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ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT UNDER FROZEN CONFLICT: IS KARABAKH TO BLAME FOR ARMENIA'S WOES?
By Naira Hayrumyan
ArmeniaNow
20.07.10 | 16:05
Analysis
Ter-Petrosyan says compromises in the Karabakh settlement are
inevitable.
"The unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and unsettled
Armenian-Turkish relations hinder the development of Armenia," such
an argument has been causing debate in Armenia for many years.
Discussions have gained fresh impetus after the speech by the
country's first president, now leader of the opposition Armenian
National Congress (ANC) Levon Ter-Petrosyan at last weekend's 16th
congress of the Armenian National Movement, a former ruling party
that now is a key member in the Ter-Petrosyan-led political alliance.
Ter-Petrosyan said that without the settlement of the Karabakh
conflict and Armenian-Turkish relations, the security, economic and
democratic development of Armenia will remain open to question. The
result of the lack of appreciation of this truth, according to him,
has been the emigration from Armenia and Karabakh, which may take
disastrous proportions. The opposition leader criticized the belief
expressed by his successor as president, Robert Kocharyan, that
Armenia may develop still for a hundred years in conditions of a
blockade. He pointed out that in that case there will be no Armenian
left in Armenia. Ter-Petrosyan said that the "question of questions"
is demography and that advocates of the status quo cannot answer the
question of how to stop the emigration. At the same time, he said
that compromises in the Karabakh settlement are inevitable.
Ter-Petrosyan did not specify what specifically and in return for what
would have to be conceded. Nor there is an answer to the question of
how to redress the demographic situation in Armenia and Karabakh if
the offer of compromise is taken.
Television companies have chosen not to highlight these issues as
topics of public debate. But this speech by the former president has
elicited much debate in the press, the internet and in Yerevan cafes.
Some citizens, including many supporters of Ter-Petrosyan, believe
that the Karabakh conflict does not at all account for the problems
that Armenia has experienced and which have contributed to emigration.
What is to blame is rigged elections, fusion of business and power,
lack of independent judiciary, lack of respect for law and rights and
a number of other 'systemic failures'. Journalists remember that still
in September 2007, when Ter-Petrosyan made his first public speech
in nearly a decade, signaling his comeback from political obscurity,
he said that the Karabakh problem can be solved if constitutional
order and rule of law were restored in the country.
Online newspaper Lragir points out that whereas earlier the Karabakh
issue was an excuse for the authorities for inaction and even criminal
activities, now it is the opposition that is trying to use it to
justify its actions.
Not all ANC members and supporters share the viewpoint of their
leader. For instance, the initiative called "In Defense of Liberated
Territories" which shares ANC's approaches on domestic issues,
opposes a compromise-based solution to the Karabakh problem. One
of the leaders of the pressure group, ex-combatant Zhirayr Sefilyan
believes that nothing prevents the opposition from overthrowing the
"criminal regime" and to establish constitutional order.
However, ANC coordinator Levon Zurabyan says one cannot take to
revolutionary methods in a difficult foreign-policy situation that
Armenia is currently going through, partly because of the unresolved
Karabakh conflict. Zurabyan thinks that destabilization in Armenia
may increase the temptations of Azerbaijan and Turkey and they may
undertake a new assault on Karabakh.
Some people call Ter-Petrosyan's approaches pragmatic, accusing the
others of excessive romanticism. The "Romantics" say that it wasn't
pragmatism that set the Karabakh movement going back in 1988. And
the fact that the 140,000-strong population of Karabakh managed to
withstand the aggression of seven-million-strong Azerbaijan doesn't
have a pragmatic explanation either. But those for pragmatic approaches
continue to assert that Armenia will remain in total isolation until
at least a part of Karabakh is ceded. The debate goes on.
From: A. Papazian
By Naira Hayrumyan
ArmeniaNow
20.07.10 | 16:05
Analysis
Ter-Petrosyan says compromises in the Karabakh settlement are
inevitable.
"The unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and unsettled
Armenian-Turkish relations hinder the development of Armenia," such
an argument has been causing debate in Armenia for many years.
Discussions have gained fresh impetus after the speech by the
country's first president, now leader of the opposition Armenian
National Congress (ANC) Levon Ter-Petrosyan at last weekend's 16th
congress of the Armenian National Movement, a former ruling party
that now is a key member in the Ter-Petrosyan-led political alliance.
Ter-Petrosyan said that without the settlement of the Karabakh
conflict and Armenian-Turkish relations, the security, economic and
democratic development of Armenia will remain open to question. The
result of the lack of appreciation of this truth, according to him,
has been the emigration from Armenia and Karabakh, which may take
disastrous proportions. The opposition leader criticized the belief
expressed by his successor as president, Robert Kocharyan, that
Armenia may develop still for a hundred years in conditions of a
blockade. He pointed out that in that case there will be no Armenian
left in Armenia. Ter-Petrosyan said that the "question of questions"
is demography and that advocates of the status quo cannot answer the
question of how to stop the emigration. At the same time, he said
that compromises in the Karabakh settlement are inevitable.
Ter-Petrosyan did not specify what specifically and in return for what
would have to be conceded. Nor there is an answer to the question of
how to redress the demographic situation in Armenia and Karabakh if
the offer of compromise is taken.
Television companies have chosen not to highlight these issues as
topics of public debate. But this speech by the former president has
elicited much debate in the press, the internet and in Yerevan cafes.
Some citizens, including many supporters of Ter-Petrosyan, believe
that the Karabakh conflict does not at all account for the problems
that Armenia has experienced and which have contributed to emigration.
What is to blame is rigged elections, fusion of business and power,
lack of independent judiciary, lack of respect for law and rights and
a number of other 'systemic failures'. Journalists remember that still
in September 2007, when Ter-Petrosyan made his first public speech
in nearly a decade, signaling his comeback from political obscurity,
he said that the Karabakh problem can be solved if constitutional
order and rule of law were restored in the country.
Online newspaper Lragir points out that whereas earlier the Karabakh
issue was an excuse for the authorities for inaction and even criminal
activities, now it is the opposition that is trying to use it to
justify its actions.
Not all ANC members and supporters share the viewpoint of their
leader. For instance, the initiative called "In Defense of Liberated
Territories" which shares ANC's approaches on domestic issues,
opposes a compromise-based solution to the Karabakh problem. One
of the leaders of the pressure group, ex-combatant Zhirayr Sefilyan
believes that nothing prevents the opposition from overthrowing the
"criminal regime" and to establish constitutional order.
However, ANC coordinator Levon Zurabyan says one cannot take to
revolutionary methods in a difficult foreign-policy situation that
Armenia is currently going through, partly because of the unresolved
Karabakh conflict. Zurabyan thinks that destabilization in Armenia
may increase the temptations of Azerbaijan and Turkey and they may
undertake a new assault on Karabakh.
Some people call Ter-Petrosyan's approaches pragmatic, accusing the
others of excessive romanticism. The "Romantics" say that it wasn't
pragmatism that set the Karabakh movement going back in 1988. And
the fact that the 140,000-strong population of Karabakh managed to
withstand the aggression of seven-million-strong Azerbaijan doesn't
have a pragmatic explanation either. But those for pragmatic approaches
continue to assert that Armenia will remain in total isolation until
at least a part of Karabakh is ceded. The debate goes on.
From: A. Papazian