ARMENIA COULD MAKE BETTER USE OF STRATEGIC RELATIONS WITH RUSSIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
21.01.2010 20:30 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ In addition to numerous examples of open
military-political and economic support of Turkey to Azerbaijan,
we once again witnessed a classic example of the strategic
relationships between the two countries, Eduard Abrahamyan, chairman
of Neo-conservative Movement of Armenia told PanARMENIAN.Net.

Even after the signing of the Armenian-Turkish Protocols, which openly
not demonstrate any coherence between the Armenian-Turkish relations
improvement and the Karabakh conflict settlement, Turkey continues to
insist that without the Karabakh conflict resolution neither diplomatic
relations with Armenia can be established and nor the border can open.

"We understand the desire of Moscow to avoid any accusation of using a
gas lever for political purposes, but it could state without damaging
its reputation, that taking into account of the bilateral blockade of
its strategic partner, it decided to make major concessions related
to gas prices for Armenia, " Mr. Abrahamyan said.

According to him, the Armenian authorities have not used all the ways
to convince Moscow at least to slightly increase gas rates.

Protocols on the normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations have
been signed on October 10, 2009 in Zurich by the foreign ministers
of Armenia and Turkey, Edward Nalbandian and Ahmet Davutoglu in the
presence of the foreign ministers of France, the United States, Russia
and Switzerland after a series of diplomatic talks held through Swiss
mediation since 2007. According to the Protocols, diplomatic relations
should be established between the two countries and the mutual border,
closed by Turkey since 1993, should be opened. On January 12, 2010
Armenian Constitutional Court acknowledged the constituency of the
Protocols.

Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh Republic) (NKR) is a de facto independent
republic located in the South Caucasus, bordering by Azerbaijan to the
north and east, Iran to the south, and Armenia to the west. After the
Soviet Union established control over the area, in 1923 it formed the
Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) within the Azerbaijan SSR.

In the final years of the Soviet Union, Azerbaijan launched an ethnic
cleansing which resulted in the Karabakh War that was fought from
1991 to 1994. Since the ceasefire in 1994, most of Nagorno Karabakh
and several regions of Azerbaijan around it (the security zone)
remain under the control of Nagorno Karabakh defense army. Armenia
and Azerbaijan have since been holding peace talks mediated by the
OSCE Minsk Group.