Babacan in Yerevan: unfulfilled prophecies of the western press

PanARMENIAN.Net - As a matter of principle, its signing was hardly possible: the two sides are too isolated from each other and too far from the attempts to agree at least on one question. No matter how hard the foreign ministers of Armenia and Turkey try to assure us, the negotiations are now in a deadlock.

That Turkey was not going to yield any of the prerequisites proposed by her was clear still when negotiations had barely started in Switzerland in 2007. It would be too naïve of us to assume that Armenia could act differently. But the matter is not even in concessions.

The matter is in the Kars agreement, on the fulfillment of which insists Turkey, namely on the recognition of boundaries by Armenia. Of course, if we follow the same Kars agreement, we should speak not of the Armenian-Turkish, but of the Russian-Turkish border, especially because to this day the Russian frontier-guards protect it together with the Armenian ones. Hence, not much devised are the assumptions that the idea of opening the border and establishment of diplomatic relations - or vice versa, no difference - proceed first of all from Moscow. In that way she disrupts the fragile but already existing status quo. In the region it is especially Iran that is extremely interested in the disturbance of the existing status quo. Expressing it in words that there must not be closed countries in the region, Tehran at the same time implies that in the Islamic environment it is exactly her that is necessary for Armenia. However, it is necessary to clarify that there are all kinds of Islam. Persians cannot stand the Ottoman Turks, let alone the Caucasian Tatars, and in this connection the latest "discontented" statements of Baku regarding the reception of the President of Armenia by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are simply ignored. And, in principle, that's for good.

Once again Baku attempts to gamble on her hydrocarbons. In 1918 it was oil, now it is gas. However, the Aliyev clan misses one point: times have changed and no one in the world will count only on the Azerbaijani gas, perfectly realizing that in this matter Aliyev will follow the Russian model, i.e. at the moment most convenient for himself he will close the pipe. Europe knows it quite well and for this very reason it hurries to maintain relations with Iran, which is less capricious and if asserted that she will not be interfered in the development of nuclear energy, everything will be in order. Even to say, experts directly state that the Azerbaijani gas is in no way sufficient for the Nabucco project; Iranian and Turkmen gas is also essential.

On the same week the CSTO Foreign Ministers' Summit was held in Yerevan. The non-participation of Uzbekistan in the works of the summit came as news, which indicated that Uzbekistan was going to leave the organization. However, the Secretary General of CSTO Nikolai Bordyuzha quieted all, saying that Uzbekistan was not going to pull out of the security group. "Hearsay on Uzbekistan's secession may be conditioned by suspension of the country's membership in EurAsEC. Uzbekistan's delegation doesn't participate in current summit due to objective reasons. CSTO leadership was informed about it beforehand," said the Secretary General of CSTO Nikolai Bordyuzha. At the same time he noted that the representatives of Uzbekistan, including the governing body of the country, had always confirmed their interest in the CSTO activity.

Meanwhile it should be noted that Uzbekistan is not officially in the Collective Security Treaty Organization, because it has not signed the basic documents on membership. But from a non-formal point of view these ins and outs of Uzbekistan will still continue for rather long.

As far as another not a less interesting question is concerned in the person of Iran, according to Bordyuzha, Iran is not going to enter CSTO, but it is interested in cooperation. "Iran is interested in practical collaboration with the organization, particularly in fighting drug trafficking. Iran participates in all the operations, organized by CSTO in fighting drug trafficking, but she made an especially good showing in the operation "Channel 2008", Bordyuzha emphasized.

In Moscow the Presidents of Russia and Azerbaijan had a meeting, in which Ilham Aliyev once again attempted to link the Karabakh priblem with all the conflicts and unresolved problems in the region, but to all appearances he failed, if we do not take into consideration several evidently custom-made articles on "Russia's being in need for Azerbaijan", which is not even ridiculous any more.

And as the curtain was falling, there came the truly sensational words of the US President Barack Obama, noting that the United States' policy should not be interference in other countries. "But that also means that we can't blame the United States for every problem that arises in the hemisphere, that is part of the bargain. That is the old way, we need a new way. I know there is a longer journey that must be traveled in overcoming decades of mistrust, but there are critical steps we can take toward a new day. We seek an equal partnership …", said Obama, AP reports.

Georgian opposition continues to hold rallies, however, without considerable success, and she traditionally blames Russia for this.


Karine Ter-Sahakyan