ACCORDING TO STEPAN SAFARIAN, EVEN UNDER CONDITIONS OF EXTREME POLARIZATION RUSSIA AND NATO ARE READY TO COOPERATE

Noyan Tapan
Dec 3, 2009

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 2, NOYAN TAPAN. Even under conditions of extreme
polarization Russia and NATO are ready to cooperate in some issues,
in particular, in the issue of opening of the Armenian-Turkish border.

Stepan Safarian, the head of the RA NA Zharangutiun (Heritage) faction,
expressed such an opinion at a December 3 press conference.

In his words, the deadlock created between Russia and NATO as a result
of the Russian-Georgian five-day war has been liquidated thanks to a
common interest in the issue of Armenian-Turkish relations. However,
as S. Safarian added, at large the NATO-Russia confrontation will
continue, and Russia will seek to hinder NATO’s entrance to the South
Caucasus. And for it, according to the deputy, there are two ways –
to weaken the Turkey-West contacts and to please Azerbaijan.

S. Safarian said that he has participated in two conferences organized
within the framework of NATO lately, and the Nagorno Karabakh issue
was discussed at one of them. In his words, rather a serious struggle
proceeded between him and representatives of Azerbaijan, which
declared that the Armenian-Turkish relations should be normalized
after Armenia’s ceding at least 5 territories to Azerbaijan. "I made
an abrupt demand to separate these two issues and mentioned that
linking them with one another is an approach having no prospects,"
S. Safarian said.