ARMENIAN ANALYST SAYS DENOUNCES LEADER’S REFUSAL TO ATTEND NATO TALKS

Noyan Tapan news agency
21 Jun 04

Yerevan, 21 June: “The president’s (Robert Kocharyan) refusal to take
part in the Istanbul summit of NATO is a crude tactical mistake, which,
I think, may have bad consequences for the image of our country, and
for cooperation with Europe and the USA in the future, especially
as the leaders of the neighbour states are going to take part in
the summit,” the chairman of the West-East national and strategic
research centre, Aram Oganesyan, has said in an interview with a
Noyan Tapan correspondent.

He noted that transport corridors are already bypassing Armenia, in
particular, the North-South corridor via Azerbaijan, Iran and then
Pakistan and India. Negotiations are now being held on the unification
of the Turkish and Georgian railroads in the area of Batumi. “This
is being done now and if the foreign political situation regarding
Armenia will worsen, it will be a result of our mistakes.”

Aram Oganesyan recalled that the Caucasus is an important part of
NATO’s Partnership for Peace programme and is becoming one of the
most important elements of NATO.

At the same time, the analyst said that if one looks at the
chronology of the events, Kocharyan announced his refusal to visit
Istanbul immediately after his arrival from Moscow. A few days
later Russia announced that President (Vladimir) Putin will also
not participate in the Istanbul meeting, but send Foreign Minister
Sergey Lavrov instead. “There is some logic to this and agreement.
Armenia’s relations with Russia are the closest which is determined
by history, geography and culture. But it would be wrong to make our
national interests unconditionally dependent on Russia’s political
or national interests,” Oganesyan announced.

He said that Armenia must resolve the existing problems “at the
negotiating table with its neighbours which is the only way of
resolving conflicts”.