InternationalPrime Minister: Armenia's economy is "facing very serious dangers”
Focus of government is small and medium business
Published: Thursday October 16, 2008
Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian in Washington. Lusine Sarkisyan for the Armenian Reporter
Washington - In an interview on October 14 with the Armenian Reporter's Washington Editor Emil Sanamyan, Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian of Armenia spoke about the impact of the global financial crisis and unresolved conflicts on Armenia. What follows is an English translation of most of that conversation.
Armenian Reporter: In your meeting with Vice President Dick Cheney on October 10, you referred to the recent tendency by U.S. officials to prioritize Azerbaijan's territorial integrity; you called it "extremely dangerous." What was the vice president's reaction to that?
Tigran Sarkisian: I thought the reaction was a positive one and that the vice president agreed that the peace process that is taking place in the Minsk Group framework [co-mediated by France, Russia and the United States] is the way for the problem's resolution.
I also focused on the dangerous statements made by Azerbaijan's foreign minister [Elmar Mammadyarov] at the United Nations last month. [Mr. Mammadyarov said] that they view the Karabakh settlement within the framework of the [nonbinding] UN General Assembly resolution [adopted last March], which certainly does not help us move forward toward a settlement.
[In the meeting with Vice President Cheney,] I once again noted that we have a constructive position. Azerbaijan is aware of this, as are the mediators, and we hope that after Azerbaijan's [presidential] election [on October 15], there will be a new stage of constructive dialogue.
In our meeting earlier today, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also said she expects new momentum in the negotiations after these elections.
AR: But could this momentum be built on this new American policy language that prioritizes Azerbaijan's territorial integrity?
TS: If territorial integrity is prioritized, the peace process - all of the work the mediators have done - becomes meaningless, since negotiators should take into account the positions of both sides. And this also provokes [Azerbaijan] toward war.
Monitoring Azerbaijan's arms buildup
AR: Does Armenia seek to expand the peace process from the current efforts to develop "settlement principles" to other measures such as strengthening of the cease-fire, a nonaggression pact, and disarmament?
TS: We raise these concerns in various organizations. We are concerned that Azerbaijan is intensively and aggressively arming itself. They are spending unjustifiably huge amounts on their military, and this undermines the peace process. And certainly we have brought this to the attention of our American and European colleagues, as well as NATO experts.
Moreover, international arms treaties must be respected. [Under the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty], there is a verification mechanism in which Armenia takes part. Our officials visit Turkey, and Turkish colleagues visit Armenia to monitor our forces.
And Azerbaijan too should participate in this monitoring. It is clear that they are in violation of [CFE] agreements and we are certainly worried by this.
At the same time, I would note that before the recent fighting [in South Ossetia] there was more militant rhetoric from Azerbaijan that it would use force. To an extent, the events in Georgia have had a cooling effect on our Azerbaijani colleagues. Although just yesterday [on October 13], the Azerbaijani president again talked about his efforts to isolate Armenia.
AR: Countries supplying especially deadly weapons - tactical ballistic missiles, multiple-launch rocket systems - to Azerbaijan are well known. They are Ukraine, and to a lesser extent Turkey and Israel. Has this issue been raised with these countries? Specifically, when President Serge Sargsian met with his Ukrainian counterpart Viktor Yuschenko relatively recently?
TS: I cannot respond to these questions at this time.
Toward a shared vision of the future - with Turkey
AR: On Armenia's Turkey initiative: following the meetings in New York last month, the sides appear to have gone back to their original positions, Armenia to its "no preconditions," and Turkey to its preconditions. Do you anticipate any change in this dynamic?
TS: Today Secretary Rice expressed a thought that I fully share. [She said] that countries that have problems and wish to establish relations should focus on the future rather than the past. If we are going to continue to stir up the past, we do indeed have a lot of issues, and that would mean we will never come to an agreement.
But if we are to focus on the future, our shared vision of the future, it will also become easier for us to reassess the past. We support [developing] such a vision, and for this reason we say that we have no preconditions.
If our Turkish colleagues talk about preconditions, that means they are still looking into the past. And if we go into the past, then certainly the Genocide issue would be central and it would demand explanations. But this would be a road to nowhere.
If we want to build a new Armenia, we cannot do so using old methods. And Turkey too has no alternative if it wants to be a part of the European Union; it must change its approaches, implement serious reforms, and look to the future. This is a very difficult and painful process, both in Armenia and even more so in Turkey, so we should be patient.
At the same time we should acknowledge that the president's invitation to his Turkish colleague has been criticized both in Armenia and Turkey, as well as in Azerbaijan. In Armenia, the criticism is that we are pulling back, showing weakness, [people are wondering,] "What does that give us?"
