AZERBAIJANI EXPERT: ARMENIA HAS LED ITSELF TO EDGE OF GEOPOLITICAL ABYSS
A. Hasanov
Today
2645.html
Feb 26 2010
Azerbaijan
Day.Az interview with Director of Azerbaijan-based Center for
Innovations and Technologies Mubariz Ahmadoglu.
What are your comments on Armenian media projections about possible
social unrest in Armenia due to expected rise in gas prices?
Until recently Armenia simply did not know what is high gas prices
because Russia made a discount on gas prices for its outpost in
the Caucasus As a result, Armenia was paying for gas several times
less than the world prices. In exchange for discount prices Armenia
offered its enterprises and entire industries some of which had
strategic importance.
Armenia has already sold all that could be sold. So, possible rise
in gas prices in Armenia is not surprising especially because of the
global financial and economic crisis which prompted many to revise
prices on import goods in a bid to level its implications for their
economies. So, Armenians need to put claims not to Russia, which acts
in a pragmatic way based on self-interest, but their government which
did not bother to carry out a little bit of economic reforms.
Until recently, only banking sphere was developed in Armenia as it was
engaged in transfer of the Armenian Diaspora funds to their relatives
and friends in Armenia directing their own income to all sorts of
crimes including financing of terrorism. Due to world financial and
economic crisis volume of remittances of the Diaspora sharply reduced
and the hut on chicken legs entitled "Armenian economy" collapsed.
The rise in gas prices for the Armenian citizens is planned on the
backdrop of significant reduction in their income and stagnation in
the whole Armenian economy. All these points to absence of any sign
of democracy, triumph of oligopolies, growth of social injustice
and disregard for impoverished majority in support of a handful of
government supporters. All these aspects give a full right to predict
a social unrest in Armenia.
What impact the deadlocked Turkey-Armenia reconciliation process
might have on domestic situation in Armenia?
Armenia was very much interested in normalizing ties with Armenia in
an attempt to revive rapidly collapsing economy by opening the border.
But there is almost no hope for normalization of the Turkey-Armenia
relations in wake of a scandalous decision by the Armenian
Constitutional Court which made reservations to the text of protocols
contradicting letter and spirit of the accords. It also shows that
there is no any hope that Armenian economy may revive.
Consequently, deepening socio-economic problems in Armenia will prompt
traditional search for perpetrators. But guilty is Armenian leadership
from which the population may well demand to provide explanations
for the causes that drove the country to self-isolation.
In your opinion, what is the general geopolitical situation in the
South Caucasus region after the Armenian-Turkish normalization reached
an impasse?
Impasse in the Turkish-Armenian relations revealed Armenia’s readiness
to offer cooperation to the U.S., forgetting that it is an outpost of
a very different superpower in the region. Russia once again made sure
that Armenia is a unreliable partner. Naturally, this will entail a
change in Russia’s attitude to Armenia, which is fraught with growth
of problems in Armenia in the presence of large number of levers of
pressure on this country from Russia.
In particular, I believe Armenia will become even greater source of
instability and political-economic crises in our region. This country
has led itself to the edge of a geopolitical abyss.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress