Oh Dear…
“We will develop 90 percent of our relations with Russia and 10
percent with Europe and others,”
Taken from Gagik Tsarukyan’s Recent interview on a Russian television station, discussing what his party, “Prosperous Armenia” intends to do with Armenia’s foreign policy agenda. I am seriously becoming worried about what the future holds for the nation if this is the extremity with which the party intends to sever relations with Europe.
This comes after US Assistant Secretary of State has hinted that Armenia is lagging behind its neighbours, despite having more advantages:
Armenia should have been “way ahead of Georgia” in terms of democratic reforms given the strength of its worldwide Diaspora and its links with Europe and the United States. “Armenia should be doing better,” he said. “It should be a leader. It should be a prospering country. It has all the ingredients.”
Many speculate that there will soon be a “crunch point” when Armenia will have to decide which direction it wants to sway, US/Europe, or Russia. We all know the merits/disadvantages of each, but with other nations voicing serious concerns about Human Rights and Democracy in Russia, we can hope for little change in Armenia’s situation. Are we on the verge of becoming another Belarus? ( extreme example, but worth a thought….)
Oh Dear… those were my exact words when I read that quote:-)
Comment by Nanul — 4/17/2007 @ 9:55 pm
Diaspora needs to wake up and start pressuring the motherland to reform itself. It has a lot of sway there, as the diaspora more than anything has been a lifeline for post-independent Armenia, saving it from what would have been an even more disasterous situation financially. Too often the diaspora, seeing as it loves Armenia and tries to promote it as much as they can, finds criticism as something which would do the opposite. They need to wake up and realize this is not about making Armenia look good or bad, but making it a better place, and if that means we need to criticize and pressure it (which it does), then that’s what we need to do.
Comment by Paul — 4/18/2007 @ 3:58 am
Can you put some of the election videos for the parliment election on youtube….im still waiting.
Comment by Patrik The great — 4/20/2007 @ 12:46 pm
The 90% and 10% are just a figure of speech.
Mr. Tsurukyan is not very elaborate speaker (especially if we take in account that he was speaking in Russian). So he used numbers to express that Russia will remain Armenias strategic and geopolitical partner while it will still strive to maintain healthy relatioships with the West. Which is about right!
Also we should take in account that Mr. Tsurukyan probably has a bit of an “Asian friendly mentality” so in his interview to Russian TV he is in 90% and 10% range…had it been US TV it could have been 50%/50%. I don’t think situation is so grim and we can escape a “crunch point”.
Interesting type Mr. Tsurukyan - Armenian version of Hugo Chaves with George Bush’s outlook. Of course, corrupt to the bone!
Comment by Melikyan — 4/21/2007 @ 12:15 am