YEREVAN. – Our strategic partnership with Russia must continue and develop in a mutually beneficial way, including beneficial for us. This was stated by Avetik Chalabyan, a member of the National Agenda party's founding committee at the party’s founding congress today in Yerevan.
“Because in the past this partnership has not always been mutually beneficial. There have been mutual grievances, there have been times when either Russia or we have considered that the other side is not behaving as a partner. In a sense, this is also a reflection of the ‘weight’ differences between the two countries. The more we [Armenia] gain ‘weight,’ we will have a greater opportunity to carry out effective policy,” Chalabyan said.
He also stressed that Armenia should develop mutually beneficial relations with other power centers – US, EU, as well as Iran and India.
As for relations with Turkey, Chalabyan said that Armenians should be able to achieve sensible, substantial compensation for the genocide and homeland dispossession that must be accepted by the entire Armenian people. "It must be tangible. We must realize that this compensation opens the door for peaceful coexistence. Until that compensation is made, we should not make any one-sided concessions. We do not accept the former authorities’ approach that one can pursue Armenian-Turkish cooperation without preconditions. That precondition exists to us: it is the compensation our people will receive."