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Nezavisimaya Gazeta , Russia
Aug 8 2012
Iranian problem of Russia and Armenia. Serzh Sargsyan cuts short
vacation for talks with Vladimir Putin
by Yuriy Roks
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan begins his working visit today. As
the Kremlin press service announced, in the course of a meeting with
Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin, questions of bilateral
cooperation, the level of cooperation "within the scope of integration
processes, and specifically in such structures as the CIS and the
CSTO," as well as the current pace of international life, including
the situation in the Transcaucasus, will be discussed.
Commenting on Sargsyan's trip to Moscow, the Yerevan publication
Zhamanak (Vremya), expresses the suspicion that "something
extraordinary is happening." In substantiation of its version, it is
saying that Putin is planning a visit to Armenia in September, when
the CSTO exercises will take place in the republic, and that, if
everything is good in Moscow-Yerevan relations, then why did Sargsyan
need to cut short his vacation and go to Belokamennaya? Zhamanak hints
that Russian high-level leaders are supposedly interested in a return
of Armenian ex-President Robert Kocharyan to politics, and are not
very happy that their plans on this question run counter to the
opinion of the Armenian authorities.
A source in Yerevan suggested that "conspiracy theories" should not be
taken seriously, if only because the Armenian president's schedule
-and it was publicized by his staff not on the eve of the visit, but
much earlier - pointed out that "Sargsyan would cut short his vacation
to visit Moscow." There is nothing urgent about the visit. It was
planned long ago, our Nezavisimaya Gazeta source assured us.
However, Sargsyan's talks with Putin will not be easy. Of course, the
leaders of the strategic partner countries will discuss questions of
bilateral cooperation. They will also probably not overlook Armenia's
request to allocate a loan (according to certain information, 1
billion dollars -Nezavisimaya Gazeta), which, we might say, was
overlooked some time ago during the work of the intergovernmental
commission. But the main topics of the negotiations will evidently be
regional. These are the events in Syria, which have caused an exodus
of Armenians, Abkhazians, Cherkess, and representatives of the Turkic
peoples to their historic homelands, but mainly - the scenario that is
forming around Iran and into which Azerbaijan is being drawn.
Baku's attempts to be in the front ranks of the anti-Iranian coalition
have begun to bear fruit. In recent days, there have been several
indicative statements in the US by leading representatives of the
American political establishment, directly concerning Azerbaijan.
Former Congressman Michael McMahon called upon the White House to take
measures to protect Azerbaijan against the Iran's threats. The
politician sees the reason for the threat - which still does not go
beyond the bounds of propaganda for the purpose of destabilizing the
situation within Azerbaijan - in the fact that Baku is a partner of
Washington and Tel-Aviv, who are enemies of Tehran. Meanwhile, Tehran
itself is friendly with Yerevan, which is at odds with Baku. The
logic, whose roots go back somewhere to the system of hierarchical
relations of feudal Europe, is unconvincing, especially if we recall
the relations within the triangle of Baku-Ankara-Tel-Aviv, in which
the last two cannot be said to have warm feelings towards each other.
However, American politicians have managed to teach them to take a
"non-standard" view of various situations and proposals which are
usually followed by actions. In the context of Azerbaijan, we would
like to hope that the matter will not go so far as the final stage -
that is, the country will not be drawn into the "heavyweight
proceedings."
Not long before McMahon, incumbent Congressman Dana Rohrabacher called
upon the White House to focus attention on the sad fate of the
Azerbaijani people, who are living divided, and called for support of
the struggle of South Azerbaijan - a region in Iran - for
self-determination. We may recall that, in February of this year,
there were appeals in the Milli Majlis of Azerbaijan to rename the
country by means of adding the word, "Northern," to its current name.
At that time, representatives of Baku had proposed to view the idea of
several deputies as an individual initiative, which did not presuppose
any global plans for annexation of the territories. But now we may say
that a trial balloon was launched in the Azerbaijani parliament in the
winter - such coincidences do not happen "just like that."
Washington's scenario is clear. The more countries there are that are
unhappy with Iran, the easier it is to depict it as the centre of
evil, whose "healing" is possible by means of a surgical operation.
Azerbaijan's goal in the possible commotion is to be closer to the
leaders of the future coalition and, by providing services to them to
the extent of its capacities, to get a place under the sum. This is
evidenced by the exposed plots, and by the suppression of activity of
the Iranian secret agent network, and by the reciprocal propaganda,
which is no less fierce than that of Tehran, and by the decision to
exclude the Naftiran Intertrade Co (NICO) from the project for
building the Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline (TANAR), and by the
transparent hints that it would also be excluded from the Shakh Deniz
consortium, in which NICO owns a 10 per cent share, and also by a
series of diplomatic scandals. In positioning itself as an enemy of
Iran and an ally of the US and Company, it is unlikely that Baku's
first priority goal is to "reunite" North and South Azerbaijan in a
convenient arrangement. Its present-day task is evidently more modest:
To get assistance from the West in regulating the Karabakh problem
according to its own scenario. It is no accident that a number of Baku
officials responded to the statements heard in the US about
Azerbaijani-Iranian relations with a reminder of Baku's readiness to
ensure "the high autonomous status of Karabakh within the complement
of Azerbaijan."
Yerevan is "interested" in what is going on, because it touches upon
its national interests. Moscow too is "interested," as it considers
the South Caucasus to be not only a zone of its geopolitical
interests, but also its responsibility. Armenia - which borders
Western Iran (on which sights have been set), Azerbaijan and Turkey,
as well as Georgia, whose relations with Russia are generally known -
cannot help but be concerned about the question and mechanism of
receiving aid from its strategic partner and from the CSTO, if it
should suddenly be needed. It is natural that Russia also has
something to think about in case of extraordinary events. For example,
at the very least, about supplying a military base located in the
Armenian city of Gyumri.
[translated from Russian]
Aug 8 2012
Iranian problem of Russia and Armenia. Serzh Sargsyan cuts short
vacation for talks with Vladimir Putin
by Yuriy Roks
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan begins his working visit today. As
the Kremlin press service announced, in the course of a meeting with
Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin, questions of bilateral
cooperation, the level of cooperation "within the scope of integration
processes, and specifically in such structures as the CIS and the
CSTO," as well as the current pace of international life, including
the situation in the Transcaucasus, will be discussed.
Commenting on Sargsyan's trip to Moscow, the Yerevan publication
Zhamanak (Vremya), expresses the suspicion that "something
extraordinary is happening." In substantiation of its version, it is
saying that Putin is planning a visit to Armenia in September, when
the CSTO exercises will take place in the republic, and that, if
everything is good in Moscow-Yerevan relations, then why did Sargsyan
need to cut short his vacation and go to Belokamennaya? Zhamanak hints
that Russian high-level leaders are supposedly interested in a return
of Armenian ex-President Robert Kocharyan to politics, and are not
very happy that their plans on this question run counter to the
opinion of the Armenian authorities.
A source in Yerevan suggested that "conspiracy theories" should not be
taken seriously, if only because the Armenian president's schedule
-and it was publicized by his staff not on the eve of the visit, but
much earlier - pointed out that "Sargsyan would cut short his vacation
to visit Moscow." There is nothing urgent about the visit. It was
planned long ago, our Nezavisimaya Gazeta source assured us.
However, Sargsyan's talks with Putin will not be easy. Of course, the
leaders of the strategic partner countries will discuss questions of
bilateral cooperation. They will also probably not overlook Armenia's
request to allocate a loan (according to certain information, 1
billion dollars -Nezavisimaya Gazeta), which, we might say, was
overlooked some time ago during the work of the intergovernmental
commission. But the main topics of the negotiations will evidently be
regional. These are the events in Syria, which have caused an exodus
of Armenians, Abkhazians, Cherkess, and representatives of the Turkic
peoples to their historic homelands, but mainly - the scenario that is
forming around Iran and into which Azerbaijan is being drawn.
Baku's attempts to be in the front ranks of the anti-Iranian coalition
have begun to bear fruit. In recent days, there have been several
indicative statements in the US by leading representatives of the
American political establishment, directly concerning Azerbaijan.
Former Congressman Michael McMahon called upon the White House to take
measures to protect Azerbaijan against the Iran's threats. The
politician sees the reason for the threat - which still does not go
beyond the bounds of propaganda for the purpose of destabilizing the
situation within Azerbaijan - in the fact that Baku is a partner of
Washington and Tel-Aviv, who are enemies of Tehran. Meanwhile, Tehran
itself is friendly with Yerevan, which is at odds with Baku. The
logic, whose roots go back somewhere to the system of hierarchical
relations of feudal Europe, is unconvincing, especially if we recall
the relations within the triangle of Baku-Ankara-Tel-Aviv, in which
the last two cannot be said to have warm feelings towards each other.
However, American politicians have managed to teach them to take a
"non-standard" view of various situations and proposals which are
usually followed by actions. In the context of Azerbaijan, we would
like to hope that the matter will not go so far as the final stage -
that is, the country will not be drawn into the "heavyweight
proceedings."
Not long before McMahon, incumbent Congressman Dana Rohrabacher called
upon the White House to focus attention on the sad fate of the
Azerbaijani people, who are living divided, and called for support of
the struggle of South Azerbaijan - a region in Iran - for
self-determination. We may recall that, in February of this year,
there were appeals in the Milli Majlis of Azerbaijan to rename the
country by means of adding the word, "Northern," to its current name.
At that time, representatives of Baku had proposed to view the idea of
several deputies as an individual initiative, which did not presuppose
any global plans for annexation of the territories. But now we may say
that a trial balloon was launched in the Azerbaijani parliament in the
winter - such coincidences do not happen "just like that."
Washington's scenario is clear. The more countries there are that are
unhappy with Iran, the easier it is to depict it as the centre of
evil, whose "healing" is possible by means of a surgical operation.
Azerbaijan's goal in the possible commotion is to be closer to the
leaders of the future coalition and, by providing services to them to
the extent of its capacities, to get a place under the sum. This is
evidenced by the exposed plots, and by the suppression of activity of
the Iranian secret agent network, and by the reciprocal propaganda,
which is no less fierce than that of Tehran, and by the decision to
exclude the Naftiran Intertrade Co (NICO) from the project for
building the Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline (TANAR), and by the
transparent hints that it would also be excluded from the Shakh Deniz
consortium, in which NICO owns a 10 per cent share, and also by a
series of diplomatic scandals. In positioning itself as an enemy of
Iran and an ally of the US and Company, it is unlikely that Baku's
first priority goal is to "reunite" North and South Azerbaijan in a
convenient arrangement. Its present-day task is evidently more modest:
To get assistance from the West in regulating the Karabakh problem
according to its own scenario. It is no accident that a number of Baku
officials responded to the statements heard in the US about
Azerbaijani-Iranian relations with a reminder of Baku's readiness to
ensure "the high autonomous status of Karabakh within the complement
of Azerbaijan."
Yerevan is "interested" in what is going on, because it touches upon
its national interests. Moscow too is "interested," as it considers
the South Caucasus to be not only a zone of its geopolitical
interests, but also its responsibility. Armenia - which borders
Western Iran (on which sights have been set), Azerbaijan and Turkey,
as well as Georgia, whose relations with Russia are generally known -
cannot help but be concerned about the question and mechanism of
receiving aid from its strategic partner and from the CSTO, if it
should suddenly be needed. It is natural that Russia also has
something to think about in case of extraordinary events. For example,
at the very least, about supplying a military base located in the
Armenian city of Gyumri.
[translated from Russian]