KEEPING GOOD RELATIONS WITH IRAN HAS VITAL IMPORTANCE FOR ARMENIA
PanARMENIAN.Net
22.05.2007 13:45 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "Armenia – the ally of Iran and the United States,
demonstrates how the tension between Tehran and Washington may disturb
the diplomatic balance in the region. While the tension between Iran
and the West approaches its boiling point, it is becoming harder for
Armenia to agree with frequently conflicting alliances within her
rather complicated circle. Armenia’s fragile situation illustrates
the potentially destabilizing consequences between the West and
Iran not only in the Middle East, but also in the South Caucasus,"
says the article entitled "Between Iran and the U.S." published in
The Christian Science Monitor.
The author of the article thinks that a new global attention to
the region increases the local tension, which put the states in the
center of competing interests. Russia, the United States, European
Union, Turkey and Iran make important political and economic stakes
on the region.
"Keeping good relations with Iran has vital importance for Armenia, a
tiny and isolated nation. Her main borders with Turkey and Azerbaijan
are closed, and up to this moment the country is in the situation of
cold war with Azerbaijan because of Nagorno Karabakh, a non-recognized
state of ethnic Armenians, which legally remains a part of Muslim
Azerbaijan.
But the United States is Armenia’s main donor and the only financier
of the humanitarian aid to Karabakh.
During the coming 5 years Armenia will receive $235 million financial
assistance via President George Bush’s international development
project known as Millennium Challenge Account. Analysts say a military
conflict with Iran will be catastrophic for the region, and a lot of
people in Yerevan fear that its consequences will have their reflection
on Iran’s South Caucasian neighbors – Armenia and Azerbaijan. In their
parts politicians fear that if this conflicts does not reach military
interference, increase of tension between Iran and the West may disturb
the thin diplomatic balance in the region," the newspaper reports.