RUSSIA’S ROLE IS DANGEROUS FOR ARMENIA IN PROCESSES OF ARMENIAN-TURKISH RELATIONS NORMALIZATION AND KARABAKH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT, ARF BUREAU MEMBER SAYS

Noyan Tapan
Nov 26, 2009

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 26, NOYAN TAPAN. The Armenian authorities have no
idea of what is primary in the Armenian-Turkish normalization.

Declaring this at the November 24 discussion, the member of the ARF
Bureau Vahan Hovhannisian said that the opening of the border should
be a means of reaching a goal, whereas for Armenian authorities it has
become a goal in itself. According to him, the authorities say that
the border’s opening would help solve many domestic problems, but
in reality this is not the case. In his words, the authorities fail
to deal with domestic problems such as the fight against corruption
and bridling the oligarchy, and under such conditions the opening
of the border becomes a goal, which is fraught with serious dangers
for Armenia.

For that reason, according to V. Hovhannisian, reservations are very
important in case of ratification of the Armenia-Turkey protocols.

"However, we do not understand what reservations the Armenian
authorities can have," V. Hovhannisian said, adding that the most
correct thing is not to ratify the protocols, which would allow
Armenia to avoid the existing dangers.

He expressed an opinion that the link between the normalization of
Armenian-Turkish relations and the Karabakh conflict settlement still
remains. Assessing the role of Russia in the processes of normalization
of Armenian-Turkish relations and the Karabakh conflict settlement,
he said that Russia’s role is dangerous for Armenia.