ArmInfo.Armenia should join the NATO military alliance to ensure security. A similar opinion is shared by 34.1% of respondents participating in the "Armenian society at the crossroads. Foreign policy orientations, priorities and perceptions" sociological survey. The survey was conducted by specialists of the SOCIES Expert Center with the assistance of YSU and financial support from the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.
The main purpose of the study is the foreign policy priorities of the Armenian society after the "velvet revolution" and the 44-day Karabakh war. In particular, the emphasis was placed on the public perception of "friends" and "enemies", the public understanding of "friendly" and "unfriendly" states and related undesirable political trends on the development of Russian, European, American (Western) trends in international relations.
At the same time, only 29.1% of respondents view the CSTO as a "security umbrella", 26% do not consider any of these military alliances (CSTO, NATO) as a guarantor of Armenia's security, and 10.7%, strangely, have no any idea about those alliances.
At the same time, the 46.1% of respondents consider Armenia's membership in the European Union as the most promising, 28.7% of respondents voted for being in the EAEU, 12.5% ??do not support any economic union, and 12.6% do not know anything about these unions.
However, from an economic point of view, respondents believe that cooperation with the Russian Federation (52%) will have the most positive impact on Armenia, followed by the EU (49%), followed by the USA (41%), China (38%), Iran (24%), India (16%) and to a very small extent Georgia (9.5%) and Turkey (3%).
In the context of security cooperation, the majority of respondents preferred partnership with Russia (53.5%), followed by the EU (34%), USA (31%), China (11%), Iran (10%), India (4%) , Georgia (2.5%), Turkey (1.5%). However, in terms of education, the Armenian public prefers to link the future with the EU (56%), slightly less with the US (37%), followed by Russia (29%) and China (15%), and to a very small extent India and Iran.
In the issue of ensuring human rights, the EU also accounts for the lion's share (52%), 35% consider cooperation with the United States effective, 26% with the Russian Federation, 8% with China, 4% with India, 3.5% with Iran, Georgia -2, 5%, Turkey – 0.1%. In terms of improving the quality of life, Armenian citizens consider cooperation with the EU more promising (51%), a slightly less – the United States (over 39%), followed by the Russian Federation (39%), then China (20%), Iran (10% ), India (8%), Georgia (over 4%), Turkey (over 1%) According to the results of the survey, 69.7% of respondents are of the opinion that Armenia needs to limit relations with the Russian Federation and expand with the EU and the US.
At the same time, 26.4% of respondents consider the only option for Armenia to be strategic cooperation with the Russian Federation, and 3.9% are in favor of ending cooperation with the Russian Federation altogether. Respondents consider Armenia's close ties with the Russian Federation to be the main reason hindering the development of relations with the West.
It should be noted that 1530 people took part in the survey, of which 570 are residents of Yerevan, 430 are residents of regional cities, 530-villages. The age category of respondents is as follows: from 18 to 34 years old – 531 people, from 35 to 49 years old – 387 people, from 50 to 64 years old – 374 people, and over 65 years old – 238 people. Sampling error +/-3.3%, probability 0.99%.
