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WHAT'S HINTED BY PHILIPPE LEFORT
Levon Margaryan
Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/engsrc/comments26411.html
Published: 12:06:33 - 02/06/2012
The EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus Philippe Lefort
expressed several interesting thoughts on the NK conflict and the
region at Yerevan State University.
In particular, he stated that the sides to the conflict must solve
the issues themselves and Europe can only support them. Second, the
South Caucasian region must be open to the European institutions for
direct involvement of Europe in the settlement of the conflict.
What do these statements mean? The meeting was not formal. Mr. Lefort
was expected to utter free thoughts only partly deviating from the
academic diplomatic language. His thoughts are clear messages. Either
they are the messages of this European institution or they are the
vision of Europe for the region. Lefort's second statement was followed
by an interesting comparison of the South Caucasus with the Balkans,
stating that Europe will be able to provide first-hand assistance as
it did for reconstruction in the Balkans.
How will the region, in this case the South Caucasus, be
reconstructed? In the case of Georgia, everything is clear. Georgia
links its future with the United States and will play in this field,
at least in the next few years. The situation is also complicated
in Azerbaijan. First, Azerbaijan already has serious problems with
some European corporations and interstate institutions. Besides, BBC
broadcast a film on Eurovision which showed Azerbaijan's "potential"
as an aggressor.
Armenia is totally different because it plays in all the fields.
First, Armenia is obviously in the zone of Russian influence, and
at the same time it has the potential to get out of this zone or to
create a counterbalance to the Russian presence. Second, the Armenian
society makes more progress towards the development of the Armenian
society than its neighbors unless we shift to a more oppositional
and extreme discourse. Besides, there are no major civilization and
cultural hindrances to cooperation between Armenia and Europe. At the
same time, active cooperation with NATO, another Western institution,
is being outlined.
In this case, the word "reconstruction" refers to Armenia, and a
chance is given to Armenia to choose.
Lefort made another interesting statement. He said the language of war
and militaristic rhetoric must be prevented. What does this statement
mean? It is the central idea of the European civilization. It is not
accidental that another idea is related to this idea, the so-called
economic guarantees which stem from the level of the language of war.
The diplomat states that the conflict hinders progress in
Nagorno-Karabakh. This idea is important for Armenia because our
political elite have the stereotype of militaristic appeals on war,
even in social discussions.
Recently, in his interview with one of the Russian media before the
parliamentary election, the prime minister said if you want peace,
be ready for war. This is a classic old idea which is often heard at
the political level. This idea appeared beside other ideas of the
prime minister expressing full confidence in the CSTO. Presumably,
the Russian discourse presupposes such ideas. However, this slogan is
outdated and is replaced by the following slogan - if you want peace,
be ready for peace. In fact, this is Lefort's main idea, simply the
European guarantees and interests are added.
Indeed, it is impossible to come to a general and final conclusion
from one speech by Lefort but he is not the first European diplomat
who makes such hints, showing clearly the position of the European
policy on Armenia.
If there are political and civilization premises for a wider front
of European integration of Armenia, the internal discourse should
be cleared of militaristic rhetoric. The next important step is to
realize that Europe is the most suitable force for regional stability
and domestic progress in Armenia. Unlike the United States and Russia,
Europe has more stable guarantees and best historical practice of
conflict resolution.
Levon Margaryan
Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/engsrc/comments26411.html
Published: 12:06:33 - 02/06/2012
The EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus Philippe Lefort
expressed several interesting thoughts on the NK conflict and the
region at Yerevan State University.
In particular, he stated that the sides to the conflict must solve
the issues themselves and Europe can only support them. Second, the
South Caucasian region must be open to the European institutions for
direct involvement of Europe in the settlement of the conflict.
What do these statements mean? The meeting was not formal. Mr. Lefort
was expected to utter free thoughts only partly deviating from the
academic diplomatic language. His thoughts are clear messages. Either
they are the messages of this European institution or they are the
vision of Europe for the region. Lefort's second statement was followed
by an interesting comparison of the South Caucasus with the Balkans,
stating that Europe will be able to provide first-hand assistance as
it did for reconstruction in the Balkans.
How will the region, in this case the South Caucasus, be
reconstructed? In the case of Georgia, everything is clear. Georgia
links its future with the United States and will play in this field,
at least in the next few years. The situation is also complicated
in Azerbaijan. First, Azerbaijan already has serious problems with
some European corporations and interstate institutions. Besides, BBC
broadcast a film on Eurovision which showed Azerbaijan's "potential"
as an aggressor.
Armenia is totally different because it plays in all the fields.
First, Armenia is obviously in the zone of Russian influence, and
at the same time it has the potential to get out of this zone or to
create a counterbalance to the Russian presence. Second, the Armenian
society makes more progress towards the development of the Armenian
society than its neighbors unless we shift to a more oppositional
and extreme discourse. Besides, there are no major civilization and
cultural hindrances to cooperation between Armenia and Europe. At the
same time, active cooperation with NATO, another Western institution,
is being outlined.
In this case, the word "reconstruction" refers to Armenia, and a
chance is given to Armenia to choose.
Lefort made another interesting statement. He said the language of war
and militaristic rhetoric must be prevented. What does this statement
mean? It is the central idea of the European civilization. It is not
accidental that another idea is related to this idea, the so-called
economic guarantees which stem from the level of the language of war.
The diplomat states that the conflict hinders progress in
Nagorno-Karabakh. This idea is important for Armenia because our
political elite have the stereotype of militaristic appeals on war,
even in social discussions.
Recently, in his interview with one of the Russian media before the
parliamentary election, the prime minister said if you want peace,
be ready for war. This is a classic old idea which is often heard at
the political level. This idea appeared beside other ideas of the
prime minister expressing full confidence in the CSTO. Presumably,
the Russian discourse presupposes such ideas. However, this slogan is
outdated and is replaced by the following slogan - if you want peace,
be ready for peace. In fact, this is Lefort's main idea, simply the
European guarantees and interests are added.
Indeed, it is impossible to come to a general and final conclusion
from one speech by Lefort but he is not the first European diplomat
who makes such hints, showing clearly the position of the European
policy on Armenia.
If there are political and civilization premises for a wider front
of European integration of Armenia, the internal discourse should
be cleared of militaristic rhetoric. The next important step is to
realize that Europe is the most suitable force for regional stability
and domestic progress in Armenia. Unlike the United States and Russia,
Europe has more stable guarantees and best historical practice of
conflict resolution.