For Armenia, the corridor for acceptable and understandable complementarity in foreign policy has extremely narrowed, said Armenian 2nd President Robert Kocharyan in an interview with the Voice of Armenia newspaper.
His remarks came in response to comment on the question that political scientists (including Russian) are increasingly linking his arrests with some promises of the prime minister to Western elites regarding the weakening of Russian influence on Armenia and how does the situation look like in the context of the global political confrontation between Russia and the West?
“This complicates the life of the authorities who “have changed” the geopolitical landmarks overnight. At the same time, they continue to think as before but are forced to pretend, to imitate sincerity, which is not always successful. This is where political double-dealing, smeared geopolitical landmarks, permanent punctures and, as a result, defective relations with partners, come from. It is impossible to do successfully what you do not believe in and are not convinced of,” Armenia second President noted.
Answering a question about the increasing role of the Turkish-Azerbaijani factor in the Georgian economy and new difficulties in relations between the US and Iran, which contains challenges for the future of Armenia and Artsakh, and whether our country is ready to withstand these challenges or can we finally lose the possibility of development, the president noted that we need to ask ourselves a direct question: what does Armenia need to become an influential player in our region?
“We are sandwiched between four countries. Relations with Turkey and Azerbaijan, to put it mildly, have not developed. Iran is blacklisted by the United States, under constant sanctions pressure. Georgia is actively seeking a geopolitical alliance that conflicts with where Armenia is registered, and from which we are geographically isolated from Georgian territory. We have a small aging population with a steadily deteriorating demographic situation, which deprives us of the effect of a large-scale economy. Problem relations with two of the four neighbors do not allow becoming a regional liberal platform for a wide range of different types of services. We do not have any significant natural resources that make us attractive for large transnational corporations. We have a small territory, and we are easy to get around new communications. The existing transport problems affect the cost of production and severely narrow the possible segments of industrial development,” he said.