Opinion
Khachatourian: Armenia Needs New Approach to Protocols
The tacit rebuke by Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian of the forceful comments made by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan during his visit to Washington signaled official Yerevan’s ambivalence to the political goings on around it and further reinforces the need for a new approach to diplomacy by Armenia.
In remarks on Dec. 9, Nalbandian once again reiterated his tired line that there are no preconditions guiding Armenia-Turkey relations. He cited President Obama’s simil
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Mr. Khachatourian, all discussions on “policy” and “approaches” are wonderful and I obviously encourage them — but they are irrelevant and distracting from the real issue:
Armenian policy has not been run by national or state interests for awhile — it has been run according to the financial and power needs of the ruling elite. Take the huge chunk of Armenia’s industry sold to Russia by Kocharian at below market prices. Or, take Serge Sarkisian’s pursuit of external legitimacy via “protocols.”
He’ll do what they want him to do — as long as they don’t challenge his authority.
People like you who should know better are distracting us from the real conversation we should be having. Serge would love for us to talk about “approaches” as if Armenia is a normal country and can have these normal conversations. It brings the issue down to a simple disagreement over policy — a conversation he is much willing to have over the other one.