"Fact" daily writes:
On January 14, the charter on strategic partnership between the Republic of Armenia and the United States of America was signed in Washington.
How appropriate was the signing of such a document with the outgoing US administration, and what will it bring to Armenia? Political scientist Stepan Hasan Jalalyan says he is in favor of Armenia having neighborly and mutually beneficial cooperation with all the countries of the world.
"I think that a reasonable thinking leader of every country should show such behavior, that is, serve the interests of his country, to do this, try to combine those interests with the interests of other countries and achieve his goals," said the political scientist in an interview with "Pasti".
At the same time, referring to the signed document, he notes that it is mostly a document devoid of concreteness, mainly containing general judgments.
"Considering the fact that the current President of the United States, Joseph Biden, signed the document a few days before the end of his term of office, the following question reasonably arises. if the USA or Armenia wanted to raise the current level of Armenian-American relations to the level of strategic partnership, then why was the mentioned document not signed long before the end of the current US president's term of office?
Second, the foreign policy of any country is decided by the current leader of that country.This is an axiomatic truth in the case of all countries.
Considering this fact, it cannot be ruled out that, for example, the next US President Donald Trump, who is only a few days away from taking office, can either cancel the document or not pay due attention to it, thus not implementing what is written in it. ", our interlocutor adds.
He emphasizes that the following wording is present in the document: "taking into account that Armenia in 2023 Faced with a displacement crisis since September, the United States plans to continue to support Armenia in providing assistance to displaced persons and refugees from Nagorno Karabakh.
"What I want to say about this quote is that it seems to show the philanthropic nature of the current US administration.
However, the aforementioned wording cannot testify to the truly democratic, human rights-respecting and protecting human rights reputation of the current US administration for at least the following reasons.
First, when occupying and genocidal Azerbaijan, grossly violating the 2020 The statement of November 9, 2023. on April 23, closed the Hakari bridge on the interstate highway connecting the Republics of Artsakh and Armenia, setting up an illegal border checkpoint in the area adjacent to the bridge and starving our compatriots of the Republic of Artsakh through a blockade lasting more than nine months and causing an acute humanitarian crisis, the current US administration What steps did he take?
It has not taken any practical measures to stop the genocide of the innocent Armenian people living in its cradle for thousands of years and free them from the clutches of the oil dictator Ilham," states Hasan-Jalalyan.
Next, when occupying and genocidal Azerbaijan, grossly violating the principles of non-use of force or threat of force and peaceful settlement of disputes defined by the UN Charter and the Helsinki Final Act, as well as the 2020 the tripartite declaration of November 9, 2023 on September 19, resorting to aggression, attacked the Republic of Artsakh for the fourth time and during the two-day war occupied the remaining part of the constitutionally fixed territory of the Republic of Artsakh, subjecting to genocide a part of the innocent Armenians of Artsakh, and most of them, more than 100 thousand people, fortunately, escaped unscathed is genocide, expelled from its cradle, where it has lived for almost three consecutive millennia, the current administration of the United States again has no practical means undertake to stop the Armenian Genocide carried out by the order of Absheron Sultan Ilham before the eyes of civilized humanity.
Taking all this into consideration, the viability of the strategic partnership charter defining the level of Armenian-American relations can be assessed during the term of office of the next US president," added our interlocutor.
There is an opinion that the EU accession bill, the document signed in Washington, is another step back from the CSTO and the EAEU in all aspects, which Armenia still does not satisfy.
Yes, Armenia can express its desire to join the Union, but the other side should also be taken into account, and is the European Union ready to accept the Republic of Armenia as its member?
Somewhere you go, are they ready to accept you?If they are not ready to accept you, how can you get into that forum?
The European Union is primarily an economic forum where the member states meet the established standards. I think it is difficult to object to the judgment that the Republic of Armenia still does not meet the standards set by the EU, now how can it become a member of that union?
Yes, in terms of our foreign policy, we should try to get out of the following behavior: take one side, let's say Russia, and be in all those integration processes where Russia has a hegemonic position, and exclude everyone else.
Or, let's say, take the side of the West, where the United States has a dominant position in various integration processes, and exclude Russian integration processes.
I am not a supporter of such an approach, because when you take one's side or give preference to another, you automatically, not to say enmity, but mistreat the other side.
Therefore, it is necessary to be able to conduct a balanced policy so that it does not harm the foreign policy of the country, the realization of the goals set for the country," the political scientist notes.
Are the current authorities of Armenia managing to conduct a balanced policy? I think they are not succeeding.
It is their professional, professionally unprepared, immatureness. This is clear, those people who are appointed to responsible positions are not in their places.
Moreover, it is not only about the appointed officials, starting with Nikol Pashinyan. People do not have the necessary, sufficient experience and knowledge to properly, completely and fully fulfill the responsibility they have taken.
But I also want to say the following: Armenia has traditional ties with Russia, and in the collective West it is considered as a state with a pronounced Russian orientation.
Recently, I notice that it is constantly being raised, also by Armenian political and political science circles, that Armenia has adopted a policy of vector change, etc.
I do not agree with that point of view, for example, a document was signed with the USA, the role and importance of which, by the way, should not be overestimated.
It is not the case that by signing that document, Armenian-American relations were placed on a higher level than Armenian-Russian relations.
Armenian-Russian relations are characterized as allied, strategic relations, in the case of the US, it is about strategic partnership. Returning to the "it seems that Armenia is changing the vector" observation.
I want to justify my disagreement or not being in favor of that point of view as follows.
Have you ever noticed that he expressed such an opinion when speaking publicly about Armenian-Russian relations?
On the contrary, when he has the opportunity to talk about Armenian-Russian relations, he emphasizes that they are experiencing an upward development, specifically mentioning the significant development of trade and economic relations with Armenia and Russia.
If Armenia changes its vector, etc., then how is it possible for it to have trade and economic relations with the Russian Federation that are developing, experiencing upward growth, and, moreover, with numerical indicators?
It is difficult to agree with that point of view that Armenia is changing the vector," concludes Stepan Hasan-Jalalyan.
Lusine Arakelyan
