The Armenians will first have to sever their close ties with Russia. Europe condemns Armenia and Azerbaijan for the 2020 conflict. Beyond the old cultural relations, Yerevan seems to be far from the clients of any form of European integration.
Moscow (AsiaNews) – The participation of the Armenian delegation in the summer consultation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) opens up various interpretations of the imaginable evolution of relations between Yerevan and the Old Continent. According to the Armenian daily Graparak, the main purpose of the presence was to locate aid for the release of the many Armenian prisoners, who were returned to the hands of the Azeris after the 44-day war in 2020 in Nagorno-Karabakh, which Armenians call Artsakh.
According to representatives of the majority party of the Armenian Civil Contract, PACE parliamentarians tested the text proposed by Yerevan, warning that there will be no agreement until Armenia makes a decision on what it looks like, with Russia or Europe. In fact, it is not known on what basis the Armenians ask against the Azeris, without granting anything in return, knowing that Azerbaijan will not be willing to respond freely to the demands of its opponents.
The consultation also considers the tactics that Europe can influence to distance Yerevan from Moscow, also given the favor that this speculation arouses among a giant component of the Armenian population and also of its political class. The big challenge is Armenia’s economic dependence on Russia. , its main commercial component and former protector of the enemies of the surrounding Islamic countries. The country’s borders are protected by Russian soldiers, who have parked their own military base in the city of Gyumri, the 102 to protect Armenia.
Armenian political scientist Rovšan Ibragimov, a professor at Khankuk International University in Korea, commented in Azatutyun that “these data are contradictory and reflect Armenia’s internal political competition, rather than the odds of agreement on the foreign stage. Moreover, Aceh and the European Union are not the same, and the parliamentary meeting does not play a decisive role in those matters. “
In fact, the Aceh Papers of recent years on Nagorno-Karabakh are ambiguous, condemning to varying degrees the movements of Yerevan and Baku, and in any case have only the character of recommendations. Parliamentarians do not vote on behalf of the states, but on behalf of the parties to which they belong, and Armenia is represented through only two deputies, because it is a sparsely populated country, and they also belong to two opposing parties.
Armenia also, beyond its participation in the European institutions, remains a member of the Eurasian Economic Union (led through Russia) and the CSTO, the post-Soviet NATO controlled through Russia.
Yerevan seems to be the customer of any form of European integration. The centuries-old ancient and cultural ties of the Caucasian country with Europe and the Mediterranean and the solidarity of Westerners for the reminiscence of the Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire in the early twentieth century remain, however. today’s history imposes very different priorities.
The Armenians will first have to sever their close ties with Russia. Europe condemns Armenia and Azerbaijan for the 2020 conflict. Beyond the old cultural relations, Yerevan seems to be far from the clients of any form of European integration.