HAS SERZH SARGSYAN FELT ANYTHING NEW?
A few days after the telephone conversation between the presidents of
the United States and Iran President Rowhani initiated consideration of
direct flights between Iran and the United States to enable mobility.
Iranian-American relations developed very quickly. Time will show
how far they will go but it definitely took a long time to prepare,
and the 15 minutes of the telephone conversation was just a published
episode of those lasting efforts.
Such developments are beneficial for Armenia and especially for the
Armenian government which explained its decision to join the Customs
Union by “security threat”. The positive turn of relations between
Iran and the United States, independent from dynamics, is an appeasing
factor to security threats and challenges, therefore also the Russian
press. In addition, it comes next to the decision of the United States
to refrain from intervention in Syria for the time being. These open
up space for Serzh Sargsyan to maneuver in his relations with Russia.
Moreover, interestingly, the United States treated Armenia’s decision
of September 3 calmly. The ambassador of the United States even
announced that there is nothing in the Customs Union that would hinder
internal reforms in Armenia.
It is possible that change of situation will echo in Serzh Sargsyan’s
address to the PACE session in Strasbourg. More exactly, the speech
will indicate if Serzh Sargsyan has felt anything new since September
3.
The situation is favorable for Armenia as well because Armenia felt
the tensions between the West and Iran the first, both in economic
and political terms. The economic sanctions on Tehran affected the
Armenian economy as well. At the same time, Armenia is not free to
initiate strategic projects with Iran, facing obstacles on behalf of
both Russia and the West. Certainly, each of them has their own reason
but the fact is that balance or competition is eliminated for Armenia.
The question is how Serzh Sargsyan will use the new opportunity,
whether to address his personal matters at the level of statements and
achieve balance between the West and Russia or use the opportunities
for the interests of the Republic of Armenia.
It is early for more substantial comments because the United States
and Tehran just had a short talk. However, it is not early to get
ready for future possible scenarios to gain not only personal but
also national benefits from them. Although, considering September 3,
it is hard to expect anything else from the Armenian government.
Hakob Badalyan 11:19 01/10/2013 Story from Lragir.am News: