ARMENIA NEEDS ESTABLISHMENT OF CLOSE RELATIONS WITH NATO, EXPERT OF ARMENIAN CENTER FOR NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES CONSIDERS

Noyan Tapan
March 27, 2008

YEREVAN, MARCH 27, NOYAN TAPAN. "The latest events in Armenia
showed that the thinking of the authorities and people, for which
the democratic values are the most important, do not correspond to
each other at all," Hovsep Khurshudian, the senior expert of the
Armenian Center for National and International Studies, stated at
the seminar dedicated to the issue of expansion of NATO to the South
Caucasus. As he evaluated, a complicated home political situation
has been formed in the country, which became the result of internal
shocks, and in consideration of the formed situation and in particular,
the fact that Armenia has lost the authority of a democratic country,
it becomes very hard to continue carrying on complementary policy.

According to him, Armenia, which chose the policy of complementarianism
in the early 90-s, succeeded in fulfilling it thanks to Armenia’s
international image and authority of a democratic state. In
Khurshudian’s opinion, thanks to that image the West showed indulgence
in the issue of Armenia’s active cooperation within the framework of
CSTO, and Armenia’s military success on the Karabakh front in essence
did not cause confrontation of the West.

And today, according to the expert, because of the shocks that happened
the situation radically differs from the one formed in the early and
in the mid-90-s, and it forces Armenia to make a more exact decision
in choosing civilization values and geopolitical guiding lines. Under
the conditions, in Hovsep Khurshudian’s opinion, Armenia should
normalize relations with its neighbors, in particular, with Turkey,
as well as should determine the external vector of its development
and orient itself to membership to NATO.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress