Summing up the year: CRRF, "Eastern Partnership" and Armenian-Turkish Protocols

PanARMENIAN.Net - In February Armenia, together with other states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), signed an agreement on the creation of collective rapid reaction forces (CRRF), which would join efforts to fight against terrorism and drug trafficking, as well as respond to another state's attack on a CSTO member state. Signing of the agreement on CRRF naturally led to another inappropriate response from official Baku, which, however, was foiled by rather a harsh statement of President Dmitry Medvedev, who confirmed that any form of aggression against CSTO member states would be regarded as an attack on the entire organization with all its consequences.

The agreement on establishing collective rapid reaction forces was signed on February 4, and on May 7 Prague hosted a summit to launch, initiated by the European Commission, the project "Eastern Partnership", designed to boost the European Union's relations with six former Soviet countries: Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus. The program provides for visa facilitation with the EU, establishment of deep and comprehensive free trade areas, and EU assistance to the countries signing the initiative.

In early February, a resolution on recognition of the Armenian Genocide was once again introduced in the 111th U.S. Congress. Sponsor of the resolution was Congressman Adam Schiff. In 2008 a similar resolution Number 106 was approved by U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, but the administration of President George W. Bush blocked the vote. The current Resolution 252 may have a greater chance of success. But, alas, it depends on how the Turkish authorities will behave in the US-Turkish relations.

On April 23 the text of the Armenian-Turkish Protocols on normalization of relations between the two countries was made public. Why they were released on this very day became clear on April 24, when President Barack Obama in his annual address to the Armenian community in U.S. once again avoided the term "genocide" with reference to the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire in 1915-1923. And that he used the Armenian version of the word genocide "Metz Yeghern", the essence of the address did not change; Obama, like previous U.S. presidents could not or did not want to "insult" Turkey, an important ally in the Iraqi war. Be that as it may, the publicized Protocols and Obama's address did their job - Diaspora became more rigorous in their demands to recognize the Armenian Genocide and to reject any proposed condition on the part of Turkey. Ankara, understandably, sighed with relief for a while and even tried to play her own game in the settlement of the Karabakh conflict, but, of course, she failed. The latest visit of the Turkish Prime Minister to the United States brought Erdogan nothing but disappointment, and if we add to this also the tension in the Israeli-Turkish relations, it becomes obvious that Turkey finished the year not so successfully. Our great attention to the neighboring country is due to the fact that in most cases she becomes the factor that determines, though indirectly, the foreign policy of Armenia. That is, Armenia does everything or almost everything in her power to neutralize the negative impact of Turkey on international community concerning the Armenian question. And if we also add to this Azerbaijan, which lately coordinates all her steps with Turkey, it turns out that Armenia alone resists half of the Turkic world.

On October 10 the Armenian-Turkish Protocols were signed in Zurich, after which another anti-Armenian fit of hysteria immediately broke out in Baku, followed by President Aliyev's statements on the "military settlement of the Karabakh conflict". The world community is already sick and tired of such statements and this was the reason that it did not even pull up President Aliyev...

On October 14, President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan paid a courtesy visit to Bursa for a football match between the national teams of Turkey and Armenia.

Over the past year Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev met five times. None of these meetings were productive, except for Baku being warned against waving fists and a policy of threats and blackmail. That's all. The USA changed its OSCE Minsk Group co-chair: Matthew Bryza was replaced by Robert Bradtke. However, it did not result in great changes, except for the fact that the number of "inappropriate" statements from the U.S. side decreased.

In short, the year of 2009 was a regular year. Most of the events were predictable, and the fact that they occurred just now and not yesterday or at any other time, once again confirms the well-known truth that whatever is done is for the better . Even if at first glance, everything is very bad.