Toward regional cooperation

Published: Saturday June 30, 2007

In Europe nations that had been at war with each other intermittently throughout their histories
now share a common currency, open borders, and broad cooperation that benefits each of
them, even while they retain their sovereignty. The process of community building and integration
has been a lengthy and difficult one, with many false starts and much skepticism. Europe is
an ongoing project, as European institutions continue to define themselves and to expand.

Such a process is difficult to imagine for the South Caucasus and contiguous regions in
which Armenia finds itself. But we believe it is important to imagine such scenarios, to
ask whether any of them could benefit the Armenian people, and to contemplate how they
might come about.

Armenia once was, of course, part of a union of republics with a common currency, open
borders, and broad and mutually beneficial cooperation. But unlike the states of the European
Union, the constituent republics of the Soviet Union were not sovereign states. The
repressive and non-voluntary nature of the Soviet regime made it unacceptable for our
freedom-loving and enterprising people.

A reintegration of former Soviet states in a Russia-dominated union is of little interest to
many of those states. Some, to the west of Russia, are well on their way toward integration
into Europe. In Armenia's immediate neighborhood, Georgia is most emphatically looking
away from Russia, though they do remain neighbors.

Armenia maintains a strong alliance with Russia, but it too is engaged with Europe. A member
of the Council of Europe, Armenia is expanding its cooperation with the European Union.
It is active in the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). It is also working
closely with NATO, with which it is implementing an Individual Partnership Action Plan.
Close cooperation with Russia, Europe, the United States, other countries, and multilateral
institutions in a complementary rather than mutually exclusive basis is a keystone of Armenia's
healthy foreign policy. This policy has helped Armenia maintain its security, protect the
legitimate interests of Karabakh, experience rapid economic development, and reform its
institutions. It should also help break the blockade imposed by Turkey and Azerbaijan.

The fifteenth anniversary summit this week of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC)
organization is an occasion to explore an interesting additional option for Armenia: a gradual
deepening and reinforcement of cooperation among the states around the Black Sea.

The organization started as a way for Russia and Turkey - powers on either side of the sea
- to work out their differences. It now encompasses all the littoral states (Bulgaria, Georgia,
Romania, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine) as well as Armenia and Azerbaijan on the east, and
Albania, Greece, Moldova, and Serbia to the west.

Russian-Turkish collaboration does raise some red flags for Armenians. In December 1920,
when the Armenian republic ceded its independence to Communist Russia, which promised
to protect it from the invading Turkish army, Lenin and Atatürk had simultaneously reached
a secret agreement under which Russia would cede Kars and Ardahan to Turkey.

In spite of such cautionary tales, however, the BSEC formula, handled skillfully, can present
definite advantages to Armenia. Turkey, Georgia, and Azerbaijan continue to undertake
a number of joint initiatives that exclude and seek to isolate Armenia. BSEC's broader region
of collaboration - which includes other countries, such as Greece and Russia - can help
bring about outcomes that are advantageous to a greater array of parties, including Armenia.
Most importantly, it can hasten the end of Armenia's relative isolation in the region.

BSEC is taking on a higher profile under its current leadership. (The secretary general of
the permanent secretariat in Istanbul is Leonidas Chrysanthopoulos, who served as the
first ambassador of Greece to Armenia in 1993-94, and is one of his country's top experts on
European integration processes.)

The European Union has just joined it as an active observer.

Having served as a forum for smoothing problems among member states (not only Russia
and Turkey but also Russia and Georgia) through diplomacy, BSEC has moved to a more
practical, project-oriented approach. Its big project of the moment is the Black Sea Ring
Highway, which is meant to enhance transportation lines among all 12 member states.

Building a road is a far cry from building a common market. But it is an important step toward
establishing the kind of trust and goodwill that neighbors should aspire to. Practical, incremental
steps are a good way to gain the skills and confidence to make eventual great strides.

The statement of Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian of Armenia at BSEC's 15th anniversary
summit was appropriately positive. Welcoming the EU's participation in BSEC, he said:
"Broadening interaction between BSEC and the EU is a measure of our maturity and one
of our significant outputs. As the EU considers the benefits of a Black Sea Dimension for
economic, social, environmental, and energy cooperation, and as BSEC works to enhance its
interaction with the EU, we around the Black Sea, have much to learn from those around the
Mediterranean, Adriatic, Baltic and North seas. Our need for deeper relations is not limited
to the structural, technical and institutional expertise in the EU space."

And embracing a vision of a developing Black Sea community, Mr. Oskanian added: "We
stand to benefit from the European ability to create a bond between human beings that
transcends older boundaries and makes out of these new institutional forms something that
really is a community."