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EURASIAN UNION: OUTLOOK OF YEREVAN
Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
June 2 2014
2 June 2014 - 9:57am
By Susanna Petrosyan, Yerevan. Exclusively for Vestnik Kavkaza
The presidents of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan signed the Treaty
of the Eurasian Economic Union (EaEU) at the end of a session of
the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in Astana on May 29. President
Serzh Sargsyan (Armenia) asked members of the EaEU to set terms for
Armenia to join the organization before June 15.
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said that Armenia will
have joined the EaEU by July 1 on condition of resolving the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Nazarbayev noted that the leaders of Russia,
Belarus and Kazakhstan had received a letter from the Azerbaijani
president the previous day. The letter emphasized that the WTO norms
Armenia had adopted were in force only within the borders recognized
by the UN: You have joined the World Trade Organization the same
way, there is a precedent," the Kazakh president told his Armenian
counterpart. Thus, Armenia was offered to join the EaEU without
Nagorno-Karabakh. The Kazakh leader's statement was doubtlessly
made in accordance with the opinions of the presidents of Russia and
Belarus. Armenia has not reacted to the statement in any way.
Back in December 2013, Nazarbayev approved the road map for membership
in the Customs Union (CU) for Armenia, though he warned that Kazakhstan
will sign the road map with a special view because the borders of the
Customs Union had not been fixed due to the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute.
It is noteworthy that functionaries have been making optimistic
declarations for six months that Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh were
a common economic space and the presence of customs offices on the
border of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh was out of question.
"Nagorno-Karabakh and we will be a single territory. No other
formulation can be given in this issue," Prime Minister Ovik Abramyan
has recently said.
On May 31, at a meeting with representatives of youth organizations
of the Republican Party, the president declared contrary views. In his
words, there were no obstacles for membership of Armenia in the EaEU.
"What Nazarbayev said was unpleasant, but it would not harm us.
Initially, it was wrong to talk about the borders. What borders are we
talking about? The Karabakh dispute is not an issue of the EaEU. Who
said we were joining the EaEU together with Nagorno-Karabakh? It has
never happened and will never happen because Nagorno-Karabakh is not
part of Armenia, according to our law."
This provokes two questions: why did the Armenian leader, who is so
confident that the EaEU cannot set borders, not address the statement
to his Kazakh counterpart, and why has Sargsyan suddenly changed his
attitude after assuring the public that Armenia would join the EaEU
without Nagorno-Karabakh?
The answer to the questions can be found in a statement by Vagram
Bagdasaryan, the head of the parliamentary faction of the Republican
Party. He said that Serzh Sargsyan's actions were harmonized with
superstates. In this context, harmonization is most likely pressure.
The controversial steps of the Armenian president show that he is
trying to hold on to power by supporting Russia, a state interested
in seeing Armenia in the EaEU.
On the other hand, apart from the declarations of the president and
his Republican Party, Armenia has a public and a parliament, where
the government controls about 55-56 out of the 131 members. A bigger
problem is the president's backers, many of whom were on the front
lines of the Nagorno-Karabakh war. Notably, Armenia has not joined
the CU or the EaEU, despite all the declarations of striving to sign
the membership treaties.
http://vestnikkavkaza.net/analysis/politics/55916.html
Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
June 2 2014
2 June 2014 - 9:57am
By Susanna Petrosyan, Yerevan. Exclusively for Vestnik Kavkaza
The presidents of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan signed the Treaty
of the Eurasian Economic Union (EaEU) at the end of a session of
the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in Astana on May 29. President
Serzh Sargsyan (Armenia) asked members of the EaEU to set terms for
Armenia to join the organization before June 15.
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said that Armenia will
have joined the EaEU by July 1 on condition of resolving the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Nazarbayev noted that the leaders of Russia,
Belarus and Kazakhstan had received a letter from the Azerbaijani
president the previous day. The letter emphasized that the WTO norms
Armenia had adopted were in force only within the borders recognized
by the UN: You have joined the World Trade Organization the same
way, there is a precedent," the Kazakh president told his Armenian
counterpart. Thus, Armenia was offered to join the EaEU without
Nagorno-Karabakh. The Kazakh leader's statement was doubtlessly
made in accordance with the opinions of the presidents of Russia and
Belarus. Armenia has not reacted to the statement in any way.
Back in December 2013, Nazarbayev approved the road map for membership
in the Customs Union (CU) for Armenia, though he warned that Kazakhstan
will sign the road map with a special view because the borders of the
Customs Union had not been fixed due to the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute.
It is noteworthy that functionaries have been making optimistic
declarations for six months that Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh were
a common economic space and the presence of customs offices on the
border of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh was out of question.
"Nagorno-Karabakh and we will be a single territory. No other
formulation can be given in this issue," Prime Minister Ovik Abramyan
has recently said.
On May 31, at a meeting with representatives of youth organizations
of the Republican Party, the president declared contrary views. In his
words, there were no obstacles for membership of Armenia in the EaEU.
"What Nazarbayev said was unpleasant, but it would not harm us.
Initially, it was wrong to talk about the borders. What borders are we
talking about? The Karabakh dispute is not an issue of the EaEU. Who
said we were joining the EaEU together with Nagorno-Karabakh? It has
never happened and will never happen because Nagorno-Karabakh is not
part of Armenia, according to our law."
This provokes two questions: why did the Armenian leader, who is so
confident that the EaEU cannot set borders, not address the statement
to his Kazakh counterpart, and why has Sargsyan suddenly changed his
attitude after assuring the public that Armenia would join the EaEU
without Nagorno-Karabakh?
The answer to the questions can be found in a statement by Vagram
Bagdasaryan, the head of the parliamentary faction of the Republican
Party. He said that Serzh Sargsyan's actions were harmonized with
superstates. In this context, harmonization is most likely pressure.
The controversial steps of the Armenian president show that he is
trying to hold on to power by supporting Russia, a state interested
in seeing Armenia in the EaEU.
On the other hand, apart from the declarations of the president and
his Republican Party, Armenia has a public and a parliament, where
the government controls about 55-56 out of the 131 members. A bigger
problem is the president's backers, many of whom were on the front
lines of the Nagorno-Karabakh war. Notably, Armenia has not joined
the CU or the EaEU, despite all the declarations of striving to sign
the membership treaties.
http://vestnikkavkaza.net/analysis/politics/55916.html