not operate in favor of civil society can be transferred to Armenia.
To the question of “Aravot” of whether they have no fear that after Armenia’s accession to the EaEU, a change of attitude towards civil society is expected, reduction of leverage and establishment of unfavorable environment, conflictologist Artak Ayunts responded, “Of course, we have the fear, but they are not only due to EaEU membership, but the policy adopted by RA government authorities, in general. They imitate the Russian situation on many matters. While we know how many restrictions they have towards the activities of civil society. There is a fear that one day, such a law might be passed in Armenia, especially since the bill is already in circulation. And possibly, various Russian developments might be brought to Armenia, too.”
Historian Tigran Zakaryan does not exclude that “after all of this, naturally, there might be political pressures over civil society in Armenia in the Russian form.” The situation becomes more complex, taking into account the fact that a Union has an access to Armenia, where the situation of the civil society as compared to its member states is more favorable in Armenia. Interestingly, the civil society representatives find it difficult to make specific predictions and assessments, because the situation is fraught with ups and downs and rapid developments. Tigran Zakaryan mentioned that now we all will be witnessing not the rise of the Russian Empire, but its collapse. In this regard, he recalled the episode from the history, when the Soviet Union was collapsing, Gorbachev was attempting to collect all of it under a new union agreement.
Read also
Now, the same is done by Vladimir Putin. But according to the historian, Vladimir Putin’s attempt to update and salvage of the empire is doomed to failure. Under the current situation, it is also crucial to know to what extent Armenia’s civil society is ready for this drastic change. The panic is mainly caused because the representatives of this field are not ready for the situation. Tigran Zakaryan mentioned that the civil society, unfortunately, is not free of the diseases that are prevalent in other areas of the society. The historian recalled the fears of the Armenian society. “Unfortunately, the intelligentsia constituting a part of the civil society have the mentality that we could hardly endure being independent. The syndrome of fear from the Turks also dominates; we forget that we won one war, although it is still unfinished war, and we do not believe that we have won the war by ourselves, and we can conclude what is necessary.” As a summary, the historian confessed that, unfortunately, what the RPA faction MP Mher Sedrakyan (Tokhmakh Mher) uttered, namely with the expression, “It’s better to stay in the Russian yoke”, it is the opinion by the majority of the Armenian society, no matter how many of us declare that we are far from this opinion.
TATEV HARUTIUNYAN
In the photo, Mr. Zakarian (on the left), Artak Ayunts (on the right)
