ArmInfo News Agency (in Russian), Armenia
Aug 9 2008

Situation in Georgia’s South Ossetia hits Armenia – MP

Yerevan, 9 August: The war in [Georgia’s breakaway region of ] South
Ossetia has already led Armenia to negative consequences, Vahan
Hovhannesyan, a member of the board and head of the Armenian
Revolutionary Federation – Dashnaktsutyun parliamentary faction, told
journalists today. "The situation has become destabilized in [Georgia]
the country through which our major communication routes pass, and
this has already had a negative impact on the economic aspect," he
said.

Speaking about the political component of the South Ossetian issue and
possible parallels between it and the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict, the
MP said that Azerbaijan is not Georgia and if [the Azerbaijani
capital] Baku was able to do that, it would have settled the Nagornyy
Karabakh issue militarily long ago.

"At present the gates to Nagornyy Karabakh are fully closed, and if
Azerbaijan wishes to open them, they [Azerbaijanis] will receive an
appropriate, if not a more powerful military response," Hovhannesyan
said.