Armen Ashotyan: Bako Sahakyan must not be compared with Aliyev - head of Azerbaijan constantly walks with security, and President of Artsakh does not have
ArmInfo.. Today there are no economic or political bases for Armenia's withdrawal from the Eurasian Economic Union. This opinion was expressed in the interview
with journalists by the deputy chairman of the ruling Republican
Party of Armenia, head of the parliamentary commission on foreign
affairs Armen Ashotyan, referring to the statement of Edmon Marukyan,
the opposition member of the Yelq bloc on the need for Armenia to
withdraw from the EEU.
In his opinion, the EEU is a format for economic cooperation, which,
of course, has a geopolitical character. "Small countries are not
competitive in the world if they can not have free economic relations
in wider formats," Ashotyan said, adding that not only Armenia, but
even those countries that have signed the Association Agreement are
expected in the European Union, for example, Georgia, Ukraine,
Moldova.
Speaking separately about Armenian-Russian relations, and, in
particular, about the recent issue of the recent sale of weapons to
Azerbaijan by Russia, Ashotyan assured that this issue is far from
being among the foreign policy priorities of Yerevan.
Touching upon yesterday's meeting between the heads of Russia and
Azerbaijan, Vladimir Putin and Ilham Aliyev, and the
Russian-Azerbaijani relations, the deputy chairman of the RPA noted
that in the framework of the diplomatic protocol the heads of state
can meet with their colleagues, but this does not mean good relations
between the countries.
Ashotyan did not avoid also the recent elections in Artsakh, as a
result of which President Bako Sahakyan extended his powers in this
post until 2020. Ashotyan, in particular, did not agree with the
remark of journalists that the recent elections likened Artsakh to
Azerbaijan, where as a result of constitutional reforms Aliyev's
power as president was extended for a third term. In support of his
position, Ashotyan cited the argument that Bako Sahakyan, as
president, goes unguarded. "How can you compare Sahakyan with Aliyev,
have you ever seen Aliyev go without security, meanwhile Sahakyan
does it all the time," RPA deputy chairman said.