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ARMENIAN EXPERTS, POLITICAL FIGURE DEBATE ON TIES WITH RUSSIA, EU
Zhamanak
Oct 25 2012
Armenia
[Translated from Armenian]
The transcript of a debate between political expert Artur Avtandilyan
and Tigran Kocharyan, a blogger and expert on information security.
Touching on the problems of Russian support for migration from
Armenia, Kocharyan said that it was not Russia's but rather the
Armenian authorities' fault that Armenians were leaving their country
for Russia.
"In the recent four years, 10,000 people have emigrated under the
Compatriots project alone," Kocharyan was quoted as saying, referring
to the Compatriots project launched by the Russian authorities and
recent controversies over its activities in Armenia, and noting that
an even a greater number of Armenians had left Armenia for the USA,
Canada and Russia without being involved in the aforementioned project.
Kocharyan was also quoted as saying that the same scenario worked with
the US green card lottery project or similar migration opportunities
offered to Armenians by Canada, but this did not raise such a stir
as in the case of Russia.
Avtandilyan, in his turn, was quoted as saying that the problem was
that the migration was encouraged at the state level and Armenia
lost is citizens and allowed that to happen. He also expressed
scepticism that Russia could somehow stop the project in Armenia,
since it could create an "unpleasant precedent", whereas he described
Russia's all-out presence in Armenia as "expansionism".
Referring to the recent statements by the Russian ambassador to
Armenia, Vyacheslev Kovalenko, and seconded in a rather undiplomatic
manner by some Russian bloggers, about a special role of Russia in
Armenia, both interlocutors agreed on main points. "Russia has not
yet learned how to talk to other countries," Kocharyan said, adding
that "the blackmail will not work with Armenia", like it failed to
work with Latvia, Georgia and other countries. Avtandilyan added
that Armenia needed to have a foreign political alternative, which
"does not have to be anti-Russian in character, but rather will serve
the national interests of Armenia".
Armenia's prioritizing foreign partners and Russia's role was also
discussed in a debate hosted by the private Aravot newspaper on
25 October. The participants in the debate, the leader of the New
Times party Aram Karapetyan and Artur Ghazinyan, Director of Yerevan
State University Centre for European Studies, strongly disagreed on
Armenia's integration prospects. Karapetyan argued that the EU did not
offer any economic benefits and integration prospects were also very
vague. "The Eurasian Union will be the only way [for Armenia]," the
newspaper quoted Karapetyan as saying and adding that "as to the EU,
it is a question whether that structure is going to involve Armenia".
He went on, recalling Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan's statement
that Russia had invested 3bn. dollars in Armenia, while the amount
of EU investments was much smaller.
In response, Ghazinyan said that EU offered sizeable financial support
for Armenia's development every year. He added that the projected
Eurasian Union member states - Russia, Kazakhstan, and Belarus - had
"closed systems, such as state monopolies and state intervention in
business, as well as closed political systems", the choice between
a projected EU integration and fast integration into the Eurasian
Union was a "choice between civilization models" for Armenia.
"We choose the open economic and political system, based on principles
of prevalence of democracy and rights," Aravot quoted Ghazinyan as
saying. He was also quoted as noting that "Russia was the first among
those responsible for the unresolved status of the Karabakh problem".
Zhamanak
Oct 25 2012
Armenia
[Translated from Armenian]
The transcript of a debate between political expert Artur Avtandilyan
and Tigran Kocharyan, a blogger and expert on information security.
Touching on the problems of Russian support for migration from
Armenia, Kocharyan said that it was not Russia's but rather the
Armenian authorities' fault that Armenians were leaving their country
for Russia.
"In the recent four years, 10,000 people have emigrated under the
Compatriots project alone," Kocharyan was quoted as saying, referring
to the Compatriots project launched by the Russian authorities and
recent controversies over its activities in Armenia, and noting that
an even a greater number of Armenians had left Armenia for the USA,
Canada and Russia without being involved in the aforementioned project.
Kocharyan was also quoted as saying that the same scenario worked with
the US green card lottery project or similar migration opportunities
offered to Armenians by Canada, but this did not raise such a stir
as in the case of Russia.
Avtandilyan, in his turn, was quoted as saying that the problem was
that the migration was encouraged at the state level and Armenia
lost is citizens and allowed that to happen. He also expressed
scepticism that Russia could somehow stop the project in Armenia,
since it could create an "unpleasant precedent", whereas he described
Russia's all-out presence in Armenia as "expansionism".
Referring to the recent statements by the Russian ambassador to
Armenia, Vyacheslev Kovalenko, and seconded in a rather undiplomatic
manner by some Russian bloggers, about a special role of Russia in
Armenia, both interlocutors agreed on main points. "Russia has not
yet learned how to talk to other countries," Kocharyan said, adding
that "the blackmail will not work with Armenia", like it failed to
work with Latvia, Georgia and other countries. Avtandilyan added
that Armenia needed to have a foreign political alternative, which
"does not have to be anti-Russian in character, but rather will serve
the national interests of Armenia".
Armenia's prioritizing foreign partners and Russia's role was also
discussed in a debate hosted by the private Aravot newspaper on
25 October. The participants in the debate, the leader of the New
Times party Aram Karapetyan and Artur Ghazinyan, Director of Yerevan
State University Centre for European Studies, strongly disagreed on
Armenia's integration prospects. Karapetyan argued that the EU did not
offer any economic benefits and integration prospects were also very
vague. "The Eurasian Union will be the only way [for Armenia]," the
newspaper quoted Karapetyan as saying and adding that "as to the EU,
it is a question whether that structure is going to involve Armenia".
He went on, recalling Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan's statement
that Russia had invested 3bn. dollars in Armenia, while the amount
of EU investments was much smaller.
In response, Ghazinyan said that EU offered sizeable financial support
for Armenia's development every year. He added that the projected
Eurasian Union member states - Russia, Kazakhstan, and Belarus - had
"closed systems, such as state monopolies and state intervention in
business, as well as closed political systems", the choice between
a projected EU integration and fast integration into the Eurasian
Union was a "choice between civilization models" for Armenia.
"We choose the open economic and political system, based on principles
of prevalence of democracy and rights," Aravot quoted Ghazinyan as
saying. He was also quoted as noting that "Russia was the first among
those responsible for the unresolved status of the Karabakh problem".