“The first symbolic batch of Armenian apricots has arrived in the European Union.” A post and photograph under this title were published by European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Marta Kos. In the photograph, she is together with Armenia’s Minister of Territorial Administration, holding a small box with several apricots that the minister presented to the European Commissioner.
It is interesting whether Marta Kos will put the “first batch” of Armenian apricots up for sale, even if only, for example, among members of the European Commission. If they become advertising agents for Armenian apricots, then Armenian agricultural products may conquer the European market at perhaps a record pace and volume. Although, of course, it is still necessary to understand what the public approval ratings of the European Commissioners and their chief, Mrs. Ursula von der Leyen, are like. If they are at such a low level as, for example, the rating of our friend Emmanuel Macron—at a historically low level—then Armenian apricots would be better off staying away from them.
However, Commissioner Kos is preparing to move closer to Armenia, in the literal sense of the word, and this is, of course, perhaps more worthy of attention than her attention to the gifted apricots. A few days ago, while meeting with Armenia’s Foreign Minister in Luxembourg, she stated that she would arrive in Yerevan on July 5 to discuss specific issues related to supporting Armenia.
Commissioner Kos’s visit will take place on a highly symbolic day—July 5, Armenia’s Constitution Day. It was on July 5, 1995, that Armenia’s Constitution was adopted. Azerbaijan is now demanding that Armenia amend the Constitution and remove the reference to the Declaration of Independence contained within it as a precondition for signing a peace treaty.
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Kos’s visit on July 5 is symbolic in that sense, and I think the date was not chosen by chance. The issue is that the party most interested in changing the Constitution and annulling the Declaration of Independence is the European Union. Perhaps even more than Azerbaijan, or at least no less.
What did Nikol Pashinyan say during the election campaign when he was building his campaign against the opposition around the “gifts” coming from Russia? “We will not trade independence for strawberries.”
But perhaps we will trade the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence for apricots, or rather for a photograph of Marta Kos with gifted apricots. Because, broadly speaking, Armenian apricots are unlikely to achieve a greater effect in the European direction than that photograph. The European Union, however, expects Armenia to satisfy Azerbaijan’s demands as quickly as possible so that the Azerbaijan–Armenia–Turkey–Europe quadrilateral axis, which European Commissioner Marta Kos spoke about at the beginning of this year, can be formed as quickly as possible.
Hakob BADALYAN
