“RUSSIA DOES NOT RESPECT THE SOVEREIGNTY OF ARMENIA.”
September 4 2013
According to political scientist Armen Grigoryan, visiting fellow
of the Slovak Foreign Policy Association Research Centre and the
University of Banska Bystrica, the assertions regarding the danger
of isolating NKR from Armenia are the result of Russian campaign. –
What expectations can we have from the EU Association process, in
particular, from the application of a free trade agreement? – The
EU Association Agreement can promote the long-term implementation
of reforms, which enables Armenia to take the path of building the
public life based on the Western standards. The formation of democratic
society on the basis of pluralism, the full protection of human rights
is only possible with integration into modern, progressive system.
Now, even 20 years later, it becomes possible to implement what the
Central European and Baltic countries have conducted since mid of 90s.
And particularly regarding the free trade regime, a few days ago,
a detailed analysis was published as to how much the trade volume
will increase, what social consequences it will have, and so on. The
expected results are positive. In addition, the free trade regime can
stimulate the investments, more contributing to the creation of new
jobs. Of course, it will take a lot of prerequisites, some of them
are technical, such as transferring to the European standards of food
processing. Additional funds will be allocated to the EU budget for
2014-2021 for modernization of technical upgrading, certification, and
infrastructures of the Eastern Partnership countries. Most importantly,
however, is the provision of other prerequisites that depends on us,
provision of priority of the law, immunity of property rights, in
particular, elimination of the arbitrariness of the tax authorities
in terms of reduction of corruption, elimination of oligarchy impact,
and so on. On the other hand, free trade regime will not only promote
export but also will lead to intensifying competition in the domestic
market, along with its positive impact. – There are fears that
the free trade regime will lead to the isolation of Karabakh from
Armenia. – Not only Armenia, but also Georgia and Moldova are related
to the issue of unsettlement of the conflict with regard to the free
trade. The EU requires that the partner countries ensure that the
goods manufactured in the countries not within the free trade regime
(Russia, China, etc.), for example, labeled “produced in Armenia”,
not to be exported to EU. For this reason, the partner country should,
in particular, ensure the possibility of visits by EU inspectors to
control the production capacity. Georgia and Moldova do not control
a part of their territory and some parts of the external border, and
thus can not guarantee the absence of re-export. For this reason,
the Government of Moldova is ready to install control points along
the dividing line with Transnistria, it should be noted that moving
between Moldova and Transnistria is free.
Georgia is not ready for such a step, because it can be perceived
as a de facto recognition of independence. But, maybe the EU fears
that the Russian soldiers can agree with some Georgian businessmen
to organize an export from Russia to the occupied territories, and
then from Georgia to the EU, which in the condition of customs duty
exemption could provide a big profit. This is only a guess, but in any
case the Government of Georgia should find a solution. In our case,
the situation is different, unlike Georgia and Moldova, Armenia does
not have a problem with regard to ensuring compliance with rules of
origin of products, in particular, organizing visits of inspectors. As
for the possibility of export of products from Karabakh, let us not
forget that currently the vast majority of Armenia’s export goes to
the EU, and the origin of some products theoretically possible of
Karabakh is not problematic. Because of the Association Agreement,
the assertion on danger of isolating Karabakh from Armenia are the
result of the Russian campaign, and we have to worry not about the EU,
but the policy led by Russia. – What steps can be expected from Russia,
intensification of anti-propaganda against EU integration, or other
pressures as well? – As for the campaign, for example, in Moldova
during the last three years, approximately 40 NGO was established
to specifically advocate the “Eurasian integration”, naturally,
vast resources of advocacy be directed in Ukraine. For Armenia,
it is also expected to strengthen the campaign, unfortunately, the
number of those guided by the instruction from the Russian side and
the so-called “initiators” in Armenia’s political field, analytical
frameworks is great. Because the Euro integration, everywhere there are
traces of Russian influence starting from the talks about the danger
of isolating Karabakh from Armenia up to homosexual topics. It is
also obvious that Russia does not respect the sovereignty of Armenia,
this is evidenced by the fact that a few days ago, the First Secretary
of the Russian Embassy in Armenia Alexander Vasilyev publicly called
Armenia-EU negotiations a ‘separate’, complaining of their privacy,
and also projected “hot autumn” in Armenia. In other words, the
officials in the RF think that Armenia is obligated to be accountable
to them for the negotiations led by it. Similar expression of lack
of respect for the sovereignty of the country should deserve a rough
treatment. Unfortunately, at this time, too, as well as in many other
cases, particularly in the case of supplying weapons to Azerbaijan
by Russia, the official circles of Armenia did not respond in any
way. In addition to the propaganda, other pressures, of course, are
possible. The “economic war” led against Ukraine in these days is in
front of all of us. Indeed, the campaign against Ukraine is especially
strong, because the RF realizes that if Ukraine irreversibly stands
on the way of European integration, the creation of the Eurasian
Union would become meaningless. Let’s hope that Ukraine, despite the
pressure, will sign the EU Association Agreement, opening a new era
for agreement initialing countries. It is possible to apply pressure on
Armenia in the political and economic spheres, as well as speculations
around the settlement process of Karabakh conflict. Unfortunately,
the only option that could be considered now is to that Russia will
display politeness and will relate to Armenia with respect, as well as
to the choice of Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine. – And does Armenia have
enough potentials to withstand the pressures, and whether the EU is
able to provide additional guarantees of security to Armenia? – First
of all, in my opinion, the EU is not even obliged to give us guarantee
of security if we do not eliminate our internal drawbacks and faulty
traditions. To resist pressures and to neutralize threats it requires a
public consensus, which is impossible to achieve unless there are false
charged convicts, and the police act of violence is continued with
new attempts to “prepare a case” against civilian activists, unless
measurements are not applied against arbitraries of the oligarchs,
and so on and so forth. We need to evaluate the available risks and
the sources thereof and develop plans on neutralization. For example,
why is the pressure possible in the energy sector, since the entire
energy sector has appeared under the management of Russians? We are
rightly complaining about the Turkish blockade, but we forget that we
also have the problem of self-isolation, it can also be called the
problem of self-blockade. A few years ago, when the Iran- Armenia
gas pipeline project was discussed, the top officials were saying,-
“We can not ignore Russia’s interests,” and finally, the pipeline
was built with a small diameter and was handed over to the Russians.
Emma GABRIELYAN
Read more at:
From: A. Papazian
http://en.aravot.am/2013/09/04/156270/